Alien Barbarian’s Little Human

11. Varona

CHAPTER 11

VARONA

M any of my colleagues believe that my affair with Chloe is but a passing fancy. They scoff at the idea one of us could have one of them as a jalshagar.

But the days become weeks, and the weeks months, and we are still growing closer by the moment. Chloe is a wonderful woman, no matter what planet she was originally born on. I could not ask for a better mate.

My fellow Ishani may need more convincing, but I do not. Fate has brought us together, by the will of the Precursors, and I am not one to doubt their wisdom.

Chloe and I are happy, but I can tell she worries about me, and my people. She thinks we are all too trusting, too arrogant. We Ishani know we can fend off any negative influences, but Chloe judges us by the standards of the less-enlightened races.

One of the concessions we’ve made to the visitors on our planet, both Alliance and Coalition, is the formation of an Ambassador’s Council. The Council has no formal power over Ishani law, but the members all agreed to abide by its edicts whenever feasible.

Today, we gather in a domed structure near the outskirts of our city. The Alliance are seated on one side, the Coalition on the other. The Ishani sit between the two. The IHC has no formal arrangement with us, but their representative sits in our section.

I look over at Chloe and rest my hand on top of her own.

“Are you prepared for your grand speech?”

She rolls her eyes and sighs.

“Oh lord, don’t call it that. I just hope I don’t trip over my own words.”

“You’ll do fine, beloved.”

She smiles back at me, and gives my hand a squeeze before rising to her feet.

“I guess I might as well get this over with.”

The Ishani Speaker introduces Chloe to the gathering. There is no applause, a testament to how tense things have truly become. She steps up and speaks into the magnifying crystal, sending her voice to all ears in the chamber.

“Good morning. I know that we have a lot of business to conduct, so I’ll try to be brief and cut to the chase. We need to leave, now. All of us.”

A Grolgath ambassador smirks before calling out.

“All of the humans, you mean?”

His retort is met with more than a smattering of laughter, most of it from the coalition side.

“Yes, the humans, but also the Shorcu. The Grolgath. The Vakutan and the Pi’Rell. All of us need to leave before we corrupt this paradise.”

Understandably, she is not met with much enthusiasm. The Alliance side of the dome looks betrayed. The Ataxians are scoffing as if they were the only ones singled out by her speech.

“The Ishani have no prisons, no disease, no hunger, and no crime on their world. Do you know how rare that is?” Chloe shakes her mane of hair, piercing blue eyes sweeping around the room. “If we want to preserve this miracle, we all need to pack up and leave. The Ishani don’t belong on either side in this war.”

Now the Alliance side is straight up aggressive, shouting at Chloe and calling her a traitor. The Ataxians are eating it up with a spoon. The discord grows ever greater, to the point where even we Ishani are caught up in it.

Long ago, before even those we call the Precursors were fully formed, my people were warriors. Those instincts are still inside of us, albeit buried. But I can still feel them, feel the urge for violence. My Ishani discipline keeps it at bay, of course, but that doesn't mean I don’t understand the urge for violence.

Perhaps some of my compatriots understand it all too well. One of my fellow Ishani shoves his neighbor. It’s not much of a shove, more of a pat with the palm of the hand, but it’s the most violent thing one of my people has done in millions of years.

“Enough!” Chloe bellows. “I know this committee has no official power, but I want to hold a vote on this matter. We must leave this place before it is tarnished forever.”

The voting does not go well for Chloe. Only a smattering of votes are in favor of vacating the Ishani world.

Worse, the Ataxian ambassador has some ideas of his own.

“I want to introduce a motion condemning the partisan politics going on between the Ishani and the IHC.”

Chloe flinches.

“Me? What did I do?”

“I fear it is what both of us have done,” I mutter.

The Ataxian ambassador points his green scaled finger at Chloe.

“The IHC ambassador has begun a romantic relationship with the chief Ishani delegate. It is at least a conflict of interest, at the most treason. I call for a vote now!”

He gets lots of support in the chamber, from both sides.

“I guess we finally found a way to unite the Ataxians and the Alliance,” she growls. “Just pit them both against me.”

“You are a scapegoat for problems they cannot really solve,” I say quickly. “Please do not take this personally.”

The vote is damning. Every delegate except for two--myself and Chloe--votes in favor of the condemnation.

After the council session ends, I escort Chloe to the exit. The way her shoulders slump makes me sad. She should not have to suffer like this because of politicking.

“Varona.”

I turn to see several of my fellow Ishani gathered together, looking grave.

“What is it, my brothers?”

“We would speak with you.”

His eyes dart to Chloe, and then back to me.

“In private.”

“Anything you wish to say to me, you may say in front of her,” I growl, thrusting my chin out in defiance.

“V, it’s all right,” Chloe says, squeezing my arm. “Go talk to your people. I need to file a report with my CO anyway about today’s debacle. I’m not looking forward to the response, quite honestly.”

She leaves me, and I go to my people. These are all elder Ishani, whose age and wisdom puts them in high societal esteem. Higher even than myself.

“Walk with us, Varona,” says Bedal, the leader of the elders.

