Memory transcription subject: Alvi, Venlil Tourist.
Date [standardized human time]: Sept 12th, 2136. Start of 3rd Claw
I found my voice as the throng parted before us, clearing our path to the exit and out of the museum. “You didn’t have to do that, Maeve. We aren’t exactly known for being-”
“Stop it. I won’t tolerate anyone saying my girlfriend is weak or timid; you’re a cat-coated badass, and got the claws to prove it!”
Valek’s tail swayed with humor as we stepped out of the shadow of the Museum, and I was thankful for the warmth on my wool. “Tarlim said something about two attacks on prime station, yeah? With the ‘Sovlin Incident’, that makes you one of only four non-humans to draw human blood; three of which are Venlil!”
My tail kinked at the reminder of my panic attack, but I could feel my mood lighten at their assurances. Despite everything, they still stuck with me, and even defended me from that egotistical windbag! Maeve let me down at my prompting, and I trotted up to walk beside Valek.
The warmth of the sun was doing wonders for my nerves, but it wasn’t lost on me that Valek and Maeve were still having trouble. Valek was on alert, eyes and ears on a swivel; watching for some exterminator truck to pick us up, no doubt. Maeve had retreated into herself again, trying not to focus on the herds around us as the noise of the city started to sink in.
I knew just the thing! I caught Maeve’s attention with my tail, then swatted Valek’s ear with my own. The sudden distraction startled him as his eye watched mine in confusion. Not breaking eye contact, I swung my ear against his again, but he dropped it at the last moment and I swatted air. His tail thrashed and slapped my side with a soft whap, and I could hear Maeve giggle behind us. Valek shifted his attention to her, then to me as recognition crossed his features. My ears were high and I closed my eyes in glee, jutting my long tongue out as my tail emphasized my swagger.
Maeve was audibly laughing now, high and bubbling as she followed behind us. I called behind me, “There’s our Daylight! A little rain just makes damp wool, it’s ok.”
Maeve caught her breath, and spoke low and worriedly, “I-I’m really sorry Alvi, I didn’t mean to worry you. That curator just… Gah! You guys don’t deserve that.”
Valek tried to swat me again with his tail, but I blocked with my own and wrapped around it as he returned my playfulness. My eye wandered among the city and landed on a storefront, “No, but you know what we do deserve? A snack!”
I gently pulled Valek’s tail to follow as we crossed the pedestrian crossway to a Strabundt bar, wide open to the shade and gentle wind. Voices died as a field of ears were raised and focused on us when we approached, making us pause at the oppressive attention.
“Maybe…” Valek murmured for us alone, “Maybe we should take-away… You two stay put, I’ll be right back.” And he bounded off to the counter. The herd avoided him as he passed, leaning away and turning ears from him. The attendant’s tail thrashed as he approached, and I clearly saw ‘speh’ on their lips.
“Alvi… um…” Maeve’s voice pulled me from Valek’s diplomacy, and I noticed Maeve was hunched over, staring at the ground; like a great collar was around her neck. “Thank you. For not, uh… being afraid of me.”
I tried to let my body sing my happiness at knowing her, unsure if she could see or understand, but hoping she would learn, just like I did. “And thank you, for your patience while I learned not to. I know what it’s like to be avoided, but nothing like this. It’s ok, we’ll be back at the hotel soon.”
I wrapped my tail around her ankle as we stood there, well outside of the shop. The attendant finally punched in what I hoped was our order, and Valek’s tail and ears were frantic ‘thank you’s as he stepped away from the counter.
“Ya know,” Maeve’s voice picked up a little under her veil, “it was really nice learning about the warp drives. Not least of all because I got to watch you bouncing around like one of those pups!”
My ears fell at my slight embarrassment, “Yeah, I might have gotten a little carried away…”
She gently shoved me to show her good humor, “I mean it, I liked it!” My sight wandered above me, to see Maeve lifting her veil just for me, letting me see her beaming smile. “You’re really smart, Alvi. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”
My heart swelled at the compliment as Valek returned with two full paper bags.
“Got some two-paw wraps, and they had a sale on three-paw so I got a bunch for you Maeve!” He called. “They had a really good jelly bar, so I might have over-brushed the wool on that. I think I saw a table a little further up the way?”
Valek pointed at a table off of the main thoroughfare, and it was not lost on me that several herds still passed within a few tail-lengths of the dining area. I had my fill of crowds by this point and, judging by Maeve’s fidgeting, I bet she felt the same. “I’d like something a little… quieter. How about back here?”
I led the three of us further down to a breezeway between the buildings of the city-cell, finding our way to an empty loading bay out of sight of the road. Valek and I sat on the ledge of a cargo platform; I looked to Maeve, who was glancing around anxiously.
