Jordi spent the whole trip back to the hotel recalling Er’anie’s face before that last kiss.
There was a mixture of anger and sorrow and that had become love just when she kissed him.
Part of him felt empty, as if a hole had opened where his heart should be, but he really didn’t understand why.
He tried to enjoy the view, to read something, to plan for the next day, but he couldn’t really focus.
He changed trains without realizing it, lost in thought. Why did she look sad? Her behavior had changed after she received that message from work, maybe they were sending her to some far away secret place and that’s why she couldn’t tell him about it.
Lots of maybes, lots of stories going through his brain. Then, at some point between the third and the fourth change of trains, part of him started to kick in screaming “will you please remember the fun memories and smile! You just had sex with an amazing woman and are pouting like an idiot!“
He couldn’t help but chuckle and spend the rest of the trip recalling yesterday and this morning. A bit of sadness still hanged about but he was in a better mood already.
By the time he arrived back at the hotel it was almost his lunch time and he had decided to keep enjoying the holidays as much as he could. He had three more weeks in this place and then five more months (months!!) of mandatory holidays to enjoy elsewhere.
He checked the hotel’s restaurant and saw the chef that had cooked him the perfect breakfast so he decided to have a Mediterranean lunch. Good food always helps raise the spirit.
He approached the chef table and started making conversation with them. They were not really busy due to other races and humans from other places had already eaten, but for someone who grew up in Catalonia, 2pm was the perfect time for it.
He decided to go with Majorcan eggs and beef Fricandó and he could see the chefs faces light up. They were about to attend another master class and he would have an amazing lunch.
He also ordered a smooth rosé wine and went to a free table to wait. He chose one where he could see the chefs working, all working with a smile - or the equivalent of - and following the human chef instructions.
One thing Jordi didn’t like about being on a leisure planet was the fact that news coverage was banned throughout the place. You were there to rest and enjoy your free time, if there was something of import the affected beings would be notified and their resting adjourned.
So, in a moment like this, without anything to do but wait, he couldn’t mindlessly browse the news, an activity that apparently only humans did.
Without news and with his brain trying to keep circling about Er’anie’s actions he decided to browse for activities on his wrist-pad.
At first he browsed randomly, not really sure what he could do the next few days, but then he remembered that massive lizard in the parking lot and thought “maybe there are riding activities?”
And there it was. On the other side of the planet. A massive ranch surrounded by rocky mountains where you could rent one of these beasts and ride it.
There was the option of riding it with a teacher or training for a few days before you could ride solo. It looked like the perfect thing to do and there were some slots available so he just booked it.
He was booking the travel means when his first dish was served. The chef who brought it waited by his side with expectation in his face.
It had been served in a clay casserole, as it is customary, and it was smoking, proof that it had just left the oven seconds ago.
He grabbed his fork and had a bite. The sobrassada was strong and the eggs were perfectly done. It was delicious. He couldn’t help but close his eyes and throw a “Mmmmh!! Perfect”, to the chef's delight. It was hot but that’s how it is supposed to be anyway.
The smiling chef went back to the kitchen zone and Jordi just focused on enjoying every bite while thinking about how much fun he would have riding those giant lizards, like Obi Wan Kenobi in Utapau.
He finished his eggs without realizing it and a look at his glass told him it had been refilled by a stealthy waiter.
He didn’t have to wait much for the second dish to be brought, and the smell told him the fricandó had oyster mushrooms - gírgoles in catalan - with it. He was smiling and salivating at the idea.
Now he wasn’t sure how it would be, because a good fricandó requires it to be cooked slowly at low fire for the meat to get the perfect melting point.
But the Empire technologies added to human ingenuity had already revolutionized countless fields, and the human chef was looking at him grinning.
The smell was stupendous and the dishes looked perfectly done, with huge slabs of meat and big chunks of mushrooms.
He touched the meat with his fork expecting some resistance and it just parted, as if it were butter, stabbed a piece of mushroom and meat together and put both in his mouth.
