With a grunt, Nenn gestured for him to fly closer.When the male brought the velorx’s ass in line with Nenn, he pushed off the cliff wall and landed across the seat.The hover dipped under their combined weight, then leveled, its engine whining.
“A warning would be appreciated,” Caah said, his white hair ruffling.
“Then why did you draw near?”Nenn asked when he’d pulled himself up until he could sit behind Caah.“Which arrak?
“Meorri aac Drafe,” Caah said, shooting the velorx upward, skimming past holds Nenn knew too well.“He is at the Senate.”
“I understand the urgency,” Nenn said.“Assisting such a warrior cannot be delayed.”
Caah hovered the velorx where Nenn had dangled his feet off the edge a while ago.
He leaped off to land on the platform.“Thank you, Caah.I will take it from here.”
He strode into the med-tech spire, past the emergency wards to the barracks beyond.Inside his three-by-five room, he yanked on boots and red pants then summoned his armor.It shimmered across his obsidian skin in a pattern like a vibuy’s.
He stopped at the first ward to collect a med-dev and a temporary nodule, just in case.With both pocketed, he tapped his heels to activate the power boots then launched himself off the ledge.For a male from Erasril, flying was reserved for the Zuphayr tribe.
“How much longer, Nenn?”Meorri aac Drafe demanded.
“Why?You have a female awaiting your return?”Nenn chuckled, veering to the right for the ornate platform high above Ivoy’s natural wonders below.
Drafe snorted.“A female on Ivoy?Sure.”
“Ivoyans are androgynous, so finding a compatible femaleispossible.”Nenn deactivated his power boots as he landed on the platform, his focus on the pacing Qaldreth guardian.
Drafe Arrak was the most promising Qaldreth warrior or so Nenn had heard.Having dealt with the male before, he could only agree.He comported himself as Nenn imagined Panior would.
The warrior’s grunt reverberated through Nenn’s mind.The nodule buried in his neck had a limited range.This close, he caught the frustration and impatience in Drafe’s voice.
He met Nenn’s gaze and strode toward him.“I am attempting to banter with you.Try it before you reject the skill.”
Ahh.Now he understood.Despite knowing much about Drafe, they hadn’t spent time together to build a casual rapport.“Would this be from your xenology studies I have heard rumors of?”
Drafe didn’t answer, just angled his head to grant Nenn easier access to his ear.His bald head was a Qaldreth feature with his black hair streaking from his temple to disappear into his gray, armored bodysuit.All males shaved their heads but allowed a strip to grow from the brow to the base of his spine.His yellow eyes also confirmed his home as being the deserts of Qaldreth—the Meorri part of his name.
Nenn raised his arm to scan Drafe’s ear.“Is your ot inside?”he asked, soft beeps and flashes marking his progress.The med-dev was far superior to russmar.He planned to take it with him when he returned to Erasril.
The med-dev pinged, green pulsing for a second.Not a good sign.
Drafe stiffened.“Diagnosis?”
“Replacement,” Nenn said, lowering his arm.
“Here?”Drafe’s wide eyes revealed his hope.
Nenn frowned.The new nodule would need the old one surgically removed.“No, you will have to come with me.”
“Curse it, Nenn.I cannot leave, not with my ot unguarded,” Drafe snapped.
Nenn swallowed the urge to mutter how childish Drafe reacted for an arrak—his rank of protector or guardian.Instead, he clipped a temp-device over the old nodule.“See me when you can,” he said.“I will have the implant waiting at med-tech.”
“My thanks.”Drafe strode off, his focus on the doors to the Senate.
Nenn shrugged, having learned not to take arrak behavior to heart.They bore much pressure guarding the ots—the highest-ranking Ivoyans.Ots were the judges or generals, the revered councilmen, those positions determined at birth and based on IQ.Then came the zi, who traveled to expand Ivoy’s knowledge of the universe.A lo taught, sharing the information held in the archives.Last were the uz, the servant class.Any baby with a lower intelligence than that wasn’t allowed to survive.
He curled his lip in disgust.Not the Qaldreth way but changing centuries of tradition and culture would be impossible for a maed.He kept his head down and healed where he could.
“Med-tech, confirm temp-device installed on Meorri aac Drafe Arrak.Reminder to be sent to the male should he not schedule a full replacement.”
