16:56 21/05/2587 –(8734/689/52/10)

Risoti’s leaving-do was far more subdued than Erilur’s had been. She had selected a fashionable restaurant, though she had felt a little guilty as Gabriel could not partake; he had assured her it was okay and that tonight was about her.

It also helped that he had stuffed his face before coming here. Maybe a little too much, considering how bloated he felt.

“You ok?” asked Nish as they waited for their meals.

“Yeah, overdid it; before I came here, I just need some water,” Gabriel replied. He doubted if water would make it any better, but if it put her mind at ease, it was fine.

“Finish the story!” Pista demanded, banging her cutlery on the table.

“Stop that!” ordered Nish, taking the knife and fork off her “also finished the story, what?” she added, looking directly into her daughter's eyes.

“Finish the story, please, Gabriel,” said Pista, her tone less commanding than before.

“Where was I? Oh, so Thor cast his line into the deep ocean, and as Hymir's worry grew, so did the waves, the boat shook, and the water boiled,” Gabriel explained. “So heavy was Thor’s catch that the god of thunder’s foot went straight through the bottom of the boat.”

“Hymir pleaded with Thor to stop, but the god would not listen, as a mountain-sized head emerged from the ocean. They realised they had just caught Jormungandr, the world serpent, so large he encircles the whole Earth, its mouth dripping with eitr, a poising so deadly it may slay the gods and all life on Midgard,” Gabriel told them.

“Both the serpent and Thor were destined to kill one another come Ragnarok, the twilight of the gods. Perhaps hoping to avoid his fate, Thor grabbed his mighty hammer, Mjolnir and prepared to do battle with the monster,” he explained.

“However, Hymir could stand it no more and cut the line, sending the world serpent back to the bottom of the ocean,” Gabriel said. “Thor was furious and threw Hymir overboard, taking the two whales the giant had caught, and Hymir’s large cauldron, the god of thunder, departed,” Gabriel said, finishing the tale.

“Thor is not a very nice person,” Risoti said.

“He’s a god; pretty much all gods in all religions are violent drunken psychopaths,” Nish explained, “a lot of them reproduced with their relatives as well.”

“Oh, thanks for that. That's just the image I needed in my head just before I have my meal,” Risoti replied, rubbing her stomach.

“I’m sure you’ll manage,” commented Gabriel.

“What’s repodulcing?” questioned Pista.

“Ask your mother,” Gabriel replied, kicking the problem down the road.

Pista looked at Nish expectantly.

“It means having children,” Nish explained, unwilling to go further than that.

Pista went silent momentarily as her young brain tried to parse the information. She had a rudimentary understanding of how babies were made, but she was pretty certain you could not do with your family.

“Foods here,” Gabriel said, and Pista forgot all about it.

***

Risoti finished her meal before the rest, not including Gabriel, who had eaten nothing. Behind them, a dance floor had been opened up, and several people had taken to the floor. Watching so many different locomotion forms engage in dance was rather fascinating.

“Want to dance?” Risoti asked Gabriel.

Gabriel took a moment to reply and said, “I don’t know how.”

“Neither do I; it’ll be fun,” Risoti countered, grabbing Gabriel's hand and pulling him, reluctantly, to the dance floor.

“I have no idea what I’m doing,” Gabriel reiterated as they stood on the floor.

“Put your hand on my waist,” Risoti explained.

“You said you did not know how to dance, and do you even have a waist,” Gabriel pointed out.

“Firstly, I lied, and secondly, don’t overthink it,” Risoti replied, grabbing Gabriel’s hand and placing somewhere on her utterly curveless body.

“I looked like a child dancing with their mum,” Gabriel pointed out as Risoti led them in a simple routine.

“Well, you ain’t calling me mommy, or I will break your nose,” Risoti noted as she spun Gabriel around.

“On that, we can agree,” Gabriel said, getting back into position.

After a few minutes, he was getting the hang of it, “I will miss you,” he said, wearing his heart on his sleeve. Gabriel was surprised he had even done it.

