Chapter 3
Despite her father's initial worry at his daughter staying out so late with a complete stranger, he didn't dwell on it very long. After a through explanation and a few days he was back to whatever the hell he'd been working on. It seems like more and more days he is gone now, working on his "secret project" for the "good of humanity". Whatever. Scott and Sara weren't upset at his absence from them so much as the fact that he was absent from his wife. Ellen wasn't getting any better and it infuriated them that their father was gone more often than not anymore. The twins just made sure to spend extra time with their mother to make up for it. Ellen was happy for her children, Scott was excelling in his Alliance training and Sara was flourishing in school.
Anytime that wasn't spent with either her mother or Scott or studying at school Sara spent hanging out with Jazan. It had been almost 8 months since they met and they were quickly developing a close friendship. He and Scott had ended up becoming good friends as well, Scott being happy that his sister finally had someone else she enjoyed spending so much time with that shared her interests. Jazan had even pulled some strings to get her an internship at the zoo which caused many squeals and hugs directed toward the drell. Although Sara, being the newest staff member, got the worst jobs more often than not. Cleaning out the pyjack cage is not something she looked forward to but she still was able to get her animal time in so she was loving life.
They were at their regular place eating some dinner after a particularly grueling shift. Jazan was laughing at how scratched up her arms had gotten after day's events. He chucked in that deep sandpaper way he does which made Sara smile. "I can't believe you actually picked up the tazak young before we got the mother out of the room. You're lucky she's so docile and all your got was a couple of warning scratches."
Sara laughed and look at her arm which had 3 good gashes running from her shoulder down to her hand. They had slathered in in medi-gel almost as soon as it happened so it shouldn't scar. "I couldn't help it! They are finally standing up on their hind legs and one was leaning against me like it wanted me to pick it up. I was so proud of them I forgot to sit down first." she said remembering the moment in question. They had a brand new litter of Tazaks born almost 3 months prior, they were a species from the Turian's Palavan that reminded Sara of Earth's Meerkats only scaly and twice the size with cat like claws. They had been going in every week since they were born to give them supplements that imitate what they would be getting in the wild due to Palavan's radiation. In the wild they burrow out the base of trees to live in and can't climb so when she picked one up it freaked out and the mother responded in kind. After they were done her boss, a friendly but no-nonsense turian, congratulated her. "It took you longer than most newbies to get your first stupidity injury. So, did you learn your lesson?" He asked her with a laugh.
She came back to reality when Jazan reached over and brushed his fingers over her soul guard. "I'm amazed it didn't do anything to this" She looked down at where he was touching her. It's true, the scratches may have run from her shoulder to her hand but her guard stopped any damage on her forearm and it didn't even have a scratch on in. "What is this made from anyway?" he asked.
She cleared her throat but didn't pull her arm away, instead choosing to bush her fingers across the guard herself. Their fingers were almost touching "I'm not exactly sure what the material is called. It's something expensive I know that. My parents saved up our whole lives to get Scott and I good ones."
"What are they for exactly?" Jazan asked, still looking at her arm but no longer touching it "You and Scott wear them everytime I see you, even in your homes."
Sara blushed as he finally made eye contact with her again. "It hides our soul marks" she said simply. He almost seemed to flinch and pulled his hand away immediately.
"I..I apologize" he stammered out bowing his head as much as he could in his sitting position, hands clinched tight on his lap "I didn't realize. I didn't mean to...I should have known it was something important like that, I just didn't realize that..." He couldn't figure out what to say but he was mortified at his mistake. Drell are very secretive about their soul dreams and any attempt to ask about them without prompt is seen as an awlful offense. He looked around because he just couldn't meet her gaze anymore. He saw many humans and almost all had similar coverings on their arms. Stupid stupid stupid He chastised himself.
Jazan jumped when he felt a hand on his arm. He looked up to see Sara looking at him with empathy and a little bit of amusement in her eyes. Her hand was resting on the spot on the same arm that her guard rested on, a fact he noticed didn't comment on. "It's fine Jazan" she said softly "No harm done"
"It's just" he looked down at his hands, trying to find the words "I didn't mean to offend you by touching your soul mark covering. We drell find people asking about, or even referencing, our soul dreams highly offending. Unless of course, we bring it up first" He looked up at her to see her reaction. "I guess I just assumed that it was similar in your culture."
