Delivered by the Defender (Kindred Tales)

“Ah, you must forgive me, kind Sir, so you must. I just thought your lovely lady would like to remember this happy time she’s having with you forever. I have just the thing to make your memories permanent, you know.”

Selena’s ears seemed to prick up at the vendors words.

“What—you mean like a souvenir?” she asked eagerly.

“Don’t rightly know what a soo-vee-neer is,” the vendor said. “But I do have a device to help you capture all your memories and relive them over and over again, forever. This.”

He held up a tiny golden hoop, so thin and fine it was almost invisible. On one end of the hoop was a tiny, flat, round plate and on the other was a sparkling red gem.

“Uh…what’s that?” Selena asked, frowning.

“A piece of junk, most likely,” Valen growled. He was still irritated that the vendor had spoiled his moment with the curvy little Earth female. After all, he was about to say goodbye to her forever—he would have liked to have some uninterrupted time with her before he had to do that. Because more and more, he felt unwilling to be parted from her—which was a sure sign that he needed to get away, he reminded himself.

“Please, fine Sir, you wound me!” the vendor exclaimed, putting a hand to his heart and shaking his head at Valen sadly. “I would never sell ‘junk’ to anyone—much less a lovely lady such as your Dependent Female!”

“What is it, then?” Selena asked again, clearly interested. “Because it looks like some kind of a nose ring,” she added.

“Well, you’re not completely wrong, my lady,” the vendor said eagerly. “This is a nasal scent detector and reproducer unit—a nasdru, I call it.”

“A what?” she asked, frowning.

“A nasdru. Let me ask you this,” the vendor went on glibly. “What brings memories back to you more quickly than anything else? Why, the sense of smell, of course!” he exclaimed, answering his own question. “Think of it—you smell a warm hootleberry pie baking, and it makes you remember the hootleberry pie your mother baked when you were a child! Or the scent of a certain flower brings back the sweet memory of when your Master brought you just those flowers on your Joining day, and all the happy, warm feelings of that day as well. Scent memories can endure for years—for a lifetime! And that is what I’m offering you here.”

“Scent memories?” Selena asked, looking intrigued. “Explain, please—how does that nose-ring thing help bring back scent memories?”

“The nasdru works like this—you simply clip it to one nostril or the other,” the vendor said, tapping the tiny jewel on his own rather large nose, which proved he was already wearing one of the devices he was selling. “And then, when you smell something good, or unique—or just something you want to remember—you inhale deeply through your nose…” He flared his large nostrils and sucked in a gust of air, demonstrating. “And as you do, you fix in your mind what the smell is associated with,” he told Selena. “It could be a place, like a lovely garden, or a thing like a luscious, sweet treat, or a beautiful flower—anything you always want to remember.

“You just fix whatever it is in your mind and later, when you think of that memory, the nasal scent detector will replicate the scent for you. All you have to do is inhale and it will send the scent you are wishing for right into your nasal passages. It makes every memory as sharp as a knife, I tell you—it truly is a revolutionary invention!”

“It sounds really unique,” Selena said, frowning. “But I thought tourists to Ma’shorka Centra weren’t allowed to take anything away with them—for fear of decreasing the planet’s mass.”

“Oh, we get around that by having these manufactured on Primus—our central moon.” The vendor made a shooing motion with one hand, dismissing her concern. “Then we import them to sell here. That way none of our precious mass is depleted, and you can still remember your stay on lovely Ma’shorka Centra for the rest of your life.”

“That does sound amazing.” Selena sounded wistful. “But I’m sorry, I just can’t right now.”

“Yes, you can,” Valen interrupted her.

“What?” Her eyes flew up to his. “But—”

“I can tell that you want one,” he said sternly. “And so I’m going to buy it for you.”

Her desire was clear in the longing way she looked at the little device, and he couldn’t forget her earlier disappointment over not getting “souvenirs,” to commemorate her trip to Ma’shorka Centra.

“But…but you can’t just keep buying me things!” she protested.

“Oh, yes I can,” Valen told her, frowning. “And you will kindly not contradict me—simply take it as a gift from me to you.”

He rather liked buying her things, he had to admit. He had especially enjoyed the look on her face as the foodle-smoon had melted on her tongue—her sensuous enjoyment of the sweet treat had made his shaft ache. But it wasn’t just a sexual thing—it made him happy to see her eyes light up. And the Goddess knew, happiness—especially any kind of happiness having to do with a female—was a rare emotion for him.