Allison was in her underwear, sitting on an examination bed sized for a Silwrath. The doctor she’d been directed to by Futara was old enough that his blue scales had dulled long ago. He was squinting at some scan results. Allison thought he probably needed some corrective surgery but was likely too proud to admit it. The Silwrath were a very prideful people. He nodded a few times. He was wearing a lab coat.
“I see, I see. It appears the concerns Futara had were justified.”
He looked towards Allison.
“I’m not sure about teenage humans, are you like the youth of the Silwrath? Full of your own immortality and belief you don’t need to take medication?”
Allison shook her head.
“Err, maybe some youth, but not me, I’ve been taking the supplements, aren’t they working? Do I need to start eating metal or something?”
He gave her a toothy grin.
“No, no, your levels are good. Have you been feeling better? My concerns are more around these results saying you’re exhausted. That you have high stress response indicators. Am I reading them, right? I am unfamiliar with your biology, Xeno medicine is not my specialty. I am basing this on the records Futara provided. Truthfully, I’m not sure why she directed you to me.”
Allison blushed.
“I asked her to send me to someone she trusted.”
He chuckled.
“Ah, yes, well I am her father.”
Allison blinked a few times.
“You are?”
“Yes, she spoke very highly of you, it is why I even considered seeing you. I assume this is going to be a fairly regular occurrence. For her I’ll do some studying on human biology.”
Allison nodded.
“Yes, doctor, sir? I’m not sure… probably every three standard months. She told me I should make sure I adapt my intake to match my growth and needs.”
He tapped his console.
“So why aren’t you going to your own people?”
Allison bit her lower lip.
“They would… disintegrate me because of my mutation.”
He narrowed his eyes.
“Because you were born producing harmless nanites?”
“It’s a long… long story, sir, but yes. They would, it is why I can’t just send scans or blood.”
He growled.
“Barbaric. Well, for now everything seems fine. Keep an eye on your energy levels and cravings, often times our bodies know what we need, even when we do not. Now, I see here that you have a unique diet, that you consume blood. Futara was concerned about any lingering side effects after your altercation in her med-bay, where you consumed Silwrath blood.”
Allison shook her head.
“Nope, no scales, wings, or sharp teeth, besides my fangs that is.”
He chuckled.
“May I see your fangs?”
Allison blushed it took her a few minutes to get them out. If there was blood or the suggestion of blood it was almost instant. She was still having trouble manually forcing them out. He held her chin and looked them over.
“No chips, or damage. Seems like you can bite through our scales without issue. Futara was concerned about them being damaged. Well, you need sleep, you need less stress in your life and to get into less brawls. The last one is just my non-medical opinion, but I believe it’s sound advice.”
Allison blushed.
“I’m not sure how to give myself less stress. Between school and training… My friend has been trying to teach me breathing exercises, and how to meditate. I guess it’s not working.”
His wings drooped.
“If I was officially your doctor, and was licensed in your System’s Alliance, I would give you medical leave. Unfortunately, I do not have that authority. Please do yourself a favor and advocate for yourself with your military’s medical personnel to get some reduced training hours. Pressure creates diamonds, but it also creates rubble.”
Allison nodded.
“I understand, sir.”
He patted Allison’s shoulder.
“Normally at this point I’d confirm you’re using the butt fruit worms to clean your teeth and ensuring you consume them afterwards but I have a sense, humans do such things differently.”
Allison giggled in spite of herself.
“Yes, yes, we do. I do brush regularly.”
He motioned to her fangs which were still out.
“You seem to have difficulty getting those out, so I’m assuming you don’t clean those regularly. I believe you should ensure you clean those as well. If they are sinking inside your gums you do not want bacteria inside the pockets. I am unsure how one would treat that specifically.”
Allison nodded.
“Okay.”
He stood up.
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“Well, see you in three standard months then, Allison.”
She smiled.
“Could you say hi and thank Futara for me?”
“Of course. Good luck with the council.”
He left Allison. She got dressed in her skintight armor and headed back to the System’s Alliance embassy. Or what would become the embassy. It made a lot of sense; It was close to the council senate and had everything set up for humans already. She had reservations about the council, but their workers had done a good job of getting the embassy ready. They had human compatible food and a chef. They had a supply of synthesized human and Silwrath blood on hand for her. They also had a Yorleer escort and guide for her. She realized she had not seen any Yorleer males, ever. Even the high council member was a woman. To be honest she didn’t know much about the League species outside the Silwrath. Allison didn’t think to much on it as she passed the woman again and greeted her. She was more focused on getting sleep.
*****
Olga was sitting on a kitchen counter while Allison was drinking synthesized Silwrath blood. She had been curious about the taste. Honestly, it wasn’t that much different than human blood. Even the human Synth-O was bland compared to the real thing, which she’d tasted from Trixie. She wished she had not. Then she wouldn’t know. Synth-O used to taste amazing. Blood from a human had more. Olga wrinkled her nose.
“So, how does dragon blood size up? Is it full of fire?”
Allison shook her head and shrugged.
“Basically, like human Synth-O.”
“I thought my nutrient paste was nasty, but watching you drink alien blood, tops it easily. Now I’m realizing that Maria, Enid… Eyre, they’ve been drinking blood for thousands of years.”
Allison could just imagine how terrible it was for them to drink Synth-O after thousands of years of the real thing. How did they cope? She’d only been coping for a few months.
“I honestly can’t understand the difference.”
“Well, the real thing is much… much better. Like, you know how beer is just boring? That’s Synth-O. Where like… real blood is like that one-hundred-fifty-year-old whiskey I had a glass of. It’s just plain. Or oooh, the cola produced before Winter Wolf Cola. Bland.”
Olga shook her head.
“Still don’t get it.”
