Chapter 6: Testing Dizyntk

Feyalisa had been on Dizyn for nearly a month. She was enjoying the receptions and parties she was attending. She sometimes found it hard to believe that just one cyanka ago she was living on an uninhabited planet with just her mate and daughter to talk to. Now she was back among her people. She was officially the crown princess and expecting another child. Of all the other things she was on the homeworld of her race, Dizyn, reacquainting herself with her extended family at the Imperial Palace.

She was currently in the bedroom of Jiastenia and Jiatalia who were the granddaughters of the Empress and the same age as Feyalisa. Their mother was the eldest daughter of the Empress and therefore the heir to the Imperial throne. She had met the twin girls twice when they had been children. They were identical with the golden brown hair and fur of their mother and deep purple eyes with so much flecking it looked like staring into a star filled sky when looking into their eyes. Normally any grown children would have their own rooms at the palace but the twins insisted on sharing one when they were here. Feya had gotten to know her cousins again over the past week.

The Empress had insisted that there be no more receptions or parties for Feya after two weeks. It was all well and good for the various nobles to meet Feyalisa but the Empress said that she also needed to spend time with the family as well. As the twins were the same age as Feya they naturally grew friendly very quickly. Right now they were talking about their families and children as well as joking and having fun. It was at times like these that Feya was truly grateful that she had returned to her people and her family.

Ariarisha had had much more free time than her mother. She was having fun exploring the palace and the grounds. Even after two solid weeks, however, she knew that she still had not covered even a third of the vast complex. This morning she was exploring the huge formal gardens to the west of the palace. There were other children at the palace. Aria thought them friendly enough but none of them had really clicked with her. The same was true at her classes back on Sapphire. There were almost 40 children there around her age but she was friends with only four of them. She got along with the rest of them just fine but she was innately choosey about who she called friend. Therefore she had enjoyed exploring by herself.

Aria was almost five cyankas old now. Her birthday was in a month and she had wondered if she would have her party here on Dizyn. Her thoughts wandered as she walked through the gardens. She suddenly came to the end of the path she was on and came to a large fence. She looked to her left and saw a young Dizyntk sitting on a bench who seemed to just be staring out beyond the fence. The girl appeared to be about Aria's age. She had long dark brown hair and white skin and her ears were locked forward as if listening for something. Then her right ear pivoted towards Aria. She turned to look at Aria and she could see that the girl's eyes were dark blue. The only thought that was in Aria's head now was how pretty this girl was.

Ariarisha stood transfixed for several moments. She could not believe how pretty the girl was.

Finally the girl said, "Hello, is someone there?"

Aria was confused for a second. The girl was looking right at her.

"Why can she not see me?" Aria thought to herself.

After a moment Aria realized that she should say something. "I am sorry; I did not mean to disturb you."

The young Dizyntk smiled and said, "It is alright, you are not disturbing me."

Then she got a puzzled look. "I do not know your voice. Who are you?"

Aria took a few steps closer and answered, "My name is Ariarisha. Who are you?"

The girl leaned her head back as she thought over something. "Ariarisha? Where do I know that name from?"

Aria said, "I was at the reception three weeks ago for my mother Princess Feyalisa."

The girl looked back in her direction and smiled again. "Yes I remember now, thank you. I am Lilavasi. My mother is the Empress' youngest daughter."

Aria could tell that Lilavasi could still not see her by the way her eyes did focus on her. She had a thought and decided to ask. "Excuse me for asking, but can you not..." was all she got out before Lilavasi interrupted.

"No, I cannot see you. I have been mostly blind since I was two and got in an accident." She said all of this while still smiling.

Aria gasped at the words and said, "I am sorry."

Lilavasi laughed and said, "Why? You did not do anything. Besides I am used to it now."

Lilavasi turned back towards the fence and got a sad look on her face. "There is only one regret that I really have." she said almost in a whisper.

Aria walked to the bench that Lilavasi was sitting at and sat on her knees on the ground in front of her.

"What regret do you have, Lilavasi?" Aria asked as she looked up at the girl's pretty face.

Lilavasi faced down in her direction in surprise. She had not realized that Aria had come so close or that she had voiced her last thought out loud.

She blushed in embarrassment at this stranger having heard her say something so personal. She smiled at Aria and said, "It is nothing; do not mind me, Ariarisha."

Aria realized that sharing something like that was not the kind of thing you did with a stranger, so she decided to rectify that.

She stood and said to Lilavasi, "Can you show me around the grounds? You live here and know them better than I do."

Lilavasi laughed at this and asked, "Why would you need that? I would only slow you down."

Aria shook her head and said, "Because exploring is more fun with a friend."

Lilavasi's ears perked up in surprise. "Friends? You want to be friends?"

