Memory transcription subject: Alvi, Venlil Citizen

Date [standardized human time]: Sept 16th, 2136. End of 3rd Claw.

The air was warm and thick under the blanket while gentle music of terran birds danced in my ears. I opened my eyes to see I was covered to the jaw by a thin blanket, and my snout pressed into Maeve’s chest just as it was when she sung me to sleep. My head was cradled in one hand, her fingers still curled in her sleep-interrupted touch, while her other hand and arm laid a comfortable weight across my side. I felt wool on my snout, and slightly lifted the blanket to see Valek’s familiar stiff locks of wool rising and falling with Maeve’s breath as his arm was wrapped around her stomach, laying his paw against the same and under my chin. I looked around the room in my wide periphery, comforted by its familiarity after so many rests in strange rooms and ships, trying to peer through the gloom at whatever small details I could make out.

The recessed ceiling was dark, speckled with a starry projection of unfamiliar constellations twinkling in Earth’s simulated night. On the other end of the room by the couch glowed a decorative shape, all hard lines in pleasing angles, inlaid with small lights that ran along its form and gave it the look of embers burning a rainbow of color. I watched it in long silence, watching the colors dance over its ridges, never repeating, like some facsimile of a living thing.

Could it live? Where was the line between random and intention? Could a machine want? Could light? Could they consider? Could they think?

My mind and imagination wandered down this winding path, winding and dividing like the lights that so captivated my attention. It was a long while, I don’t know how long, before more movement recalled me back to the pair that laid against me. Maeve’s arm around my side started to move groggily up and down my silhouette, idly scratching through my wool and making me shiver because of it, while the thumb of her supporting hand gently massaged my eye ridge.

“Good morning, cutie,” she breathed, her quiet words swallowed by the darkness around us as I murred in response, my tongue reaching out to explore the wrist of her supporting hand while my own paws ran over her smooth skin. Maeve rolled onto her back and I shifted closer to her, laying my head on her shoulder and basking in her warmth as her delightful fingers found my lower back, drawing gentle circles in the wool just above my tail. Valek had woken as well; I saw his arm and paw moving under the thin blanket that covered us.

Maeve looked down past her cheekbone to meet my eye, smiling as she whispered, “God, you’re adorable. Think Elva left anything in the pot f-” Maeve’s voice faltered and she looked down at the mirthfully whistling lump on her other side, “for breakfast? Valek, that is very rude.”

“Can you blame me? It’s just right there waiting for-”

Maeve rolled her eyes and pushed Valek away, sitting up in bed while still covering herself with the sheet. Was she cold? She flipped the sheet off of Valek who was whipping his tail in mischief, “Well now it’s time to get up. I’m hungry, and you’re thirsty, clearly. You ready to get up, Alvi?”

I nodded and sat upright while Valek slipped off the bed before Maeve and I followed. Valek walked to the other end of the small apartment and started brushing himself while Maeve moved to the bathroom, quickly followed by the sound of rushing water as I met Valek to help with his brushing. "What was that about?"

Valek's tail kinked as his ears were high and pleased, “Just having a little fun. We… Well… You already know about us, and we haven’t really had the chance for fun in a while.”

“… Because of me?”

Valek stopped his brushing, seeing my ears and tail low before he set it aside to wrap me in a tight hug; my paws lingered on his chest when he pulled away, his one paw laid on mine and his other rose to stroke the wool along my jaw. His words were soft in my ears, and I leaned into his touch as he comforted me, “Because of a lot of reasons. My parents, the town… Maeve didn’t have her apartment yet, and I… I had my own problems, that really only got worse with Dawn Creek. And, yes, because I knew how much it would hurt you. Maeve was right, it was ‘rude’ of me to do that with you right there, without talking to you about how we do things. I’m sorry.”

I felt his wool between my fingers; thick, coarse and wiry against my pads as they wandered higher to sink into his mane. I felt his heartbeat under my paw, slow and strong, feeling like I could be lifted off the ground from the strength of his heart alone. His claws against my skin played with the heat of his pads, sinking into my cheek as my head seemed to fall into it, feeling both heavy and light as he returned my pressure to push my head up and meet his gaze, “You deserve better than that, and I’ll try to be more careful, ok?”

