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I’m going to go to sleep now. Can we chat tomorrow?
The three dots of his typing seem to last forever. Is he politely telling me he has a girlfriend, or worse yet, he’s married? After months of swearing off men, I finally meet one I want to get to know better, and he’s probably already taken. That would be just my luck.
Eleven
Sem
I’m thrilled Ivy has contacted me and wants to continue our relationship. However, I don’t know how to respond. I want to write, ‘The goddesses have brought us together. It’s only right we obey,’ but I know that’ll scare her away. That’s the set response in Alliance to what she’s asked me, and it’s as if I’ve been programmed to delight in writing only that.
I force myself to try and figure out what a human man would write; I begin,
Yes. I’d like that.
Delete. That sounds boring. Goddesses, I wish Ash were here.
Great. I’d like that too.
I can’t write that. I hate words. I’m a man of action.
Of course.
Ugh. Delete. That sounds cold. She’s my true other half. I want to write that. But I can’t. Even Alliance women don’t want to hear that out of the gate. Okay.
Yes. I look forward to it. I’d like to develop this relationship further. Sleep well.
There. It’s a bit on the conservative side, but at least it’s exactly how I feel, without reference to the goddesses. I open my last bottle of zota and pour myself a cup while I look through Ivy’s social media. She doesn’t post much about herself, but rather a lot of inspirational quotes.
Disappointment creeps in now that she didn’t recognize me, even though I knew it was a long shot. And on top of the frustration, I feel guilty for lying. She thinks I’m human and that we’ve never met before; goddesses help me. How can we begin an honest relationship on a lie?
* * *
Kneeling before the goddess of home, my candle burns out. I’ve been here a long time looking for answers that haven’t come. I rise, my legs stiff, and I stretch. I’m alone in the shrine except for the statues of the goddesses and their green jeweled eyes staring back at me.
I leave the shrine and head toward the dining room. It’s time for the morning meal. I enter and greet my fellow officers, “Thank the goddesses the light brings the morning.”
“And our eyes open,” they all respond as I take my seat next to Ash. I’m the top officer here, as Commander Fox often skips the morning meal to fast. At every meal, we must sit according to rank.
Our slaves in green serve us our plain food and then sit themselves in a separate dining room. We eat mostly in silence, with only the occasional sound of a spoon hitting the bottom of a bowl or someone setting their ceramic teacup down.
After everyone has finished, we thank the goddesses and have an hour of free time before the morning briefing. I usually exercise during this time, but this morning, I’d rather talk to Ash.
“Do you mind staying for a minute?”
Ash pours himself a glass of water and sits at the table. Even though we’re the only two at the table, we cannot sit in anyone else’s chair.
“Is this about last night? Did Ivy remember you?”
“No,” I put one finger over my heart. “I walked her almost to her home and then came back here. I put all my faith in the goddesses last night.”
“How did you get up the courage to talk to her in the first place?”
“A man grabbed her, and I instinctively punched him. Then he said some insulting things to her, and I punched him again.” I won’t tell Ash everything, but a wave of anger washes over me for what happened to Ivy. “Then we were asked to leave by security.”
“And?”
“That’s when I called you, and then I walked her almost home; she was skittish. I gave her my phone after erasing the data.”
“That’s how she messaged you?”
