Rek' Sai leads the way through his ship, his pride for it was evident in the way he held his chin and shoulders high and the way it seemed to just ooze from his deep voice as he spoke of what the doors we passed contained.
When he mentioned that we were passing the mess hall my stomach growled loudly, instantly causing me to turn and attempt to enter the room. Rek' Sai grabbed my sleeve and shook his head when I turned to look at him.
"We shall have a feast delivered to my quarters, the men let there guard down in there, it may not be safe for you." I looked him in the eyes and to note of the genuine concern that resided within them, and shook my head in agreement, while I swallowed nervously.
The last bit of the way I took notice that all of the walls, ceilings, and floors we made of the same silver/metallic substance, blue crystals provided soft light to see our way with, and the occasional panel allowed me to see space span out in front of me. I still couldn't quite believe that I'm flying through space right now.
Finally, we made it to his room, we stopped at the doors so that he could use a biometric scanner to open them, and the room I found inside of them was breathtaking.
The ceiling and walls were gone, the room appeared to be a floating platform in space. There was a large bed, many bookshelves, a large black sofa, and a few chairs around a table. The only other things to be seen were the two doors that stood on either side.
"Your ship is amazing Rek' Sai, a view like this is normally only seen in photographs for my people. Star travel hasn't been perfected yet. A lot of them dream of traveling through the stars like this." I walked to the panel and touched the surface of it gently.
The prince removed his coat and finished his order for food. "What is a photograph?" he asked with childlike wonder in his eyes.
"Well, I guess the easiest way to explain it is an image of an object that's been printed onto something." I tilted my head to the side, I wasn't really sure how to answer his question, the concept of pictures wasn't really something I'd thought I'd ever had to explain.
"What does your world look like Emilie? I wish to know more about your species and your customs." He smiled widely and walked to the table and chairs, sitting in the largest chair he gestured for me to sit on the sofa.
"Well, umm.. the sky and ocean are blue, and most of our plant life is green, but flowers can be any color. There are a bunch of different animal species.." I trailed off, I looked up at strangely beautiful, silver-skinned warrior to the left of me," I'm sorry sir, I've never been asked to explain my planet before. I'm just a waitress at a pub, it would have been a lot better if a doctor or scientist had been sent here instead of me."
Feeling self-conscious, I lowered my eyes. Rek' Sai began to let out a soft noise, similar to a cat's purr. "Your explanation was fine, Emilie. I am glad you were the one who appeared before me, I have never seen a more beautiful female in all my years of space exploration and battles."
I suddenly looked up to find that he had moved forward in his seat, and was looking at me with a primal lust behind his purple, catlike eyes, and a large bulge began to form under his cloth. I coughed and brought my arms up to my chest.
"I can't wait for the food to come," I mumbled.
I redirected him and he shook his head to return his regular stern expression, and we sat in silence as he tried to discreetly cover his bulge, causing me to briefly wonder what could be found beneath, my face reddened at the indecent thought.
"Do you have a fever?" He asked, reaching for my forehead. I held my hands up for him to stop, and he did, letting his arm fall to his side. He let out a long sigh and it went quiet until there was a knock at the door, signaling that the food had arrived.
The food that arrived was both similar, and unlike anything, I'd ever seen. There was a thick looking soup, some sort of bird type thing, orange bread, and some surreal looking baked vegetables.
He watched me, inspecting the food, "Is it very different from the foods of your world?" He asked softly while trying to gauge my reaction.
"It is, but it isn't." I mumbled, "The concepts are similar at least." I reached forward and began putting small bits of everything onto a smaller plate. Rek' Sai cut the bread and handed a piece of it to me, I took it and added it to the pile. I can't lie I was a bit nervous to try it, what should I try from this strange alien feast first?
Eventually, I made up my mind and tried the veggies, I found the purple carrot-like things tasted similar to potatoes, the bean-like ones were blue in color and tasted like pickled beets, a favorite of mine actually. I moaned slightly with the flavor and Rek' Sai's attention instantly snapped to my mid-section. He suddenly softened and asked me how I liked it so far. With no point in lying, I said that I did. The bird was like chicken, the soup like beef stew, and the bread amazingly tasted of poundcake.
"The food tastes fantastic, the appearance put me off at first, the colors are unusual for my world's food, but it tastes similar to it." I smiled at him and leaned back on the sofa to rub my belly. "I'm so full I couldn't eat another bite!"
He smiled down on me, "That is good, I guess now we should have a talk about the rules." He said the words so sweetly that at first, I didn't notice the sternness when the word rules passed his lips.
"Rules? What rules?" I looked at him skeptically, I have a feeling I won't like some of them, how strange could they be?
Rek' Sai looked me in the eyes and let out a heavy sigh. "Rule number one is non-negotiable." He paused before continuing. "You are not to leave this room without me or the doctor to accompany you."
I was going to be stuck in this room? I had a one in a million chance to explore a real alien spaceship, and I couldn't leave this one room. "No, I want to explore the ship more." I snipped harshly to him.
"It is because you do not know that you must stay, you do not know my species situation, the male to female populations are 10 to 1, most do not find a bond-mate anymore. Add the fact that they have not seen females in weeks, I could not guarantee your safety without me to secure it." Rek' Sai roared back at me, causing me to shrink my back into the sofa, eyes widened.
"But, wouldn't the same thing be true for you though?" I gulped loudly as I waited for a response.
"As a royal, I have a lot of control over my primal instincts comparatively." He spoke much more calmly this time. I looked up at him, a beast of a warrior who had done nothing but helps me since my arrival on his ship and I sighed deeply.
"Rek' Sai, I'm going to trust you."