My ears swung a clumsy ‘Yes’, feeling tired even though I just woke up. My heart was pounding in my chest and my mouth opened of its own accord, my tongue falling out of it to-

The rush of falling water halted, and I snapped to attention as the bathroom door swung open with a towel-wrapped Maeve stepping out of it. Valek swung his attention to her as well, still holding me as I picked my head up out of his paw. “Good waking! Feeling a little lighter, Starlight?”

“Augh, you have no idea!” Maeve sighed as she rubbed her hair dry with a second towel, “I’m not really awake until I take a shower; cold showers and hot coffee, no better start to a morning. Speaking of! You two ready to head to the house?”

We both signaled ‘Yes’ as we parted, stepping to the door before Maeve laughed and stooped down to her under-bed storage, taking several pelts from inside, “Well hold on, I need to get dressed!”

Valek and I stopped before we reached the door; he leaned against a nearby shelf while I looked back at her quizzically, “That’s something I never got about humans: why do you wear so many pelts? Or pelts at all??”

“Well that is both complicated, and deceptively simple.” Her pelts now arrayed on the bed, Maeve looked to the both of us and asked us to turn around.

We did so, turning together to face the wall, though Valek asked in an over-exaggerated tone, “I just saw everything under the covers, why the theater?” - “You’ll see me naked on my terms, not yours. Turn. Around.” - “I did, I did, I’m just pulling your tail.”

After several moments of shuffling pelts, Valek’s tail kinked and he spoke deadpan, “You missed a spot.” - “Eyes forward.” - "Ya know, I could get it for you; my girlfriend tells me I'm a wonderful groomer.” A soft Woosh and a Wap as something red flew into my rear periphery, slapping into the back of Valek’s head and catching onto his ear. He dropped his ear and the soft missile into his paw, unwinding it to a triangular piece of thin red fabric, which he apparently recognized.

“You’re really sending me some mixed messages, Starlight. You want these back or…?” - “Eyes. Forward.”

“Alright. Alright,” He laughed quietly as he balled up and tossed the fabric onto the couch beside us. He caught my questioning eye, and his own sparkled with humor as he stuck his tongue out at me. “I think Alvi had a question for you?”

“Right! Clothes - or ‘pelts’, as you call them. So we started wearing them for protection. The sun would be too bright, or as we expanded further north, the cold got more intense, so we would use animal pelts to protect our skin. This also worked for protection against other animals, or even just nature; if you scratched your arm running through the underbrush, it could get infected and kill you, especially before we discovered antibiotics. Alright, you can turn around now.”

Valek and I again turned together, to see Maeve covered from her ankle to her neck in thick but loose pelts, obscuring her form by how loose they hung. They were vibrant patterned colors, her upper-pelt a grassy turquoise with an abstract shape on its center front, and her lower pelt black with repeated graphics of something I couldn’t recognize. Her fire-red hair clashed further with her garish coloring, making me nearly wince at the sight, “See, this is what I mean: no sensible predator would ever wear such blindingly obvious colors!”

Maeve gesticulated in frustrated exasperation, “It’s fuckin’ freezing outside, and these are the warmest things I packed! See: protection! Normally these are my ‘staying home’ pajamas, but if push comes to shove I can wear my burka over it. Anyway,” she continued as she sat on the bed and collected her foot-pelts, “Once we were able to control what our clothing looked like with dyes or tools, they became status symbols. Nearly everyone could have clothes, but not the material, tools, or skills people used to make them look nice. Eventually we figured out how to make clothes with plant matter. We still used animal hide, because animals still died for food or otherwise and waste-not-want-not, but most of our clothing quickly shifted to murder-less options.”

Her footpelts attached, she stood and joined us at the door. “A lot of these concerns - besides protection from the weather - are obsolete these days, but wearing clothes is now such a huge part of our culture that it feels weird… vulnerable to go without, which is why even seeing a human naked is considered intimate, and most people feel very strongly about that.”