He couldn’t suppress an “Oh!!!” and started laughing while chewing, more the mushroom than the meat though. The meat had almost dissolved in his mouth, leaving its taste and the sauce flavor to accentuate the mushroom intensity.
“This is too good, this is amazing” - he said out loud, and continued eating desperately. Something in his mind was telling him to take it slow and enjoy it, but it was so good he just couldn’t help himself and devour it.
As it had happened the day he had breakfast, some beings were asking about his food and making a request to have them later for dinner or the next day for lunch. It was a known fact in the Empire, humans do like good food and their dishes had been a nice surprise for countless races.
A waiter was coming to ask him which dessert he would want and when Jordi said he was full the waiter's response was “The Chef has told me to say two words. Chocolate profiteroles”
“Oh come on! That’s not fair! I cannot say no to that now, can I?” - Jordi said laughing.
And they too were delicious. A whole month on this planet would gain him a few kilos if he didn’t do much exercise, this was not good for anyone’s soul.
With a full stomach and feeling a bit tipsy - only the Emperor knows how many glasses did he drink, what with the waiter stealthily refilling it every time - he approached the chefs to congratulate them for a job brilliantly done, again. They bowed as a response with smiles and said their goodbyes, until the next time.
But Jordi had to prepare his luggage for his next trip. The hotel most probably had already been informed he would be leaving for a few days the moment he booked the riding course, so before he left he left the key to his room in the hotel reception.
It was already afternoon and the sky was getting a pinkish tone, Jordi walked to the mag-lev station and jumped on the first train to the grand station, a massive place where trains and other kinds of transport would take all kinds of beings swiftly and comfortably to other parts of the globe.
The trains there were different from the ones he took on his explorer trip, those had been designed to quickly take beings to solitary places whilst these one were designed to enjoy the trip and do some sightseeing in the meantime.
He had decided to go by ship this time, the planet had a couple massive oceans and since it would take him a whole night he wanted to enjoy the night sky surrounded by nothing but water, an experience he seldom could enjoy.
Still, those ships were quite different from the ones from old Earth. For starters they moved incredibly fast and also had a shield surrounding them, but he could feel the wind and the movement of the waves under them.
—----
The ship had a lot of different beings in the mess hall and, for the first time, Jordi saw some krlner in person.
They were, as a human had defined them the first time he saw them, basically dragonkind.
These draconic beings stood much taller than other humanoids, with scaled hides whose colors ranged from an ocher color to reddish-brown. Their fully-functioning wings were similar in hue to their hides but they usually kept them closed and rarely used them publicly. While their faces resembled those of dragons from old Earth mythology, they had thick manes - sometimes adorned or in braids - and rear-facing horns. Gray smoke billowed from their nostrils when they entered an agitated state and they were capable of breathing fire, which had a different color depending on the element they used or on what drinks they had.
There were some of them on the ship, all wearing a tight gold and green suite.
One of them was looking at Jordi, then checked his data-pad and approached him.
“Hello there!” - the krlner said with a profound but amicable voice. - “You are Jordi, if I’m not mistaken”
“Hi, yeah that’s me. Is there anything I can help you with?” - Jordi replied.
“Is more about how I can help you. My name is… difficult for humans to pronounce but you may call me Rash. I have you listed for the riding course, is that correct?” - the krlner asked.
“Yes, that’s correct.” - he answered, still unsure where this was going.
“Oh good! I will be your trainer. I was just coming back from some personal time and just received the notification and it said you were on the ship so I thought we could start knowing each other” - Rash explained and then smiled with a mouth full of teeth. - “We’re going to spend a lot of time together the next three days after all!”
Jordi smiled back and made a gesture for Rash to join him at his table. Rash sat down and looked at him intensively.
“Just to get it out the way because you are not the first human I see coming for this riding course. Utapau?” - Rash asked with a smile
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Jordi couldn’t help but laugh.
