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Nox wasn’t surprised at how quickly the little creature had taken to Seline. After all, he had taken to her himself in much the same way. She had an openness about her that attracted interest and inspired trust and loyalty and the desire to protect and defend her. At least, that was how he had felt, shortly after they had been paired together by Commander Sylvan.
As he was thinking this, his eye was drawn to the left-hand corner of the Hub by a flash of silver. It was where they had been told the representative of the Upper Disk would be sitting, and sure enough—Nox saw the male in question. He was wearing black body armor which made the silver scales that covered his hands and face stand out. He was just about to motion to Seline that they should go towards the representative when something swooped down from above, heading straight for her.
Before Nox could do anything, a bright yellow creature had landed on Seline’s head and was yanking sharply at her hair.
“Oh! Ouch!” she gasped, lifting a hand to bat it away. “What is it?”
“Another flur’fa.” Nox batted at it too, but it was quick and very determined. It dodged his blow and continued trying to pull strands of hair from her head.
Suddenly Seline’s own flur’fa hopped on top of her head and started shrieking and pecking at the yellow one. This seemed to have more of an effect—the yellow flur’fa flew away at once—but not very far. Nox saw it settle on the shoulder of a short male with brick-red skin and a grizzled black beard.
With a glance to be sure Seline was all right, Nox strode forward and grasped the male by the shoulder before he could turn and melt into the crowd.
“Come here,” he growled, dragging the male back out into the main thoroughfare. “Who are you and what do you mean by sending your flur’fa to attack my Mistress?”
“Oh, er…sorry about that.” The grizzled male laughed weakly. “The name’s Tur’pin. Don’t mind little Cheeper here—he’s just always had an eye for the pretty ladies, he has!”
The bright yellow flur’fa shifted on his shoulder and Nox saw that it had several strands of Seline’s long auburn hair hanging from its beak.
“You have something that belongs to us,” he said, glaring down at the male who had called himself “Tur’pin.” “Give back my lady’s hair at once!”
“What do you mean? I don’t got nothing of hers!” Tur’pin protested, nodding at Seline, who had come to stand beside Nox.
“The hairs your flur’fa pulled from her head—give them to me!” Nox demanded. “I know what you’re doing—attempting to harvest her DNA for cloning.”
“No, of course not!” Tur’pin protested. “Though, if you were to sell me the hairs—say, for five or ten cred chips apiece—what would be the harm?” he went on in a wheedling tone. “Your lady would never miss them and her hair is such a pretty color! So unusual-like. Never seen a shade like it!”
Nox shook his head firmly.
“No part of my lady is to be cloned, copied, or reproduced in any fashion. Now give me the hairs!” He leaned down, pushing his face into the other male’s. “Or do I have to take them back?”
“No, no—course not!” Tur’pin’s brick red complexion went pale pink for a moment. “Cheeper, give!” he demanded, holding out his hand.
The yellow flur’fa made a cheeping sound and dropped the long, silky hairs into his palm.
Nox took them and slipped them into his own pocket.
“Now go—and don’t let me catch you or your thief of a pet anywhere near my lady again!” he growled, at last releasing the male.
Tur’pin gave them a resentful look and melted into the crowd, rubbing his shoulder where Nox had gripped it.
“Oh—was he really trying to clone me?” Seline asked, rubbing the spot on the top of her head where the yellow flur’fa had pulled out her hairs.
“Not all of you—most likely he just wanted to clone your hair,” Nox told her. “I’m sure he could make a pretty penny selling wigs made of it to prospective customers. It really is an unusual color—brown in the shadows and deep red in the light,” he added. Leaning down, he brushed a lock of her long, silky hair out of her eyes and tucked it gently behind her ear. “Beautiful,” he murmured—which was the truth.
“Oh…” A shiver seemed to go through Seline for some reason and her pupils dilated. Her scent suddenly grew hot as well, Nox noted. Hmm—he had to remember this for future reference. Apparently it aroused her when he stroked or touched her hair. Was the hair an erogenous zone for all humans, or just those that had long, silky hair like Seline?
There was no time to get an answer to his question, however. They needed to get over to the representative of the Upper Disk so that they could hopefully get an appointment to meet Mistress Lendrex.
