22 Venus

I woke up to the ever familiar feel of an early morning Mira. She was an early bird and I hated her for it. "Sleep Mira. You know I dislike mornings." Her lovely response was to roll me unceremoniously out of bed. I sat up burry eyed but awake from the floor. "Every morning? Truly Mira? One of these days I will find you a mate to keep you entertained enough for me to sleep."

Her head tilted to one side and waited. "You are such a bossy girl. Alright breakfast it is. Grab me a blood bag too," I said standing. Then the air pressure and humidifier told me all I needed to know. I was also staring at a number of bird people. "Well hell." One of the said bird people flew from the room.

"How are you feeling Princess?" I turned to the sound. My brain said they weren't words but to a part of me they were words as I knew them.

"I can understand you now. My headaches but I suppose that has more to do with last night more than anything." Mira hopped from her perch on the medbay bed and onto the floor. She then proceeded to throw herself into the stroage bracelet. Unlike me she could access the the areas where there was fresh food.

"Then the new placement was a success. I am glad. We never intended to cause you pain Princess. I believe my Prince would offer you the offender to do with as you like but he is already dead."

I blinked at him then. So the Prince here was a lover of men? Somehow I found that hard to believe so I asked. "When you say 'my'... Are you and the Prince together?" Every head in the room turned to me. Birds had eye lids but their eyes did not widen. Somehow I pictured all of these people giving me a wide eyed look. "Oh don't look at me like that! It is common enough for a male to mate with males. Nothing wrong with it. Granted as it involves a Prince I can see some problems arising but nothing that can't be solved easily enough."

"Cas've..." The voice sound dark. "What exactly has happened that I am being accused of needing to mate a male?" My eyes locked on the voice and sure enough it was the Prince.

"All I did was call you by your title, my Prince. I swear it."

"Yeah see you did it again. 'My'," I said pointedly. "It seems you are doomed to keep seeing me at my worst. It is nice to understand you now."

"I am happy we can understand eachother as well. Why does someone saying 'My' have such significance?" He walked closer to me.

Mira jumped back onto the bed. She was careful not to break my bovine blood bag in her mouth and her tail held two well grown broccoli stalks. "'My' is possessive. It is used for possessions. My house. My hair. My clothes. It can also be used to claim family. You two look nothing alike which, at least for Humans, means you are not blood related. That leaves only partner claiming. Or mate claim. Now I am going to enjoy 'my' breakfast." I smiled at my little joke and took the blood bag.

Bovine blood was more palettable to me than most of the blood out there. That did not mean I enjoyed it by any means. Still I ripped the top and chugged. Just get it down. I just needed to get it down to help replace the iron I had lost. As the bag emptied out I pulled it away from my mouth. My face scrunched up as I fought not to puke. I only had these because I regularly went to the war front. As bad as they were, the blood bags were a filling option for food. On the bed Mira was happily munching away on the second broccoli stock already.

"Hey! That was mine!" I reminded her. She had grace enough to look guilty but not before taking one last bite. She had left me only a few bites. "You are such a spoiled brat young lady," I laughed. I proceeded to finish the stalk. Happy to have something solid in my system to offset the blood filling my belly.

"You did not enjoy that," the Prince pointed out.

"Understatement. In any case," I said, handing the bag back to Mira who once again went into the storage. I faced the Alien Prince head on, "I am Princess Venus Crimson Best. It is an honor to meet you Prince." I wasn't sure I could do it but I had to try, or so human etiquette said, so as I spoke I did a small plié. The higher the rank of the person I was speaking with the deeper I had to go. I was very out of practice so I was surprised I could hold is successfully for the customary three seconds before rising. I also did not fall on my ass.

"The honor is mine Princess Venus Crimson Best." I giggled which made him stare.

"Just Venus is fine. The second and third are my family line."

"Ah. Princess Venus then. I am Prince Rithô of the Nephit. If I may clear up some things?"

"Of course."

"First off, I and Cas've are not in a relationship. In fact everyone here is unmated. When someone refers to me as my Prince they mean I am the Prince of their region. All Nephit Princes have their own region to oversee. Also I am honored that you would arrive asleep to my home. Seeing a female of any race is a rare occurrence. To see one asleep is almost unheard of outside of mate pairs."

"If only Humans had such a mindset," I said wistful.

"If I may ask Princess Venus?" He seemed genuinely curious.

"I imagine I will have many questions for you soon enough. As long as you agree to answer my questions, I see no problem answering yours." Somehow I felt my answer made him happy. Maybe something with the way his feathers on his face shifted?

"If you do not like your meal why have it?"

"The food I have in my storage bracelet are military rations. They are not known for tasting good but they contain a lot of what we humans need to survive." As if to prove I was a lier Mira jumped back out to hand me an apple. Traitor. I glared at her but still bit into the thin skin. This one had been plucked fresh from one of her food trees. I sucked and tilted my head back. Apple juice dripped onto my tongue. I always had been a lover of apples.

"Princess, if you would not mind laying back on the scanner I would like to make sure everything is in order. Your ear should be all healed up by now, but I would just like to be sure," Cas've said interrupting the conversation. Still I did as he asked. "Amazing! What was the food your meal consisted of? Your body levels seem to be adjusting to within normal levels."

"The actual food part of it was Broccoli. High in Iron and water along with a number of other nutrients, broccoli is a plant that grows on Earth. Bovine blood was the bulk of the meal. That is what was in the bag. Bovine is a general name given to any creature of the cow family. That includes bulls. They are considered the highest iron content in meat. A trait that is shared in their blood. The salt content is also great for body regulation. Mira also got me an apple." I held of the core and tossed it to her. Humans did not eat apple cores but some animals had no problems with them. "It will keep me stable for a day or two but it is far from a long term solution."

"You eat salt?" The new Medic seemed shocked by the concept.

"We have to. Our tears have salt mixed in as does our sweat. Salt in the sweat we produce is helps avoid infection when we get wounded."

"Humans seem to be equipped to take hits more than avoid them," he said.

"Depends on the line."

"When you say line?"

"Bloodline. Mother and father. Their mothers and fathers. So on and so forth all the way to the first. My line is designed to take hits and deal them out. Or at least that's the way my body evolved. There is some speculation that with some more training I could also gain speed to afford hits. That would require some being able to threaten me over an extended period for that though." I killed me enemies before they became an issue. "We adapt to the environment. Humans live in cold and hot climates. Some have less or more hair. The same way we have adapted to our own unique regions the way we fight adapts to our environment. I have decent training but then as a female I am expected to stay home and take care of the house."