Sara ducked her head a little bit, trying in vain to hide the blush she could feel forming on her face at him bringing up his soul dreams. This conversation was quickly beginning to feel heavier than any of their previous ones. "I mean, it can be" she said "Humans cover their soul names with what we can soul guards" she holds her arm up for him to see, as if he hasn't already. "We hide the names to protect ourselves, so yea it is kinda taboo for someone to try to handle our guards without our permission." Shame started to settle in his features again, the poor guy looked miserable. "I'm not upset Jazan" she tried to reassure him "I mean, if you were human I might be upset but you didn't know. Talking about soul names is fine, humans are generally pretty open about the subject and enjoy talking about it, minus actually telling you the name. Touching soul guards, on purpose anyway, is usually reserved for close friends and family"
Jazan still felt bad, but not as bad as he did. "I'm glad" he said "I'd hate to lose my only non-drell or hanar friend due to some social taboo. So it's not bad to ask about your soul marks then?"
She shook her head "No. Why is it for the drell?"
He hmmmed again. "More than likely it stemmed from our close contact with the Hanar. I don't know much of our history or customs from the days of Rakhana but I'd like to think we weren't so formal with our friends and family members before our people were lifted."
"Ah" she said. Deciding not to ask about it, no matter how much she wanted to. Sara always found the different ways various species found their soul mates fascinating but held herself back from asking anyone about it. It seemed like every species had some kind of taboo around it and it was just easier not to enter that minefield.
He smiled at her and almost as if he read her mind he asked "Would you like to know?"
Sara was laying on her bed with her arms folded behind her head, staring a her ceiling just thinking. Today was her and Scott's 21st birthday. Their mom had ordered a cake, having past the point the she could physically bake one herself anymore, and was going to celebrate with them this afternoon. After that they had planned to go out to the Silversun Strip with their friends for the evening.
Sara turned and ended up laying on her soul guard, feeling the fabric brush against her cheek. She couldn't wait to see Jazan today. He was actually going to come by the house and celebrate with them and her mother, having somehow successfully immersed himself into the family. He had no other family on the Citadel and few friends besides herself and Scott so her mother was more than happy to host him whenever he came by. After the talk they had a couple of months ago, the one about his soul dreams, she couldn't stop thinking about him. She even found herself flirting with him and well, as inexperienced as she was even she could see he was flirting back. Her heart did a little fluttering thing whenever she saw him and she couldn't help but think...she pulled her arm out from under her head and slipped off her soul guard. Looking at her soul name and remembering how the closest thing she could find was an old drell language. Maybe?
She sighed. No it couldn't be. He had confided in her some of the dreams he has had over years. Some of which obviously took place on Kahje which she had never visited. Although...she closed her eyes and recalled something he once said:
"Sometimes...it has been known to happen...drell have soul dreams of things that haven't happened to their soul mates yet. We see things or places they have not yet done or will do in the future. It is uncommon but not unheard of."
She opened her eyes and lovingly traced her soul name again. She may have never visited Kahje before but..what if…? She smiled again. She can't wait to see him today. It was then that Scott decided to interrupt her moment.
"Thinking of someone in particular?" she heard him ask. Looking up to see him leaning against her door with his arms crossed, and amused look on his face.
She sat up and looked up at him, suddenly feeling very foolish and hopeful and the same time. He knew that she liked Jazan so she didn't have a problem holding up her arm to him and asking "Do you think?"
Scott sat down next to her and grabbed her wrist, running his thumb along her name before handing her soul guard back and watching as she slipped it back on. He knew what Jazan had in store for her tonight and didn't want to spoil the surprise. "Maybe" he said with that sideways smirk of his. "You did say it was closest to a drell language right?" She smiled and blushed "Just...just don't get your heart set on it just in case ok? I mean you never know" Scott liked Jazan, he really did, but he also knew that, like him, his sister had her heart set on her soul mate and no one else. He had no idea if Jazan was her soul mate or not, but he didn't want her to get her hopes up just in case he wasn't. The Ryder twins have had too much disappointment in their lives already.
"I know. Don't worry little bro" she said, ruffling his hair like she used to do when they were kids. Although if she was honest with herself, it was a little too late.
"Little!?" he exclaimed "I'm bigger than you!"
"Yea" she laughed "But I'm 5 minutes older" She got up and stretched her back, delighting in the popping along her spine. "What about you?" she asked "How are you doing?"
