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“What is it?”
“Why don’t you wear beads?”
“What?” He hadn’t been expecting that question. It seemed so random, so off topic, that he answered without really thinking. “They’re impractical. At least, off Wav’aii, they are.”
“But you do have them?”
“Of course. I have many. But beads aren’t really considered appropriate dress on most planets. And it’s not very professional looking on camera.”
“I’ve never seen you wearing them. I didn’t even know that’s how your people dressed. Looking at you now, it’s like you’re trying to be as different as possible from your people. Like you’re distancing yourself from your culture.”
“No, that’s not…” His immediate denial died on his tongue. Was that what he had been doing?
“What about your name? I thought Serval was your name, but everyone here calls you Servalee.”
“Serval is my professional name. It sounds better on camera. Better for marketing.”
“Optics. Is your whole life about optics? There’s more to life than what happens on camera, you know? And there’s nothing wrong with being yourself. You can still represent your past while staying true to who you want to be in the present.”
Serval didn’t say anything. Wasn’t sure how to respond to that. Sophie let the silence hang between them for a long time before looking forward. She took in a deep breath of the fresh night air, closing her eyes, lost in the beauty of his planet.
And it was beautiful. It seemed he always forgot that when he left, but he couldn’t deny it so long as he was here.
“I’m not ready to settle down,” Sophie finally said, breaking him from his musings. “I mean, if you want to stay here on Wav’aii, that’s still a whole planet for me to explore. If you want kids right now… I don’t know if I’m ready for that. We just met each other. So, I guess it depends on what your definition of settling down is. But I would never run out of content, even just being on another planet. I would still really love to explore the universe though.”
Serval let out a long breath of relief. Not just to finally have her answer, but to change from the rather weighty subject. “I want to explore the universe more too.”
She smiled, her own shoulders relaxing. “I adore your family so far. And I don’t think I’m ready to leave here, like, tomorrow or anything. I want a chance to get to know everyone a bit more, to explore the island some. I still need to see the underwater portion too. But I want to see more new planets. Chase your stories. See the universe.”
“If you want a rei,” he continued, “we still won’t have to settle. I mean, we will for the first few weeks of its life. Until it can come out of the birthing pool. But once it does, we can take them with us. We don’t have to stop if you want a family. We just need to pause until they can breathe air on their own and don’t need to rely on the pools so often.”
“Let’s take it one problem at a time,” Sophie said, snuggling into his side. “Right now, we’re waiting to see if I have a reaction to the wee.”
He snickered. “Wii.”
“I say potato, you say ovili.”
“What does that even mean?” He laughed, confused and delighted by her.
“Besides, before all of that, we have to think about our mating ceremony.”
He chuckled, putting an arm around her shoulders. “Do you want one?”
“Excuse me?” She reared back, playfully offended. “You’re lucky you didn’t meet my papi, because he would have demanded you go through with the ceremony before you ever put your hands on me. Of course, mi papi is under the impression that I’m still an innocent virgin, and I see no reason to correct that assumption, but my point still stands. If anything, finding out I’ve been compromised would have made him more determined to see me wedded.”
Serval could only laugh. “Your papi has no reason to worry. You’re mine regardless of if we have the ceremony now, or we wait until we return here next year.”
“A year, huh…” She mumbled softly. “I still get the beading ceremony though, right?’
He laughed, putting his arms around her. “Yes. You do. I can’t wait to see you wearing beads and dressed like an allowee.”
“Speaking of people dressing like an allowee,” she gave him a look. “We’re not on camera now. There’s no professional recordings happening. How come you’re not wearing any fancy beads, mister?”
He grimaced. “Not you too.”
“You’re on your home soil. Coral. Fossil. Whatever it is, you’re here. What’s wrong with the beads?”
“The beads are considered salacious on some planets, outright illegal on others, and they would be highly inconvenient trying to wear on a battlefield. The clothes I wear are considered normal for Holotulle, which is an acceptable standard for the rest of the Coalition, so I don’t have to worry about buying new outfits every time I reach a new planet. Including Wav’aii.”
