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Another thing that upset me.
I didn’t want to find potential here, not in the vegetation and definitely not in Aizor.
We exited the cave, striding out into the sunshine. A few Zuldruxians walked around in the open area between the circle of glass homes. Were they truly made of glass? They couldn’t be or they’d shatter. I’d examine Aizor’s home when we returned. I was curious, if nothing else.
Instead of heading in that direction, he took me left, continuing along the trail we’d taken to reach the bathing pool cave. The path wound around the side of the big hill.
We approached yet another crystal building, this one larger than all the others, and taller, with spires shooting at least three stories into the sky. While the majority of the structure was made up of various shades of blue, the taller spires gleamed pale silver in the sunlight. Truly, it was an amazing sight, and I stopped to gape at the beauty.
“I wish I understood how your world was built,” I said. “Did the crystals grow here or . . .?” I couldn’t imagine how they came to be.
Aizor stopped beside me. He took my hand and squeezed it as if he understood my question and thoughts. He spoke, but again, I didn’t understand.
At my nod, we continued toward the big building and went inside. I stopped again to admire the architecture from this angle. Open all the way to the top, the silver beams fed by sunlight arched down from the tall spires. The lower areas glowed like the rarest blue jewels.
“Is this a central building?” I asked, taking in the enormous firepit in the middle of the open area that had to be a few hundred feet across. No fire had been lit inside the rocks surrounding it, but a pile of crystalline wood had been stacked nearby, ready to be ignited. How could crystal burn?
Evenly spaced open archways led to rooms in three-quarters of the exterior walls, their glassy rooflines curving up to seamlessly meet with the silver crystal.
Someone shouted, and a knee-high, pale blue creature burst from one of the openings, followed by a male shaking a long wooden spoon. While he bellowed and gave chase, the spiky furred beast waddled around the fire pit and raced toward us as fast as its four legs could carry it.
Aizor grunted and pulled a blade from the sheath strapped to his side . . .
“No!” I leaped in front of him, placing myself between him and the creature that looked a bit like a blue cat with some spiky-furred porcupine mixed in.
The beast yelped and scurried around me, fleeing out the front doorway.
Aizor lowered his blade and tilted his head, no doubt saying,Are you out of your mind, woman? I nearly impaled you in the chest with my sword.
“You can’t kill it. It’s a . . . Well, I don’t know what it is but it’s a sentient creature.”
He huffed and returned his sword to its sheath.
The male who’d been chasing the creature paused beside us, barking out a bunch of guttural words, waving his arms and spoon around in an agitated way. He directed most of the conversation toward Aizor but kept shooting me scowls. With a twist of his lips, he stormed back to the room he’d exited.
Aizor tilted his head in that direction, and I tentatively followed. I glanced back, finding the blue creature peeking in through the opening. Its gaze met mine, and I swore I read thanks there.
I may have offended the guy with the spoon, but I’d made a new animal friend.
We walked into a decent-sized room with a long clear blue counter along the back wall. The spoon-waving male stood behind it. He glared at us before returning to stirring something in a big pot. I didn’t see a burner beneath it but maybe heat radiated up through the counter like those glass top stoves everyone raved about.
Tables took up most of the room, and Zuldruxians sat, eating from, you guessed it, blue glass plates.
The shouting male scooped up food, placing it on a plate held out by the person waiting in the short line.
A cafeteria. Great. My belly scrambled, telling me to hurry up and feed it.
Aizor nudged his head in that direction, guiding me over to the counter where he lifted a plate and handed it to me, taking one for himself. We stepped in behind the last Zuldruxian and when it was our turn, he urged me to hold up my plate for a serving.
The Zuldruxian scowled but gave me a few spoonfuls. I lifted it and it smelled . . . interesting. I couldn’t identify the brown lumps or the spices, but the gravy looked appealing. Shards of what looked like purple glass spiked through the food, but they couldn’t be what they appeared.
Beyond the pans, Aizor paused. I waited with him, staring at the empty counter like he did.
A plate morphed out of the counter like it was some kind of 3D printer. Smiling and murmuring something that had to be thanks, though it sounded likecarcar, he took the plate and juggling them both, urged me across the room to an empty table.
We placed our food on the glassy blue surface and sat.
Aizor dug into his meals with his hands and with a shrug, I did the same, delicately picking up a brown lump and popping it into my mouth. It was meat of some kind, and yummy. I munched through the tender chunk and moaned at the taste of the sauce that had a slightly spicy flavor. It was unlike anything I’d eaten before, but if this was an example of the food I’d be offered, I wouldn’t starve.
