Page 78 of I Married A Syllen

She nodded without hesitation.

“I absolutely don’t mind. Edocits are also very physical. In my case, I’m also a huge hugger,” she added with a sheepish grin.

I laughed at her adorable expression. Lily was truly beautiful. But then Edocits were among the most attractive species out there. It really pleased me how much we’d hit it off. I looked forward to developing a closer bond of friendship with her.

“So how are things progressing?” I asked, gesturing with my chin at the swarm of people working.

“The UPO team is finalizing the stabilization of the area,” she said, shifting to a professional tone. “Athusa is all over it. He’s got everyone walking straight, but not in a bullish way. He inspects everything and requests corrections where needed. It’s crazy how much more accurate he is than some of our advanced equipment when it comes to how best to care for the land.”

I couldn’t help a smile at the genuine pride and awe that had seeped into her voice as she spoke of her man.

“He seems very thorough,” I concurred.

“He is,” she said with conviction. “But he’s mostly very protective. Athusa takes his role as Thesh of his tribe very seriously. He wants to make sure that his people, the fauna, and flora under his care will be safe. Speaking of which, we’ve had some great news scattered throughout the morning.”

“Oh?! Like what?” I asked, intrigued.

“We’ve rescued quite a few animals who got trapped in the debris. Athusa actually sang one of them back to life! It was insane to watch. And what a singing voice he has…” she said wistfully.

I snorted. “Someone has a crush,” I said teasingly.

She gave me a conspiratorial sideways glance even as her cheeks heated.

“How can I not? He’s insanely hot!” Lily said with a girlish giggle.

“Did you know you were soulmates before you came here?” I asked, unable to further keep my curiosity at bay.

She nodded. “Uncle K told me. I’ve been planning and reorganizing things around my work so that I could permanently move here. Working for the UPO seriously helped. They want a few of us forging strong ties with the Syllens to foster and maintain a friendly relationship with them.”

“I suspected as much. And I’m super happy we will be neighbors,” I said sincerely.

“So am I, especially someone in the same line of work as me,” Lily said warmly.

A couple of large Wonthonnas entering my line of sight claimed my attention. As impressed as I continued to be by the giant beasts, memories of yesterday’s events rushed back to my mind. Maeve believed that it was the camouflaged explosives that caused the land to cave in and not the weight of the creature Togar brought. But I couldn’t help worrying they might cause another collapse.

“Relax,” Lily said teasingly, guessing the thoughts troubling me. “The engineers have done a fantastic job. The land is solid. They are only allowed in the spaces where the stabilization work has been fully completed.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” I said, my eyes still glued on the massive creatures.

Some of them were carrying the debris that had been picked up. The huge bowl-like carapace on their backs overflowed with it. Other Wonthonnas were carrying the soil that the Syllen were using to fill the fissures. Once they had dumped enough of it, the beasts would stomp on the ground to level it. Their massive feet each easily had a circumference of two feet. In between each layer of soil, Kalrins would fly in and plop a lot of their melia nuts.

“I genuinely thought they would let the UPO handle that task once they were reassured of their good intentions,” I mused aloud.

Lily shook her head. “It has nothing to do with trust. Even though this whole mess is our fault, they are adamant about fixing the ground themselves. They’re fine with us tackling the stability issue. But they’re not just throwing in extra soil. They are making sure they’re giving it the proper nutrients along the way to make it safe for everyone.”

“It’s slower, but so long as they are happy with how we help fix this mess, then all is well,” I replied. “Based on my conversation with Taelen, a lot of this debris will come in handy for a variety of things and tools they will want to craft as more of their people awaken.”

“Correct. And they will compost the rest,”

“But what about inside? Once the stabilization work is complete, are they going to allow the UPO to go in and fill up the cave?” I asked. “Athusa seemed pretty against it yesterday.”

She glanced in the general direction of her mate with a slight frown.

“We’re not going to do anything about it for now. The tribe first wants to wait to see if we manage to recover the stones. The melia nuts the Kalrins are currently burying in the upper layer will at least help reset the balance. We’ll address the next part when we get there.”

One of the engineers calling us over ended our conversation. We spent the rest of the day helping restore the land. The UPO crew ended up staying a bit longer as their tools seriously accelerated the heavier tasks. It warmed my heart seeing them exchanging friendly goodbyes with the Syllens. Many of the workers expressed sincere sorrow at not being able to assist further with the rest of the restoration.

Although we were nowhere near having erased all animosity from the Syllens towards off-worlders, this offered them tangible proof that not all of us were evil. One step at a time, we would bridge the divide. But you didn’t erase that kind of bad history overnight.