"Why not? I think I like you." Aria said in her normal cheerful voice.

Lilavasi looked down and her ears dropped. "But I am just the youngest daughter of a youngest daughter. You are the daughter of a princess."

"I do not care." Aria chirped.

Lilavasi looked back up in surprise at the quickness of the reply. "But I am blind." she said in a sad voice.

"I do not care." Aria chirped again.

"Are you sure Ariarisha?" she asked.

"Aria, my friends call me Aria." she replied with a smile.

Lilavasi was almost in shock. She had never really had any friends. Other Dizyntk children felt uncomfortable around her. They did not dislike her. They were just unsure of how to act around her since she could not see. Now here was this girl she had just met wanting to be friends. Lilavasi could tell just from her voice that Aria was energetic and happy. She probably had many friends. This was the first time that anyone had been so cheerful towards her.

She stood and smiled at Aria. "You can call me Vasi." she said in a nervous voice.

Aria put her fingers lightly on the side of Vasi's neck and asked "May I?"

Vasi smiled and nodded. Aria leaned in and slowly sniffed at Vasi's neck and cheek. This was normal among Dizyntk when they made friends. There were vestigial scent glands in the neck that gave off a unique smell. These scent glands were as individual as fingerprints. Dizyntk had a sense of smell about ten times better than even the best human. They also had an incredible memory for smells. Once a Dizyntk had committed another's scent to memory she would recognize it for the rest of her life.

After Aria finished, she gently pulled Vasi's face to her neck. Vasi took one long sniff and gasped.

"What is wrong?" Aria asked.

"Nothing." Vasi answered. "You just smell good."

Aria giggled at this. She was happy that Vasi liked her scent. This was very important to a Dizyntk. If you did not like the way someone smelled then you would probably never get along well with them. Aria had liked Vasi's scent a lot.

Vasi, however, did not just like the way Aria smelled, she loved it. This is what had caused her to gasp when she sniffed at Aria's neck. She continued to sniff softly at Aria. She actually kept sniffing twice as long as was really necessary. This made Aria blush slightly.

Aria finally said. "Um, Vasi, are you alright?"

Vasi straightened up quickly and apologized. "Oh, I am so sorry."

"That's alright. I am glad you like my scent that much." she said.

Aria took Vasi's hand in hers and said, "Let's go explore."

Vasi nodded and let her new friend lead her away.

Michael and Kari arrived on Dizyn four days after leaving Sapphire. It had definitely been worth taking the messenger ship to arrive so quickly. Since the ship belonged to the Royal Guard on Sapphire it was allowed to land at the spaceport inside the palace grounds. As Michael busied himself shutting down the ship's systems Kari left the ship and saw Feya waiting for them. She walked quickly to her. It was all Kari could do to not sprint to her friend. Just as she got to Feya, Kari noticed the person standing next to her. It was the Empress. Kari quickly dropped to her knees and bowed.

"Apologies my Empress, I did not notice you." Kari was very embarrassed.

Ziniadyra laughed and said, "It is quite alright. I am not wearing my royal clothes and besides, your eyes were reserved for another were they not?"

"Yes they were, Your Majesty." Kari replied.

"Please rise, Sister Velakari. This is not a formal meeting." the Empress said.

Kari did so and said, "It is pleasure to meet you, Your Majesty."

Kiasyphia looked at her for a moment and said, "So, you are Feyalisa's new intended."

Kari looked at Feya and smiled. "Yes I am, Your Majesty."

Feya smiled back and added, "Not until my current mate accepts her, Your Majesty."

Kari suddenly wrapped her arms around Feya and hugged her tightly. Feya was surprised by this sudden display. Usually Kari was much more reserved in public.

"Kari, what has gotten in to you?" Feya asked sweetly.

Feya did not mind being hugged like this. She was just curious as to what had brought it on.

Kari squeezed Feya even tighter as she said, "He asked me before we left to come here."

Feya's eyes went wide at this. She pushed Kari back so she could look her in the eye.

"Really? He really did?" Feya asked with joy in her voice.

Kari just nodded emphatically.

At this moment Michael came out of the ship. Even from this distance he could tell that Kari and Feya were excited about something and he was pretty sure he knew about what. He stopped walking and braced himself. He knew Feya well enough that he was sure she would sprint at him the moment she saw him now. He was wrong this time.

As soon as Feya had noticed Michael she did start to part with Kari to run to him. Kari did not release Feya's hand however. Feya turned to look at her and Kari gestured with her eyes towards the Empress. Feya quickly composed herself and apologized to the Empress

"I am sorry, Your Majesty. I almost lost control of myself for a moment." Feya said.

"Youth must be a wonderful thing." the Empress said in an amused tone.

