Jevnar’s mild irritation at his employer’s reckless behavior turned into a full-blown disquiet when their group returned to the shuttle and saw another parked beside it. This newcomer had no visible markings or insignia, so it was either a civilian-owned craft or a rental.
“{I thought that we were the only visitors scheduled for today,}” Jevnar murmured to [Harry].
“[So did I,]” replied [Harry].
The new shuttle’s exit door hinged down to form a ramp to the ground, and out of the exit door emerged a pair of female Dorarizin in red-and-gold regal finery. It was not quite the ornamental armor of the Royal Guard, but it was close enough to let everyone know that someone on board the newly-arrived vehicle was a Very Big Deal Indeed.
Jevnar would also bet his claws that such elaborate clothing also acted as low-profile armor…just in case someone had nefarious intents towards the aforementioned Big Deal. He moved with alacrity, placing himself in between the new shuttle and his charge. Thanks to years of practice, he made it look like a friendly I-just-want-to-introduce-you maneuver rather than the defensive posture which it really was.
Next out of the craft walked another female Dorarizin, although ‘walked’ was too paltry a term. ‘Swished’ would be a better one, her movements designed to call attention to the sheer blue dress she wore. A dress which was revealing enough to hint at the dark-green-furred (and quite athletic) body beneath without crossing the line into impropriety. Several blue lengths of the same sheer cloth trailed behind her and danced gently in the breeze.
Jevnar had to admit that she was really quite fetching. If he was between assignments (and was also in season) he’d be game for a bit of playful banter, a few drinks, perhaps leading to some more…cardiovascular-intensive activities as the night went on.
The lady’s amber eyes lit upon the group and she smiled. Jevnar performed a picture-perfect bow, his body forming just the right angle. The newcomer then smiled even wider when she laid eyes upon [Harry].
“{Hello there! Ever so sorry to intrude on your picnic, but we were in the area and I simply had to see this natural wonder with my own eyes.}” Her voice was…well, smoky was the only word to describe it. It had a low but lilting quality that was just as attractive as her appearance. “{And, of course, to meet the tiny-chomper who’s been filling the newsfeeds of this world.}”
“{I’m Princess Mrg-Znrnah-of-Hrnsnah,}” she continued as she alit from the exit ramp. Her pair of guards trailed behind at a discreet distance. Mrgrnah bowed to Jevnar and performed an even deeper bow towards [Harry]. Even Jevnar had to admit that both bows were perfectly executed as per the protocols of the Imperial Court, with just the right depth as befitted both his station and [Harry’s].
[Harry], of course, took it upon himself to walk around his bodyguard and stick his hand out for a human-style greeting. Jevnar resisted the urge to slap his own face in frustration; how could he protect his Sir when his Sir insisted on putting himself in possible danger?
“[Hi there, um…]” the tiny-chomper paused as he realized he didn’t know how to address her.
“{Your Excellency,}” murmured Jevnar.
“[…Your Excellency. I’m [Harry Lawson], very glad to make your acquaintance.]”
Mrg-Znrnah looked curiously at his hand and didn’t take it. “{Oh! Is this a tiny-chomper greeting? What do I do?}”
Jevnar slid into the conversation with his usual smoothness. “{Perhaps sir would consider a Dorarizin greeting. One bows like so…}” He demonstrated again, and was gratified to see [Harry] perform a reasonable facsimile. His Sir’s technique wasn’t quite right, but much of that was due to the more upright bearing of a standing tiny-chomper.
Good technique or not, it was clearly enough for the princess, who rippled her teeth together in applause. “{Thank you! I of course know your name already.}”
What happened next made Jevnar’s guts go cold. Princess Mrg-Znrnah gave [Harry] a coquettish wink, one clearly designed to get the message across that she was ‘available’ if the tiny-chomper was so interested.
