“I mean...” Durin faltered with uncharacteristic hesitation. “Have you got Abh friends?”
“Well, a few,” he said, putting it mildly.
“Then promise you won’t get mad at what I’ve got to say, all right?”
“As if you care whether or not you’ve pissed me off.”
“You blockhead, we’re having a party later. And you’re our guest. If this were some snot-nosed kid’s birthday party, the kids might be able to make merry even if the kid being celebrated got all sulky. But we ain’t kids anymore. How’re we supposed to let loose if the guest of honor’s off fuming in the corner?”
“Okay, okay. I promise that even if I get upset, I’ll just take it out on the cats after getting back. I’m going to be smiling like an idiot all party long, even if somebody sticks a finger in my food.”
“Then I’d feel sorry for your cats.”
“Don’t worry, they’re Abh cats.”
“Oh, guess it’s fine, then. They must be odious and revolting.”
“Wanna see?” Using his wristgear, Jint projected a photo of Sercruca and her litter, right under Durin’s nose.
Durin instantly amended his previous statement. “Cute! You’re gonna take your anger out on them? After all these years, and right this second I learn you’re a complete brute bastard.”
“You’ve got it all wrong. I’d actually be taking it out on another cat that’s not as cute.”
“I don’t really think cuteness is the issue...” Durin took in the photo with his eyes, thoroughly enchanted.
When Jint switched out the photo for a video with audio, however, his friend’s expression reverted to normal.
“Whaddya think? If you work with me, you get to spend your days with these little guys.”
“It’s a mighty tempting offer... but I’m a man of my convictions.”
“Shame,” said Jint, switching off the projection.
“Wait, you can stand to show me a little more,” Durin objected.
“Say, why don’t you take one of the kittens off my hands?” said Jint.
“Dude, for real? I can?”
“Yeah. Not immediately, mind you. They’re still too small to want to leave their mother’s side, and ripping one away would put it in danger. But in around two months’ time, they’ll start being more independent, and once that happens, I’d be grateful if you could look after one of them.”
“You’re not trying to bribe me, I trust.”
“Nope. Like I said, taking one off my hands would help me out. Although I’m not above bribing you with a kitten if it’s that valuable.”
“I may be an idiot, but I’m not enough of an idiot to be deciding where the rest of my life takes me based on a kitten.”
“And what a boring, kitten-less life you’ll lead, Durin.”
“Just leave me and my life be, would you? So, are you really giving me a kitten?”
“I certainly don’t mind. Which do you want?”
“Wait, wait. First I need you to tell me which are male.”
After a while, Durin selected a ctilüarh (striped-fur) that looked just like Dyaho.
“I’d have liked to bring him to you in person, but I doubt I’ll have time. I’ll send him over,” Jint promised.
“Thanks.”
“So why don’t you like Abhs, anyway? Especially when they raise such cute cats?”
“Their cats are cute, I’ll give you that. But I’m sorry to say Abhs have gotten really creepy to me.”
“I didn’t know that about you.” This wasn’t the first time he’d met somebody with prejudice against the Abh, so he was hardly shocked to his core. But there was something about the way Durin put it that drew his notice. After a moment’s thought, he realized: “They’ve gotten creepy? As in, they weren’t before?”
“Yeah. Used to be I was pretty much uninterested, in fact.”
“I see. So the enemy’s propaganda has had results.”
“Hey, man, it’s not like I’ve been brainwashed.”
“I don’t think you’ve been ‘brainwashed.’ But I will say it’s a little weird. You’ve never met an Abh before, right? So why do they feel creepy to you?” he asked, deciding not to go into the fact that he was technically an “Abh” now, too. After all, Durin clearly meant Abhs-by-birth. Bringing that up would just muddy the waters of their conversation.
“Lately, I’ve been taking an interest in a little thing called history.”
“I’m surprised. I thought for sure that for a meathead like you, even the contents of your skull were pure muscle.”
“You’re not wrong. But ever since I saw you off at the spaceport that day, the clump of muscle in my skull started thinking about a bunch of stuff. You and me, we’re carrying completely different histories on our shoulders. But if you rewind far enough, those histories converge. When I realized that, I got a funny feeling in the pit of my stomach, and I started hitting books on the history of Earth. My mom was so shocked she nearly sent me to the hospital; I hate hospital beds, so I kept saying no. But who cares about that — the point is, the more I learned, the stranger it all seemed. Then your enemies came along. They were a depressing lot, and they claimed to be our dear friends even though they came without an invitation, but they did do one good thing for me. They cleared up something that had been gnawing at me. And it’s not like I asked them about it; they told us.”
“What was gnawing at you?”
“The fact that the Abh are so damned friendly with each other.”
“Uh, duh. They’re of the same race.”
“People can be of the same race and still hate each other. Hell, sometimes people in the same family hate each other. My father got killed by his own brother.”
“I didn’t know that...”
“It happened before you immigrated. Everybody who’s known me for longer knows, but they don’t talk about it out of consideration. So the oldest brother killed the second oldest, and the third oldest, my uncle, is working me, the son of the one who got killed, like a horse. Obviously I despise my piece of shit uncle for killing my dad. A life sentence is way too good for him. I’d love to rip him