I beeped at her for her attention, signing comfort and invitation; she was getting good at our tail signals! In the privacy of the breezeway she lifted her veil and sat beside me, while Valek opened the feed-bag on my other side and started handing out wraps.
They were a variety of shapes, but consistent; Strabundt were normally wrapped to show how old the Strayu was aged, one point per paw, with two-paw forming an oblong leaf shape. I took a crunching bite of one of the two-paws as Valek was setting out the nearly dozen cups of jellies, oils, and juices.
Holding her triangular wrap, Maeve asked quizzically, “So you call this a Strabundt?”
I tried chewing through my over-dry first bite, savoring the tang of the aged Strayu and appreciating the bar’s choice of salt and herbs. Valek flicked assent as he explained while I tried to swallow, “It’s aged and crumbled Strayu mixed with seasonings, packed and wrapped in Bundt leaves. It’s pretty tasty dry,” I nodded in the human fashion, as my tail wagged an enthusiastic affirmative and I poured a bit of firefruit into my now-open wrap and took another crunchy bite, “but it’s often served with some kind of wet thing to add to it.”
Maeve bit a corner of her wrap, snapping the bunt leaf and spilling a smattering of crumbs as she hastily leaned forward to hold the food past her lap. Valek and I giggled at her gaff and reaction, but Maeve was frozen as her eyes were wide in surprise, “... That… That’s really good.”
Valek and I were glowing from being the first to show Maeve the incredible Venlillian cuisine, “Our Strayu is exported all across the Federation, no one does it like us!”
“I can see why! You're right, though, it's a little dry. Could you hand me something sweet and fresh?” Valek grabbed and passed a cup of sweetened shadeberry jam around behind me on the platform.
I grabbed and spread a claw-full of spiced Melroot paste on my opened wrap before I took another bite, letting the smooth and tangy flavor sink into my senses along with the residual firefruit from my last bite. Valek poured a helping of greeol juice into his, the two-paw discoloring as the aged strayu soaked up every drop of the translucent pink nectar.
The hunger of the day catching up to us, we ate there in silence broken only by the occasional request for dipping. Maeve was just finishing her third wrap as she slowed down, letting the wrap and its holding hand fall to her lap, and sighed with satisfaction. “Fuck that was good. I love your guys’ food, but… Man…”
She looked at the lonely two-bites-worth of Strabundt in her hand, turning it back and forth idly before mumbling, “I honestly didn’t think Lembas Bread would be so savory…”
Valek and I were startled in surprise. Valek had just taken another bite of his second wrap, so I swallowed mine and asked, “Wait, you know what this is? Humans have something like Strayu?”
Maeve’s words struggled past her bite, “I ‘dunno,” and covered her mouth as she hastily swallowed, “what is ‘Strayu’?”
“Oh! It’s this forged food we crea…” Valek’s tail sagged as his words died in his mouth. “Did… did we even create it…?”
The despair in his voice stopped me cold. The weight of what we had discovered crept up my spine, and threatened to settle into mind; I wrapped my tail around his back, and his mine, as I laid my head on his shoulder. The three of us sat in silence, allowing our discoveries to sink in, and become real.
Valek’s shoulder tensed under me. I heard him huff, and watched his grip on the wrap become tighter, and tighter, threatening to crumble it in his paw… before he relented, and I heard and felt his voice.
“This… was made by a Venlil. With Venlil paws, in a Venlil bar. The Strayu was made with Venlil grains, from a Venlil farm.” I lifted my head from his shoulder, seeing him glaring down at the bite of food with his ears high and forward, “Our planet grew the Ipsom. Our people brought the food of Venlil Prime together to make something incredible! This. Is. Ours. No matter what happened when They found us, no matter what They replaced or erased, this is ours, now.”
His eye met mine, and he held what was left of his wrap out to me, “To Venlil.”
I giggled as I held my the last of my two-paw, tapping it to his as my ears swayed optimistically, “And to new History.”
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And we tossed our final bites of Strabundt into our mouths with a satisfying crunch.
We all enjoyed our company for a while longer; the worst of our hunger abated, we fell to a slow snacking as we made our way through the rest of the bag. We told Maeve about Strayu, and that it is a ‘traditional’ Venlillian dish made from Ipsom grain, Malley oil, Poffel paste, Uin, and water. It was so labor intensive, it was often made with the help of families or partners. Because of all of this, it is a very sentimental food, and fresh strayu is often gifted as a declaration of intention, or as a celebration, or as mourning.
“Mourning?” Maeve’s face was confused before realization crossed it, “When we went to the cattle memorial, those loaves scattered around were Strayu?”
“Well, yeah! Families would make a loaf to have together, then leave some of it for whoever was mis-”
Tick-ik-ik-ik-ik-ik
---
Memory transcription subject: Maeve, Temporary Resident of Venlil Prime.
