“Maji have intergalactic space travel, shiva… The technology of Earth has always been far less advanced than other species that exist in our cluster. Planets within a light year distance of the Milky Way have already activated their solar shields to protect their planets from the debris of your planet when it implodes. Debris won’t reach them for a long time, but precautions are a must when dealing with a dying planet in close proximity. While humans have barely passed two hundred thousand years in existence, many races have seen this before because they’re billions of years old. Your planet was old, but your species was not. We read the signs that you could not, and we have saved you."
I focused backed on Ealra. “It looks like Earth, just more colourful.”
“Ealra is three times bigger than Earth. Out of every planet we have visited, Earth is the closest in detail to my original home world. We have all the same elements and many more that your world does not. We have water, but it’s all fresh, not salted like on Earth. The main reason we took humans, aside from being reproductively capable, was because you inhale and exhale the same gases to keep you alive as Maji do on Ealra. Once we knew you could survive here, everything else would be figured out in time."
A bright beam from my left caught my attention, and I couldn’t look directly at it. I knew it was the sun, but not the sun I was used to. For starters, it was enormous, bigger than Ealra… and blue.
“Is that your sun?” I questioned.
“Yes, but we call a blue star. It functions the same way your sun did in the Milky Way.”
“It’s beautiful is what it is… but seriously, it’s fucking blue!”
Kol laughed, and we both turned our heads when the door to the bridge opened.
“Surkah,” I beamed when I saw my sister-in-mate.
She perked up when she saw me and walked towards me with a spring to her step. It shocked me how much I had come to care for Surkah in such a short amount of time, but I was so grateful for her. She was my dearest friend.
If I do the mate kiss thing to her, I said to Kol, will she be okay with it?
The admiration I felt from Kol for me warmed my heart.
She will never forget it, shiva.
I continued to smile at Surkah as she approached us. She did her arm on chest bow thing to her brother, and when she focused on me, I stepped forward and gestured for her to bend down. She furrowed her brows in confusion but leaned down to me, a question in her eyes. I placed my hands on her shoulders and watched said eyes widen when I placed the tip of my nose to hers, ran it up the bridge and stopped between her eyes. I replaced my nose with my lips and pressed a gentle kiss to the spot. With a smile, I pulled back, but that smile was instantly wiped away when I saw tears now streaked Surkah’s face.
“Almighty.” I choked. “I’m terribly sorry. Please, don’t cry!”
I wrapped my arms around a bawling Surkah and practically screamed at Kol in my mind.
She’s sobbing, Kol!
With joy, shiva. You only share a mate kiss with Maji whom you truly love and care for. It is sacred.
That relaxed me, and unlike when I thought of love with Kol, I wasn’t scared because it was different with Surkah. She was my sister-in-mate and had quickly taken up the long vacant role of cherished best friend. I had only known her for six days, but I felt like we went way back.
“Surkah.” I frowned as I hugged her. “Please, I’ll cry too if you don’t stop and none of us would like that.”
“No, we would not,” Kol agreed, “because we know I’ll do anything to stop the tears, and that means Thane will reach the edge if another engine stalls.”
That made me and Surkah laugh.
Kol and Mikoh both moved over to a couple of crew members to discuss the plan to disembark the humans from the Ebony. I hadn’t heard much of the conversation, but I knew Kol would fill me in later when I asked him.
“What do you think?” Surkah asked as she wiped her face free of tears. “Isn’t Ealra something to behold?”
I turned back to the viewing pane.
“It most certainly is,” I agreed. “I can’t believe there are so many different colours.”
“Everything that is not purple is land,” Surkah offered.
I gasped. “The purple is… water?”
“Yes.” Surkah nodded. “Why is that a surprise?”
“It’s … purple.”
“Yes, was water on Earth not purple?”
“No,” I replied. “It’s clear.”
“How do you see it then?” she asked with a brow raised.
I laughed because I didn’t know how to answer the question.
“It’s complicated,” I eventually said.
Surkah’s lips quirked. “I imagine it is.”
“From space, our water sources appear blue, but in person it’s clear.”
“Very strange,” Surkah commented.
I chuckled and glanced at Kol when I felt tension pour from him in waves. It looked like he was having a heated discussion with a few members of his crew, Nero and Mikoh.
“What are they saying?” I asked Surkah.
“Mikoh is relaying a report to Kol about the Earth’s Officials.”
Say what?
I turned my full attention to Surkah.
“What about them?” I quizzed.
She looked at her brother then back at me and said, “Maybe you should ask Kol about that.”
I did exactly that.
“Okay,” I said to her then focused on her brother.
Why is Mikoh talking to you about Earth’s Officials?
I heard his growl from across the room.
“Surkah!” he snapped, spinning to face us. “This conversation is not for Nova’s ears or yours!”
Surkah didn’t even flinch.
“I told you I wasn’t going to be dishonest to my sister-in-mate when she asks me a question,” she said firmly. “If you don’t like that, then that is your problem. Not mine.”
I looked at Surkah. “You go, female.”
“Go where?” she asked.
I burst into laughter.
“Nowhere.” I cackled. “It’s just a bit of praise for standing up to Kol.”
“Oh.” She smiled. “Thank you.”
Kol scowled at her, but when she switched his gaze to mine, it softened.
In private, I will discuss it.
I raised a brow. Do you need to be here to land the craft?
No, he hesitated, my crew can do it if I give the order.
Give the order then, because we’re going to discuss this. Now.
I turned to Surkah. “I’m going to discuss this with him in private.”
I hugged her and walked towards the exit of the bridge, noting Kol angrily gave out the orders I asked him to. I made it about twenty feet down the hallway outside the bridge before I felt him behind me.
“You’re not to walk alone without myself, Mikoh, or Nero to escort you, Nova.”
I rolled my eyes, glad he couldn’t see the action.
“Nova,” Kol growled. “Are you listening to me?”
“Yes. I just don’t want to talk to you until we’re in our room.”
“Fine,” he clipped.
The tension between us was thick, so by the time we reached our room, I felt like I could breathe again, and I was glad of it.
“We’re in private,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest as the door to our quarters closed. “Start talking.”
Kol scowled and began to pace from left to right in front of me.
“Kol,” I prompted.
He growled. “I am trying to think of a way to word it, so you don’t get angry.”
I raised a brow. “Is there a reason for me to be angry?”
“No, but you’ll still manage to find a way to be angry.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You aren’t helping your case to keep me calm when you say shit like that.”
“I apologise,” he said and continued to pace from left to right.
&nb
sp; I had to look away from him after a few moments because he was making me dizzy.