Risoti was of a similar opinion, though she was glad Gabriel had. “I’ll miss you too, be sure to keep in touch, if for no other reason than I will be able to show off to my family,” Risoti said.

“Why would your family care?” asked Gabriel.

“Let’s say your fame has spread further afield than you realise,” Risoti replied.

Gabriel groaned before dipping Risoti. “Mr Ratlu, you need to be careful, or you’ll sweep me off my feet, figuratively and literally,” Risoti said, impressed by Gabriel's strength, though she had to admit she much preferred it when Erilur did it.

“Are you insane? Erilur would claw my face off, just literally that one,” Gabriel responded.

“Where did you learn how to dip anyway?” Risoti asked as Gabriel pulled her back up with ease.

“I watched that couple over there,” Gabriel explained, gesturing with his head, to two Koschel behind him.

“Are you going to be alright?” Risoti asked as the song changed to one with a faster tempo.

“I’m not that old. By your standards, I’m still a teenager,” Gabriel pointed out as he kept pace with Risoti.

“I wasn’t talking about the song, I meant Nish and Pista will be gone in under a month, and you’ll be all by yourself,” Risoti clarified.

“Mmh,” Gabriel replied, “I tend to do rather well on my own.”

Risoti did not reply, mulling over what Gabriel had just said; it was not that she did not believe him; she just felt there must be more to the story. Though it seemed Risoti would not find out.

Looking over at Nish and Pista, who watched the whole thing with much interest, Risoti could not help but notice how Pista seemed to be about to burst from jealousy, so she decided to take a break and hand Gabriel over to her.

***

Pista stood on Gabriel's feet and led the girl in the only dance he knew; Risoti had not been the only one to lie.

Nish said, “I can hardly imagine that this is the same man who mumbled when I first talked to him in the hospital.”

“You got that right,” Risoti added, taking a sip from her cup.

Pista came running back to Nish; once the song ended, she was about to jump into Nish’s lap when she remembered she was in a fancy restaurant and stopped.

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“Did you see, we went spinning, and Gabriel twirled me, and and,” Pista blurted out.

“Yes, I saw; you were amazing,” Nish replied, hugging her daughter, who trilled with joy, “maybe you’ll be a dancer when you grow up.”

Gabriel was about to sit down when Risoti said, “not so fast, Hapatokro; you still owe one lady a dance.”

“What did you call me?” Gabriel asked, confused.

“Hapatokro was a famous womaniser from two thousand years ago,” Risoti explained.

Gabriel was about to protest, but Risoti stopped him by saying, “enough; indignance later, right now you have a lady to see to.”

He rapped his fingers against his leg before offering a hand to Nish. Despite being sat down, Nish was at Gabriel’s eye level, and they spent a few moments looking at one another before taking Gabriel's hand and walking with him to the dance floor.

“Do you know how to dance?” Gabriel asked as he took up a similar position as he had done with Risoti.

“Yes, I did quite a bit at school, though Tufanda dance involves a lot of flying, which you may find difficult,” Nish answered, placing two hands on his shoulders and a third on his side.

Gabriel wriggled his fingers and took a deep breath. Gabriel led her in the same routine he had done with Risoti before Nish said, “sorry about this; Risoti told me earlier she wanted to see us dance, don’t really know why.”

Gabriel felt that her voice wavered a bit, but that could just have been his imagination. “Don’t worry about it; it is pleasant to dance with you,” he replied.

Nish’s wings flared slightly, and Gabriel felt himself blush, “why on Eart…. Minagerad, did I just say that,” he thought.

“Well, I’m glad you’re enjoying it so much,” Nish replied. Had she done so any quieter, she would have been whispering.

Gabriel cleared his throat, and desperate for any diversion, he asked, “Wha… Why did you do dancing at school? Was it a club?”

“No, mandatory, everyone has to do at least three hours of dance a week, cultural thing,” Nish explained; she instinctively attempted to lift Gabriel, as talking about her old lesson brought back some muscle memory.

Nish nearly pulled a muscle trying to haul Gabriel’s bulk. “Yeah, I wouldn’t recommend trying to do that. Hell, most humans can’t do it,” Gabriel said, taking the time to rub Nish’s side; he wasn’t sure if it meant the same thing, but Nish did not protest.