[Harry], of course, turned away at just the right moment so that her signal of carnal interest went sailing right over his head like a poorly-thrown erzet during a Hunt match. “[You gotta see those!]” he exclaimed with the densified enthusiasm that only a tiny-chomper could generate. He pointed back in the direction they'd come from. “[Just be careful near the edge, there’s no railings. Oh, and you’ll get really wet from all the mist and such.]”
“{Oh dear,}” said the Princess with an even smokier lilt in her voice. “{You mean my dress might cling to me…?}” She wriggled a bit as the quote-unquote ‘dress’ she wore flowed about her taut body in interesting ways. The two honor guards behind her exchanged a long-suffering look which spoke louder than words here we go again.
Any salacious intent in her gesture bounced off of the tiny-chomper’s natural optimism like a bird smacking beak-first into a closed patio door. “[Yeah, I got all wet myself.]” He gestured down to his own clothing, which at present looked more wrinkled than even his usual norm. “[I dried out during lunch, though. No big deal.]”
“{I guess I’ll have to brave it, then.}” The Princess raised her eyes to Jevnar’s and gave the merest ear-flick, an expression that said are they all like this? Her eyes sparkled with good humor and Jevnar knew that she’d used those friendly eyes before to great effect.
Jevnar’s own returning gaze gave nothing away; one might as well have tried to coax a granite rock wall to crack a smile. She gave a little snorting hmph as she realized her wiles would not bend him. She smiled as [Harry] straightened back up and grinned at her.
“{I know it’s a bit forward of me, seeing as how we just met, but I’m holding a little party in a few days. Will you still be here? It would be simply divine if you could come.}”
Jevnar was about to perform another smooth interruption, to tell the Princess that there was so much on the tiny-chomper’s agenda that they couldn’t possibly attend. But, of course, somehow the tiny-chomper’s reflexes were even faster than his Dorarizin butler.
“[Oh sure! We’re still having my crew come down in batches, we’re here for at least four more [weeks].]”
With a tastefully subtle flourish Princess Mrg-Znrnah-of-Hrnsnah pulled a card from…somewhere. Jevnar couldn’t say from where given the minimalist nature of the royal personage’s attire. She presented it to [Harry] with another equally subtle bow, making sure to stare deeply into the tiny-chomper’s eyes as she did so.
“{How wonderful our schedules meshed so well. I can’t wait to see you there.}”
She swished on past [Harry], making sure to keep a safe distance from the tiny-chomper. She somehow managed to make one of her trailing blue cloths brush [Harry’s] shoulder as she sent one last smoldering look over her shoulder.
Jevnar breathed out in silent relief as the Princess’s honor guard followed their charge. He didn’t fully relax until the entire group was back on board the shuttle. [Harry] had never stopped being relaxed, of course, and he hummed happily as their craft lifted off. Then the tiny-chomper frowned in sudden realization.
“[Hey, [Jevnar]. Do you think she was she hitting on me?]”
----------------------------------------
Jnsnrnan’sn’ah (AKA Jerry) was in the midst of preparing the negotiation strategy for their next intended stop when the door to his office rolled open. He cursed himself for not putting up the ‘Do Not Disturb Unless The Ship Is On Fire’ lock. K’iltnah System was a theocracy and thus their view of taxation was very…fixed. He would need all of his skill to prevent their arrival from becoming a religious matter.
“
“[I only need a moment of your time,]” said Jevnar.
The ship’s head lawyer looked up in surprise. He’d only interacted with Jevnar at a few staff meetings; the Dorarizin had an air of quiet competence that he appreciated.
“
“[Might I borrow one of your staff for a few days? Preferably someone younger, so as not to impact your group too much. But they should have good experience at research.]”
Jnsnrnan’sn’ah’s tail-tip tapped against the deck as he thought. “
Jevnar bowed. “[You have my most profuse thanks.]”
The lawyer tilted his head. “
“[I just need to check on something. To be frank, I hope it’s just a case of my previous life making me paranoid.]”
----------------------------------------
“[Sir, I don’t think it’s a good idea to attend.]”