“Yes, that’s true. That scene when Kenobi is riding the lizard up the mountain… you’ll rarely find someone who doesn’t want to try that once after seeing the animals you have there” - Jordi replied smiling as well.
“I expected as much.” - Rash replied - “Well, it takes a bit to get you humans there. Is not an easy beast to handle, especially if you want to climb vertical walls. Is kind of counter intuitive for you humans, but you’ll see.”
They spent the next hours chatting, although it felt like the lessons had already started with Rash telling him anecdotes and all kinds of stories about humans having small accidents when riding the beasts - karkle they were called.
“Well, look at me already hammering you with lessons, apologies. I will leave you to enjoy the rest of the trip and we’ll see each other tomorrow” - Rash said, stood up and left waving goodbye with a smile.
Jordi went to tour the ship a bit and enjoy the ocean at night and how the ship parted the waves under it. He would sleep just a couple hours but he could handle that every now and then.
—----
The next morning he woke up with the ship's loud siren informing everyone they had made port.
He had been delivered a special tight suit when he boarded the ship and had been informed to wear it before leaving the room once they arrived, so he did so. It was surprisingly fresh.
He left his room and was astonished by the view. They were in a small coastal city but there was almost no green to be seen, everywhere there were rocks and sand, its color being a standard all over the place. And it was hot, you could tell by the heatwaves.
They all left the ship in an orderly fashion, there were about three hundred beings there, and there were transports organized for every group or singular being. Rash was already waiting for him when he boarded down. He checked on him and his suit.
“Good! You’re wearing the suit properly. Not everyone does it on their first try” - Rash said
“You’ll be surprised at the amount of clothing we are taught to wear in the explorer curriculum” - Jordi replied with a laugh.
“I’ll take your word for it, you are the first one I meet. Come, let’s get on our ride and to the ranch.” - Rash continued and started walking with powerful strides.
Jordi followed the massive being with quick steps, until he stopped in by a large quad.
Rash looked at him and bellowed.
“What? Were you expecting to ride a karkle already? You need to go through physical first! There are some muscles involved, we don’t want you to go through an injury, were you not listening yesterday?” - Rask explained.
“Yeah but, still…” - was all Jordi could answer.
“Come on, jump in, the ranch is not far” - Rash said while sitting in the driver seat of the massive quad.
—----
The road wasn’t asphalted or anything, in fact to call it a ‘road’ would be kind of offensive to normal roads everywhere, it was just a cleared patch over the sand and between the rock formations that were all around.
Still, there were lots of vehicles both in front and behind them. All probably going to the ranch. And they were all moving in an orderly fashion, the Empire was nothing if not organized, and everyone knew how to behave while driving without the need of cops or any authority.
They were all moving quite fast though and they reached the ranch in a matter of minutes, it was massive.
Even though the landscape was almost flat, Jordi couldn’t see the end of it. All he saw was a parking space by the entrance and to his right a huge fenced space with some beings riding a few karkles, with their trainers - all of them klrners - holding the reins and giving instructions.
Once past the entrance there were a couple of long buildings, two stories tops. Rash pointed to one of them.
“That one is the administration building, we’ll go there to sign you on and you’ll go through medical as well. The restaurant, leisure rooms and entertainment spaces are also there” - he explained, then pointed at the other - “And that one is the dormitory, you have an assigned room and there’s also a communal bathroom and shower space. We klrners don’t separate genders so don’t be surprised if you see everyone there.”
Jordi just made an affirmative gesture and kept following him.
When they entered the administration building there was already a huge queue of all kinds of beings waiting to be signed on with their trainers by their side.
The queue moved quickly though and before he realized it was already his turn.
In front of him there was what he supposed to be a female klrner. Her body accented by curves and her hair looking silky, she was also wearing make up around her eyes.
“Hi! First time?” - she said with a powerful but sweet voice.