“Or should we call you V?” quips someone whose identity I can’t quite catch.

Bedal glares at the apparent speaker, then turns and leads me away from the chamber. We walk along the circular deck which runs the circumference of the dome. The smell of fragrant blossoms reaches my nostrils as we reach a hanging garden.

“I imagine you know what it is we wish to discuss?” Bedal says.

“You want to discuss my relationship with Chloe, my jalshagar.”

His face twists into disgust.

“One of…them cannot be your jalshagar. Our scholars say it is impossible.”

“I rather think it is possible. I know what’s in my heart and soul, and what’s inside of hers. You will not convince me otherwise, brother.”

Bedal leans on the railing and sighs.

“What I do or do not believe, or what you do or do not believe, are less consequential than you might imagine. The fact of the matter is, the Ataxians are right. It is a conflict of interest for you to be involved with the human woman.”

I shake my head vehemently.

“I rather think not. Our people have no intention of ever signing a treaty with the IHC, or anyone else for that matter. Therefore, there is no conflict of interest since she has impossible goals.”

“It’s not about possibility, Varona, but about perception.” Bedal gestures at the city below, now teeming with almost as many non-natives as Ishani. “The whole mess of races, governments, and religions is a star set to go supernova. Our only hope of maintaining calm is to keep up the perception of neutrality. It is for that very perception that you must leave her, my brother.”

My heart feels as if it’s been stung by a poison thorn at just the thought of losing Chloe.

“No. Never!”

Before I know what I am doing, I cross the few feet between myself and Bedal and grab him by the lapels of his robes. He gasps as I physically lift him off the ground.

“You will not take Chloe from me! She is mine! Must I throttle you to make you understand?”

The harshness of my voice is like blades on my eardrums. I gasp, looking around at the shocked faces of my brothers. Bedal doesn’t seem frightened, merely surprised. And sad.

“You see, brother?” he says quietly. “This is why you must leave her. Her crude human ways have already begun to corrupt you.”

“No.” I put him down swiftly, and beg forgiveness. “I’m sorry, Bedal. I don’t know what came over me. It won’t happen again.”

He straightens his garment and sighs.

“I’m afraid you’re not the only Ishani to temporarily lose self control, Varona. It has been happening all over the planet, in ways both large and small. One of our councilors struck another Ishani this morning over a dispute over data files. Data files, Varona.”

The truth sinks in. Chloe is right. We have been corrupted.

“It’s not Chloe’s fault, though,” I say firmly. “She has, in fact, called for her own exile from this place. How is that corruption?”

“She says one thing, but does another, like most humans.” Bedal shrugs. “I will not attempt to convince you otherwise from the fantasy you have woven around the human woman, Varona, but I will likewise not suffer your ignorance. You must consider what we have said. Banish the woman, from our world and your heart. It is for the best.”

Bedal strides away from me, his entourage falling in around him. That’s one way to end a conversation, Chloe would probably say if she were here.

“You will not take her from me.”

I flinch at the sound of the harsh voice, and take a moment to realize it was my own. Aggression, anger, and a desire for violence all spiked inside of me when I spoke.

I cover my face with my hand and try to recover my Ishani peace. It eludes me, though I am able to quell thoughts of violence against Bedal. The implications, namely that Bedal is right, are not lost on me.

I have to speak with Chloe. It is the only way I can center myself again. It takes me some time to locate her, and when I finally find Chloe she is at the spaceport.

Chloe stands near one of the terminals, chatting amicably with an elder Vakutan whose red scales have given way to pink. They both laugh, and he puts his hand on her shoulder for a moment. There is nothing sexual or possessive about the gesture. I know this on a logical level.

But I still stalk up to them and put my hands on the Vakutan. I give him a hard shove, growling like an animal.

“Do not touch her.”

“Varona?” Chloe’s confusion wages war with anger. “What the hell are you doing? This is my friend, Ambassador Krel.”

“It’s all right, Chloe. We’ll speak later. Your friend is clearly quite…agitated.”

“Friend?” I sputter to Chloe. “Is that what you told him we were? Friends?”

Chloe cocks an eyebrow at me and crosses her arms over her chest.

“What’s your problem? It’as not like you to be jealous, Varona. Why is this suddenly a problem?”

“Never mind that,” I snap. I’m not prepared to tell her about my conversation with Bedal and the other Elders. “Come with me, now.”

I grab her by the arm, and she yelps in pain. I recoil at the sound, but I don’t think I was rough enough to warrant such a response.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

“Something caught on me,” she says. “Are you wearing a ring?”

She looks at her sleeve, and there is a tiny slash and a few drops of blood. How did that happen? I do not wear jewelry, like most Ishani.

“Perhaps I need to trim my nails…”

My words trail off when I look at my palm. A tiny growth protrudes from the center of my hand. I touch it, and it’s hard. Like bone.

“Never mind, it’s just a scratch,” she says. “Varona, I don’t mean to upset you further but I just got some bad news. I’m being called back to Earth.”

My stomach bottoms out. Chloe, leaving? What am I going to do now?