Ordinarily Harry would have protested, but he’d come to realize that his butler’s advice was always on point. “I see your point. I’ll be right in the middle of a bunch of untrained people.”
The human’s usual cheer faded a bit as he cursed the twist of fate that made his kind so much more fragile than the other races. The ‘Hanking’, as it had come to be known, was the sad and bloody result of that fragility; an incident which had almost led to mankind’s self-extinction.
Then his momentary sadness was replaced with determination. He started pacing the length of his cabin. “Dammit, Jeeves, I can’t be shut away like some invalid. How many times am I gonna get invited to a soiree by a real honest-to-Roddenberry alien princess? I’ll mingle, but make sure I keep my distance. Heh. Guess dancing is out, eh?”
Jevnar’s eyes narrowed. “[And what if Princess [Margaret] decides to continue her flirting? Or worse, tries actual seduction upon Sir’s person?]”
“I’ll keep up the ‘innocent and clueless’ act. She’s never interacted with a human before, for all she knows that’s just how we are.”
His butler gave a discreet cough. “[With respect, Sir, I fear that [humans] have become very famous for being, shall we say, very free with their physical affection.]”
“Oh.” Harry decided just this once to use his power for evil. He cast his eyes down and did his very best to look crestfallen.
From the grinding of Jevnar’s teeth, he knew it was working. “[All right, sir. If you insist on intending then I insist on choosing your outfit.]”
Harry brightened up. “Of course! I do have some suits in there. I think I bought a tuxedo? Not sure.”
“[My apologies, did I say choose? I meant to say make.]”
----------------------------------------
Harry looked down at his new suit and scowled. He was grateful there was no one in the fabrication facility other than Jeeves.
His dismay wasn’t because of its looks. It was a pretty nice-looking suit, all things considered. Jevnar had used the on-board fabrication facilities to come up with a design that was a combination of human and Dorarizin fashion. Harry found the sleeves tighter at the cuffs than he was used to, and he found it more difficult to make any big arm movements overhead. But overall it wasn’t too restrictive.
The fashion was not the problem in Harry’s eyes. What was a problem was all of the protective gear that his bodyguard had salted throughout the suit’s tough nanofabric. That fabric alone was a bone of contention; it was padded underneath with a sintered aerogel that should allow Harry to withstand a punch from an alien without breaking bones.
His protests that he wasn’t in any danger of such punching fell on deaf ears. Jevnar also insisted on including some proximity sensors; if a party guest wasn’t paying attention and approached Harry with too much speed then the suit would first give an audible alarm and then, if necessary, deploy airbags to protect the occupant.
At least the damn thing had a shutoff switch in his right pocket, just in case he wanted to shake someone’s hand without causing it all to go off.
Harry tugged at his too-tight cuffs and silently grumbled as Jevnar listed off the features. Then he perked up at his butler’s next words.
“[…and then, of course, there are the built-in tasers.]”
“The what?”
Jevnar pointed at Harry’s cufflinks. “[Those can deliver an electrical stun charge.]”
The human very pointedly stopped tugging at his cuffs. “Um, they’re not on all the time, right? I don’t want to brush up against someone and zap them by accident.”
Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.
“[They’re tied into the same sensor network. Thus if the proximity alarms go off then the tasers will automatically activate.]”
“Cool. Well, not cool but still kinda neat. Hope I never have to use ‘em.”
“[That is my fervent desire as well, sir.]”
----------------------------------------
Jevnar’s next stop was Snnanfnthan’hal, the paralegal he’d borrowed from the onboard legal team. Her cabin was the same size as Jevnar’s, which meant it was a little more cozy what with her larger body and Jevnar’s occupying it at the same time.
Her scales weren’t quite as shiny as they could have been. From that and the slight droop of her hood Jevnar figured that she’d been working for many hours straight without sleep. But her voice was strong and steady as she related the results of her literally exhaustive research.
