It was a tradition to stay in the dorm after the fight. The winners all were collected into a group, while the losers were contemplating together their next move. I, on the other hand, had no interest in either of them. I was there because I was required to, I wasn’t participating to make friends nor flaunt my strength.
When I entered the room, the whole place turned silent. Multiple tables were scattered around the flooring, not many of them were empty. I quickly claimed the sofa on the side and rested while studying one of the ancient languages.
“We know that you cheated, the committee is going to expel you.” the Rok’yas broke the silence while walking towards me.
“Why would I cheat? Isn’t that your distinctive trait?” I answered without looking away from the screen.
“You think you’re so powerful because you’re Gliesek? You have nothing! That ball of useless ice you call planet has nothing to offer to the Empire, that’s why you keep creating these lowly soldiers with no aim in life other than gifting their own bodies to the Empire. Just like prostitutes!” he grinned thinking he was able to somehow hurt my pride while in the back, the aliens that were seated around his same table laughed in enjoyment.
I didn’t reply; I had no interest in fighting. I didn’t care enough to do so. None of his words hurt me in any way, but I was indeed annoyed for my wasted time. He threw a punch right besides me and that’s when I looked away from my screen to observe his fist and then him.
“You mixed blood freak, when I’m talking to you you shall listen. Understood?”
I took his wrist and squeezed it with a bit of strength. He distorted his body and complained in pain.
“Or what?” I asked.
“Hey, you two, stop there!” the Sabar kid entered the room, rushing to make me loosen up my hand. But I wasn’t capable of understanding what it was being said to me, I quickly left his arm while being hypnotized by a being at the end of the room.
From a point of view he looked quite like Sen, maybe because they were from the same race or maybe because he was a family member.
His reddish skin was in high contrast with his purple eyes and hair. His pouty lips and his downturned eyebrows were just as innocent as the other Sabar’s. He was looking at me, with the same interest I was looking at him, maybe because of my previous fight.
He was wearing an all-black outfit, although it wasn’t that common in Sabar’s standards. A long, black scarf wrapped around his neck and on the sides of his chest, leaving only the middle part of his stomach exposed. A high waisted, long skirt gave him the illusion of having a slimmer figure. Like the other Sabar’s skirt, his skirt presented two slides on the sides exposing his round hips. Both his clothes and his pointy ears were decorated with multiple chains.
Sen probably noticed my staring and he quickly introduced us to him.
“Guys, this is my younger brother, Deni.”
He looked at each one of us and then claimed while smiling “Nice to make your acquaintance.”
My night in the dorm was uneventful. Well, by uneventful I mean that none of the events that occurred interested me. The Rok’yas kept banging at my door and screaming all type of things at me, but he took his shame to a whole new level when a security guard kicked him out. The two Sabars stayed isolated from the groups, just like their family is used to. As for myself, I went to sleep early. I wanted to wake up right at sunrise to get back to my homeland. However, the heat in this planet was unbearable. As we approached our rooms I could feel the temperature rising, according to one of the palace’s managers, the planet absorbs the heat by day and releases it at night.
I couldn’t sleep with my regular clothes, so I took everything out except my pants. I wasn’t used to have so much of my skin exposed for longer than a shower, so it was a weird feeling but at the same time it was a relief. I tried to sleep as much as I could, but as the middle of the night approached, the temperature rose again, making me crave for a cold drink.
I entered the pantry in my scandalous outfit, I wasn’t in the condition to get fully clothed again. As I gulped the cold liquid, a smooth voice appeared from behind.
“Are you ok?” the younger Sabar was standing in front of the door.
“Yes, I was just thirsty.” I replied before quickly realizing my clothing. I soon took on a towel and covered part of my chest.
“Ah, don’t worry about that, who would blame you for taking off your clothes with this heat.”
“Isn’t Sabar a hot planet too?”
“I guess it is, but unlike VTR the general weather is more arid so you don’t feel the heat as much. While in here, the weather is so humid, as soon as the temperature rises a bit, you start sweating.”
I couldn’t argue with this logic. I had no experience in hot planets other than occasional visits.
“You’re from Gliese, right? I bet you’re suffering a lot considering your natural habitat.” he continued.
I didn’t know what to answer, he was right. But admitting to such thing would mean admitting to a flaw, I didn’t know if I could trust him yet.
“Why are you here? Won’t your fight be next year?” I tried to change topic.