Valek opened the door and Maeve stepped through it. My eye lingered on Valek’s shaggy wool whipping about in the Night-ward breeze, the long wool of his tail tuft catching the wind like a flag as it twitched and flicked along with his good mood. His off-white coat nearly glowed under the threshold’s hard light, appearing like a halo around the shadow of his toned arms within. I crossed through the door, pausing at the stoop along with him as my distracted sight wandered up his arm to his mane, and my breath caught as I saw his eye, gleaming and golden against his pupil, accented by ice-white streaks.

That same eye flicked to mine, and in a panic I focused back forward, bounding to catch up to Maeve as I asked another question, “B-But I thought you two were already there? Aren’t you ‘comfortable’ enough around us for it not to be a problem?”

“This is actually where I’m a little bit weird-”

“A little bit?” Valek jibed as he caught up behind us.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Hush, you. But yeah, most humans feel that way, and will be casually undressed in privacy with their partner. But when I was younger, something happened where I was not able… not allowed, to choose when someone saw me like that. I-… It left its mark. So now, it's really important to me that I choose who gets to see me like that, and when.” She took a deep breath, shaking her head and shoulders as if to shake off some ghastly rain. "Valek may play like an ass, but he knows that I know it’s only play; he makes an effort not to test my boundaries, and I appreciate the respect that shows.”

Valek bounded ahead of us, pinching his claws against Maeve’s backside as he passed before spinning around with an uncannily human grin, “I don’t just play like an ass; if you see my light.”

Maeve squeaked as he pinched her, trying and failing to hide her laughter as she tried to admonish him, “Oh my God, Valek, what is with you today?!"

His tail swung with his backward gait, bobbing about as its tuft flicked and flapped in the wind, "I dunno! I feel… Really good! Maybe it's being back home, maybe it's actually having a good sleep for the first time in paws…" He looked for me in the darkness, and even as his sight passed through me I could feel my bloom deepening as it did. He pulled the welcome whistle ahead of us, returning Maeve’s loving gaze as she joined him. His eyes met mine as I stepped into the small circle of light ahead of the burrow door and I watched them linger on me, peering at and through my coat, before I felt his tail wrap around mine as I stepped beside him.

---

Memory transcription subject: Elva, Loving Wife

Date [standardized human time]: Sept 16th, 2136. End of 3rd Claw.

Gasping and glowing as Leksi finished cleaning us up and tossed the messed towel in with the linens, I couldn’t help a delighted giggle as I saw my pawprints in the wool on his back, “Stars… You’d think I was still in my cycle after that!”

His ears never left me even as he retrieved our brushes, setting them at the edge of the warren bed before he returned to my arms, “Cycle or no, I never could keep my paws off’a ya! I think I got a little seed left to sow, if the soil still needs tillin’?”

His tongue dove into my mane, tracing cool lines against my still sparking skin and making my giggling quickly grow to bleating in his ear as I responded, “The soil is well tilled, my love, I assure you, but it is also thirsty, and hungry. How about we start on last-meal and see how we feel after?”

His tail flicked a ‘Yes’ as he picked himself back up, rolling out of the warren bed and helping me with a strong but gentle paw. We collected our brushes and leveled out each other’s wool, playfully jibing and grooming as we did, before walking down to the kitchen once we were presentable. I admired the dozens of family photographs that lined the hallway, so many hundreds of years of this family that we are forced to choose what photos to hang, and even switch them out every now and again.

But I always kept this one up. At the top of the stairs hung a simple photo; not some grand painting or portrait, just a little hex of love in a home-made frame. I was on a gurney with a tear-streaked snout holding a bundle with a black-tufted tail hanging from it, still wet with birth. On the far side of the bed was Elsi’s night-black head peeking over the edge with his white star-flecked snout, trying to pull himself up on the bed to meet his new brother. Leksi sat on my near-side, his tail draped over my lap like a wide embrace for our herd, for our family, as his paw gently brushed my head and I leaned on his shoulder, all of us welcoming Valek into the world.

