Tarajilana, a member of a humanoid species that humanity had quaintly dubbed "Elves," was on a date. Her first date, and as she understood it, the first date was important as it determined if there would be more dates. Tarajilana, who the human Ben had taken to calling Tara, desperately wanted there to be more dates with Ben as he treated her like one of the highblood of her people, despite the fact that she was lowblood, actually as lowblood as one could get without being terminated at birth. So when Ben suggested a bar known to cater to the 'Elves' and usually those of the highblood, she had wanted to say no, but Ben was so excited.
"I heard this place has awesome food," Ben said excitedly, grabbing Tara's hand and leading her into a portion of town that Tara usually avoided.
"As have I," Tara said. She was already getting looks from the others of her kind. But when she looked at Ben, it was all that mattered. His eyes said more than any words could. They looked around at everything, and Tara could literally see the happiness in them, but when they turned to her...Tara almost lost her breath every time because Ben's eyes would light up with an intensity that she had never seen before.
They talked as he led them through the crowds; as she watched his eyes, they would fall upon others of her species, men and women, and never did they have the same spark that they held for her. That was why she wanted more dates. It took them nearly an hour to walk from where the ship they both worked on had docked to the restaurant.
Ben stepped up to the Host, who was also an Elf. "High, I called and made a reservation for Ben."
"Good evening, sir." The Host said his smile clearly was what humans call a 'customer service smile.' Then, his eyes fell on Tara, and the smile vanished from his face. "Ah, Sir, I think there has been a mistake. Unfortunately, the only table that is available is one that is near the trash recycler. Tara felt her hearts plummet, this was the typical way her people tried to dissuade lowbloods.
"No, let me guess, you are Hevishnal, correct?" Ben said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a human device.
"Yes, I am Hevishnal." The Host said, confused. "But I do not remember speaking to you."
"See, I am a little bit of a worrywart, so I recorded the call in case something happened. After all, I didn't want to screw up this night," Ben said, hitting play as he cast that smile that seemed to emanate from his eyes back at Tara and she felt all three of her hearts skip a beat. The device played a call in excellent and unmistakable audio quality that made clear that not only had Ben reserved the best table in the place, but he had pre-paid. "We will be shown to the table now if you please, Hevishnal."
Clearly beat and hating that he had been, Hevishnal showed them to the second floor and out onto a climate-controlled balcony where four tables were, three were already occupied by people who Tara would never even dream of seeing, let alone dining near, and the fourth with a small sign that read "Reserved for Ben."
Ben thanked Hevishnal as he removed the sign and then placed their menus. Ben pulled Tara's chair out for her, letting her sit and sliding it in before he took his seat. Tara watched the Host, who walked straight to the servers who dealt with the balcony and talked with them, pointing to her. She knew what would come next. The server assigned to their table came over.
"Good evening, Sir; my name is Kelivash, and I will be serving you tonight; please tell me what you would like," Kelivash said, clearly ignoring Tara and planning to do so the whole time we were there.
"Sorry about this, but on dates, it is customary that the lady order first, so please start with Tara," Ben said, completely oblivious to the server's rudeness.
"Very well, Sir." The server said and then switched off the translator that had been translating from their native elvish to English. Kelivash turned to Tara and spoke in elvish. "You will order nothing you filthy lowblood, the guts to even walk in here.."
Tara's eyes widened as the server continued a short tirade, but with a tone that was completely sweet, like he was explaining the daily specials. She also looked at Ben, whose eyes had gone wide; she knew something that the server did not.
Ben slowly reached up and took his translator off. "Excuse me," Ben said in nearly flawless Elvish, "but what in the hell did you just say to Tara?" Ben had first impressed Tara when he learned Elvish to talk with her and make her feel more at home as the only Elf on the ship.