She brought up a picture of the Princess picture in the holographic display of her terminal. It was a modeling shot, showing off the beautiful bone structure of her face. “[So first off this lady is indeed in the royal family, although she’s way down the line of succession.]”
“{How far down?}”
“[For her to even be considered for the throne the royal family would have suffer a couple of asteroid strikes. And even then it would be uncertain.]”
Jevnar’s ear flicked in puzzlement. “{Why’s that? Is she considered unfit?}”
“[More like undiginified.]” The Jornissian tapped at her terminal, bringing up another picture of the Princess at a party. She was dressed even more provocatively than when Jevnar had met her, and she was in the midst of giving a smaller male Dorarizin a deep and lecherous kiss. Thanks to the length of Dorarizin muzzles, it was quite the show.
Snnanfnthan’hal continued. “[She’s caused a few minor scandals in elite circles. Accused of seducing members of packs not her own, that sort of thing. And speaking of which she’s currently unattached. No pack at all. My guess is that’s because she’s also known for, erm, ‘going after’ anything with a pulse. And I mean anything.]”
“{Even other races?}”
“[Ooooh yeah. My guess is her interest in the boss is just due to her being a, pardon the term, [cuddlefucker].]”
Jevnar found the notion oddly comforting. It probably meant that the Princess was just looking to put another notch on her claws by seducing a tiny-chomper and that there was nothing more nefarious going on. But there was one avenue he wanted to check on.
“{What about her finances?}”
The paralegal smirked. “[Ah, I was coming to that. It’s where things get a little strange. See, even though she’s on the outskirts of the royal family she still has a tidy income from the royal treasury. Nothing unusual there. However, thanks to all of those scandals I mentioned she’s had to spread around a lot of that wealth to hush things up.]”
“{I don’t like the sound of that,}” said Jevnar. “{If she’s poor it may be that she’s interested in somehow getting ahold of some of Sir’s fortune.}”
“[If she’s poor she’s sure not acting like it. That’s the strange part. As far as I can tell she’s got next to no GRC in her nest and yet she’s still living the high life. Doing lots of travel, throwing lots of lavish parties, that kind of thing.]”
Jevnar clicked his upper rows of teeth together in thought. “{She could be living on credit.}”
“[She’s taken out no loans that I can find. If she is in debt to somebody it’s under the table.]”
“{Hmm. Thanks for the information, I’ll need to consider our next steps.}” Jevnar shuffled around in the confined space to face the door. “{Oh, and madame? Please do get some sleep.}”
----------------------------------------
Harry fidgeted at his ear to make sure his storage module was in place while his shuttle banked over the complex. Its walls were laid out in a hexagonal array, and the center building was shaped the same way. That building had green, glassy walls that curved up and in ever-rising waves towards a clear dome which emitted a beacon of white light up into the night sky. Overall the architecture reminded Harry of Art Deco, and he had to admit it was quite nice-looking.
Several aircraft were already parked at the building’s entrance, and around that entrance swirled a profusion of elegantly-clad aliens. The partygoers formed a multi-colored carpet that pulsed in an ever-changing array as everyone went indoors.
Many of the throng swung their heads around as Harry’s shuttle landed a good distance away from them. He turned to address Driver, who occupied the vehicle’s pilot seat. “Keep the fire lit, okay? I might need to leave in a hurry.”
Driver responded with a thumbs-up. That made Harry feel better, as did Jevnar’s presence at his side.
“[Sir is perhaps over-cautious, I think,]” said Jevnar. “[I’m sure everybody here will be on their best behavior.]”
“It’s not bad behavior I’m worried about, Jeeves. I’m more worried about accidents. Anyway, let’s go have some fun, eh?”
Harry hopped out of the shuttle’s door and was driven backwards by the almost physical force of the united cheer coming from the partygoers when they saw him. He leaned back against Jevnar’s comforting bulk as they approached him in a wave of scales, fur, and feathers.