Date [standardized human time]: Sept 12th, 2136. Start of 3rd Claw
The metallic clicking caught my focus immediately, and I was faced with two aliens blocking the entrance of the alley; one appeared to be Venlil, but the other I couldn’t recognize, though it was taller than their partner, and their arms were more flexible than an ‘arm’ should be. Their uniforms were immediately recognizable as high-temperature exo-suits, and upon seeing them I saw the source of the ticking was the nozzle of a long chrome flamethrower.
Exterminators.
Alvi froze beside me and I could see her wool flaring, Valek’s affect shifted from surprise to fury lightning-quick. I remembered what they told me, what Alvi said of their foster program, and what Tarlim said of their ‘Correctional Facilities’. We needed to get out of here.
I spoke calmly, low enough that a human wouldn’t hear me from this distance, “Valek, take Alvi an-”
“Don’t run. You’ll just die tired.” The voice called from the apparent Venlil exterminator on the right, cold and still as a lifeless reservoir, colder than I had ever heard the Venlil’s language. The left one lifted what looked to be a tentacle, and leaned into a silver disk on the forward shoulder of their uniform as they pressed it. .
The first exterminator spoke again, “Stay where you are, predator. You two: other side of the breezeway. Now.”
Valek jumped down from the platform, standing between us and the pair. “You won’t touch them!”
The pair stepped forward, and my blood froze at the roar of the flamethrower’s gas, “You’re right. We won’t.”
“DO YOU TWO WANT TO END UP LIKE THAT PICVEN, TREVEN?!!”
The sudden shout made even the exterminators jump in alarm at its volume; the one who had been only a second before so eager to use that flamethrower now dropped it as if it were itself burning. The first kept their head, speaking in a level voice. “Ulmic, stay out of this, and you can spare your paws the ash.”
The large Gojid turned the corner of the alley, and his shadow fell over the exterminators; his quills were full-bristled and rattling as his iron focus laid on the pair. “Stay out of this? What, you’re going to handle this like you did with that human at the station? You’re lucky that Treven took all the blame for firing first! You all joining in practically cost us whatever prestige we had left!”
Taking the opportunity given by his distraction, I frantically looked around the apparent loading bay and saw a stack of emptied crates and boxes at the end of the platform. I pushed Alvi’s shoulder, pointing at our salvation, and she took the implicit command to dive behind the refuse. I tried to hide with her, but the sight of Valek alone in the alley chilled me. Telling Alvi to hide, I grabbed the first solid thing near me - an empty glass bottle - and stood beside Valek, ready to crash glass against whatever came for us. The burn-happy second exterminator kept their focus on me and Valek, leveling their nozzle at us while the first turned to return Ulmic’s challenge.
“What we did was for the safety of the Herd. We stand at the Edge to protect those in the Center, just like you did.”
“Oh, spehkan your damn cult! You did it because you’re scorch-minded, and you know it. You should have known better than to follow Treven! But, brahk it, here we are! What sivkit-brained idea made you think burning a human was smart?!” Not waiting for an answer, Ulmic continued his tirade, “This Magistrate is just waiting for a reason to charge at us, and that damned Venric is drooling over your paychecks like a hungry Grey!”
The Venlil stared Ulmic down through their mask, but their tail was unusually and only sporadically still; the other’s attention on Valek and I faltered as their head turned to keep all three of us in their wide periphery.
A long silence hung in the air as the trio stared each other down, before Ulmic gestured calm and his voice fell into his familiar fatherly tone, “Look… We’ve got orders from Kevros. It would be a political disaster if you burned a human, and it would be a PR disaster if this mess makes it to the news. So how about you let me take the human back where it came from, and we all forget this happened. Deal?”
The woman stood tall. “Sir, we gave an oath that we would defend this district from all predators, like that thing, so that’s what we’re going to do! Right, Nenikes?”
They turned to where the flame-happy xeno had been, but to all our surprise, it was just empty air. Looking back, I caught the silver flash of a tail disappearing around the corner of the alley’s other end. The Venlil’s attention split between Ulmic in one eye, and Valek and I in their other; they turned aside and put their back to the wall, swinging their nozzle between the three of us.
I pulled my good hand behind me, ready to crash the bottle against the exterminator’s head at a moment’s notice. Valek was wound tight, like a spring ready to snap, ready to charge through the fire and torch right through the exterminator and the wall behind them.
A deep chuckle lessened the tension, “Dawn Creek’s finest,” Ulmic deadpanned at the disappearance of the partner before turning back to the Venlil. “Now if you’re bringing up oaths, how about our first? ‘We shall protect all the people of the district.’ Sound familiar? Well.” He pointed at me. “Person. So, take the paw. Go get a drink or four. Go home and watch some of your soaps, and I’ll see you next shift; alright?”
