“I’m still in shock. We all are. When we realized that you were going to bypass the men in front of you, it was so exciting.”
“For once my inability to run in a straight line when I’m tired was my stroke of luck,” Valentin said combing his short black hair back.
“The gods wanted you to win,” Lon commented.
“Sure,” Valentin replied dismissing Lon’s comment.
“Just because you’re not a believer doesn’t mean they aren’t guiding your life.”
Valentin looked at his friend, “No one is guiding my life but me. Now, stay in orbit. I doubt I’ll be at this reception for long. Tomorrow we rendezvous with Captain Jin at Space Port One.” Then he put his IC in his pocket and was on his way out when Lon stopped him at the door.
“One celebratory drink first,” Lon suggested.
Valentin knew there was something behind this and so agreed, “Quickly. The sooner I get to the reception the sooner I’m back.” Valentin wanted to go, show his face, meet the human woman and then decide if she or any other women there were worth pursuing, then get out of orbit before the Octopods who were also in orbit with a bigger ship decided to seek retribution while he was too far from his other vessels to call for back up.
Lon nodded and they both began walking towards the mess hall which also served as a meeting and drinking place. Once they entered, Valentin’s senior crew was there and they all congratulated him in the Reima Two fashion by saying, “Success, Success, Success,” in a rhythmic fashion.
Valentin wasn’t a flashy man. Despite his great accomplishments he was always inwardly overwhelmed by these grand gestures. He was given a glass of Reima Two wine and thanked his officers with a small speech, “Who would have thought that I would be the second Outcast in the history of the Yoli race to win? I couldn’t have done it without your help. All of you looking the other way when I bowed out of duty to practice swimming in the holochamber. Or Doh, your helping me spar with Imperial swords, and, of course, all of you for allowing me to take time out of our schedule to compete.” Valentin raised his blue wine glass and said, “We all won today.”
Everyone repeated his words and then drank their wine.
While they had the drink, Valentin spoke to his crew. Most of them recounted the race and his performance. Others asked if he now had his sights set on marrying one of the Imperial family. The last Outcast to win the Yoli race married a woman from the Imperial family the very next day. Valentin dismissed this thought but did mention to Lon that he had seen the new human chef for the new restaurant in Alba and he was going to try and speak to her.
After he shared a drink with his senior staff, Valentin went directly to the hanger bay and took a transport down to Alba. The party was in full swing by the time Valentin walked in and what he had not expected was the gossip column drones to surround him once he exited his transport nor for the welcome of people who offered him zota and wanted to talk when he arrived. He had never been so positively popular with his mother’s people in all his life. And as much as he enjoyed the attention, his eyes would always look around for the blonde-hair human woman who had come over with his parents. He reckoned she would be considered middling class, even if she had to pretend to be maximum class. He thought, Hopefully, she hasn’t any contract with the Empire to marry a maximum class. Valentin knew that the Empire had struck individual bargains with each of the human women brought over and he doubted that one brought over by the clever and headstrong Jade of House Human would be beholden to the archaic laws of the maximum class.
Finally, while he was talking to some men about trading along the new Gami Route, he made eye contact with his blonde human. He hoped his expression made it clear to her that he would come and speak to her directly after finishing this conversation. Any woman of the galaxy would have known that is what he meant when he looked at her and put his right hand to his left shoulder.
Ellie made eye contact with Val a few times during the reception which wasn’t surprising as she was staring at him. “I wish he would come and talk to us,” she said absently to Tamsin. “He’s always talking with all those other people.”
Tamsin followed Ellie’s gaze to a group of middling class men all talking, the victor was among them. “He’s middling class, maybe he feels like he can’t talk to you because you will never be able to marry. Or maybe he is already married. It didn’t say and we should have checked the database, maybe? I’m sorry, Ellie.”
“It shouldn’t matter,” she said disappointedly. “He’s just a handsome man. We are surrounded by them, but there is something about that one…” Just then they were approached by some maximum class men and Ellie dutifully turned her attention to them.
Valentin had not seen the back of the blonde woman’s dress until she turned, and he almost dropped his ceramic cup. Her pale back was completely exposed down to her tailbone. Only a small red ribbon was holding the dress up. It was one of the more sensual things he had seen in all his life and that was saying a lot. He immediately excused himself from the men he was speaking to and made his way over to her. Valentin had been drawn to her before, but now he felt it was imperative to speak to her.
Tamsin gave Ellie a funny look.
“What are you doing with your eyes?” Ellie asked. Tasmin was making her eyes big and blinking a lot.
Finally, Tamsin leaned over and whispered in her ear, “The victor is coming your way, dismiss these men so you can turn to speak to him.”
Ellie quickly turned to see that Val was indeed headed her way. His expression unreadable. Her heart began pounding and without thinking too much about it she said to the maximum class men they had been speaking to, “I release you from this conversation. Walk in the gods’ light.”
The men seemed surprised and disappointed, but Tamsin picked up the slack, “I, however, am not finished speaking to either of you. Admiral Jei tells me I must marry someone from House Rega, so I expect you to escort me out to the garden now and tell me who the best men are from our House. Of course, the list will begin with both of your names,” She spoke with a smile and the men seemed pleased so the three of them made their way out to the garden.
Ellie could hardly breathe as Val stood before her. She thought he was the most handsome man she had ever seen. He was tall and dressed in fashionable galactic black and silver clothing that fit well over his muscular figure. She could see the top of some of his tattoos peeking through his collar at his neck and at his wrists from his cuffs. He wore silver earrings, necklaces, and rings, but Ellie couldn’t identify them. She assumed they must be middling class. His black hair was shorter than most men’s and cut very stylishly.
A few people tried to speak to Valentin as he made his way towards the human, but he dismissed them by placing his left hand to his chest to show he had other intentions. When he stood before her and looked down, he said without preamble, “I think you may know my parents?”
Ellie was so taken aback by his question and that her translator switched off, no more was there a small buzz through her ears, she forgot to notice he wore no Imperial ranking jewelry or register that his eyes were blue, “I don’t think so… are they apart of House Rega?”