"I said..." The server turned, thinking that one of the other patrons had stepped in, but instead found himself facing a standing human, Ted, with a smile that only reached his mouth. His eyes held something cold and calculating. "I said..." The server was panicking. This far out in the colonies, not many knew the truth about Humans, but what they did know was terrified reports of freakish strength and a body that was virtually indestructible, and even if you hurt them, they would just as soon beat you to death with a severed limb as lay down and die like any normal sentient.
"Let me make this clear," Ben said in Elvish, "You will not speak to her like that again. You will not tamper with our food. You will provide the best service you possibly can. Do these things, and I will assume that you confused Tara for someone else and that you are having a bad day, don't, and I will make sure that you never forget this night, even if you get a full mind wipe. Are we clear?" Ben was not asking.
Tara was shocked; she had never heard Ben talk like this, and by the time he was finished speaking, he was almost hissing, and his anger had clearly manifested itself in his voice. She was scared, not of Ben, but for the poor server, even though he had been calling her terrible things a moment before. She found it thrilling and incredibly sexy.
The server nodded and stepped away to compose himself before coming back and speaking again. "Apologies, Ma'am, I must have confused you with someone else. Please tell me what it is that you would like and how you would like it cooked." The smile on Kelivash's face was genuine if clearly motivated by fear, and he seemed far more interested in satiating the angry human than trying to worry about blood status.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
Tara ordered one of her favorite appetizers and a sample platter of several dishes native to her homeworld. The server turned to Ben. "And you, sir?"
"That actually sounds really good. Can you get me the sample platter but double the portions?" Ben asked, his voice and body language returning to normal as if nothing strange had happened.
"Of course, Sir." The server said and then took their drink orders. Ben ordered a human wine that was compatible with both humans and elves, as well as water.
"I'm so sorry, Ben. I should have said something sooner." Tara said after taking off her translator and speaking in English, she had decided to learn English in return for Ben, as he was the only human on the ship.
"What do you mean?" Ben said, taking the bottle of wine from a hover tray that had appeared with two wine glasses, two water glasses, a bottle of wine, and a pitcher of ice water.
"I should have warned you about my blood status and what this place is," Tara said and then quickly explained that the Elves could all trace their heritage back to one or more of one hundred and seventy-three different families that had been the only ones to survive the last world war of her homeworld. Blood status was how directly you were tied to a family; if you had only one family's genetic marker, you were considered to have the highest blood; if you had more than 47 family markers, you were executed at birth. "I have 46 family markers, so I have the lowest blood status."
The server returned, placing their food in front of them. They ate, and Ben asked several questions; Tara answered them, though, with each one, she felt her heart sink further. Surely, he would never want to date her again. "Huh," Ben said, "Well, it all sounds like a bunch of crap to me."
"What?" Tara said, nearly choking on her current bite of food.
"It's crap," Ben said, taking a drink of the wine. "If humanity measured family markers, I'm fairly sure that I would have hundreds, maybe thousands of family markers, if not even more."
Tara looked at him, and Ben smiled that soul-warming smile that seemed to be only for her. "Your blood status is of no concern to me. I just like you for you." Ben said, shrugging awkwardly with a smile that said he was unsure how to explain what he was feeling.
Just then, the Host returned with two police officers; both were elvish. "Let me guess," Ben said quietly in English, "they are highblood?" Tara nodded glumly.
"Alright, you two, let's go." The officer who had more rank said, gesturing at Ben and Tara. Tara moved to oblige, but Ben placed a hand on hers, smiling that bright smile again.
"No, thank you, office. We appreciate the offer to escort us, but I think that we will be quite fine as we are." Ben smiled courteously at the officers. "Besides, we haven't finished our food yet."
Ben turned his head away from the stunned police officers and continued talking with an equally stunned Tara. "I don't think you understand, kid." The younger officer said, placing a hand on Ben's shoulder.
Suddenly, Ben's attitude changed. "If you want to keep that hand. Remove it from my shoulder." Ben said and then stood when the officer took his hand off. "Now, gentlemen, tell me, why are you interrupting my date with this lovely young lady."