Scott knew what she meant. She was asking how he was feeling about not meeting his soul mate yet, or even finding any sign of her. "Its..." How to explain it? Discouraging? Frustrating? Annoying? Soul-sucklingly scary? "I don't know" he sighed, not being able to decide on a word. Sara has it easier he thought. Her soul mate was obviously an alien so she had no problem waiting and looking everywhere possible. But his was human, there were only so many places his species realistically lived in large groups. He couldn't find her on Earth. He can't find her on the Citadel. He didn't even find her name in any of the Alliance records of any of the other human inhabited worlds in Citadel Space. He was starting to fear he would never find her.
"Hey" Sara said softly, rubbing his soul guard. "Stop it" She could easily see his line of thinking, she always did. "You'll find her ok? We're only 21, we have our whole lives ahead of us. Besides, you're in the Alliance. You've got years of travel and exploration to find her. Mom and Dad didn't find each other until they were in their 30s remember?"
"Yea yea I know" he said, ready to change the subject. He ruffled his sisters hair right back and stood up. "C'mon get ready. Jazan is picking up the cake and he'll be here in an hour"
Sara touched the new silver necklace adorning her neck, admiring how the lights of the Silversun Strip streets shine on it. It was comfortably thick and heavy with the metal woven together to look almost like rope. It was her birthday gift from Jazan. He had taken her somewhere private after the party to give her the necklace and confessed his feelings to her. He is her first boyfriend and she couldn't be happier! Rolling her eyes at the thought, she can't believe it took 21 years. Looking up she saw Jazan smiling at her, watching her admire the necklace.
"Alright! Let's get this party started!" Scott whooped, walking through the doors first, causing many giggles and laughs from their small group consisting of not only them but a few friends from both the Alliance and the university. Jazan placed his hand on her lower back and they walked together into what was probably only the first club of the night.
Three clubs later and the group was all thoroughly buzzed, if not totally wasted. Sara had never really cared about drinking before, she found the taste of most alcohol abhorrent, and never really saw the point of drinking just to get drunk. She tried to abstain from it tonight but Scott had talked her into it. She looked up at the spinning lights of their current night club, feeling a light fuzziness in her mind. Jazan put his arm around her and leaned in to nuzzle her neck making her giggle. He wasn't usually this openly affectionate and even though she knew it's more than likely due to the alcohol, she was enjoying it. He leaned in further to meet her mouth in an open sloppy mouth kiss, their tongues dancing together in a way that she had never done with anyone before. Her own moan took her by surprise. She broke the kiss to lean back and look at his face, surprised he was being so forward even with the alcohol, and the lights spinning behind him almost took on a blinding quality. She blinked to try to clear her vision, everytime she did the room changed colors. Was this supposed to happen? she thought. She didn't think so. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that he was drell? Or maybe the booze was finally getting to her. Any other time she would probably be freaking out, but right now she really didn't care. She clung to him and nuzzled his neck. Her body was quickly heating up in a way she didn't recognize and she was pretty sure it had nothing to do with the temperature in the club. The buzz in her head was getting louder and the only thing she could focus on was the warm, hard drell with his arms around her. She was about to ask if he wanted to do something, anything, when she felt his whole body suddenly tense in her arms. Shit, is that supposed to happen? She didn't think that was supposed to happen.
She looked up at his face to see his eyes wide and his mouth slack-jawed. What? She's never seen that look on his face before. Following his line of sight she saw another drell. A light purple female drell with a lavender frill in a beautiful silver dance dress was standing at the corner of the dance floor, the same dumbfounded look in her face. She was confused, did they know each other? They sure looked like they knew each other. Sara looked back at him when Jazan stiffly stood up.
"Jazan?" she asked shakily. What was he doing? His hand slipped from hers as he walked towards the female drell. "Jazan?" she asked louder "Where are you going?" He didn't even look back at her. She just sat there, alcohol clouding her thoughts as she was attempting to comprehend what was going on as she watched her boyfriend walk away towards some unknown woman. She wasn't that worried, not really, more confused as to what he was up to. Maybe she was some old friend from…before she could even finish her thought Jazan's hand was on the drell woman's cheek as he leaned to kiss her. Sara's heart dropped to her feet and tears burned her eyes. What? She thought. He kissed her deeply, not like the kiss they had just shared. Not sloppy and frenzied but softer, more sensual. She couldn't watch anymore. She couldn't think. She could barely see anything through the blur her tears were causing. Standing up she left the club, she didn't even bother to check with Scott and tell him she was leaving.
So angsty I know! This whole thing was originally going to be all one chapter but it's getting to long so I'll have to split it into two. Let me know how you're liking it so far :)
