"No, no, no, no," Jella said, reaching over his shoulder to tap on his virtual display. "You have the words all mixed up again. It should go like this." She switched around the words in the sentence and now they looked out of order to Callum. He sighed. The way fie spoke seemed backwards to him. He hadn't noticed before because his auto-translator fixed the word order when translating to carcha but now that he was trying to learn to write it, it seemed all wrong to him. He kept making word order mistakes when he tried to write. Reading was easier for some reason but he was running into problems there, too. The fie had so many different words that meant the same thing! Carcha only had one or two for every different thing. He never expected to feel a preference for the carcha way of doing anything.
Jella circled around the table, doing her best impression of a teacher despite her young age. She peeked over Shargi's shoulder and began to correct some of Shargi's writing. Shargi nodded eagerly and began to fix it. In a weird way, Jella was the perfect teacher for her. Her age seemed to lessen the cringing eagerness to please that would have had Shargi apologizing and losing confidence at every correction from an adult. Even when Bel was here, it was usually Jella that worked with Shargi.
Callum glanced toward the door again, wondering where Bel was. She had said she had an errand to run before she came home but didn't know how long it would take. But Bel usually didn't invite them over if she wasn't going to be here. Jella didn't seem concerned about it. 'I wonder how often Bel leaves her on her own?' Callum wasn't judging Bel but he did think it was kind of sad for such a young person to be alone like that. 'Maybe we can come over more often when Bel has to work late…' Of course, if he came over on nights when Bel wasn't here along with the nights she was, he would pretty much be here all the time. That would be strange.
Especially since he had no idea what their relationship was. In the village where he'd grown up, sexual relationships had been open and easily understandable. Everyone knew everyone so when two people took up together, everybody knew it. Lovers initially usually stayed in their parents' home until they either decided to settle into their own home or break it off. There had been a few people, both men and women, Callum knew of who had slept with multiple people without committing to any of them. They had been looked down on by the rest of the village but nobody had really cared so long as they lived alone or with their parents. Once two people settled in the same home, though, it was considered really repugnant for them to sleep with anyone else. One man had even been beaten by some of the other villagers for such a thing.
Things didn't seem quite as straightforward among the fie. Callum had begun watching a video series about the lives of several young fie and their relationships. It was confusing as hell. Sometimes casual sex seemed fine and sometimes it didn't. They took lovers and were instantly absurdly devoted to them and then discarded them just as quickly. Sleeping with someone else when in a sexual relationship with a partner was treated as a horrifying deed and yet they all did it. Callum could not make heads or tails of it and he was afraid to ask anyone.
"You've stopped working," Jella said reprovingly. "If you don't put in the time, you'll never get good," she admonished. Coming from her, it was more cute than anything. Callum smiled at her and bent to get back to work.
The front door opened and Bel walked in. She was radiant as usual in a loose, shoulderless purple dress but her hair seemed a little disarrayed. "Mama!" Jella squealed, sprinting toward Bel and nearly bowling her over with a hug. 'I guess she was a little more worried than she let on.'
Bel caught Jella and returned the hug with a laugh. "My little sweet. Sorry I'm late."
"That's all right, Mama," Jella said, looking up at her mother. "I did my best to help Shar and Callum with their lessons."
Bel pet her head and said, "I'm sure you did a wonderful job. But Mama really needs to go to the bathroom," she said with an apologetic wink. Jella let her go and stepped back with a slight pout. Bel glanced at Callum and said, "Sorry, I'll be right back." She hurried from the room. Callum noticed she was walking a little funny. 'I guess she must really have to go.' He moved on to his next sentence, relieved she was finally home.
A little while later, Bel joined them, sitting on her heels next to Callum. She had changed into a loose, sleeveless shirt and shorts. Somehow, the casual attire sent Callum's heart racing. "How are things?" she asked.
"Going well, I think," Callum said, suddenly very aware of the sentence he'd been working on and hoping it was all correct. Bel studied and nodded.
"Looks good. Have you all eaten yet?"
It was Jella who answered. "Yes, Mama. I heated what you left and ate it all. Even the prutsebs." As she said the word, Callum got a vague taste of them back in his mouth. They were the worst things he'd eaten since coming to the ship. Jella insisted that he eat all of them, though, because they were "healthy."
"Good job," Bel said with a grave nod. She stood and yawned. "I better get something before I pass out. Jella, I think it's time for you and Shargi to wash up for bed."
Jella flushed, staring at Bel accusingly. "But you just got home!"
