Jordi arrived at the hotel a couple hours later exhausted by the interview.

Er’anie had been quite thorough. She had asked to see the video he recorded of that cave and the blue stones and, when she approached to see it better, her smell - not perfume, Jordi was clear on that, it was her body odor - had been intoxicating. Hours had passed and Jordi couldn’t still put it out of his mind.

Then she started mumbling theories of what was that rock formation, and making some quick notes about tests to run and material she would need for those.

She completely understood Jordi’s reasoning to approach the red zone though, it was only logical to check the upper part of that rock formation to see what else was there, more so taking into account that Jordi was an explorer so curiosity was something he had in spades.

Since he was released quite late, they had scheduled a visit to the lake for the day after, “but it is a professional meeting, not a date” she had said and then winked at him.

Jordi was lying in the bed trying really hard not to think about her but her intensity, beauty and smell were way more than he could handle, he barely got any sleep at all.

—---

The next morning he woke up and took a shower, then decided to have breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant, his mind still going in circles about Er’anie.

Due to the particularities of some species, there was a specific restaurant for breakfast. It was a massive room, more than five hundred meters long, with tables and chairs and other kinds of furniture for more than four hundred people.

There was an open bar, a self service space and a group of cooks of different species with their kitchen on one side.

He approached one of the human cooks and asked if there was specific cuisine or a menu or something, which was received with a big laugh from all of them.

“How it works is, you ask for it and we make the best version you have ever tasted” - answered one of the cooks.

Jordi started thinking if he should go for an English breakfast or something else, but they had challenged him so he decided to accept that challenge.

“Ok then. What about a two-egg french omelet with three slices of pagès bread with tomato, catalan style; a bit of fuet, a few slices of white butifarra and egg butifarra as well. And a glass of orange juice to accompany it.”

The cooks looked at him like they were frozen in time and then one of them started laughing.

“He got you there guys! Don’t worry Mr Explorer, we were told where you are from before your arrival and I’m pretty sure we imported some catalan ingredients. If you wait at a table we will be bringing that in a few minutes” - said one human cook smiling, his galactic really marked with catalan accent, you could hear it on the Ls and the Es.

Jordi smiled back and went to find a table, he chose one near enough to the windows so he could feel the sun coming in through.

A few minutes later a waiter approached and served him his breakfast, everything looked amazing.

The omelet had the perfect color, the yellow not too bright and not too toasted. The bread looked spongy and he could tell it had been done catalan style, the reddish tone of the tomato all over it, with the oil and salt clearly shining.

The fuet looked like it had some pepper on it so he tried a piece and it was really good, the butifarras were quite good as well. All in all, it was great; not the best he ever had though but quite good nonetheless.

While he was enjoying his breakfast he felt some beings looking at his direction and saw some approaching the cooks. He sharpened his hearing and could hear they were asking about his food. Minutes later there were almost a dozen beings trying fuet and butifarra for the first time, Jordi had to suppress a laugh after hearing the sounds of pleasure coming from them.

With a full stomach and a smile on his face he approached the cooks to congratulate them for a job well done and left the restaurant afterwards.

Since the next day was going to be a busy one he decided he would relax and explore the city so he left the hotel and started wandering around, no clear goal defined.

He wandered a bit while checking activities and places to see when he saw there was a comedy-musical playing later that day. He remembered he had enjoyed theater in the past and was curious about this musical, the description said it was a non-human point of view of the pre-Empire human economy, it sounded crazy fun and there were still some free seats so he signed in.

There was a note asking people to dress up to follow human tradition and he still had a few hours before the event so he decided to go to the trade center.

He took a mag-lev train towards the trade center while checking on his data-pad which style would fit better with the event, he decided to go with a pearl gray suit with a red bow tie and found a boutique that he liked, there was something on their spider logo that kind of called to him.

A few minutes later he found himself entering that boutique and getting lost in thought watching a grhjujiik dressed with a big red jumpsuit that was sewing something up with four of their limbs. A smaller grhjujiik dressed fully in lime green approached him with quick movements.