They were all yelling various introductions and names that he couldn’t hope to pick out or remember. Fortunately they stopped at an appropriate distance, and from the glances that the aliens made towards each other it was clear that none of them wanted to be the first to approach and perhaps cause another intergalactic diplomatic incident.
Then the crowd parted to reveal a green-furred Dorarizin slinking her way towards them. Tonight Princess Mrg-Znrnah-of-Hrnsnah wore a sheer purple number, and Harry wondered if that color held the same connotation with royalty as in human history.
She stepped closer than any other party-goers dared, and executed a deep bow. Harry was still getting a handle on the niceties of Dorarizin royalty (thanks to some in-depth coaching from Jevnar) but from what little he knew it was a perfect bow.
“[I’m so glad you could make it to my little get-together. May I take your hand?]” she asked in a breathy tone that got across louder than words that it wasn’t the only thing she wanted to get ahold of. The Princess extended her arm and dropped her paw towards Harry in a clear invitation for him to grasp it.
Harry glanced over his shoulder towards Jevnar, who gave the minutest nod of his ears. The human wasn’t entirely sure about this situation, but he trusted his butler’s instincts. He made sure to reach into his pants pocket and deactivate his proximity sensors before reaching forward and laying his much-smaller hand in her larger paw.
With a smile the Dorarizin closed her paw, and instead of the any bone-crushing pain all Harry felt was a gentle pressure. “[Shall we?]” she asked, gesturing at the Deco-esque palace behind her.
“Sure!” replied Harry with a lot more conviction than he felt.
With her other paw Mrg-Znrnah gave an imperious wave to the mass of partygoers, and they obediently parted to let them pass. Jevnar trailed behind the pair as she swept up the ramp to the main entrance. She held Harry’s hand up at his shoulder height in a medieval manner, pacing stately to account for his shorter legs.
The entrance itself was much bigger than any cathedral door Harry had ever seen, a sweeping arch that framed a lot of sparkly, flashy lasery-type things going on inside.
He realized that he had absolutely no idea what to say. He finally settled on “Nice place.”
“[It is divine, isn’t it? Not mine, sadly, but a very good friend allowed me to borrow it for this little get-together.]”
Little? From what Harry could see and hear there were even more people inside. He wondered what the Princess would consider a ‘large’ party.
He didn’t have long to consider it, because as they reached the top of the ramp she raised her free arm and cried out. The general hubbub died down as she spoke.
“[Everyone! I’m so pleased you could all make it. This is my honored guest [Harry Lawson], who’s come all the way from [Earth]! Make sure you give him a warm welcome!]”
Again Harry was nearly driven backward by the resulting cheer. He gave a nervous smile and a wave with his free arm as Mrg-Znrnah held his other hand even higher as if he’d won a gold medal.
Then she released her grip and made another imperious and graceful sweep of her arm towards a distant and long array of food. “[Care for something to eat? I made sure that there is some human-safe food.]”
Harry unconsciously flexed his freed hand. “Sure! I have a scanner too, just to make sure.” He noted that she kept up her slow pace as they made their way through the crowd, and also saw how the partygoers kept their distance. He breathed out a small sigh of relief mixed with regret; it was clear that everybody here didn’t want to hurt him even accidentally, but at the same time he was not going to be ‘normally’ mingling.
Oh well, at least his suit alarm system wouldn’t be getting a workout…probably. Jevnar’s work appeared to be for nothing.
The tables holding the spread were massive in length, almost fifty meters, and every inch of it was packed with finger food. Well, it was finger food to the aliens; to Harry the portion sizes looked a lot more substantial.
“[Everything on orange plates is safe for human consumption,]” said the Princess as she reached over and plucked a piece from one of the ‘safe’ plates. “[You should try one of these knangh, it’s simply divine.]”
‘Knangh’ looked a bit like a cabbage roll wrapped in some purple leaf. Harry took the proffered tidbit and nodded his thanks, then went ahead and tried to bite into it while Mrg-Znrnah took one of her own.
