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“Go ahead,” I say.
“I have a gift for you,” Kiva says, holding up a tin that looks like it should contain hard candies.
“A gift? I’m sure it’s not—”
“I insist,” he says, thrusting it into my hand. “The books you sent me were fascinating. I will be sure to send them back in perfect condition once I have taken proper scans of all the passages that most interested me.”
I raise a brow as I open the little container.
“You finished reading them?” It has not been long since I last saw the male.
“I have not slept for all they have been entertaining me and bringing new research topics to my mind! My mate is positively irritated by my complete lack of self-care since acquiring them!” he reports enthusiastically. “In any case, I did have time to craft the recipe for those tablets you now hold. I stayed my mate’s murderous hand with this gift to her, and I hope you will enjoy them like she did. She barely remembered how annoyed she had been when I presented them.”
“And what are they?” I ask, picking up one white tablet. It’s a bit chalky, like a pill or breath freshener.
“Let one melt on your tongue, and for approximately four intervals, your tongue will no longer produce the mating call’s aphrodisiac.”
My eyes widen. “Truly?”
“Yes. I have been working on this formula for a while now. Human females often enjoy the act of kissing for no reason at all, and my mate has bemoaned her inability to do so without ingesting the aphrodisiac. That is why I created these tablets,” he explains.
“This might’ve been a better solution to our problem—”
“N-no,” he says quickly. “Unfortunately, when the aphrodisiac is not produced and secreted, then neither are the fluids that will ‘infect,’ so-to-speak, one’s mate with kali.”
“I see,” I say, half-relieved that Frankie and I didn’t risk our fragile physical bond for nothing. “This is a wonderful gift, and a genius invention. I’m in your debt.”
I close the tin and slip it into the inside pocket of my armored air seal.
“Good. Pakka told me that engendering your good will would be useful to him, although now that I say that I wonder whether that was a private confession…”
I pat his shoulder with a chuckle, amused as always by his unique combination of Deadhead cluelessness and sincere enthusiasm.
“It probably was, but don’t worry. I know very well how much your Ka’lakka needs me.”
We share some more small talk while I wait for Frankie, which mostly consists of me encouraging Kiva to speak at length about his daughter and mate. He’s a proud father and starts projecting images from his comm onto the deck of the small Human-Kar’Kali hybrid named Evie, who I’ve met on occasion at diplomatic affairs. My mind is drifting to other things, like the tin in my pocket and whether I’ll ever get a chance to use the pills inside.
Francesca emerges from the tent with her thumb poking up. I squint at that.
“Is this a good thing?” I ask, wrapping my fingers around the gloved thumb before thinking.
She giggles, so I assume the small slip on keeping my hands off her was not a problem. I let go, nonetheless.
“Yes,” she says. “Thumbs up is a good sign. Thumb down—” She twists her wrist to point the thumb down. “— That’s bad.”
“How incredibly random,” I comment.
“You’re right,” she says with a shrug. “It means I’m good to go. I can land on the surface now. Exciting, right?”
“Very.”
“So what’s first on our list of options?” she asks. “You want to start visiting settlement locations, right? I received that folder on all the suggestions your advance team compiled.”
My wife loves her homework. I assigned two sworn captains from the fleet to comb the planet for the best locations to settle down in. There are existing cities that we’re considering, as well as with other locations that might force us to build from scratch.
“That’s not the plan today,” I tell her.
“Then what are we doing?”
