The construction of the hall was progressing smoothly. What had started as simple markings on the ground had quickly become trenches and then strange metal meshworks which were covered in gray paste Artie called permacrete. This had taken two days.

During those two days, many others from the different clans made it as if they would move to come to see what we were doing. Cal would smile every time they were quietly met with a small delegation of First Clan warriors. The two groups would talk briefly, and then both would return to their respective clan halls.

"Come on, Nyla," Cal said, picking up a tool that was as long as she was tall.

"Okay," Nyla said and followed behind Cal alongside Artie's droid frame. Silently Pinetil followed behind the three of them. As she had watched Cal work tirelessly on the clan hall, Pinetil had grown more reserved, her eyes never leaving Cal except to shoot hateful glares at Nyla.

After they had gone a short way into the woods, Cal pressed a button on the long tool, and it roared to life. Both Pinetil and Nyla looked at him with a certain level of fear at the sudden loud noise. Cal chuckled and brought the long slender end of the tool to bear on the trunk of a tall, straight Venwood tree. Nyla was surprised as it ate through the tree, spitting out small shavings of wood. Pinetil looked disgusted.

"What is that, Cal?" Nyla asked when Cal had finished felling ten or so trees and shut the strange tool off.

"Oh, it's old tech," Cal said with a smile, "it's what was called a chainsaw. The original ones had a combustion engine on them and used steel teeth to shave away tiny chips until they cut through the trees. This one has a friction drive powered by a small nuclear engine and teeth of titan alloy. It is a thousand times better than the original, but something about a chainsaw is just cool."

A thousand questions streamed through Nyla's mind, and before she could ask any, Pinetil's harsh laughter cut through the space between herself and Cal. "You expect to make a satisfactory construct using such primitive methods and materials? You expect me to live in such a place?"

"Pinetil, you can do whatever you want. Please, I beg you, give me a reason to send your head back to your people with a flippant note." The smile plastered across Cal's face caused Pinetil to grow pale. "If, however, you intend on observing as you have stated, then yes, I intend you to live damn well where and how I say. As to my methods and materials, I cordially invite you to fuck right off with your opinions about them."

"Understood," Pinetil said in a deflated tone.

Nyla, feeling sorry for Pinetil despite how cruel the woman was and how desperately her people wished to eradicate all others, went to Pinetil in an attempt to soothe whatever hurt feelings there might be. She picked up a small branch of Venwood, struggling under its weight, and handed it to Pinetil.

"My people hold the Venwood trees to be sacred because they are almost impossible to work with," Nyla said and watched Pinetil try and bend the twig, only for her eyebrows to shoot up her face. "Every part of the Venwood tree is incredibly durable, and when it is worked, the resulting weapon or building is considered blessed by the gods. Even the First Clan has only a few pieces of worked Venwood; their greatest asset is the roof of their clan hall, which is composed of Venwood leaves that have been shaped to act as roof tiles. I told Cal of this; I can only assume he decided to use Venwood as a primary construction material to display his power and wealth to my people."

Nyla stopped, realizing she had been ranting a little bit, and looked up at Pinetil. Pinetil had an amused look on her face as she spoke. "You are quite adamant in defending him, aren't you?"

"He saved my life, so of course, I wish for all of his endeavors to succeed," Nyla said.

"How did he save your life?" Pinetil asked, seemingly with genuine curiosity in her voice.

Nyla smiled and began telling her the story of her first encounter with Cal. Nyla got to the point where she had offered herself to Cal, and he rejected her, Pinetil interrupted, laughing her cruel laugh.

"So that's it!" Pinetil exclaimed with a sour note. "Humanity only wants to save the other races in their galaxy so they can fuck their way through them. If that is the case, all humanity needs to do is register them as a slave species, and my people would not…."

She never got a chance to finish the sentence as a large chisel Cal had been using embedded itself inches from her face in the tree beside her head where she sat. Pinetil looked wide-eyed at Cal, who was about to speak when his and Pinetil's eyes widened in surprise.