“Hi! Can we help you?” - they asked with a sweet voice

“Hi, I hope so, there’s this comedy-musical this afternoon and they request attendants to dress up. I’ve checked your work and liked the style so I was wondering if you would be able to prepare a suit for me.” - he asked, looking at the spider-like being. No matter how used humans were to being around grhjujiiks, there was always something on their brains screaming to just run.

The one that was sewing stopped and approached faster than it looked possible, before Jordi realized they were just a meter from him.

“A suit for this afternoon you say?” - they asked and looked at him from head to toe. Then they stood up on just their two back legs and circled him examining him in detail.

The big grhjujiik made an affirmative gesture and went back to continue their work.

“If you come with me we’ll take your measurements and help you choose the fabric and best color” - said the smaller one.

Jordi followed them, there were seven grhjujiiks working tirelessly sewing some clothes, he couldn’t help but be amazed at their diligence and focus.

The small grhjujiik took him to a zone full of all kinds of fabrics and offered him a seat.

“You look like you’ve already thought about what you would like to wear.” - they said with their sweet voice.

“Yeah, I was thinking about a pearl gray suit with a red bow tie” - he answered.

The grhjujiik’s mandibles trembled rapidly.

“Oh! How exciting! We haven’t had a request like that in a while” - they said, and started moving back and forth.

“Yes, yes, I think those colors will look good on you. And the suit, mmmmh, we can do… yes, yes!” - they continued, unable to hide their excitement.

They quickly disappeared and came back a few seconds later holding a huge folder, which they proceeded to open in front of him.

“Here you can see and feel some of the fabric we have, the color is easy to change if you like a specific fabric” - they said while turning the pages.

“Since in that venue the temperature is going to be warm for you I would recommend one of these for the pants” - they said opening a specific page - “And for the jacket I would choose one of these” - they said turning to another page.

Jordi took a while touching and feeling the fabric, they had all a silky feel and looked refreshing.

“Well, to be honest I don’t feel much difference between them. I’m afraid you have better senses than I do” - he said smiling - “Since you are the expert, if you don’t mind, I’ll leave the fabric decision to you”

The grhjujiik mandibles trembled in excitement and they quickly went through the pages while murmuring something. They grabbed a data-pad with a free limb and started writing notes.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Now please come with me, we need to take your measurements” - they said quickly moving towards another room.

Once they entered that small room the grhjujiik closed the door.

“Is for privacy you know, we need you to remove the upper clothing if you don’t mind” - they said with that honeyed voice.

He followed the instructions and then moved to the center of the room, where he was told to stand with open legs and arms extended.

“Now close your eyes and don’t move.” - they said with a serious tone.

Jordi followed the instructions and felt something like a fine thread on the tip of his fingers, that something was quickly moving over his arm until the neck.

Jordi had had some custom clothes done in the past and remembered the tailor using a cloth ruler to take his measurements. This felt similar but quicker and what he imagined to be the ruler felt really thin.

He didn’t move a muscle during the two minutes that the process lasted, focusing on the soft touch of that fine thread and imagining what measures were taking at every point, feeling goosebumps at the crown of his head.

“And we’re done, you can open your eyes now. Thank you for your patience” - said the grhjujiik with their sweet voice.

While he dressed he saw them checking the data-pad and typing with two of their limbs with a concentrated gesture.

“We have the materials here and it will be finished just in time for the show. Will you pick it up or shall we send it somewhere?” - they asked

Jordi took one of the hotel cards and gave it to them.

“Please bring it here, my details are in the back” - he replied

“It will be done, thanks for your patronage” - they answered back

With the suit ordered and lots of time still left, he decided to have a look at the food court in the trade center since it was almost lunch time.

There were all kinds of stands from all kinds of different species. All of them had a cardboard in front with a toxicity warning and a list of which species were compatible with which food, humans could eat almost everything so Jordi thought he would try a few of them.

He started with a stand managed by blobs. Their food was basically a bunch of different soups and he could choose cold and hot, spicy or not, and a bunch of other options.