Michael was confused for a moment. He had been sure that Feya would come running. When it became obvious that Kari had stopped her for some reason, Michael decided to continue towards them.

Ziniadyra studied Michael intensely as he approached. She was curious as to why Feyalisa had found him so attractive. She was not sure. While he was not unpleasing to look at, Ziniadyra did not see what was so attractive about this species. She just shrugged and wrote it off to differing tastes. There were, after all, plenty of her fellow Dizyntk that held no innate attraction for her either. The one thing she did notice as he drew near was how tall he was. Michael was a full two heads taller than she was. He was also taller than any Dizyntk she had ever met, and she had met a lot of Dizyntk. She smiled a mischievous smile as she realized that he probably would not know who she was. She knew the only pictures of her that he had seen would have shown her in her full Imperial finery. Currently she was dressed in the very simple type of clothing that most of her race preferred.

Michael stopped in front of Feya and Kari. He smiled at them and said, "I was sure that you would run right to me, Feya."

Feya replied, "I was about to, until Kari stopped me."

Michael looked questioningly at Kari. Kari and Feya both looked over at the older female Dizyntk that was standing next them. Michael had noticed her as he had approached. She looked vaguely familiar but Michael had no idea who she was. He turned his head to look at her more closely. She was squinting her eyes at him and the tip of her tail was twitching back and forth rapidly. This was usually done by Dizyntk to show annoyance. Michael was confused by this because her lips were smiling. Was she faking smiling or faking being annoyed? Michael didn't know.

Feya cleared her throat and said, "Michael, I would like to present to you" she began as Michael turned to face her completely. He would probably have to bow after all if she was important. "Her Imperial Majesty, Empress Ziniadyra." Feya finished.

Michael's eyes went wide for a moment before he closed them tightly, dropped to his knees and bowed his head. "Son of a bitch." he said in English as he knelt.

Feya giggled as she heard this. She knew enough of her mate's native language to recognize the curse.

"Pardon me?" the Empress asked.

"Nothing, Your Majesty." Michael said. "My most humble apologies for not recognizing you, Your Majesty."

Suddenly, Ziniadyra almost doubled over laughing. Michael opened his eyes but kept his head bowed. So she was faking being annoyed. That thought was a great relief to Michael.

Ziniadyra finally stopped laughing and said, "Rise, Lieutenant."

Michael did so and the Empress gently embraced him.

"Thank you for taking care of Feyalisa all this time and welcome to my family, Michael Christopher." the Empress said.

She stepped back and asked, "Am I to understand that congratulations are in order?"

Michael smiled as he looked at Kari and Feya. "Yes, Your Majesty, they are."

Ziniadyra looked at Feya and said, "Oh go on and hug him, we are the only ones here and I AM family."

Feya embraced him tightly and snuggled her face to his chest. "I am so happy, my love."

Michael nuzzled the top of her head and breathed her scent in deeply. "Yes, I know you are. So am I."

After several moments the Empress cleared her throat and said, "Tomorrow we will begin planning for the bonding ritual. Right now, however, I have things to discuss with you Lieutenant."

Michael looked at the Empress then inquisitively at Feya. She simply shook her head. She had no idea yet of why the Empress had wanted to wait for her mate to arrive before talking with her in private.

After they returned to the palace, the four went to the Empress' quarters. There the Empress told them what she wanted them to consider. Over the past several cyankas, there had been four attempts by humans to enter Imperial territory for the purpose of settlement. In all four cases the humans had been sent back to Protectorate space. They had not been sent by official Protectorate governments but had been fleeing them. The last had happened three cyankas ago, shortly before Dizyntk scientists had discovered that humans and Dizyntk were genetically compatible. In the interim the Empress and her advisors had decided that they would consider giving the next group of humans that showed up permission to settle on a Dizyntk world. That brought the Empress up to what she was wanting of Michael.

"If we do let any humans settle on a Dizyntk world we will need someone to act as an ambassador to them, someone who understands human language AND culture." the Empress said.

After letting the point sink in, she continued. "This individual also needs to be someone I can trust to represent the interests of my people. As it stands right now we have only one who fits that description in the entirety of the Empire. That would be you, Michael."

Michael was taken aback by this turn of events.

"Your Majesty, I am a simple pilot. I have no experience or training for this kind of thing." he said.

Ziniadyra smiled and said, "I know this, but we will need your help on this."

She turned her attention to Feya. "Do you think that we will be able to coexist with these humans, Feyalisa?"

Feya thought the matter over for several seconds before responding. "Yes, Your Majesty. I believe we can."

Feya took her mate's hand and looked at him. "You said yourself once that many of your people are unhappy with your government. Will you not help those that wish to try and leave to come here?"