Resting herself into one of the chairs by the table, her feet drummed on the floor as she waited. The dog, Grot, came and rested in front of her, laying on its side, its four eyes blinking at her before it looked off uninterestedly.
Well, at least he was better company than his owner…who was still missing.
“I wonder where your owner is,” she murmured, and Grot’s focus came back to her. “Do you know where he went off to?”
The dog didn’t answer. Instead, it looked away again, its eyes reflecting boredom.
Lauren chuckled slightly. “You know, when I was young, we had a Golden Retriever and I used to talk to him all the time. Ask him about his day, tell him about my problems…you know, the typical things you talk to a dog about. One day my father saw me talking to the dog.” She leaned down on her elbows, her face resting in her palms. “I was in a really bad mood that day and I was shouting at the poor animal, asking him why he wouldn’t talk back to me. My stepdad came out and saw me. You know what he said?”
Grot didn’t make any indication he was even listening.
Lauren continued anyway. “He said that I should stop forcing the dog to talk because if he did speak, I wouldn’t like it.” She paused, the memory running through her mind. She remembered it like it was yesterday. “I never talked to the dog like that again. Dad was right. It would have scared the hell out of me if my dog had answered.” She looked at Grot, who was still staring at nothing in particular. “On Earth, dogs don’t speak,” she whispered, eyeing Grot. “Funny. If you spoke right now, I wouldn’t even be surprised… Guess that’s what knowing aliens exist does to you. It messes with your mind and your perception of reality and everything you thought you knew. For all I know, I could still be in the terrarium imagining all this.”
Easing up off her elbows, Lauren inhaled deeply as she glanced around the room.
“That wasn’t supposed to end like that. It was supposed to be a funny story but I guess this is no laughing matter.” She sighed. “I just…I guess I’m nervous, you know?” She paused. “Your owner really doesn’t care that I’m here, does he?”
Grot raised his head a little to look at her, a low sound in his throat as if he was telling her not to get her hopes up about that.
“Yea, you’re right. But…where does that leave me then?”
As she watched the dog get disinterested once more, its head resting back on the floor, Lauren swallowed hard.
Where did that leave her?
The female was noisy.
Even two rooms over and with the cleansing unit on, he could hear her talking.
Who on Hudo III was she even speaking to?
Her soft, feminine voice sounded happy even though she was in less than desirable circumstances.
He hated happy people.
Their happiness was irritating.
Using the soap berries to create a lather, Riv soaped himself, his scowl still prominent.
She was still talking.
He could hear her.
Her native tongue was one he’d never heard before, and he’d heard many. Life in the mines had exposed him to most of them. But hers was different.
Some of her syllables were drawn out and some were barely pronounced. It sounded almost as if she was speaking Urgli—there’d been one being in the mines who’d spoken that language—but the words the female said weren’t Urgli words.
Geblit had said she was a…human. The word came back to him suddenly.
He’d never encountered that species before and he could only assume she’d come from some far out planet.
Turning on the water spout, he allowed it to wash the soap suds from his frame before the blast of warm air hit him to dry him.
Satisfied, he exited the cleansing unit and went to his room.
Phek.
She was still talking.
Outside the cleansing unit, her voice was even clearer in the silence of the dwelling.
And he could smell her too. Her scent still lingered in the corridor from when she’d walked through it.
It was so strange to hear a conversation in his house that even though he was scowling in her direction, he couldn’t help but stop and listen a little.
A female hadn’t graced his dwelling in, well, forever.
His brother, Sohut, didn’t invite females over and he certainly didn’t, so hearing a female inside his space was a little jarring.
Slipping a loose tunic over his shoulders and pulling on a fresh pair of trousers, he walked slowly toward the sound of her voice.
She was sitting by the table, arms crossed as she spoke to Grot, who, surprisingly, was laying by her feet, listening to her speak.
How he could stand the constant chatter, Riv didn’t know.
He paused by the doorway, frowning at her.
Of all the things Geblit could have brought to him, why this?
Geblit must have known he’d bought an intelligent being; he must have known she wouldn’t fit in with the other animals in his Sanctuary.
It wasn’t as if he could put her in one of the enclosures…could he?
She looked in his direction then, big brown eyes widening slightly as she saw him standing there.
No. He couldn’t put her in one of the enclosures. Even if he wanted to.
That would be cruel.
He was many things, but he wasn’t cruel.
He’d let her stay in the spare room for one more dark-cycle then he’d take her to the exchange and find someone who would take her off his hands since Geblit wouldn’t return for her.
It took him a few moments to notice she was still staring at him and the realization made him stiffen a little.
Even when she wasn’t speaking, it was as if he could hear her anyway.
That, and she was looking at him strangely.
Her eyes were the most expressive he had ever seen on any being and whenever