‘Tried’ being the operative word. Harry expected the outer wrapping to have the consistency of cooked cabbage but it wound up being more like well-done steak. He wound up having to gnaw off bits of it at a time to get at the (thankfully softer) ground meat within. The overall taste was certainly unique, a mixture of sweetness from the leaf wrapping and a savory, almost metallic tang from the filling.
The Princess, of course, downed her own knangh in a couple of bites. After swallowing his own final bite he tried to make small talk again. “So is this party for a special occasion?”
Mrg-Znrnah responded with a coy look down at him. “[Not originally. But I have to admit after you so kindly accepted my invitation I expanded the guest list a bit.]” She gave a growl-click that Harry recognized as a Dorarizin chuckle. “[As you can imagine, I had quite a few people accept when they heard a [human] would be putting in an appearance.]”
“Oh.” Harry turned and gave a smile and a wave to the closest aliens, all of whom brightened at being so honored and gave him friendly gestures in return. However, there was a Karnakian among them who didn’t move or respond and who seemed rooted to the spot. The big raptor just stared at Harry in utter fascination.
Ordinarily Harry would be uncomfortable about such close scrutiny, but he had quite a few Karnakians on his crew and he knew the reason. He’d tried to get both Tr’tnan’til and Kant’nat to explain what they saw when looking at him with their ‘soul sight’. All he’d gotten out of it was that human souls looked ‘sparkly’ in some vague and wonderful way. Trying to get a more precise description led to a long conversation that rapidly devolved into a pointless religious debate between the two Karnakians. That debate only ended when Harry dispensed some headpats to calm them both the hell down.
The only downside of the whole attempt was that Kant’nat thought the discussion/debate/ argument meant that Harry was interested in the comms officer’s religion. That resulted in a deluge of near-incomprehensible pamphlets touting the virtutes of the ‘Most Sacred Unified Path of the Great Spirit’, whatever the hell that was. In a spirit of improving interspecies understanding he’d tried, really he’d tried, to understand them. But it seemed there were certain things that standard translator matrices couldn’t handle, especially religious dogma.
Harry smiled at the staring alien and gestured at his head. “It’s the sparkles, isn’t it?”
Being directly addressed broke the Karnakian’s stare and he looked at the floor guiltily. “[It looks like your head is a galaxy,]” he chirped. Then he glanced up at Jevnar’s impassive face. “[May I approach?]”
The human’s bodyguard gave a single nod of his ears. “[Please be cautious.]”
The Karnakian hunched lower and edged forward until he was within a couple meters of Harry. The human, for his part, tried to keep a pleasant smile on his face and not freak out about the giant fanged snout now level with his nose. That concern didn’t abate as the giant alien pulled his scaley lips back in an approximation of a human smile. “[I am [Ty’nik’nan]!]”
Harry swallowed. “Pleased to meetcha.” He turned and grabbed another, smaller hors d’oeurve from the table behind him; this one was some sort of fried and spiced dough thingy that was a lot less tough than the knangh.
Ty’nik’nan’s approach was an unspoken signal to the other partygoers, and they all crowded in around Harry. He put his free hand in his pocket and made ready to reactivate his proximity alarm system, but didn’t follow through when they stopped a few feet away. He was pretty sure that spontaneous perimeter was due to the looming presence of Jevnar at his left shoulder.
He chatted for a few minutes with them all, most of their questions boiled down to “So what did you think of the Falls?” Harry couldn’t blame them, after all the Falls were the major tourist attraction for the whole damn planet. But still there was only so many ways one could say “It was amazing and I was so awed by the majesty of nature but yeah also I got really damp.”
At one point during this whole pleasant interrogation Harry realized that he’d neglected to pay any attention or speak to the Princess. But as he glanced to his right he realized she’d left, presumably to mingle with the other guests.
That was a relief. Jevnar seemed convinced that this particular member of (minor) royalty was up to some sort of nefarious scheme, but her absence indicated that she just wanted to have a human at her shindig. His presence must be just be a case of her proclaiming her status.