"That doesn't change the fact that it is time for bed," Bel gently admonished. "But if you hurry up, we can watch an episode of Gubumelb and Canilam before bed." Jella's eyes lit up and Callum suppressed a grimace. He had never been able to follow the rapid-fire plot lines of that show. At least it was colorful.
"Come on, Shar," Jella said, tugging at Shargi's arm. Shargi compliantly got up, casting a lingering look at her display before shutting it down. Callum had noticed that Shargi really didn't like leaving things incomplete. The two of them rushed to the bathroom and disappeared inside. Bel went to the kitchen and returned a few moments later with a plate of food. It was the same meal they had eaten before, prutsebs included. She sat down next to him again. This time Callum noticed a wince.
"Are you alright?" he asked, closing down his display.
She nodded, a light blush on her face. "I am. Or will be. It's nothing serious. I just didn't think something through." She shook her head ruefully. Then she smiled at him apologetically. "But I don't think I'll be able to do anything tonight."
Callum's face heated a little and he quickly said, "That's alright." He hoped he kept the disappointment out of his voice.
Bel chewed a mouthful of food and swallowed. "Do you want Shargi tonight?"
Callum blinked. "What do you mean?"
"I can sleep with Jella tonight if you want Shargi with you."
Callum took a moment to digest what she was saying, turning it over in his head. Eventually, he decided she must mean what he thought but still asked, "Why would I want Shargi with me?" The quizzical look she gave him confirmed his suspicions. "I'm not sleeping with her!"
"Really?" Bel sounded genuinely surprised. "Do you not like her?"
"That's not…" Callum shook his head. "Why would you think I was sleeping with her?"
Bel cocked her head slightly. "It's normally a service that an aide provides. And she is sexy as all hell. I was going to ask you soon if she might join us."
Callum reeled. He wasn't so dense that he hadn't picked up on Shargi's hints but he'd thought they'd originated from her burning desire to please him without consideration for herself. He never thought it was part of her job. How strange these fie were. It occurred to him that Mikan and Valencia's aides would be expected to do the same but he thrust that out of his mind. It was too much to deal with right now. He had to focus on what Bel was saying. There were a lot of implications in what she'd just told him but for some reason he found himself asking about probably the least important one, though one that interested him greatly. "You like girls, too?"
Bel smiled languorously. "I like anything that can show me a good time."
Blood rushed to Callum's face, as well as other places. "R-really?"
"Oh, yes." Bel sighed and took a bite. After she swallowed, she said, "Sometimes I forget how sheltered you've been because of how truly magnificent you are in the bedroom." She winked. "Or anywhere else." Callum blushed all the harder. "Really, many fie are attracted to both sexes and some go even beyond that. All of us have preferences, of course, but it's not so unusual. Relationships take many different forms as well. Truthfully, a lot of women in my position would be upset if you were sleeping with another woman." She tapped her utensil idly on the side of her plate. "But I'm not a particularly jealous person, Callum. I never have been. All I really care about is that you are honest with me. I don't have the time or patience for mind games."
Callum leaned back and considered all of that. "So you don't mind if I have sex with other women as long as I tell you?"
She nodded. "Or men, for that matter." She grinned. "In fact, I'd like to know about any of those sorts of dalliances in detail."
Callum's eyes widened. "Let's leave that aside for now." Sex with another man? He'd never considered such a thing before. 'How would it even...?' He realized and then instantly shoved the information to the deep recesses of his mind. 'Focus.' "Are you going to be sleeping with other people as well?" he asked with trepidation.
She nodded. Her face was serious now. "If I feel like it, yes. I don't like to limit myself." Callum nodded slowly. Bel cocked her head. "What do you think about that?"
Callum sat back and considered it for a long moment. "I think that I would be upset if I couldn't spend as much time with you as I wanted," he admitted. "But I don't think you having sex with another person would actually bother me in and of itself." Even as he said it, he was a little surprised. But it was how he felt at the moment. How he would feel if it really happened, he didn't know.
Bel smiled and it was so beautiful that Callum didn't think he could ever truly be angry with her, no matter what she did. Was that a good or a bad thing? She covered his hand with hers. "I never expected to find such a compatible soul. Especially not on some carcha prison moon." She laughed. "I feel very lucky."
"Not as lucky as me."
Jella and Shargi came out of the bathroom, laughing about something. Bel looked at them and asked, softly, "So do you want Shargi tonight?"
Callum shook his head. "I'll have to think about that. Besides, I'd like to spend the night with you, even if we can't do anything."
Bel's eyes flashed and she smiled wolfishly. "Well, I may not be able to do everything we normally do but that doesn't mean we can't do anything.