A moment’s thought, before the Venlil clambered across the wall, past the Gojid, and broke into a run as soon as they reached the street.
My vision clouded and exhausted breath fell from my mouth. The bottle dropped from my hand as my knees gave out and I fell to the ground. My hands shook and my breathing rattled in panic while tears welled in my eyes as the weight of what almost happened threatened to suffocate my senses. “Th-They were go-going to burn me! I didn’t do anything! They only s-saw me, and-”
Valek’s back filled my sight, and I could feel his tail wrap around me. His presence slowed my panic and allowed my tears to flow; but I knew what was true. I knew what I almost did, “They came for me… t-to… they were going to burn you and Alv-... Alvi. Alvi!!”
I was slammed with clarity of sense, but not of mind. I whipped around to her hiding place behind the refuse, terrified that the second exterminator got her while we were focused on the first. I shrieked her name, trying to throw myself upright but tripping on my burka. I took the fall on the shoulder, and my shoes skid on the soft asphalt as I resigned to crawling on my hand and knees.
When next I looked up, Alvi was already at a full sprint to me and relief flooded me to see her safe. I caught her with my good arm as she hugged me around the neck, blubbering apologies for putting her in danger, “I’m sorry - I’m sorry - I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have come here I shouldn-”
“It’s not your fault,” I heard Ulmic's calming baritone, his footsteps clicking closer. “They-“
“Get the Brahk Back!” Valek screamed behind me and my head snapped to the noise. His tail was lashing in fury, his crown leveled on the Gojid as he stared him down. Ulmic halted, and his voice was level and placating, but Valek was not calmed, “I won’t let you take her!”
“No one’s taking anyone anywhere. Believe me, I-”
“Vyalpic! I know what you ash-breathers do! ‘Protect the herd’ my tail! All you do is burn everything you touch, and disappear anyone who asks ‘why?’. NOT HERE! You won’t have either of them!”
Panic started to fill Valek’s voice, bleating through Ulmic’s confused pleading, “You stole our history from us! Lied to my family! You act like we’re too weak to do anything, and any time we do, any success we make for ourselves, you steal it and wear our pride like another speh’d badge on your uniform!”
I let go of Alvi and turned to Valek, calling out to him to stop. He didn’t hear me through his screaming, his anguish, pain, and frustration at the specter of his fabricated history. I stood on my knee and pulled him to us, wrapping both of my lovers in the cloak of my burka as Alvi and I tried to calm Valek down between us.
Valek’s voice fell to a whimper and his coherence faltered as Alvi worked to bring him back to ground. I had just caught my first level breath when I heard an all but whispered “Protector, save us.” followed by a grumbling cough.
“So, uh… That talk go ok?”
The whiplash of what happened against that last night’s wonderful confession set me laughing, easing the tears in my eyes as I sniffed muck from my nose. “Yeah! Yeah, the talk was good. We went to see the museum today and learned a bit about how the Federation did things. Some of it was rather personal, and we’re all still a little r-... wounds are still a little fresh. I’m sorry you took the brunt of that.”
Ulmic took a deep breath and sighed, the universal signal of ‘yeah that wasn’t great’. “Better me than those two. They…” In his silence, he desperately reached for the right words, “They were good people. Nalja covered for me, so I could stay with Bernia the last time she gave birth. Nenikes, he-he pushed for the closure of the Facility!”
Valek croaked up from below me, “So good to other exterminators and their reputation.” I leaned back to let the pair breathe. Valek’s eyes were orange and puffy, and his voice gurgled through muck, his ears were accusatory as he talked to Ulmic. “No way you ash-breathers would actually help people.”
“They did and we do! Nalja, she didn’t used to be so…” His quills fell flat, unwilling to stand anymore. “I knew some of us weren’t… kind. ‘Preylike’. But I thought they were better than that. I thought they were kind. I-” His focus found my veiled face, “I just want my friends back.”
Everywhere I looked… So many people lost so much. Was this because of us? Were we really so horrifying that they would turn like this?
No.
"Your friends were kind, because it is easy to be kind to what is familiar. When everything changes, when your world is flipped to something you can't recognize, hard thoughts sound a lot more sane. I’m sorry your friends… I’m sorry this happened.”
Ulmic nodded. And again, with certainty, having made a decision that weighed on him. He stood straight and resolute, and spoke calmly with a tired breath. “Alright, let’s get you guys back to the hotel. Just next to the forum, right?”
“Yeah, I think that’s best.” I stood and pulled Valek with me, not missing his thrashing tail and angry eye on Ulmic. “Today has been… yeah…”
My voice was tired; I was done. “... I think I’m ready to go home.”