Hera

Orion shifted awkwardly in his seat after I mentioned Zale and Draco.

I forgot they were Yin-Ra Elders. Of course he would be uncomfortable.

I changed the subject.

"So what do you do?"

"I am a healer. What about you?" He answered absentmindedly.

"I thought your race was immortal."

"No one is immortal, not even the gods."

"That is deep."

He shrugged dramatically. I laughed.

"I am a ceramist, by the way?"

"Nice." He said. "Observing any sort of art here on Earth is very exhilarating."

"That is a very nice compliment."

"It is not a compliment; it is a fact."

"Did you try yourself?"

"No, but I find painting to be very amusing." He then pointed at my bag. "They call this Starry Night, right?"

"Yes," I thought for a moment.

"Would you like to take a painting class?"

He nodded.

"Visit the site Fleur Art; you will find all the info." I glanced around.

I didn't know why, even though no one was looking at us, it felt like they were a part of this conversation. Odd very odd.

We talked about some random stuff for the rest of the meeting.

"Let's exchange numbers." The room temperature suddenly dropped a bit, or was this my imagination?

"Sure," he answered, but his skin had become an interesting shade of grey.

After we exchanged our numbers, I excused myself to leave. This wasn't that bad; making a nice friend wasn't the end of the world, really.

I walked towards the exit hurriedly, I wasn't enjoying those cheesy fated posters at all.

My phone rang.

"Hello,"

"Hera, how was the date?"

"It is not meant to be, Mom."

She hung up on me. Yup, she didn't like the answer. I think I won the war this round.

I stood outside and started to look through my phone to order an Uber. A black Bentley stopped in front of me. I took a few steps back.

I started to move away when the door opened and that familiar sweet amber scent stopped me in my tracks.

"Hera."

"Zale."

For some odd reason, the stars all over his neck and hands were blindingly bright today.

"What are you doing here?"

"Work," he held the door open. "Are you going to Fleur's villa?"

"Yes."

"Let me take you back."

"I will order a car; I shouldn't delay you."

"It is on our way, so no delay at all."

"Sure?"

"Sure "

I jumped in the back seat, then he sat beside me.

"Draco, you are here?"

"Miss Hera," he nodded.

The ride was silent. I didn't know why, but it was a bit chilly today.

I adjusted my position in the seat when I accidentally brushed his fingers. A gush of heat flushed through my body.

He didn't react.

I turned my head to the window.

"What were you doing here?" Zale asked.

"A meeting."

"Did you enjoy it?"

He was irritated. Maybe he had a rough day at work.

"I made a friend."

"Oh, Goddess," Draco mumbled.

What was that about?

We reached Fleur's villa.

"Thank you very much, Zale."

"Hera,"

"Yes?"

"I have no way to contact you as my teacher."

"We have your number on the form?"

"But I might have a question that you could only answer?"

This insufferably persistent man. If he wanted my number, he should have just asked.

"Fine."

He handed me the phone. I registered the number and gave it to him. He then smiled, a huge smile. My heart suddenly thumped.

My phone started ringing. I looked at my screen.

"This is my number." He stated.

"Bye, Hera."

"Bye, Zale."

I moved towards the house. He didn't leave until I entered the villa and closed the door.

What the hell just happened?

************************

Zale

I made sure she went in before I ordered the driver to go to Draco's house.

"Elder... you've had Miss Hera's number since the day of the accident," Draco said.

"So?"

"Why didn't you save it?"

"Didn't see the need back then since I memorized it."

Each number is etched in my memory.

And now she had my number.  We had met four times. I earned that.

We reached Draco's house. I was going to my room when Draco's housekeeper informed me that the pottery books I asked for had arrived.

I had him leave it on Draco's desk in the study.

I took a quick shower. Then went directly to the study.

I started reading the first book. It was about the history of pottery.

The very first ceramic art dates back more than 20,000 years.

Venus of Dolní Věstonice.

A photo was attached. I was in awe. At a primitive age called the Ice Age, they were still able to create.

More than 20,000 years ago, my race was raging wars. We even earned the Goddess's wrath and curse, alright.

I read more. Many civilizations started to appear. There was handmade pottery in China. Then the Mesopotamian craftsmen created the first pottery wheel. Then came the ancient Egyptians, who took it a step further and introduced the fast-spinning wheel.

Their whole crafting process from the beginning was like interconnected chains that only moved forward.

It is a shame that humans who filled their planet with all sorts of beautiful things, just become five concentrated human territories after the plague.

