Caitlin Stockwell paled as Yaut stepped between Aille and the female, baring his chest to the implied assault.
“My mistake,” Aille said smoothly. “I am a newcomer here, as I am sure you know, and only wish to understand the situation so I will not give offense.”
“Humans are not allowed to accumulate a personal service, as is customary for Jao.” Stockwell closed her eyes, seeming to struggle for control. “Banle has been my lifelong guard, assigned to watch me since I was very small, for my—my safety.” The last word came out in a strangled whisper.
Tully seemed to understand far better than Aille did at the moment. His lips thinned.
“You are in danger?” Aille leaned closer, his ears twitching with interest. “From whom?”
“My father heads the human government on this continent for the Jao,” she said. “There are many who resent him. They might strike at him through me, had they the chance.”
“Indeed?” Aille glanced up at the Jao female. “Your name?”
Rather than being pleased at being asked, her body was all reluctance. “Banle krinnu nao Narvo.”
Of the root kochan itself, then, though “nao” instead of “ava.” She’d been birthed and reared in one of the secondary marriage-groups.
Banle turned her face away, blanking her body so it conveyed no meaning at all. “I am on duty and not available for personal conversation.”
“Very sensible,” he said.
They sat then in silence, Jao and humans walking past, occasionally greeting him, but ignoring Caitlin for the most part. The air shimmered with late-day light and spray from the diving swimmers hung in the air. He relaxed, savoring the sea-smells, wet rocks, salts, and water, all far more ancient than his species.
“Whales swim,” Caitlin Stockwell said finally. “They spend their entire lives in the sea.”
“Are they fierce?” He studied her face, but without mobile nose or ears, without even whiskers, it was hard to discern her mood.
She laughed, but it was a harsh sound, not merry at all. “No, they have very little idea of how to protect themselves, much less attack! They are so huge, they have no natural enemies except man—and now, it seems, Jao also.”
“Then they provide you with a food source?”
“Some think so,” she said. “In the past our species hunted them for their oil, bone, and flesh, but thankfully we found substitutes before we drove them into extinction.”
“Are they in danger of becoming extinct now?”
She stared down at her intertwined fingers, which were so much smaller than a Jao’s. “No one knows. There’s been no money or resources for a study to find out since—” She broke off, her lips compressed.
“Since the conquest,” he said.
“Yes.” She breathed deeply, her eyes gazing past him. “We have redirected our resources, as ordered, to more important matters, such as preparing the planet against the expected attack.”
“Quite right,” he said, pleased to reach a point in the conversation where both species agreed. Tracking a few animals to see how many of them lived in a habitat made very little sense when one thought of the ferocity of the Ekhat. The Ekhat, who exterminated entire systems in accordance with their mad philosophy, down to the bacteria.
The human male who was standing nearby, Aille now realized, was the same one who had been at this female’s side earlier. She lifted her face up to him, then, a moment later, turned to face Aille.
“Subcommandant, may I introduce Major General Ed Kralik, the human officer who commands one of your major jinau forces on this continent?”
A rough snort escaped Yaut at the ill-mannered proffering of a name, but Aille was intrigued enough to ignore the breach of courtesy. Caitlin, after all, despite her knowledge of Jao language and postures, was only human and couldn’t be expected to behave with exact propriety all the time. But he suspected she was well aware that she was violating custom, and did so deliberately.
“Indeed?” he said, letting amiable-interest shape his limbs.
“Yes, sir.” Interestingly, Kralik did not make that sharp gesture-of-respect humans called a “salute.” Apparently, he was more familiar with Jao customs than most humans Aille had encountered in the military. “I’m commander of the Pacific Division. I would have flown down to Pascagoula to report in, but I’ve been on assignment out west, recruiting jinau.”