The food stand didn’t have many people in front and the blobs were excited to attend to him, they discussed some options and he decided to go for a cold soup mildly spicy. It was blue, which is not a color that humans tend to find on their food, but it was full of flavor and really tasty.

Then he decided to try some skewered food. There were ravnar, grhjujiik and ki’rlenn stands with some skewered samples exposed, but to him the ravnar ones look the most appetizing.

He approached the stand and a light-green ravnar with a pink apron saluted him. They discussed the options and he was offered a mixed brochette with three different kinds of meat and four different vegetables.

Two of the meats tasted like chicken, which wasn’t really a surprise. It had been proven years ago that this meant that human taste buds and brains couldn’t really process the different chemistry so the brain chose a “default” option.

The other meat tasted like deer, with a really gamy flavor, but the vegetable that came after softened the impact and left a sweet flavor on his mouth.

He had been eating it in front of the stand and when they saw his reaction they offered him a small glass filled with a light-green liquid that tasted like sweet wine.

He spent the next hour or so checking other food stands and trying all kinds of cuisine and drinks, then full as he was, decided to walk to the hotel enjoying the sunny day and gentle breeze. It reminded him of spring back in Barcelona.

But before leaving he wanted something to help his digestion so he looked for a human food stand that served orujo. Found one completely empty of visitors with a bored dark-haired guy sitting there and approached.

The guy was really happy to finally have a customer and spend five good minutes complaining about “these aliens who don’t know how to drink”. He gave him a glass of orujo de hierbas and a small bottle as a gift.

The orujo smelled nice and was quite strong, he felt it going down his throat like a piece of burning coal. Still, he said his thank yous and goodbyes and started walking towards the hotel.

The orujo was already affecting his head a bit and the sun and the warmth throughout his body wasn’t helping, but the gentle breeze kept him awake during the half an hour or so it took him to reach his room.

He checked the time and saw that he still had a couple hours before the event so he decided to take a quick nap.

—---

He was awakened by the door bell of his room, he checked the time and there was still an hour until the event. Opened the door and one of the hotel service drones was bringing the suit.

Took a shower to help him wake up. He was also feeling the excitement grow, it had been a long while since he had seen a musical. He had some memories of being a child and his father inadvertently humming while drawing one of his projects.

Musicals had been another of those things humanity had brought to the Empire. Of course there were species for whom the song or dance was part of their lives, like the Echnas, a plant based species not commonly seen due to the amount of CO2 required for their existence, their planets were basically toxic for most of the rest of the Empire.

Or like the Uriuu, an aquatic species that to a human would look like sirens, but their music could only be appreciated under the water which made it all the more difficult for everyone else to enjoy.

Human musicals though were completely on a different level. To explain a story with dance and music, with songs that exalted the story and the feelings within. The Empire couldn’t have enough musicals and a new genre grew.

And comedy musicals, with their ability to laugh at sadness, their use of satire and their gift to make people laugh, the Empire loved them although they were not really proficient in writing them.

The one he was going to watch today though was one of those brilliant exceptions. It was a satire about the banking world in the 21st Earth century as understood by a grhjujiik.

Jordi had read some comments and watched some videos and interviews with the writer about the source material they had used and of one of the songs that was already pretty famous, a whole five minute piece based on a now known short scene from that old program called South Park, “and it’s gone!”.

He finished the shower smiling and humming the song’s tune and then looked at the suit, it was gorgeous and exactly what he wanted.

He decided not to shave, a memory of Er’anie caressing his two day beard while lying naked by his side was all he needed to be convinced, then put on the suit.

The pants were comfortable as pajamas, not very tight and felt quite right. The fabric felt fresh, although it was like silk to the touch it felt as fresh as linen.

The shirt felt like getting enveloped by a soft cloud but putting the jacket on felt like crowning a masterpiece.

Then he looked at the red strip in front of him, he just realized he didn’t know how to put a bow tie.

With the suite came a piece of paper, which was not something you usually see in the Empire, with a drawing. On the back side of the red stripe there was a small white button, he put the stripe under the shirt’s collar and pressed the button.

As if by magic, the bow tie moved and tied itself perfectly.

He looked at the mirror quite proud of himself, he looked amazing.

