“Well, you’re s’skree, right?” She cocked her head curiously. “Sling prints are native to your homeworld.”
“I’ve never been to my homeworld.”
“Oh!” She chuckled. “I’m sorry. You’re born of the black, huh?”
Born of the black. It was a way to refer to younglings born on starships, away from any planet. But he wasn’t one. He was station born. But he didn’t see the need to tell her that.
“Something like that. Slings… that’s what younglings are called on my home planet, right?”
“Yes,” she beamed. “Sling prints are very common there. But it’s tradition to give them to your mate when she conceives. They say sling prints smell like happy slings, and it helps calm down a pregnant s’skree female. They’re very easily agitated while carrying.”
“And afterwards,” he agreed calmly. “S’skree females are notoriously violent when protecting their young. Even against their own mates.”
“True,” she laughed. “So, are you not expecting a youngling then?”
“I might be. How much?”
When Tanin turned back from buying the flowers, he saw that Garnet had already left the privy and was walking his way with a curious smile. She beamed at him as she looked first at his face then down to the flowers.
“What are those?” She asked, leaning over to sniff them. “Ooh, that’s nice. They smell like… like…ugh, what is that smell? It’s like what you wish a spa would smell like.”
Tanin cocked a brow. The sling prints didn’t really have a scent. To him at least. He offered them to her without a word. She smiled, taking them happily.
“For me?”
“These are the flower.”
“The flower?” She was breathing deeply of their scent again.
“My mother’s flower.”
She paused. Her eyes slowly came up to meet his. “Your mother’s… These are?”
He nodded once.
“Oh?” Her gaze softened as she looked back at the blooms with newfound adoration. Gently, like they were impossibly fragile, she stroked one of the petals. “Oh, my gosh. It’s so pretty.”
“It was probably a gift from my father. It’s traditional to give them to your female when she’s expecting your youngling. That’s why they’re called sling prints.”
“That makes it even better,” she sighed softly, cradling the flowers like they were unspeakably precious. “They must have meant so much to your mom for her to hold onto one of them for so long.”
That’s probably exactly what it was. He’d always wondered why she clung so hard to such a fragile little life in that dark place. But that flower was the only reminder she had of days when she had love and hope. Life before Rik-Vane. A mate and a sling on the way. She’d clung to memories that he’d never known and would never know.
But he had his own memories of his mother bound in that little white flower. To see his mate carrying a small bouquet of them struck deep in a way he hadn’t expected.
He took her hand and pulled, tugging her down the street.
“Where are we going?” She asked, curious but not unwilling to keep up with him.
Tanin didn’t answer. He was focused.
He wasn’t picky. He just needed somewhere private and decent enough for her.
Right around the corner, there was an inn. Everyone who docked here came from a starship, but not everyone had their own. A lot of people came on chartered starships and needed a place to stay while here. Or they did have their own starship but just didn’t want to stay on it for whatever reason.
There were a lot of inns dotted throughout Tin-Fallow. He wasn’t surprised there was one so close by. It was a stroke of luck that there was a room available. He purchased it for the next few days then tugged the silently grinning Garnet up to their given room. It was a simple thing. Cheap, but clean and comfortable with a large bed and a wide window looking out over the level. However, the soundproofing was great. The moment the door shut behind them, the room was completely silent. He dropped her hand and crossed the room. The windows dimmed with a slider, casting them in shadows. There was a light strip on the wall over the bed, but it wasn’t powerful. Until his eyes adjusted, it wasn’t even really noticeable. It illuminated the room just enough that he could see where he was going.
Tanin turned back to find Garnet looking around curiously. She had set the flowers, her stuffed animal, her bag, and her shopping bags on the side table beside the bed and was now checking out her surroundings. She did it every time she went somewhere new. Unbound by fear or shyness. He adored that about her.