“Oh yes, I’m not here for the fight.” he sighed “Sabar is getting attacked and we don’t really have a defensive system, so the Emperor was kind enough to let us stay in the palace while he takes care of it.”
“Why would they attack such a small planet? What are they trying to take from it?”
I was genuinely curious and confused. There wasn’t much from Sabar, not many people live in there and it’s mainly a touristic planet.
“Huh?” he answered while tilting his head.
Taking me completely by surprise, he used his warp to come near me. As he was descending from the bubble, our eyes locked and his long hair slowly came down on his shoulder. I never realized how short he was compared to me until he came closer. Granted, I was taller than most, if not all, aliens in the fight, but he was particularly short. My eyes were hypnotized by his long lashes, his straight upper lid was colored with a black tint, making his eyes look deeper than ever. On the shining light of the moons, his soft and rounded features gleamed with extra attention. I couldn’t stop looking at him, finding out more about his traditional looks. That until he carefully put a strand of his hair behind his pointy ears. My eyes followed his exposed flesh, from his hand to the tunic he was wearing. It was slightly open on its chest and long until the knees. It was nothing like the skirt he was wearing that day, I could tell it was his sleeping clothes.
“What do you mean?” he quickly broke his silence.
“Well, no offense but I don’t really understand what a planet like Sabar has to offer. It doesn’t even have a government.” I replied.
He tilted his head and thought for a moment, he then smiled and replied “Money.”
“Huh?”
“Didn’t you know? Sabar is the richest planet of the Empire. We have the combined wealth of VTR, Gliese and Zaidan.”
Did I know? Of course not, not many people on Gliese take interest in a planet like Sabar. My father’s voice started repeating on my head, how he wanted me to make the Sabar’s acquaintance to how he cheered and greeted the eldest when he passed the fight. Of course it was for political reasons, I had no doubts. But I didn’t know the exact reason until now.
“If you’re so rich why don’t you have a military? You’re a noble but not even a member of the Imperial council.”
“As my mother terraformed the planet, no one had interest in it, well until the Aphrodisiacs were found. The discovery was shocking for the rest of the galaxy, everyone wanted our food and our water and the economy exploded for us. But the planet was too small, every citizen ended up working for my parents’ business, it would be useless to tax their work. Besides, having a military would be a threat to the Empire and my parents knew it. For example, Gliese is extremely military advanced but you can barely survive on your own without exporting resources from other planets. That makes the Emperor reassured that you still need him somehow. On the other hand, Sabar had everything. The monopoly of a highly profitable product, food, a stable gravity and possibility to grow further. With a political or military system, the Emperor would’ve never accepted our sovereignty on our planet.”
His reasonings made so much sense. I never thought about the limiting traits of Gliese, but as I was thinking about it, we often eat sand whales which can only be found on Zaidan.
“Besides,” he continued “war isn’t everything, you know?” he asked while locking his eyes into mine again.
I took a step back from his face and claimed “Everyone has their priorities.”
Then I proceeded to get back to sleep.
The sun finally rose again and I hurried to get back to my spaceship. All around there was a calming silence, as every other member was probably still asleep. As I walked down the hallway, I looked through the doors, hoping to see the youngest Sabar again, but he didn’t show himself.
I didn’t understand why I took the liking on him, maybe it was because he didn’t take my blatant disrespect towards his noble house and planet as personal matters. If it was someone else, let’s say the Rok’yas, he would’ve insulted me with any lowly adjective in the book. I appreciate people like that, that can keep their cool even when provoked. At the time, I started regretting getting back to sleep instead of continuing our conversation, but now I had no way to change the past.
As I approached my spaceship, Zukrya jumped out the vehicle towards me
“Young master! Young master! You committed travek!”
I purposely avoided the hug and headed back into the ship.
“Did you have any doubts?”
“Never, young master!” she exclaimed, jumping in excitement.
As I entered, my father was sitting in his usual place, looking through the screen. I quickly claimed the seat right next to him while Zukrya sat in front of me, again raising my legs into her lap and grinning.
“He was a lowly cheater, not a worthy fighter.” my father explained without looking away from his screen.
“I’m aware,” I answered “but I cannot choose my opponents.”
My father looked away from his screen and he pierced directly into my eyes.
“Yesterday you’ve shown the entire Empire how we treat the unworthy.” he claimed.
I could feel the pride in his tone.
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