Leksi’s tail brushed against my back as he passed me and I reached for it, letting it flow through my paw as he descended the stairs before I followed after, calling back to me when he reached the landing, “So, hun! What’re we having for last-meal?” - “I thought I might give that ‘stir-fry’ another try!” - “Oh, well, I’ll get the bath started, then.”

My tail popped him on the back of the head as he stooped to collect a wide and shallow pot, “I didn’t know it would spatter like that! You said that from the data dumps, it was just like day-side Malley fry!”

“Yeah, ‘like’.” He retorted as he laid the pan on the soup-burner; with a lid this time. “I also said it was weird that they used so little of that ‘olive oil’; that you should’ve kept with the day-side recipe and poured it in.”

“Yeah! Well…!” I had hoped - in vain, clearly - to find a response by the time I got here. “Well now we know better.” - “We?” - “Yes, dear, ‘We’. Venlil ni Vyala ti Vyal, remember?”

“Didn’t think that when we shared promises, we’d share mistakes, too.” He said musically as he pinched the base of my tail.

My ear tried to slap but he ducked, “Obviously my first ‘mistake’ was when I said ‘Yes’ to being your partner at the CCC” [Community Construction Contest]

“Best mistake you ever made”

I stepped away from the fire while the oil came to temperature, slid up beside him and let my headbutt to his shoulder rapidly blend into nuzzling the broadside of his snout as he turned on the teakettle. He could not turn fast enough to hold me against him as he bent to groom my neck while I barely gasped my answer, “Certain as the stars.”

My heart begged me to stay in his arms but for a moment longer, yet I pulled away from my Love and set to work preparing our meal. Some melroot rounds, cubed groundfruit, and ulren squares, dusted with powdered topo seeds! The powdered seeds’ warm floral taste should help bring out the ulren’s herb-y spice, the mere thought of it enough to get my mouth watering for a cheeky bite before it was ready. I dashed a flick of water over the oil and the immediate Pop let me know it was up to temperature, and so tossed the mix of veggies into the squat pot.

Leksi laid a heaping scoop of his ‘coffee’ into a teacloth and tied it with twine, laying it in his boiling teakettle before he came back to my side to keep me company while I cooked, “We need to get the truck scheduled for the next harvest.”

His face ever so gently rubbed against mine as I answered with a purr, “This Night is supposed to be a strong one. We may want to set the arrival a little later than normal.”

His warm breath rushed across my neck, “Good point… Hrm… how are the droids going?”

“Working like a dream! Think I might be able to get a little extra juice outta’em with some tinkering, but they’ll be ready to sow in time for the Dawn, don’ you worry.” I took a piece of groundfruit to test the dish, and added some aged sugar to give the fry a fuller body. I gave Leksi the next piece and the low murr that slipped from him told me it was ready!

I took the pot off the fire as the welcome whistle sung behind us, and Leksi left my side to open the door. I could tell who it was by the lift in his tail as he looked out the peephole before he swung out the door to welcome Valek and the girls inside with a joyful wag, amused by Maeve rubbing her hands over her arms against the cold of the coming night.

“Good waking! Our paw is just finishing, Elva’s just about to serve last-meal, and the fire’s hot’n’happy; you all sleep well enough?”

I looked behind me to see Valek’s tail swaying joyfully as he led Alvi to the dining table while Maeve split off to the hearth, the sunbeam I knew him for shining through his voice as he answered, “Extremely! Slept all through the uproot, by the sound of it. You and Mom all set for Night?”

Leksi re-closed and braced the door in their wake before passing by Valek as he pulled out a seat for Alvi, “Just about; still need to get braces on the windward entry, but ‘sides that we just need to burrow down and wait for the Dawn.”

Maeve’s familiar lilt sang from amid the popping flames, “Oooo do I smell coffee?”

“That you do; I’ll pour you a cup! How did you three enjoy Dawn Creek? Elva and I hadn’t been since Valek was a pup.” Leksi laughed as he poured two steaming cups of the bitter human brew.