Nyla had quietly picked up a smaller, more rodlike piece of Venwood and used it to rap sharply on Pinetil's hip, which was the easiest to reach and attack. She glared up at Pinetil and spoke.

"If you would have let me finish, you would have heard that he rejected my advances, despite my best efforts. I would appreciate it if you didn't try to twist every word out of my mouth to suit your agenda." Nyla then pointed the stick at Cal. "And as for you, Cal, I know you saved my life, and I am grateful, and I appreciate everything you have done and will do, but I can stick up for myself just fine."

Cal raised his hands in a supplicating gesture. Nyla smiled until she heard Pinetil laugh. "What will you do if I don't listen to what you're asking of me?"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Nyla turned back and slammed the stick into the back of Pinetil's knees, dropping the woman forward and then slapping Pinetil across the face. "I'll just do that again."

Cal burst out laughing. Pinetil was seething as she pulled herself to her feet. "Just wait! One day I will catch you when Cal is asleep. I…”

She trailed off as the metallic sound of Artie walking suddenly appeared behind her. She rounded on the droid frame. The frame had a face with limited emotional expression capabilities, but Nyla could swear it was smiling smugly. "Ambassador Pinetil, you may not sleep as much as Cal or Nyla. Or you may sleep more, but remember, I do not sleep, and I see everything. I also see all the messages you send, including the encoded ones."

That caused the color to drain from Pinetil. Artie seemed to smile again. "Just remember, Pinetil, if I have nothing, then I have nothing to lose."

Artie walked over to one of the branch-stripped logs of Venwood that Nyla imagined had to weigh as much as the entire First Clan, picked it up, and began threading his way back to the building site near the ship. Cal walked over to retrieve his chisel, and Pinetil smirked, "Might want to get your machine under control and your pet."

The last part was directed at Nyla. She raised her stick again but relented at a gesture from Cal. Cal smiled, "Artie and Nyla are my friends; as a matter of fact, you are the only person in the group I could not care less for. I think you might do well to remember that."

Cal pulled the chisel, which was deeply embedded in the Venwood tree, free, and went back to work. Pinetil went back toward the ship, and Nyla walked over to Cal. Cal smiled at her, handing her a chisel similar to his but sized for her, and returned to work.

When the sky began to lighten, Artie would wake everyone up and present them with breakfast. When breakfast was made, Cal, Nyla, and Artie would go to the forest and begin cutting trees and preparing them for use. Pinetil would sometimes join them after lunch. This went on for several days.

On the fifth day, Cal finally stopped cutting new trees. They finished delimbing the fallen trees and waited for Artie. When he came back, he carried four strange metal tubs. While Artie carried the logs back to the ship, Cal and Nyla collected the biggest leaves of the Venwood trees they had cut down, filling the metal tubs for Artie to carry back.

The next day, Cal set up what he called a laser mill and cut half of the logs into long planks no more than a half-inch thick. While doing this, Artie and Nyla worked on shaping and molding the leaves into roof tiles. Nyla could see Cal wanted to show he held the same wealth as the First Clan and then some.

On the final day of prep, Cal, Nyla, Artie, and even Pinetil (at Cal's urging) spent the morning spraying every log, leaf, plank, and beam with a strange clear substance. Before eating lunch, a significant distance away from the drying materials at a cold running stream, Cal told them to rinse themselves and their clothes to ensure none of the strange liquid was still on them.

Artie raised a laugh from Cal and Nyla when he fell face-first into the stream, letting his droid frame sink into the mud at the bottom before walking back to the edge. Nyla jumped into the stream nude. She surfaced and was surprised to see Pinetil following suit. Cal turned to find another spot, and as Pinetil splashed into the water, Nyla called out to him.

"Cal, you can come in here," Nyla said, letting the gently flowing water push her downstream a little bit before grabbing onto a clump of plants.

