Hidden Rage: Kindred Tales

She sat up straight from her crouch, clutching the blue sheet to her chest to keep it from falling down.

“I’m so sorry!” she babbled, looking at the stunned expression on the female Saurian’s face—on Dragon’s mom’s face, she reminded herself, feeling even more embarrassed. “I…I didn’t mean to! I mean, I wasn’t watching it on purpose! I was just flipping through the, uh channels and it seemed to get stuck on this one! I swear I didn’t—”

At that point, Dragon came over and scooped the round remote-ball out of her hands. It looked no bigger than a plumb in his big hands, though it was at least as big as a large grapefruit, Bobbi thought distractedly. Without a word, he pressed a couple of buttons and then—mercifully—the images of the mating Saurians disappeared and the earsplitting grunts and howls faded to silence.

“Mother Tizlah,” he said, straightening up and speaking formally, “May I introduce you to the female I Claimed. I regret that she has not given me her name, so I am calling her ‘feela.’”

“Oh, um, Dr. Roberta McClelland, PhD—but you can call me Bobbi,” Bobbi said, hopping up and holding out a hand to the female Saurian.

“Doctor?” The female raised her scaly brow ridges, which Bobbi supposed passed for eyebrows on Saurians, in apparent surprise. “So…you are a healer?”

“Oh, I’m afraid not—my doctorate is in Xeno-Cultural Anthropology,” Bobbi said quickly. “I’m very interested in studying other species’ cultures, you see. Which is why I was, er, watching that program,” she went on, feeling suddenly inspired. “You see, the mating habits of any people tell a lot about their societal values and norms. It’s all very valuable to the research.”

“I see,” the female Saurian said—rather flatly, Bobbi thought. “And so you have come to study us here on Saurous?”

“Er…yes, I suppose you could say that,” Bobbi said carefully.

It was irritating because she would have liked to be extremely angry and aggrieved and talk about how Dragon had kidnapped her and was holding her against her will. But now that she had used her profession as an excuse for watching the weird, alien porn, she didn’t quite see how she could backtrack.

“I was studying the Orniths of Avria Pentaura when your son, er, ‘Claimed’ me,” she added. “They’re also a fascinating people.” She didn’t know why it felt so important to make a good impression on the woman who was Dragon’s adoptive mother, but she couldn’t help it—she didn’t want to be thought of as “that perverted girl we caught watching porn.”

“I’m sure they are,” the female Saurian said neutrally. “My son said you were feeling unwell so I made you this.” She held up a steaming stoneware mug. “Would you like to sit down and drink it?”

“Oh, yes—thank you so much,” Bobbi nodded enthusiastically, which caused a bolt of pain to spike through her head. “Ouch!” she gasped, putting a hand to her temple. “Sorry—I’m still not recovered from the trip from Avria Pentaura.”

“All the more reason to sit down and sip some of this posset,” Dragon’s adoptive mother said, leading her back to the couch. She settled on one end of it and motioned for Bobbi to sit in the middle while Dragon sat on the other end.

Feeling nervous about being bookended between the two of them, Bobbi lifted the heavy stoneware mug to her lips and blew on the steaming liquid before taking a small sip.

A flavor like a very rich, meaty bone broth filled her mouth. It was surprisingly good, though there was a bit of a sweet aftertaste.

Bobbi had been working hard that day, helping the Orniths with their harvest, and she hadn’t had anything to eat since noon when she’d slurped down a small bowl of grilin grain porridge and eaten a few sweet chilla leaves. Of course she hadn’t been hungry earlier—she’d been scared to death about being kidnapped. But now she felt her hunger returning with a vengeance—she was a curvy girl, after all, and not much could kill her appetite.

“This is delicious,” she said, sipping eagerly. “I’ve never had anything like it! What do you call it?”

“It’s just a brilla-honey posset,” the Saurian female said dismissively, but Bobbi thought she caught a flash of pride in the other woman’s yellow eyes. “It should help you regain your equilibrium and ease your flight-sickness.”

“I think I’m feeling better already—thank you so much,” Bobbi said, smiling. “Dragon said you were a healer—this is excellent medicine.”

The pale gray-green scales around the Saurian woman’s cheekbones turned a slightly darker green—perhaps it was a blush of pleasure, Bobbi speculated.

“Well, being a female, I’ve never had any formal education,” she demurred modestly. “But my father was the healer for our Clan and he taught me everything he could, before my husband, Komendant Vizlar, paid my bride price and Claimed me as his wife. And of course, I had to learn all about mammalians and how to feed and treat them once he brought Dragon home to be the Little Brother of my firstborn son, Zerlix.”