Stella’s heels tapping across the floor tiles probably weren’t echoing as much as Dassah’s mind was convinced they were, but the sound was grating nevertheless. Grabbing Dassah’s arm and pulling her aside, the nosey young woman hissed in her ear: “This is him?”
“No, Stella, it’s one of Bahena’s other brothers that we’ve seen before,” Dassah said, rolling her eyes and trying to reclaim her arm. Sathuren raised an eyebrow at the struggle, but deciding it was harmless, he shrugged and moved over to where Bahena was sitting at the kitchen island going through some documents on her WristComp. Bahena hardly acknowledged her sibling before starting a conversation Dassah wasn’t close enough for her translator to pick up.
Stella had a surprisingly strong grip. “That is the garule that’s been causing you the end of no trouble since you met him?”
Squinting up at her, Dassah said, “You have a very strange interpretation of the things I say to you. When I say ‘it’s fine’, I mean, ‘it’s fine’.”
“And for a dinosaur, he is pretty fine. I didn’t talk with you about it before because I know how you are, but now...” the young woman said, putting an orange-painted finger nail to her matching orange-painted lips.
“Stella!” Dassah scolded, louder than she should have.
The two garuli paused their discussion to look up at them. Meeting Bahena’s eyes, Dassah shook her head and gave her a face of exasperation. The bronze scales garule sighed with understanding, then said something to Sav in a quick series of clicks and whistles before he went back to leaning over her shoulder to look at whatever was on his sister’s holo screen.
“What?” Stella whined. “I’m just making an observation...”
“Would it be possible for you to make your observations when the subject of them is standing more than twenty feet away?” Dassah growled and sat on the sofa.
Stella followed. “You are no fun.”
“Correct,” Dassah answered before sitting and turning her own holo screens on. “Don’t you have work to do or something?”
“Yeah, but nothing that’s actually worth my time,” Stella said with a shrug and sat on the arm of the sofa. “But seriously, you don’t think he’s a little bit handsome?”
Dassah snorted. “Considering I could barely be in the same room as him till yesterday, I haven’t had time to consider it,” she muttered. “And must you sit there?”
“Oh, what does that matter?” Stella snorted. “I’m asking if you find him attractive at all, not outright asking you if you like him. Does that work for you, Miss Cranky?”
“Would you please find something to do with yourself other than annoy me?” Dassah snapped.
But the young woman just shrugged. “Fine then,” she said. “If you don’t want him, I’ll take him.”
“Knock it off!” Dassah shouted.
“Is there something the matter over there?” Bahena’s strained teacher voice cut in.
“Oh, nothing,” Stella shrugged. “Dassah’s just not playing with me.”
“Playing with you...?” Bahena repeated lamely. “Do I want to know?”
“No,” Dassah said.
Sathuren snorted. “What an interesting group you all make,” he mused. “Must be fun.”
“Oh, loads,” Bahena grunted, then stood and walked around the counters to refill her water glass: “The dynamic is especially entertaining. You’ve only really seen them—or, well, Stella, I guess—in short bursts of time and dinner situations, but we do make a decent team at the end of the day.”
Stella stood straight, tall, and pretty. “It’s so very nice to finally formally meet you, Professor Sul!” she thrust her hand out to him and shook his with great enthusiasm. “I’ve heard so much about you!”
“Have you?” Sav answered with a deal of hesitation. “Nothing great, I’m sure.”
Laughing, she said, “Oh, I don’t base my opinions of others on hearsay.”
“Is that so?” he asked, his eyes flickering down to their still-clasped hands. He went to pull his hand back, but she pulled it to her and lifted it to level with her face. Sav looked between Bahena and Dassah, seeking some kind of answer for the girl’s strange behavior, but they both just shook their heads.
“Oh, my word!” Stella exclaimed, looking at his claws. “Your claws are so nicely trimmed! Look, Dassah!” she went, pulling Sav’s hand closer to Dassah’s face. “He trims his claws!”
“Most garuli here do...?” he went, stupefied by the girl’s actions.
“Stella, would you please leave the poor man alone?” Dassah went, irritated by the girl’s forwardness. “Or at the very least, leave me alone if you are going to pursue some sort of dalliance with him?”
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“D-Dalliance?” Sav asked Bahena, who was too busy gaping to answer.
Stella’s eyes lit with little fires as she smirked. “Can I?”
“Why are you asking me?” Dassah bit, glaring at the pair of locked hands in her face.
“There will be no such thing!” Bahena shrieked, grabbing Stella and Sathuren’s wrists and pulling the hands apart.
Sav rubbed his wrist with a confused scowl, making Dassah sigh. “She’s joking, Bahena,” she informed the bronze-feathered garuli, whose tail had started to lash back and forth.
“J-Joking?” Bahena went, giving Dassah a blank look.
“She’s trying to bait me,” Dassah told her, shifting her position on the couch. “For how else would she get her daily dose of amusement?”
Stella puffed out her cheeks, then leaned over and poked Dassah’s nose. “And aren’t you a good sport for playing along!”