Allison rubbed the back of her neck. Her fangs pressed against her lower lip. She started to squirm slightly remembering how orgasmic the blood from Trixie was. She felt her cheeks growing flush.
“You’re not just drinking their blood, your drinking them. Its like you can taste emotions, or umm.”
Allison blushed and couldn’t finish her sentence. Olga nodded.
“Oh, I see. You’ve been drinking from Tyler then…”
Allison shook her head vigorously.
“No, umm, no, just uh, there is this girl at school, Trixie, she’s kind of addicted to getting bitten by vampires, apparently it feels good? She cornered me and I wasn’t really in control.”
Olga’s eyes narrowed.
“So, she forced you to drink her blood? Isn’t that sexual assault? Did you report her.”
Allison held up her hands and shook her head again.
“No, its embarrassing, and she can’t make me bite her. It just happened. I just avoid being alone with her, ever, anymore.”
Olga crossed her arms.
“That’s not how I see it. I come from an era where no one spoke about that sort of thing, and it doesn’t fly in the thirtieth century. I take bounties for rapists for free. So did Hazel and Enid.”
Allison continued to protest with her body language, her response was louder than she’d meant it to be.
“No, I do not want to deal with those rumors too. Its bad enough people know I drink blood. There was a petition to move me out of the school by some parents! No. Just no.”
The Yorleer escort the pair had been provided entered she looked concerned.
“Is everything okay? Do you need something?”
Allison shook her head.
“Everything is fine. Sorry to bother you Rezee.”
Olga looked at Rezee.
“On your world what happens when a male forces themselves on a woman?”
Rezee blinked a few times in confusion.
“That would be quite impossible, we do not have males as you… oh, I see. In the League there are severe punishments for such things.”
Allison seized the chance to change the subject.
“I’m sorry, could you, umm, we don’t know much about Yorleer, I was wondering if you could tell us about, your species, your males, why we never see them? Is that rude to ask?”
Rezee smiled.
“Of course not. Part of my job in the diplomatic corps is sharing information about all of the League species. Males are for the most part sedentary. The females of my species are tied to what you would equate to a specific species of tree. Like a dryad of your legends. The males are more like what you’d refer to as treants. They can move but it takes many months for them to uproot, and they are slow when they walk. The male fertilizes us, and we produce seeds which get planted and grow. There are far more females than males. The males live many of your generations and are much larger, we females are much shorter lived. Perhaps a century. Unfortunately, the soil of most planets is incompatible with our needs, so males are stuck on the home world, or on ships. They also do not communicate verbally.”
Allison blushed when she motioned to her own chest.
“Why, uh, um?”
Rezee laughed softly.
“We do not always look like this; We have the ability to mold our shapes and since first contact with the Silwrath we have mimicked their females. It made things easier. Our males have had no complaints in the last several thousand years, so we’ve mostly evolved to this form. We can put roots down and then we look like a humanoid tree. Our saplings, what you would call infants, and children, stay growing in soil until maturity. The ancient, even he forgets his own name, if he ever had one is our leader. He was the first to develop actual sentience. He also carries the history of our people.”
Allison felt her fangs sink back in as she continued asking the questions she knew she shouldn’t but her curiosity was winning out. Olga wasn’t stopping her either.
“I met a chef, from your embassy on Eden Prime, she was saying she adopted a Silwrath is that common? She also said something about warrior queens of old?”
Rezee continued smiling.
“Ah yes, we often end up mothering other specie’s orphans. It’s a natural trait of ours. You see when we’re in the soil of our home world, we are interconnected. Like your Alliance-net. We can communicate across the planet. So, we all take care of our young. A lot of us Yorleer miss mothering young, so we take in orphans. As for warrior queens of old, we have had, wars between ourselves and there were sentient mammals on our world that were cutting us down when they started to form a civilization. We have since learned to co-exist. They are considered Yorleer by the council, though most choose to remain on the home world. They are not comfortable with space travel. I believe the embassy has a contingent of them as security. Those that do want to leave the home world, usually do so as part of the League security forces and military.”
Allison nodded.
“Thank you! I didn’t know any of that before.”
“Of course. Unfortunately, I do have to cut this short so we can address some outstanding issues for the council meeting this afternoon, do you have any needs I can see too? I believe your species uses cosmetics and styles your hair?”
Allison shook her head.
“I’m alright there. I’ll be wearing my uniform, make-up is forbidden. My hair will be in a simple bun.”
“Okay, now, you will be attending as an honored dignitary, so you will be seated in the center of the lower council chamber. The speaker for the high council will address you. You will then approach the high council. They will speak to you. Your award will be given. Do you have a copy of your speech? How long should I schedule for it?”
Allison blinked a few times.
“Speech?”
Rezee smiled and nodded.
“Yes, you are addressing the high council and general council today, your government advised us they had a speech prepared for you.”
Allison bit her lower lip, she would need help with that one.
“The speech is a surprise and uh, it depends on how much ruckus it causes?”
“Oh, that is… well, I look forward to hearing it. I’ll let you prepare. If you need anything please do not hesitate to reach out.”
Rezee left the room Olga was trying not to laugh, finally she did.
“They didn’t tell you about the speech or give you one, did they?”
Allison shook her head.
“I am so going to embarrass myself and humanity. Why didn’t they send someone else? You know like a diplomat to accept this on my behalf.”
Olga laughed and slapped the counter she was sitting on.
“Oh, I cannot wait to see this, kid.”
Allison shook her head and walked off. She opened comms with Bit.
“Bit, did we get a speech from System’s Alliance command?”
“No, we didn’t Allison, is something the matter, you sound upset.”
“I am upset. I’m supposed to give some speech. Can you like, write something up? I have no idea what we’re even supposed to say here.”
“I will arrange something and provide it to your HUD via prompt.”