The colourful indigenous birds of Eden chirped and sang on the aviary garden on the rooftop as I watched the horizon lighting up from afar from the heavily reinforced glass railings.
An entire night spent looking through news reports didn't bring fresh information or information about any Kamuy, but Mahara confirmed I could return tonight.
The sound of the doors sliding open to the giggling sounds of Durgian females annoyed me. Solitude comforted me, but a crowd made me agitated.
I turned to leave, only to bump into Zhiva with his arms around the two females' shoulders on my way out.
His blonde hair shone like spun aurum against the light. The ponytail he wore turned into a loose, messy side braid, no doubt the job of the female Durgian companions.
Great.
My moment of solitary tranquility went bust. No thanks to the annoying young brat of a Perunian.
His unkempt appearance and crumpled clothing told me to leave him in his drunken state.
I smelled the spilled Durgian moonshine fermenting on him.
"Hey, I know you earlier," he spoke, adding a heavy breath of Durgian moonshine wafting towards me. "You are the guy with Mahara. Where's that granny?"
Zhiva looked around cautiously. It looked like he feared Mahara.
Mahara might combust if she heard him call her granny. The thought of her vanity flailing about in flames amused me.
Then again, if I placed a lighted torch near Zhiva's mouth, he might set her alight with his now very inflammable breath.
"She will come by soon."
"Oh, she isn't here… thank goodness." A mischievous grin appeared on his face.
I don't like the look of it
The females snickered in amusement as he staggered towards me unsteadily. A head taller than me, but Perunians sucked at close-quarter combat. Worse when they are drunk. That was my advantage.
Before his hands could touch my shoulders, I deftly moved aside, watching him stumble right into a tree in the garden. His hands grabbed hold of it before he could fall face flat on the bed of violet Haolean peonies around him.
Was he acting drunk? Or was he partially drunk? Durgian moonshine affected coordination if consumed in large amounts.
"Hey friend," he turned around and steadied himself before thrusting his hips a few times in the most disgusting manner. "Say… you and I take a girl each…"
A Durgian female took a step towards me, but my glare made her back off two steps trembling behind her friend.
"No, thank you," I replied. "I'm sure you took two for your pleasure."
"Yeah, whatever… but I have a good feeling about you."
Alas, the feeling wasn't mutual. Zhiva reeked of trouble. Association with space pirates never bode well.
If he was the one in that pirate warship which fought me in space a while back, I wanted nothing to do with him. No point in making friends with someone I would kill later.
"Come on… pretty Deridian. Usually Deridians are fat ugly fucks," Zhiva continued rambling. "How the fuck did they come up with you?"
"I'm sure that you didn't seek me out because of my pretty face," I replied, grabbing the chance that the moonshine was still working in his system. Even if partially.
All forms of moonshine consumed made a person a half truth and half fantasy tellers. The Perunian delegation and that space rock incident had not left my mind. Since Zhiva offered himself up, perhaps I could use this opportunity to dig up facts.
I stared at the two females and tilted my chin at the door. "Go out and wait."
They didn't wait for me to repeat the order. Both rushed out as fast as they could from the garden into the garden lobby.
"So you sent them out to chat with me?" Zhiva grinned as he slumped down on the bed of violet Haolean peonies. "Isn't that romantic?"
"You're pretending to be very drunk, but you are not," I replied, hoping my words weren't true.
If Zhiva is a regular consumer of Durgian moonshine, resistance to the moonshine will build up. The more you drink, the more you need to be drunk. That made the Durgian moonshine so deadly.
"Heh…," he leaned back on the tree and stared at me with his icy cold eyes. "You want to know why I am here?"
Maybe because his father is also here. Added protection meant added courage to step into a planet population which loathed space pirates with great passion.
"Not really. More of why a space pirate is hanging around here?"
"Ah that."
I caught the glint in his eyes. He is pretending to be drunk.
"Haven't you heard? I am a Perkuna…," he spat on the ground.
The reference to his surname bore the tone of resentment, perhaps against his father, but he also used this to test me.
His mind remained sharp, even with the potent smell of the Durgian moonshine from his mouth.
"One is a general and his youngest is a space pirate. Direct opposition to each other."
"Wow, I'm famous," Zhiva threw his hands in the air. "Opposites attract. But you…"
He got up and stepped forward. I moved back at an arm's length, careful to keep a clear opening to exit, should his grubby paws come near me.
"I can make an exception for you… even if you are not female."
I rolled my eyes. Even if I was male, I wouldn't give him the time of day. I turned around and started walking.
"You are an unusual Deridian."
I nearly stopped at his words, but halting would mean admitting I used another identity.
"Whatever."
"Just wait."
"Why?"
"We might have business to discuss," Zhiva said. "There's something odd we found."
Was he referring to the space rock?
I turned around and looked at him. "Don't tell me it's a rock. Perunian looking for a Deridian to do an analysis…"
My turn to test the waters.
"Wait… How did you know?"
"A Deridian told me about being approached in the open to analyse the rock," I lied with a straight face.
Zhiva smirked and clenched his fist. "In the open?"
"Yeah. In public space," I replied, thinking of the mall incident.
He slapped his forehead and cussed, "Ah hell by Perun. Can't get those idiots to be discreet."