The Lion of Shruwey
The Lion of Shru Wey
2258, Civilization Conference Commerce Base T41,
Harsi Protectorate Space
Chapter 1 - Reunion
"Hey, I didn't know your fur could do that!" Hannah Yun stared in fascination at her Arctursan sister's forearm. Its silvery fur was curling itself into multiple miniature copies of a Van Gogh sky. She traced the path of that ripple as it traveled all the way up to her bare shoulder, and from there noticed the flaring nostrils and out-turned ears. "What's up, Hb?"
The Arctursan's dark brown eyes scanned back and forth across the crowded club several times and then settled on the tall, cloaked figure skirting the edge of the dance floor. "Ghhrahnan."
Hannah followed her eyes. In the pulsing twilight flowing from the stage, it was impossible to see beyond the deep hood, even when the figure turned towards them. But its smooth gait and the extraordinary stature made it fairly certain that her sister was right. Of course, who was she to doubt her sense of smell? She stared at her face, amused. Ghhrahnan, Arctursan for "open faced", translated into English Standard as beastkind, to denote one of the major branches of sentient speciation in the known galaxy.
"Don't you think you are a little obvious?"
It took Hharrubee five seconds to react to her human sister's comment. Then, she settled back onto her stool and casually sipped from the thick vanilla shake in her glass. "It's not often we see ghhrahnan this side of Arcturus Prime. She sipped again. "I was just... making sure he knew his way about. The scent beyond that cloak was definitely from a sister species, felid, but not like any she had ever come across.
"Oh. Doesn't look to me like he's having any trouble finding his way around. Hannah grinned. Hb did not respond. "He's not Arctursan though, too tall for that. Resembling polar bears rather than any of the great jungle cats, Arctursan males rarely exceeded a meter ninety in stature - while carrying about three hundred and fifty kilos of muscle. Arctursan females, like her sister, averaged a meter sixty and a slim one hundred and fifty kilos full grown.
Hb still just sipped from her drink.
They were sixteen years old, almost seventeen, and sisters for thirteen of those years, but Hannah had never seen Hharrubee react like this, not even in her own world among her friends. She'd not had one infatuation, not one crush, not one case of puppy - er - kitty love. "Maybe I'll ask him to have a soda with us." She pretended to be getting up and Hb's paw brought her back down.
"Let's not."
Hannah scooted her stool closer to her sister. "Hey, I've never seen you blush before. Not that anyone could tell, under all that fur; but look at your arm."
"I'm not blushing. Blushing is an involuntary defeat of the human social mask. Ghhrahnan have no social masks. What you see, hear, and smell is what you get."
"I know, I know. Diplomatic negotiations in the Civilization Conference would be an entirely different story if we were all like you. I didn't mean anything by it. But it's too cute!" She lowered her voice to a whisper. "So, are you interested? Should we, like, try to find out his name?" Hannah peered into the dance floor. The lighting had gone up a notch as the band changed but she couldn't see the cloaked figure anywhere. Within minutes, a new group had taken the stage and the lighting had returned to its rhythm-matching pulse.
"Well," the human girl finished her own drink and leaned back on her stool as she decided to change the subject, "what do you think of the layout? Pretty good, huh? And look at the crowd. I checked at the Port Access office; they have already received a couple of dozen reservation requests from the Harsi Department of Commerce. I knew a CivCon base this close to the Harsi homeworld would attract them to it. I don't care how 'closed' or protective a culture is, give it a viable marketplace and access to entertainment venues and they'll avail…