There it was again. Tara noticed a smile that seemed cordial enough but didn't reach his eyes. His eyes were burning, not with whatever it was that he had for Tara, but with rage, anger, and cold, calculating wrath.
"You have violated the law by bringing a Lowblood in here." The younger officer said.
"Really?" Ben said his smile now becoming something feral. "What law? Give me the galactic standard code for it." He pulled out his datapad and the strange device from earlier. He hit a button with a red circle on it and waited for the code.
"I don't have to do any such thing." The younger officer said in anger and reached to slap the two devices from Ben's hands.
Faster than her eyes could follow, Tara watched as Ben was holding the devices for one moment. The next, he had both devices in one hand, and the other was locked around the wrist of the police officer.
"Correction, you do," Ben said. "Galactic Standard Law, H-173-48: any office must, upon request from parties involved, provide a GSL code for verification prior to arrest. Effective 78Q-9943T. And considering that the law I have just quoted to you went into effect what would be thirty-seven planetary orbits ago for this planet, you are legally required to provide the law."
Both the officers looked a little startled. They both rattled off a GSL code, two different GSL codes; Ben let go of the officer and punched both in. "The first one has to do with mining rights, and the second one has to do with the legality of breeding supermassive space-capable biological entities for racing. Neither are legal reasons to attempt an assault on either me or my date. However, according to the bill of indoctrination that humanity pushed through when they joined the galactic council, I have every right to defend myself, those I care for, and those who are incapable of caring for themselves. Further actions on your part will be treated as hostile, and to quote an old earth song, 'you will have opened up a great big can of whoop ass,' as I said earlier. Thanks, but no thanks. Please see yourself out."
The police officers seemed to visibly deflate, and Ben turned to the Host. "I will also be lodging a complaint with the human office of legal affairs and asking them to look into every case of discrimination that this restaurant has ever received, and a complaint against the Elvish race for practicing eugenics. I don't know what will come of it, but I can assure you that while human warriors are the best known, it is our lawyers that you should watch out for. If you have further questions, please contact my office." Ben handed each of the three a card that clearly stated he was the legal rep for the ship and its constituent business.
Ben sat down, and the three walked away. The rest of the date went smoothly; the waiter was polite, and Tara had a blast. A few hours later, Ben and Tara, arm in arm, walked back towards the ship. "Ben, can I ask you some questions?" Tara asked.
"Of course." He said smiling at her, making her hearts melt all over again.
She asked a few questions about what he had said, and he explained them to her, and then she got to the two that she really wanted to ask. "Okay, so about your eyes, when you look at me, it is as if the stars have descended to inhabit them, but when you looked at those police officers, your smile was there, but your eyes were dangerous."
Tara felt his shoulders slump. "Don't take it wrong, Ben," Tara said hurriedly. "I think it's kind of sexy, as you humans say."
"Oh," Ben said, surprised, and smiled at her, reinforcing how she had described it earlier. "Well, to quote my grandmother, you will only truly know if someone likes you if they are smiling with their eyes. Basically, humans believe that the eyes are a window to the soul and reveal what is truly in that person's heart, or hearts, in your case. And just so you know, Tara," Ben sounded unsure again, "when I look into your eyes, I feel like the gods of beauty have descended from their place of residence and taken the time to craft every atom of you and who you are into the model of perfection."
Tara felt her hearts flutter, never before had anyone said anything like that. She knew she had to ask. "Will there be more dates?" Tara blurted it out, panicking about the possibility of the word 'no' leaving his lips.
Ben looked confused, glanced at her, and then stopped. Slamming his palm into his forehead. "I'm so stupid." He said, laughing and smiling at her. "Tara, I asked you on the date. That is true, but it's typical for the woman to decide if there will be more dates."
Tara froze, processing what he had said. "Well, then, I guess I'll just have to answer with this." She leaned over and kissed him just as they made it to the ship.