Alvi and Valek bounded into overlapping trails of their time in Dawn Creek, joined by Maeve as she and Leksi took their seats at the table. Bouncing around topics like pups eager to share, I watched the pair banter and jibe as they told us about arcade games, new friends, and new foods, but I could tell there was something more there, something they weren’t telling me.

Something that was different.

“... Ugh, it was exhausting! Everywhere we went, the herd avoided us; even crossed the street! Actually! One of the big reasons we went to the museum was because they had a sample of Morning Light you could hold! But that Picv-” My head snapped around to fix Valek with a baleful eye, my tail thrashing behind me, daring him to finish that sentence, “... That attendant wouldn’t even acknowledge us. And, there was that self-righteous Iftali; when he yelled at Alvi I-”

Valek looked to grow more incensed until Alvi reached over, setting a paw on his arm and soothing his wool for a moment. Like I used to when Leksi would get annoyed with his family when we were young. Soft as rain, her voice brought him back, “It wasn’t all bad. There was that harchen at lunch?”

Valek’s ears fell flat to the sides of his head. He squinted his eyes, took a deep breath, and his ears came back to their high attention as his sight came back to Alvi, “Yeah, poor thing was terrified of us when we came in. Tarlim got her to smile though, so I think she was warming up to us before we left. Alvi here introduced Maeve to a pup at the museum. Little girl was bolting around the metamaterials exhibit almost as much as you were!”

I could barely make out Alvi’s eartips turning a bright orange bloom through her dark wool, even as her tail tried to be admonishing, “I wasn’t bolting. I was just… excited.”

Valek’s eyes softly closed as he tilted his head at her, “Well you’re pretty dang cute when you’re excited; I’d love to see it more often!”

Alvi’s attention snapped forward and she returned to eating her last-meal, while the rest of her snout turned such a deep blooming gold I couldn’t miss it even through her dark velvet, and I was keenly reminded of Leksi’s playful bullying as we worked together in that building contest so long ago! These two were tail-twined if ever I saw it, and it warmed my heart and soul to see my son so taken by such a lovely woman!

I was captivated by the warmth in the space between them, so much so that my mouth asked before it deigned to think, “You get along well with pups, then?!”

A hacking, wheezing cough sounded from the other end of the table, Maeve desperately gasping as she held her hand up to her mouth. “Are you alright, dear?”

Koff “Yep! I’m-” Koff Koff “I’m just dandy! A little-” Hugah-Koff “-coffee went down the wrong tube.” Kawwf Koff Koff Sniff “And maybe up another.”

“Well you better figure it out; I told Ilnek you were fine and it's rude to make a liar out of someone.”

Maeve took a deep breath and cleared her throat, “You talked to Ilnek? How is he doing?”

“As energetic as ever; that boy’s gonna be the death of poor Bilvee, the way he worries her. And he’s not the only one, the whole Village Litter nearly stampeded me after you were gone a paw!”

The human smiled - tight-lipped and toothless for my benefit - as she cupped her hands around the warm mug, “Isn’t it wonderful?” - “To be stampeded by children?” - “No! The way they’re always so… eager! So excited to learn, and to share.”

Maeve’s sight wandered about the den, lingering on the vyalkit that surrounded it, “You have such an incredible history and culture; I’m surrounded by it and want to see it all!”

She stopped to return Valek and Alvi’s genial swaying tails with her own smile, sharp teeth shining white in the warm artificial lighting around us, before she hid them and returned her focus to me, “Right before we left, they all shared stories about your ‘Stonebuilder’, remember that? That was amazing, watching them all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at the chance to teach me!”

My wool, once flared at the predatory display of her fangs, began to level as I saw the sparkle in her eyes. I knew she did well with the pups, I saw it myself more than once in her improvised classroom around the fountain. But to see it in her eyes, these predatory eyes that bore into my soul like some stalking beast, that now showed me for what they were: a window, crystal-clear and genuine, through which shines her every thought and feeling. To imagine a predator, a nightmare, a specter I was taught all my life to fear and hate could feel, could be so… Maternal.

I looked to the pair of young Venlil across from me, comfort and joy in their affect as they saw easily what I only just discovered… maybe…

Maybe we were wrong about Humans.