The snow howled against the barren ridgeline, as Shai cleared the last small pass, bringing Ardent Village into view. At once the soft glow of the window panes in the outer quarter warmed his heart, if not his hands. Soon there would be respite. Soon there would be comfort. Soon there would be song.
It had been a hard ride from Argo, passing through two strong storm fronts before the jump. Ky-eem would need a long rest before riding again. Emerging now, some ten rotas later, caked with hoar frost, and aching in every joint, Shai allowed a glimmer of anticipation to finally arise in him. He had loved here, once, even if it seemed many lifetimes ago.
The pinpricks of warm hearth-light, reflecting off the ridge-face, carried her warmth to him. He remembered her youth. He remembered her strength, and the perfect smoothness of her flanks. He remembered the divine symmetry of her thorax, the glistening enamel of her teeth, those sharp nails, them scratching in his powerful shoulders, and the trickling, dripping, sighing, wasted relief of their embrace.
But that was lifetimes ago, before two long expeditions, and before the scourge. If she had survived, it would be only by the grace of . If she remembered him, it would be only by the will of But the memory propelled him all the same, and with no more conscious thought, he arrived at the perimeter.
"Calyx 478U, on entry, clearance available on sky and ground nets. Are your links up?" he uttered into his cloak. His wet breath rose, and added to the caking of ice near his visor.
"Up but slow, explorer. Hold your position." came back over the comm. The voice was high and full of breathy sibilants. Seemed feminized, which was came as a surprise. Usually garrisons were neuter.
For the first time since coming into view of the village, Shai remembered again that times had changed. The idyll of his memory was gone, and this was a mere burrow in a wild, hostile, and teeming frontier. Dangerous - ever to forget.
"Uh'k Calyx, clearance checks - entry pattern indigo-aleph. 4430 angstroms to be exact. Come see me in tower 2-3 once you've dusted yourself off." Certainly a strange request for a perimeter controller.
He gripped the rein, slid his gloved thumbs into position, and kicked his spurs back, gently, into Ky-eem. Ky-eem's lensed eyes glowed indigo, and the whine of its engines grew louder. The pattern of gates appeared - moving erratically. Shai guided Ky-eem forward, until at last they passed through the final gate, and the howling of the gale ceased all at once.
—
"This is Calyx 478U - you asked me to report?" Shai spoke into the lock panel.
No response, but he heard the actuators buzz to life inside the panel, even before the entry light blinked on. The ferrofluid of the door melted away, arranged itself into a smooth portal.
"Welcome to Ardent, explorer. Won't you come in?" The voice emanated, breathy but resonant, from a dark and stone-still figure in the dim of the tower cabin. Stone-still and stony - a complexion of onyx. Bright eyes shone out from above high, angular cheeks. The figure seemed human, at a glance. Even that was hard to tell.
"We're glad you're here," they intoned, stepping slowly forward.
Shai could see now that the figure was draped in a raw black shawl. The shawl was thin, and flowing, and barely concealed their form. They were small and jet, jet black, from crown to toe. Pink lips, and pearl teeth seemed almost to float on their visage in the soft, dim light. Two long, thick locks of iridescent neural fiber, like pigtails, hung at their sides - all the way down, past their hips, resting where the curve of their rear fell back into line with their strong, buff legs.
"Please, sit," they said, and gestured to the sofa-bed that served as resting place and sleeping place for guards on their long tower duties.
Shai was still reticent to let down his guard. He had only stabled his mount in the landing bay, and come straight here. He'd yet to see the Village, yet to take lodging, and yet to see much of anyone.
Still, he did not sense a threat from the figure before him. He felt confusion, to be sure, at the unorthodoxy of the encounter, and at their willingness to exhibit such vulnerability before an unknown traveler.
"Alright," he replied, and lowered his hood for the first time since arriving. He was haggard, but handsome. His gendering was what they called 'fulmasc' - and the levels of masculine hormonization showed in the long, flowing fur of his face. He was all moss - mossy brown skin rough from travel, and mossy green eyes that had seen more of the frontier than many. Despite himself, he reclined. Legs wide, he cast his arms behind his head, projecting power and poise from his immediate repose.