Pista squealed from her seat and nearly leapt into the air. Gabriel had no idea what that was about.

“I umm, think.. we.. should urr... Take our. Chair---seats,” Nish stuttered out before quickly leaving the dance floor and sitting down, deliberately avoiding Gabriel’s gaze.

Gabriel followed her, having nothing else to do, and Pista immediately pounced on his lap.

***

Gabriel could not get how Nish had reacted out of his mind; she had not said anything, so Gabriel had assumed, at the time, that nothing had occurred. Yet as he sat on his sofa after returning from the restaurant, Gabriel realised that maybe Nish had just been too polite to bring it up.

Filled with curiosity and dread that he might have done something horribly inappropriate, he quickly searched the internet for “Tufanda” and “touching sides.”

It did not take him long to find it, and he suddenly understood why Pista had squealed as she had.

Essentially Gabriel had done the Tufanda equivalent of kissing Nish right on the lips.

***

Gabriel tried to keep his attention focused on Risoti as the last call for her shuttle came through. She was holding onto Pista, who was just as sad to see her go as when Erilur left.

“I’ll send you messages just like Erilur does, ok,” Risoti said as Nish pulled her daughter away.

“Have to go, bye,” she added, taking her carry-on and running towards the gate. She would look back every once in a while, and Gabriel would wave while Pista and Nish raised their antennae.

When she was gone, Gabriel began to dredge up the courage to bring up what he had done.

“Nish… about yesterday night,” Gabriel said.

“It’s fine; I was just taken aback for a moment. I realise that for a human, it meant nothing,” Nish replied; Gabriel had not been the only one who had done some research last night.

“Yeah, but to a Tufanda, it did, and that is a problem,” Gabriel countered.

“It was hardly a problem,” Nish replied and immediately realised what she had just said. “I mean umm.. what I am trying to….”

“Just a bit of cross-culture mistake,” Gabriel replied, cobbling a poorly constructed and vaguely relevant sentence together.

Nish would not ignore an out when it presented itself, and she took it. “Right,” Nish said.

Off in the distance, Gabriel was Risoti’s shuttle taking off, and he was grateful for the distraction. “And then there were three,” he said.

***

They had decided to have a lazy day after Risoti left, and Gabriel was back in the Excelsus Suite enjoying a cup of tea. Looking out at the city, watching vehicles and people move about like ants, Gabriel found himself thinking about how Nish had responded.

“I’m reading too much into it; I’m anthropomorphising her; Erilur had no idea what she was talking about,” Gabriel told himself, pacing back and forth.

Nish had explained how she felt no romantic attraction; she had been in a brief sexual relationship, and the only thing she was bothered with was that the man had never shown up for Pista’s school plays.

“Why do I even care? Why am I blathering on about this? To no one, I might add,” he asked himself, stepping away from the window.

Nish was lovely to be around; she was fascinating to talk to, passionate about her field of study and truly loved her child, all things Gabriel respected and admired.

She was pretty freaking looking though; she was gangly, skeletal, really. When she closed her mouth, her face looked like a blank mask, no nose or visible ears, and even her lips vanished.

She had no curves either; she was utterly unattractive by human standards.

“Then why the hell can’t I get her out of my head?” he asked himself.

It was then that Erilur's little statement on the boat came flooding back, and he dropped his drink, spilling liquid on the floor.

“Oooooohhhhhhhhh ffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuccccccccckkkkkkkk,” Gabriel groaned.

***

Gabriel might have continued his self-pity and denial party all night had there not been a knock on his door. An unusual occurrence in and of itself, but Gabriel was too desperate for a distraction to care.

Gabriel quickly went to his door and checked the camera. A young alien, Gabriel was not sure which species, but they looked like a mix of wolf and pig, though they had nine limbs and lacked a tail.

“Hello,” Gabriel said through the speaker.

“Hello, I have a package for a Mr Ratlu,” the courier explained, holding the box a little too close to the camera.