I started imagining her at the wheel, nonchalantly creating beautiful clayware. That would be a scene I would never forget.

Draco knocked on the door, pulling me from my thoughts.

He held the communication orb and sat in the chair in front of me.

"Elder, I will contact Elder Vaxar."

I nod.

His star-lines were glowing; he injected light into his communication orb.

It took a few seconds, then the orb transmitted a scene.

I saw a topless man with star-lines covering his back. He was really vacationing while Draco was causing a mess down on Earth.

"Draco, what is it now at this hour?" He yawned.

"Elder Vaxar, I have been ordered to ask you to come to Earth,"

Vaxar hadn't seen me yet since he was only looking at Draco.

"And who dares to order this elder?" Vaxar asked nonchalantly.

"Elder Zale."

The 150-year-old elder sat up straight.

"How in the Goddess' name did you get Elder Zale involved?" Draco turned a very interesting shade of blue.

"Draco, why are you turning blue? Can you control your feelings a bit?"

I sighed at this shameless elder who skipped on training his junior.

My aura started seeping, and Draco's starlines trembled.

Vaxar, who instinctively felt the shift, turned to face me.

"Eder Zale." He bowed respectfully. "I apologize if Draco has disturbed you."

"Vaxar, I believe you can reach Earth by dawn."

"Understood." He replied while still bowing.

Draco looked at the clock on the wall. It was still three am. He still had plenty of time.

I signaled Draco to end the connection.

******************

I woke up the next morning hearing Vaxar lecturing Draco.

"Why would you disturb Elder Zale?"

"Elder, you said I should figure it out myself; none of the other elders wanted to help, and things were getting out of hand." Draco was saying in the most respectful voice he could afford.

"So you just went and dragged the Eldest Elder?" Vaxar chided.

"Vaxar, you are in the wrong here?" A woman's voice interrupted.

"Love, he skipped the order of seniority."

"Well, Elder Zale didn't refuse to help." I could imagine Draco's skin turning almost red.

Anyone in his place would feel helpless.

"Is that the point, Draco?"

I had had enough of this nonsense. I projected my full aura throughout the penthouse.

Silence.

I went outside the room. Two men knelt on the floor. Another woman knelt in the kitchen.

Only a greenish man with two distinct horns and a neck with slit skin lines flaring ever so slightly bowed his head for a second when he saw me.

Great. Vaxar brought his star bond from another race and his Yin ra wife. He brought his vacation to Earth.

I sat down on the chair in front of both Vaxar and Draco.

"Elder, I apologize for Draco disturbing you." I raised my hands, cutting him off.

"Tilda, you can stand up," I glanced at the Yin-ra woman kneeling in the kitchen.

"Elder, do you want breakfast?" She asked. "I brought some cloud cake from Yin-ra."

"Sure. "

She moved around the kitchen.

I looked down at Vaxar and Draco.

"Vaxar, is this how you mentored Draco?"

"I apologize, Elder."

"You are still not getting the point." I sighed. "The problem isn't that he contacted me. The problem is that you have let a mess like this get out of hand without even directing him."

The greenish man nodded in agreement. Even his star bond saw the problem while he knelt there, not acknowledging his fault.

I knew this was the first time Draco mingled with a race other than Yin-Ra. He only took the elder seat less than 30 years ago. He is bound to make mistakes, and Vaxar's job was to look after him.

"Do you know how many Yin-Ras are getting rejected by humans because of the crude way our star-bond was introduced?"

His skin tone turned a serious shade of grey.

"They were accepting us at the beginning. Humans probably got bored. They are that fickle."

His star-bond shook his head in disapproval.

"Who gave you the right to judge humans?"

My star-lines started glowing dangerously, almost turning red.

"I ..."

"You should have listened to Draco when he told you the rejection problem needed to be fixed. The humans felt manipulated. Our people lost their chances even before their star-bonds pulsed. And you are here blaming Draco and calling humans fickle."

"It was their government's idea." He tried to reason.

"It was, and now it backfired. You should have started dealing with this before the roots of the mistrust between both races became so deep." I sighed. "I have seen the reports about the anti-hybrid groups."

I leaned towards him.

"Do you want another curse upon our race from the goddess, Vaxar?"

I released the pressure of my aura.

He started shaking.

I stood up and went back to my room.

I heard his wife next.

"You know, Vaxar, you should be thankful it was Elder Zale who came down to Earth. If the second eldest elder is here today, you would have been sent to the dungeons on Yin-Ra."

Author's note

So... Zale finally got Hera's number

in the most Zale way possible.