“Hi Honey! - said Rash, and then turned to Jordi - “That her galactic name, the same way my name is Rash; you can ask her anything you need, and if you have any complain about me you can tell her so” - he explained and then turned to her - “So we have our first explorer here but I want to take him through physical, you know humans can be delicate even though they are sturdy”
“Oh how exciting!” - she replied with her powerful sweet voice - “I’ve read much about explorers, maybe you can answer some questions tonight between drinks” - she said looking at Jordi and then winked.
“Oh don’t tease him! I need him to last at least three days or my performance will plummet.” - Rash interceded
She laughed with a really sweet as honey laugh to which almost everyone around turned to look at, it was difficult not to feel her attractive even though it was a two meter tall humanoid dragonkin with braided chestnut hair.
She typed something on her keyboard without losing her smile.
“The doctor is waiting for you in room 5. And I’m not joking about the questions and drinks!” - she said and waved them goodbye.
Rash and Jordi moved forward, Rash pushing Jordi as if saying “let’s go”.
“Careful with that one. She’s a promiscuous fire tornado. Nothing wrong with that as far as I’m concerned but… let’s say you humans are not as sturdy as we klrner are.” - he explained.
“We have a saying from old Earth, death by snu-snu” - Jordi explained with a laugh. Which Rash probably understood because he laughed as well.
The doctor in room 5 was an androginous human, wearing a white coat and looking at their data-pad when they came in.
“Name, Jordi. Profession, explorer. 1’68m tall, 65 kg. Muscular but slim body. High marks during his education.” - they read with a neutral voice and then raised their head and looked at him. - “Please stand over there. Trainer you may leave, I’ll send you the results once I finish”
Rash left the room without argument and Jordi stood where he was told, it was a metallic plate with a white wall behind.
“This will analyze the muscles on your body so please don’t move, it won’t take long” - they explained and then the machine started emitting a trembling sound and a metallic circle appeared from the plate, going up and down fastly.
“Mmmh, that’s good. Please sit here and breathe normally with your eyes closed” - they said and pointed to a metallic stool.
Jordi followed the instructions and focused on his breathing. Then he felt the doctor's hands exploring his back and sides.
“Ok, your muscles are good but you need a bit of reinforcement on the thoracolumbar fascia. The karkle will make your waist twist and without it you may get hurt” - they explained.
“No worries though, I’ll set you up for some exercises and you may be able to ride them tomorrow. You’re in good form” - they looked at him and smiled.
Jordi understood that as if the session was over and left the room, just to find Rash looking at his data-pad.
“Well I was expecting something worse. Come, we will begin the exercises now so you can be ready as soon as possible” - Rash said and started walking.
Jordi followed him to what looked like a gym. There were dozens of beings there doing all kinds of exercises.
“The thing is, karkle are particularly strong. You tell them where to go but they move however they see fit. If you have ridden horses you might be familiar with the concept of tuning your movements to those of the beast, this is similar.” - Rash explained.
He took him to a piece of equipment that was a wooden circular plate with a bar in front. Jordi had done that exercise in the past.
He would go on to the plate and start twisting left and right while holding the bar. The plate had some wheels underneath to ease the movement. He had to twist his body up to almost 90 degrees and then switch fast to the other side.
“Oh good! You already know it, that makes it easier. I need you to do that for fifteen minutes without stopping.” - Rash said, and sat on a seat in front of him - “Begin when ready”
Even though it is a simple exercise your back might suffer if you don’t have those muscles properly trained.
Jordi knew that because of the explorer training, they were trained thoroughly.
The first five minutes were easy but then it started to hurt a bit to get more difficult to complete the turn, so he focused on his breathing.
“Good, good. Keep on it, halfway there” - Rash said looking at him.
After the eighth minute or so he might have been not doing it properly because Rash stood up and grabbed him by the shoulders, forcing him to do the whole movement and increasing the speed.
His lower back started to hurt but Jordi suffered through it, he really wanted to ride a karkle as soon as possible.
“And time’s up! Come, we’ll go to the massage therapist next. They’ll help you relax and heal those muscles so you are ready for more” - Rash explained.