—---

He arrived at the theater with twenty minutes to spare. The pamphlet said to arrive half an hour before the event started to soak in the atmosphere but Jordi thought that 20 minutes surrounded by beings he didn’t know was more than enough.

The theater building was massive, with lights at the entrance and a crowd of all kinds of beings coming in. The pamphlet said that it could host six thousand beings without losing acoustics and all tickets had been sold.

And everyone was dressed up. There was a group of ravnars dressed in 19th Earth century style, with their long jackets, top hats and monocles. Another group of drewells all dressed like men-in-black characters, sunglasses included. The amount of different species and styles looked like a costume party.

But the ambience was overflowing with joy. As he approached the entrance he could hear their laughs and feel the joy everyone there was emitting.

Once he passed the massive entrance, after he validated his ticket, there was a huge reception room, brightly illuminated with an orange tone by a massive chandelier. The orange tone made sense, it was chosen because there were some species to whom the white bright light preferred by humans was damaging.

The whole venue had been decorated as a 20th earth century opera. Their fine plant details on the columns and rails, the stairs leading to the hall made of a material similar to marble, the long bar with decorated stools surrounded by all kinds of beings, the waiters and waitresses wandering around with silver trays loaded with food or drinks.

He approached the bar and asked for a glass of dry cava, a catalan drink similar to champagne. The best choice for an event like this.

He had to admit that the atmosphere was so lively and joyous that he almost convinced himself to approach a group of beings and partake in conversation. Almost. But he decided to just enjoy his glass of cava and watch everyone else, trying to catch glimpses of conversations.

Then, all of a sudden, there was a small silence and everybody looked at the entrance.

He looked as well, a group of four female epsilons was entering the venue.

They all looked amazing. They all shared their silver hair and deep, purple eyes. Their slender but muscular figure and their strong walk. And above all, they were all extremely beautiful.

Their dresses were a mix of styles. One of them was wearing a piece similar to Audrey Hepburn’s dark dress, another a long tailed piece that could have been worn by a medieval queen; the third had chosen a suit like those men-in-black drewell and saluted them from the distance, which caused an explosion of laughter from them. And the last one was wearing a piece similar to Jessica Rabbit’s red dress, but she had chosen to have her hair with a beautiful up-sweep instead.

All of them looked spectacular but Jordi’s gaze was stuck on the last one, as similar as they all were he was pretty sure that was Er’anie.

She must have felt his gaze because looked straight at him, smiled, and winked.

Conversations started to take place again but no one could help but look at them every now and then. If their charismatic aura was powerful when they were alone, with the four of them it grew exponentially.

Jordi quickly finished his cava and asked for another glass, he would need a bit more alcohol to survive this.

As he was being served, a couple of Ki’rlenn dressed as butlers appeared at the top of the stairs, by the hall entrance.

“Please everyone come to your assigned seats, the show is about to begin” - they said both at the same time, bowing, and the hall’s entrance opened.

Everyone proceeded to orderly enter the hall. Jordi tried to follow the group of epsilons but lost them in the crowd, so he gave up and tried to focus on getting to his seat and enjoying the show.

In less than ten minutes the six thousand beings that were filling the reception area took their seats. With everyone seated the lights came out and a single circle of light appeared at the center of the stage, focused on another Ki’rlenn dressed as a butler.

He explained how musicals worked for those who didn’t know. That laugh was allowed and even desired, that they shouldn’t sing along no matter how much they knew the songs, and other traditions long followed by these kinds of shows.

Then it began, and for the next three hours Jordi didn’t think of anything else and immersed himself in the show. Laughing and applauding and enjoying it very much.

And those three hours passed really fast, before he realized he had joined everyone in a standing ovation, with the actors holding hands and bowing, all in line on the stage. They stood there applauding for a few minutes, the actors bowing and raising the hands together, then slowly started leaving the hall.

Back at the reception area he was stopped by various groups that asked him where he got the suit and forced him to chat a bit, but he found himself even enjoying the conversation and had no desire to look for Er’anie. They would be together the next day after all, albeit in a more professional environment.