April 2004
More big thanks go to Dee for being my beta!!! :)
Thoughts of an Unnamed Earth Explorer
by Zuzanny )
part 3
The new Iniri ambassador was taller than Harry by maybe a few inches, and wore shimmering green clothes instead of the gray Harry had worn. Other than that this one looked virtually the same as Harry. Hell, I thought it was him at first. Only this one was colder, more formal. His eyes were more green than violet too. And I suppose when you really look closely the tips of his ears and the shape of his chin are different and instead of his hair being loose the top is pulled back and braided together leaving the majority loose down his back. This one wears his hands in his sleeves like a monk. This one has had his name shortened to "Ford" because of how long and complex his full name is. He speaks slower than Harry, cautiously at times, and his eyes are always darting about as though searching out a threat.
"I apologise for the delay." Ford bowed his head slightly at me. "With your approval negotiations can continue."
"Before we do," I said. "What has happened to Harry?"
Ford blinked, then his eyes narrowed. "Why do you ask?"
Be diplomatic. Come on, you can do it. "Because, he left in such a state that he was unable to communicate why he was leaving. I consider him a friend, so if he is un-well... Please, I need to know."
The ambassador was not impressed. "You say that you are his friend and yet..." He clamped up.
"Look," I said, almost deciding screw political correctness and all that crap. "there was an incident involving Harry and a plant. Then next thing I know he 's running away from his position and you're here instead. If you could explain what is going on it would really be helpful."
Ford escorted me up the hill to the village. It looked exactly the same as it had the last time. When we passed the spot Harry and I climbed down to the valley below I shied my eyes away with shame. The things Ford explained to me made me furious at myself. I needed to make things right.
"Plants may aid in getting and keeping a child in our bellies," Ford had hissed at me when I told him what had happened to Harry. He didn't believe me. "but they don't put them there!"
Right. I must have seriously missed something, considering the amount of time I spent watch- huhm- observing Harry.
Strange that I had not fully realised why there were no strictly "female" Iniri before Ford gave me a blank look when I asked how Harry , being MALE could get pregnant. But now I knew.
NOTE TO SELF: Iniri are both male and female in one. Male on the outside, female on the inside.
Hmmm...
The village houses were made of mud brick and branches for the walls and woven palm-like leaves for the roves. Some Harry/Ford look-alikes were wandering around the huts wearing red and yellow, picking plants and tending small fires. When they saw us, the yellow wearers all stood protectively in front of the red wearers, who I noticed all had bellies expanded to various proportions. I looked up into the trees and saw a huge city of tree-houses bridged together with intricate rope ladders. There were hundreds of Iniri up there, poised, watching Ford and I walk through the little land village. It was interesting. The Iniri in the trees were all dressed either in gray, green blue or violet.
I remembered what Ford told me about the social structure of the Iniri, and was surprised I had not picked up on it before. When Harry had first come aboard he had completely avoided anyone wearing white or violet, but then when they were wearing other colours he would be incredibly friendly.
Ford had explained that the colour coding was to avoid confusion. Grey wearers were un-mated, un-bonded, and not looking to get a mate. Violet were seeking a mate. Blue were bonded with no infants, green widowed and still in mourning.
Ford refused to comment about why he was wearing green.
Red were "with child", their bonded mates wearing yellow. For the safety of the pregnant one and the child they then moved down to the ground.
White were out casts, the tainted. In other words anyone who got pregnant without being bonded. The white wearers were housed in huts further out of the village beside the cliff face. According to Iniri law if a white wearer was not claimed either by the father of the child or another willing to take responsibility for them (which was incredibly rare), they were expected to throw themselves over the edge of the cliff to purify their social status or some such rot. They only had three days.
There was no way I was letting Harry anywhere near that cliff.
Harry was dressed head to toe in white, kneeling in the center of the hut, head bowed like he was asleep or praying. I don't know what kind of deity or what ever the Iniri worship. I had never asked. Ford stayed outside the door of the hut while I entered.
Harry's back was to me and if he knew I was there he only hunched over further. I lowered myself to my knees behind him and gently lifted the white square of silk-like fabric from the top of his head. I placed the fabric beside us, and he stiffened as I began running my hands through the soft locks of his hair. I separated his hair into three segments like Ford had told me and began to plat it into a long, long rope. It took a long time as I was not at all practised in the art of hair styling, but eventually I reached the thinning ends almost down to his backside. I pulled the little leather ribbon Ford had given me out of my pocket and tied the ends off.
Harry had sat still through all of this, but as soon as I released my hold on his hair he turned his violet-green eyes to look at me over his shoulder, glittering with tears. The rest of his face was hidden behind the same silky material like a vail. He then turned his body around to completely face mine and bowed down laying his forehead against my knees. I patted his head gently, and we stayed like that for what seemed like a year. Then Harry sat up. I took the vail from his face and lay it on the ground with the other material.
"Why?" He asked, voice thick with emotions. I smiled and stroked his still pink cheek slowly.
"Because I like you." I said. "You shouldn't have to die for something that was not your fault." He was about to protest, but I cut him off. "Not another word about it." I said sternly and he obediently shut his mouth, nodding his head and lowering his eyes. I lifted his chin up so that he would meet my eyes. "I want to make things right for you. Will you accept me?"
He searched my face for a few seconds before lowering his eyes again and leaning forward to hug my chest. "Yes." I barely heard him sigh. Even so, I felt my heart skip and my lower bits flare up. I wrapped my arms around him, squeezing and encouraging him to slide his arms around my waist.
"Come on," I urged him to his feet. "You don't belong in those clothes."
Ahem.
Ford met us out side the hut, expression grim as usual, but now holding out lengths of yellow and red cloth to us. Harry bowed his head in thanks and I wrapped the red cloth around his shoulders. He clung to it, hiding like a scared kid wrapped in a blanket. I wrapped the yellow one around my shoulders and then placed a protective arm around his shoulders as we escorted him out of the ground village and back down the hill to my shuttle.
Once we were out of the village and onto the path home I let Harry go frolicking for flowers as was his want. It was strange watching Harry flitter back and forth along the path gathering his plants and knowing according to Iniri law he was basically now my property. I was shocked at how... arousing the idea of it was. Foreign and yet enthralling. Imagine the things I could do to him. The things he would let me do because "it was his place"... But only because of that damned plant. If not for that, Harry would still be wearing gray. What will my superiors think?
Ford and I walked in silence watching Harry.
I wish I had understood the significance of the clothes beforehand. I wish I had bothered asking.
"Did you ever get a chance to uh, wear the red?" I asked the new ambassador. He frowned, eyes narrowing and mouth becoming a thin line.
"Once." He said. I waited, but he refused to say more on the subject.
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