“Get away from me,” Dassah drawled, typing away to answer various emails in her inbox.
“Boring girl,” Stella went.
“Horrible girl,” Dassah replied. “Don’t you have a boyfriend or something to torture instead of us?”
“I do,” Stella went pouting. “Be he’s stopped texting me. Just like the last one. Is there something wrong with me, I wonder?” She poked her cheek before laughing. “Just kidding! Of course, there isn’t anything wrong with me! They just can’t handle how perfect I am!”
Dassah rolled her eyes. “It must be.”
Giggling, Stella hopped off the desk and put her hands on her hips. “Seriously though, you're quite the popular one, Professor Sul; you’ve broken quite a few of my classmates' hearts—you seem to be very popular in most circles. Be nice to my Dassah, though. She’s not all grown up yet!”
Dassah and Bahena sighed in unison.
“Right,” Sav inhaled sharply. “Is she always like this?”
“Yes,” the other two woman answered, also in unison.
Then Bahena picked up with, “Never a dull moment, to be sure,” before stalking back to the counter.
“I see,” Sav stood, crossing his arms and shifting into a more laid-back posture. His tail fwiped behind him. “You two should take notes,” he mused.
“What for?” Bahena scowled, taking her seat. “Such nonsense. Toying with people.”
“But it is fun,” Stella said from the other side of the room. Wrinkling her nose, she added, “Just look at your face, even now...”
Sathuren shook his head. “Not that,” he waved, then pointed between Bahena and Dassah. “The two of you are so annoyingly self-conscious of one another that you’ve made it impossible to really be friends. Mess with each other. Dare to offend—then laugh about it and talk to each other like you aren’t bumbling hatchlings.”
Furrowing her brow, Dassah asked, “What are you talking about?”
“Keep your mouth shut, you ugly male,” Bahena suddenly snapped. Stella and Dassah looked up at her quickly, but Sav yawned before giving his sister an accusatory glare. “You can never be friends if you are so bloody afraid of offending each other—so just do it already and get over it. You,” he started pointing at Bahena, “Don’t cry to me about me giving all garuli a bad name because of actions I took in a video game, and you,” he went, pointing at Dassah as Bahena shifted uncomfortably. However, his expression faltered a bit before he said, “There are bad people in the world. People of every species, race, creed. I get it. I do. And I get that it’s not always logical. But,” he continued, “If you don’t learn to trust in and have faith in others, you will never be happy.”
His yellow-gold eyes met hers, and she understood, at least a little, that he was coming from a very personal place when he spoke those words. She nodded and looked away.
“Sathuren, would it be possible for you to not lecture people wherever you go?” Bahena asked him sourly. “You tend to say very difficult things so very easily, and you have no idea how very frustrating you are.”
“On the contrary, dear sister, I am well aware of how difficult I am,” he answered, rolling his eyes. “But that doesn’t mean I am just going to stop saying things when I feel they need to be said.”
“Aren’t you all very high and mighty, Mr. Sutak, there,” the bronze garule spat as she stood with her hands gripping the side of the counter. Dassah looked between them in alarm, but Sav simply sighed.
“Yes, yes,” he grumbled. “Lay on the childish insults because I made you uncomfortable. How very mature of you, sister. You are a well and proper female.”
“One of us should be, between the two of us!” Bahena hissed, her tail lashing back and forth, knocking some things on the counters over with a crash.
Sathuren stared at her flatly. “Mother would be so proud,” he told her, his eyes narrowing.
Bahena growled from deep within her throat, digging her claws into the counter as she bared her teeth.
Sav leaned on on the other side of the counter and watched his defensive sister throw her tantrum.
“Uh... m,” Dassah tried to protest, but the words wouldn’t come out the way she wanted them to.
However, Sav turned his head quickly. “Ah—” he went, standing and looking at the furious Bahena. “Shit,” he sighed. “Now, who's the asshole,” he muttered and raised his hands as he walked over to where Bahena was hissing from a place deep in her throat. “Alright, alright, already,” he surrendered. “Why don’t you and I take a walk, and we can have a little chat about how we are both capable of being childish, hm? Let’s go. Before you wreck things more important to you than your food preparation.”
“Why would I— “ Bahena started, then her posture and face wilted when she looked at Dassah. “Dassah...”
Dassah bit her lips but forced a smile. She knew that Sav was right, and she knew that the two siblings had proven themselves to be, at the very least, decent people. But she still had a lot to work through before she could watch either of them lose their tempers.
“I-It’s okay,” Dassah said, standing up with her books. “You guys stay. I have a class to attend. I’ll... see you guys later? T-Thank you for this morning, Professor Sul,” Dassah said, bowing to him as he passed. His expression showed shades of apology and regret as he nodded back to her.
“Have a good class!” Stella called out before going back to her typing. “I’ll sit here and enjoy the show. I’ll tell you what happens after!”
Dassah saw Bahena glare at the young woman before she made her exit.