Jordi followed obediently and found himself in a room with massage beds. Rash came forward and showed his data-pad to a human masseuse, she asked Jordi to lay down on one of the free beds and to remove the top side of the suit.
Once laid down she started to work on his back and lower muscles, sometimes pressing hard sometimes moving softly. Then she applied what felt like a cold lotion.
“There, that’s done. Rest for ten minutes and then you can do another series. See you in a while!” - she said amicably.
Rash took him to a mess hall filled with beings with pain in their faces.
“Everyone wants to ride karkles, no one is really prepared for them. They look cool and all kinds of beings take it as a toy. But they’re dangerous if you’re not ready” - Rash commented. - “Wait here, I’ll bring us some drinks”
Jordi sat on the closest table and explored the mess hall. Three may have been close to a hundred beings there between attendees and trainers, everyone listening to their trainer explanations while attempting to rest. Jordi himself felt the pain in his lower back softening with the lotion the masseuse had applied.
Rash approached with a couple of bottles.
“Here, drink this. This has been specifically designed to help humans and your muscles, it’ll do you good” - he explained handing him a bottle.
It tasted sweet and the moment he swallowed he felt his body and muscles relax.
“Don’t talk, just breathe and rest. We’ll need to do this process at least three times for you to be ready” - Rash said.
After an hour of doing the whole process Rash said they had finished for the day. He had been helping him push through the exercise, sometimes grabbing him from the shoulders and sometimes from the ribs.
After every set the masseuse had worked tirelessly with his lower back and applied the lotion afterwards, then they would go to the mess hall and he would have that drink. Still, Jordi was sweating.
“Now you can go to your room, your things have been brought there. If I were you though I would go to enjoy one of our hydro massage baths” - Rash said giving him a card key. - “See you tomorrow! And remember, no Honey today. I need you whole tomorrow” - and winked goodbye.
Jordi went to his room finding it difficult to walk. His lower back wasn’t hurting much but the feeling was there.
When he got to his room and took the suit off he started feeling the heat. Somehow that suit had kept him refreshed through the hot temperatures of the place.
Wearing only a towel covering his parts he went to the communal bath. There were a few people already there, everyone doing their best to relax.
He saw something similar to a circular jacuzzi with no one inside and he just slipped there, letting the bubbles do their magic. He closed his eyes and decided to enjoy the feeling.
A few minutes later he felt something getting on the bath, he opened his eyes and recognized Honey in front of him.
“I thought I would find you here, hard first day, right?” - she said with her honeyed voice.
Jordi realized then she wasn’t wearing anything to cover her top side and krlner did have breasts, with pink nipples, big ones at that.
She approached him, sitting close to him.
“I wasn’t joking, I am truly curious about explorers. I mean, I have only been on two planets and have not spent much time traveling. How is it to spend years out there? How can you not go crazy with the loneliness of space? What is the most fascinating thing you’ve seen? What do you do to keep your body fit like that?” - she inquired, her face a picture of curiosity.
“Well for starters I am not alone. I have my ship’s AI and a cat.” - Jordi replied.
“Oh! I love cats! Unfortunately they are not very fond of us krlners. Something about us scares the heck out of them” - she said.
They chatted for a while, she threw all kinds of questions and he answered as best as he could without saying anything that would betray Friday's true existence or what Kirkugger ships were really made of.
After a while, she stood up, her curved and fit body there for anyone to see.
“I was not joking about knowing more about you” - she said and came close to him, close enough to whisper in his ear - “And although we cannot kiss I can do wonders with my tongue, and I’ve been told my cloaca is quite fun as well”
And then she left the jacuzzi.
“Enjoy your good rest! Hope you have fun tomorrow!” - she said smiling and leaving the place, moving her ass sensually while doing so.
Jordi was torn though. On one hand she would like to experience a night with her, on the other he felt as if that was cheating on Er’anie.
He stood there in the bubble bath for a few more minutes before going to his room and sleep. Trying to put his mind off of it and focusing on riding the kurkle. He had come for that after all.