Or at least that was his comforting bit of self-denial. Harry moved away from the table, making sure that Jevnar was close behind and that he had one hand in his pocket at all times just in case he needed to activate his personal security system. The moving ‘invisible perimeter’ continued around him and he relaxed, confident that everyone here were reasonable sapients and that they appreciated the need to keep their distance.
That, of course, is when things started to get a little out of hand. The perimeter shrank, preventing Harry from seeing where he was going. He was peppered with lots of questions, which he did his best to answer. A few brave souls even reached out to touch him. The latter actions were stopped with alacrity by a couple of nicely threatening growls from Jevnar.
Just as he was starting to feel the onset of panic, the crowd parted and Mrg-Znrnah reappeared. “[Darling! I hope you’re not too bored.]”
“No, Your Excellency. Everybody’s been nice!” He gave everyone around another smile, even including those who’d tried to touch him.
Mrg-Znrnah, of course, went ahead and touched him. She slinked up beside him and wound her fluffy arm around his, clasping his hand in hers with a gesture that was much more intimate than before.
Jevnar let out a growling protest. “[Your Excellency, please be careful…]” It was clear Harry’s butler was caught between wanting to physically intervene while not laying hands on a member of royalty.
“It’s okay, Jeeves. She’s being gentle.”
The Princess, to her credit, didn’t look smug and instead gave Jevnar a courteous nod. She started leading Harry towards one wall of the huge ballroom. “[I'm sooo glad to hear you’re having a good time,]” she purred, her seductive tone coming quite clearly through the translator matrix.
Harry swallowed nervously. During their first meeting at the Falls he’d thought that she was acting weird just…well, just because she was a giant wolf-like alien with a completely different set of social cues as compared to humans. It wasn’t until his bodyguard/butler patiently explained afterward to his Sir that, yes indeed, she was definitely signaling an interest in being more than friends that the penny dropped.
And now she was back and making all sorts of bedroom eyes at him. He decided that he was just going to act as if she was being really friendly and ignore any of her attempts at seduction. It wasn’t that he had anything against humans who decided to go for such things, it was more that…well, he had the integrity of his pelvis to consider, for one.
Plus she was an actual princess. Did the Dorarizin have laws in place preventing canoodling with royalty? He should have asked Jevnar. His initial plans to just act clueless started to sound ridiculous now that her (very soft) green fur was brushing against his arm and her big paw was wrapped around his hand and in between his fingers.
In the midst of Harry’s mild panic he almost asked the stupidest question ever, namely so how long have you been a Princess? Fortunately his brain caught up with his tongue and he changed it to the less stupid “So how long are you going to be here?”
Then he realized just how stupid that question had been, since that made it appear he might be returning her signals of interest.
“[Just a [few weeks], I fear,]” she replied. “[I was in the area and heard that the Falls were worth seeing.]” Her paw squeezed his hand gently. “[Imagine my pleasure when my yacht dropped out of warp and all the newsfeeds were talking about this [human] who had arrived. While at the helm of a repurposed dreadnaught, no less.]”
The Princess winked at him with her eye rather than using her ears, a human gesture that he was sure she’d picked up with the express intent of seducing him.
“[So what’s your plan with such a large ship?]” she continued. “[Did you just want to make sure you had the biggest ship around, or are you planning to at some point set yourself up as the warlord of some out-of-the-way colony?]”
Her cheeky grin and gentle teasing broke through his nervousness and he let out a genuine belly-laugh. “As if! Not like I could intimidate anyone here, right?” He waved in general at the multitude around them.
Mrg-Znrnah squeezed his hand tighter, but not uncomfortably tight. “[Oh, you’d be surprised. [Humans] are becoming very known for their…intimidation.]” Her floofed-out tail reached over and brushed against his shoulder as she bent over and whispered in his ear. “[Especially when it comes to bed-play.]”
All Harry’s brain could come up with was a terrified internal mantra of ohshitohshitohshit….