Gabriel was confused for a moment, as he had not ordered anything. Then he recalled Erilur’s letter; she had mentioned she was sending him a gift.

“Yes, umm, I’ll open the first door, and you can leave the parcel there, and I’ll collect it later,” Gabriel explained, opening the door.

“I need a signature,” the postal worker explained, holding up their P.D.A.

“Of course you do,” Gabriel mumbled. “That will take some time; I need to get in my suit and go through the decontamination process.”

Gabriel put on his suit, grumbling all the while. One thing he would never be ungrateful for again was how simple it was to get a package back on Earth—assuming, of course, that those little shits did not steal it from his doorstep again.

Ten dull minutes later, he had signed for the package and brought it inside. Erilur had put in the effort; it was wrapped in colourful paper and even had a little bow.

Gabriel removed the wrapping, taking great care not to tear anything.

The box contained three smaller packages; one was a tin of savoury biscuits. Gabriel knew them; they were Opolo; Erilur had eaten them regularly while on Minagerad. However, she had often said that they paled to the ones on Bosd.

The second gift was a framed picture of all five of them outside the Hapip museum, taken just three short weeks ago. Gabriel looked at the photo and smiled. Erilur had mentioned wanting to frame it; it was a good picture, after all. You’d almost think I had been done by a professional.

Gabriel would need to think of a way to one-up her.

The final gift was odd; it was a small wooden figure that looked vaguely like Gabriel. However, it was abstract enough that it took a few moments for him to realise. Gabriel supposed this was a deliberate design choice and not due to a lack of skill.

The statuette had many fine details carved into it; judging from the patterns, they looked like letters. Metal inlays were embedded around the lips, fingers, limbs and eyes, along with two tiny gemstones for pupils. It looked expensive.

Gabriel was grateful for the gift, but he had no idea what it was; Erilur had not mentioned she was into wood carving.

Hoping there would be some explanation, Gabriel rummaged through the package to he found a small note.

Gabriel

This is a Fholso, a cultural artefact of my people; it’s shaped after its owner and the words inscribed into it as supposed to help a person overcome challenges.

I don’t know if it will actually work, but who knows?

By the way, it is very expensive, so don’t lose it.

Erilur

“Even one hundred and fifty lightyears away, you just can’t stop sticking your nose in,” Gabriel said with a chuckle.

***

With the full extent of Erilur’s generosity known, Gabriel pulled out a sheet of sturdy bordered paper and sat down to write an actual letter, the first he had ever written in his life. He was excited, if he was being honest.

He would go out looking for gifts later, but now it was the time to channel his inner ponce and write the most pretentious letter he possibly could.

Dearest Erilur Hahna Iho

Words cannot describe how much I enjoyed your message. I am indeed well, and your letter found me at a most opportune moment. As I found myself in another situation and your kind and familiar words helped raise my spirits, washing away the stress and fatigue of the day.

Your gifts were also a ray of sunshine on a drab day, as Risoti had departed just scant hours before, leaving my humors melancholic.

“Yeah, she’ll have to research that one. It’ll drive her nuts,” Gabriel chuckled.

Doubtless, this news gives you joy rather than grief as the day you will be reunited with your beloved draws ever nearer.

As to your inquiry into my relationship with Nish, I would like to reiterate that it is none of your sodding business, and I kindly request that you keep your large, scaly snout out of my affairs.

On a more positive note, I have not forgotten what you told me; on the contrary, I have given it serious consideration, and I hope I can act on it before it is too late.

It is such a shame that you left our merry band when you did, as we have witnessed many more wonders of this world. No doubt Risoti will tell you all about it, and I hope you look forward to it.

Tomorrow we will be travelling to the Great Black Cliffs of Mespit; Nish and Pista are most keen to see it. They say it reminds them of a similar feature on Yursu.

I would also like to thank you for the Fholso you sent, it is lovely, and I also hope it will provide me with the help I need.

I want to finish the letter by reminding you that my love for you is so great that no distance or time could ever damage it.

Your constant and most affectionate friend,

Gabriel Ratlu.

Gabriel sat back and admired his work; it looked like someone from the eighteenth century could have written it. It was perfect.