Cal shrugged and began undressing. Pinetil surprised Nyla, then; as the two women watched Cal undress, Pinetil spoke quietly. "As a member of the Jix, I could never be with him. But as a woman, well, I mean, look at him."

Nyla nodded, watching the rippling muscles that seemed to cover every inch of Cal's bodywork in a harmoniously sensual concert to remove first his pants, then his shirt, and finally his undergarments.

Pinetil smiled at Nyla and spoke quietly again. "It might be for the best that he turned you down." Cal splashed into the water shattering the moment of shared womanhood between Nyla and Pinetil.

They spent an hour swimming in the stream. The next half an hour was spent laying out on large black stones in the sun. Finally, they dressed and ate a lunch prepared by Artie. When they returned to the ship in the fading light, Nyla noticed that every piece of wood and leaf had a faintly blue-green haze to it.

"It's a preservative," Cal said from behind Nyla. Pinetil had returned inside as soon as they got to the ship.

"But Venwood does not need preserving," Nyla said, reaching out to touch the wood of one of the planks. "It's so smooth."

"I know it does not, but I want this to set us apart. So having Venwood that is worked to such a fine smooth finish. I am sure it will help." Cal said and handed her something. "This was my experiment."

Nyla held in her hands a small sculpture of herself with a Hilvorn beast leaping toward her. Cal smiled at the shocked look on her face. "I know it is not the best memory for you, but I like the idea of first impressions being important. And this was the first thing I remember about you."

The sculpture, carved in Venwood and lacquered in the strange liquid, would be worth a fortune. Nyla handed it back or tried to. "Here, such a fine display of skill will surely help in bringing other Narvish to unite under you."

Cal refused to take it back. "I made it for you. I want you to have it…."

He trailed off, looking awkward. Nyla knew these moments were few and far between for Cal, so she smiled, knowing he was comfortable enough to be vulnerable with her.

"What is it, Cal?" Nyla asked.

"I just wanted you to know that I never thought of you how Pinetil made humanity sound." Cal was flustered. "While I know some humans want nothing more than to sample every race they can, a vast majority of humanity is not like that. I…”

He trailed off as Nyla smiled and laughed lightly. "I know. I do still wish you had taken me; I just… I feel I owe a debt I will never be able to pay. And being rejected like that hurts a woman, makes us feel un-feminine."

"Well, as I said then, you owe me nothing." Cal looked down. "And for the record, you are not un-feminine; you are actually quite attractive. I will say the height difference is something I struggle with, but I am attracted to you."

"I just look like a child," Nyla said in a hurt tone.

"No," Cal said, smiling. "Your physiology is different enough that while you may be the same height as a human child, no one would mistake you for a child. The issue is I would feel as if I am taking advantage of you. And to be quite blunt, I have not had much experience with women, and I have little to no medical knowledge outside of what is useful on a battlefield, so I do not know if we are even physically compatible."

"That is…" Nyla stopped and thought for a moment. "That is a good point. It would probably be best to know such a thing first."

"And as I said, I am not good with women," Cal said, "so the, uh, handful of titty, while greatly appreciated, kind of shocked me and threw me off balance."

Nyla laughed out loud at that, not a mocking laugh but one of simple amusement. "Here he is, folks, the scourge of humanity, and unparalleled warrior, thrown off by breasts."

"In my defense, any human man would tell you that breasts have been used against us for thousands of generations," Cal said with mock indignation—the two of them into laughter.

Nyla wiped a joyful tear from her face and looked down at the small sculpture. "Thank you for this, Cal."

"No problem," Cal said with a smile. "We should get some sleep. The difficult work begins tomorrow."

"Very well. Hey Cal," Nyla said, looking up at him, "lean down here a moment."

Cal did, and Nyla gave him a gentle kiss on the lips. "Thank you, Cal, for everything."

Cal nodded, then watched Nyla walk back to the ship.

"What have I gotten myself into?" Cal asked himself and then headed to sleep.