Candidate (Selected Book 4) (31 page)

Bay and Cedar arrived while Clover was still explaining the game, Bay carrying a small wooden box. I started to get up to offer greetings, but Cedar waved me back. Instead she stepped around to offer a brief handclasp, followed by her husband. Then they began bickering over who got to sit next to me. But they were doing it in English, so I was nearly positive it was really for my benefit.

"If the two of you weren't dangerous seated beside each other," Jasmine said, "I'd settle this by occupying the contested position myself."

"Well, I'm going to resolve it," I said. "Is it the intention of whoever sits beside me to touch me?"

"Of course," said Bay.

"That was the wrong answer, Husband," Cedar said. "You'll see."

I smiled. "Bay, I'm sorry, but you're male. Cedar, would you care to sit here?"

"I would love to, Andromeda," she said and immediately plopped down.

"I hope, when we are engaged in activities as friends, you will call me Andie."

"Of course, Andie," Cedar said. She turned to Bay. "I told you it was the wrong answer." Then she shifted slightly closer, set a hand on my arm, and stroked the skin.

In turn, Bay grumbled but took the seat on the other side of Clover. But perhaps that wasn't entirely bad for him, as he was barely seated before he had a Catseye tentacle draped over him. I commented on that.

"Don't let this fool you," he said with a gesture. "She's much, much happier touching you than me."

"Because I smell good."

"Because you haven't fur. They don't actually like fur. If you notice, the tentacle is turned sideways, protecting the suckers."

"He's right," Clover said. "But the contact is still nice."

Jasmine saw to beverages, and then she took the remaining open seat. A moment later I saw a tentacle slide over to twine around Cedar's arm, beginning at her shoulder and covering her bicep. It was contact without infringing Cedar's movements.

Bay opened the wooden box. I saw he had little statues in the same color as the ones Clover had been showing me. But while Jasmine's statues were all of Catseye, I could immediately see that Bay's were Loris. He tut-tutted then reached across the table, removed my statue, and replaced it with a Loris. "Humans look far more like us than they do a Catseye."

Clover then reversed his decision, setting the little Loris statue back in front of Bay. "Humans do not look at all like a Loris. Other than our eyes, all humans say we're the closest in appearance to their own."

Bay then swapped statues again. "Not once they see you more closely resemble one of their aquatic creatures."

I sighed. "Give me both of those."

"Don't you dare break the tentacles off," Jasmine said.

"I wouldn't dream of it. But I might shave the Loris," I said. Bay harumphed, but Clover handed them to me. I examined both. "These are cute," I said, waving the Loris. "And when we play in your home, I would be honored to be portrayed as a Loris." Then I set the Catseye statue back into play and handed the Loris to Clover, who handed it to Bay. He harumphed again, but Cedar squeaked her amusement.

Together the four of them taught me the game, and even in the teaching, I could see there would be different play styles. Bay explained, "This game was diplomacy."

"I see that."

"No, the way the game was invented was diplomacy. Nearly every race that plays games at all has an ancient, traditional game based on similar principles. It was at a, well, a diplomatic convention that two groups of attendees sat down in the evening to engage in a little beverage diplomacy."

"They were getting drunk together?"

He squeaked. "Yes. And one recommended a game, their species version of a precursor to this game. Of course, the others wished to play a game from their homes. But the beverages had not yet completed their desired goal, so tempers remained in check. It was actually a species that has no such game that suggested there were similarities in all the proposed games and issued a challenge. Devise a new game with principles common to all the species."

Jasmine and Clover both snuffled. "They derailed the entire convention. Everyone in attendance, absolutely everyone got involved, and no other business happened. They negotiated for weeks. They played sample games, testing this variation and that one. Finally they came to this game, although there is a lengthy list of variations that can be added. We are teaching you the basic game tonight."

I smiled. "It would have been interesting to be there."

"I imagine," she said. "So now this is the one game that transcends nearly every species in the Federation of Allied Planets, and it has even become highly popular on many of our home planets."

"Wow, okay," I said.

"But because of this, because this game has a history in ancient traditions," explained Bay, "the different species talk about the game using different words. For instance, the Catseye are businesswomen, and they see almost everything in terms of business. And so they use business terms."

"Vassal is not a business term," I said.

"It is the closet English word to a Catseye concept," Jasmine explained. "To us, it applies in a variety of situations, including business -- or Boardwalk."

"Got it."

"Other species use phrases most often used in warfare," Bay continued. "And in a way, business and war have many things in common."

"And to the Loris?"

"We think of food sources. The markers are fields, and the stones are workers."

"The Loris are not known for winning Boardwalk tournaments," Jasmine said. "But they are known for an aesthetic play style and are popular players for casual play."

"Although we're still better than a mere human," Bay said with a squeak or two.

"I have no doubt."

And so they taught me the play, and then we set up for our game. But before the first move, Jasmine said, "I wish us to come to a mutual agreement."

"It is not your turn to make a proposal," Bay replied immediately.

"And yet I propose one anyway. If the human is swept from play five minutes from now, she will learn nothing. I propose we leave her alone unless she attacks one of us."

"Alliances-"

"Let her propose them if she wants them."

They all turned to study me.

"You don't need to coddle me."

"The game has no natural handicap," Jasmine said. "This is the best we can do. The other choice that I have seen work very well is to offer yourself as a willing vassal."

"That isn't legal!" exclaimed Bay.

"It certainly is," Jasmine said.

Bay looked to his wife, I thought for support. She only said, "We are in a Catseye home, and if this is a variation allowed in this home, we should not argue."

"It is not a variation," Jasmine said. "But you could, in your own home, declare not allowing it to be a variation."

I snorted but said nothing.

* * * *

I enjoyed the game. More importantly, I enjoyed the competitive camaraderie between the four of them, as long as it wasn't directed towards me.

A few times after I played, one of them reached forward, removed my pieces from play, and handed them to me. "We won't let you make that poor a move, but now you have to tell us why it is poor."

And so I learned. And I formed a solid, solid base. But it was Clover that lured me into a trap. She looked like she was extending a fight towards Cedar, and she left what I thought was a huge weakness right next to my base. It was only two moves away, and I watched it carefully. I built a little more strength and sent a small feeler in her direction, but I tried to disguise it. It appeared to work, as she played away from me. And on the next move I attacked, capturing a portion of the arm she had extended. I was very pleased with myself.

The rest of them grew very still.

"I believe," said Clover, "that the human's foolish move negates our earlier agreement."

"That's fine," I said. I held up the pieces I'd taken from her, waving them up and down for a moment.

No one else said a word. But it was her turn, and she made a play in my direction. Everyone else ignored me, although Jasmine began to play towards Clover. On my next turn, I captured another portion of Clover's arm.

This game was easy!

And then Clover played. "Andie, you have a new title in this game."

"Champion of Catseye?"

"Close," she said. "Vassal of Catseye."

"What?"

It took her and Bay together to show how I had walked right into a trap, and Clover had caught me with two moves.

"Did all of you see her setting me up?"

"Twelve moves ago," Cedar said. "She'd have lured you in sooner, but she had to defend against my husband first. She couldn't have done it if it had been another Catseye sitting in his place, but my husband is not known for is ability to capture other players."

"I'm your vassal," I said to Clover.

"You are, and so you must move here, to my other side, and share my cushion with me."

"And play as you direct."

"Yes. And I get to touch you
all I want
." Then she looked at Bay. "And no one else can lay so much as a single whisker on you."

I spent the remainder of the game wrapped quite thoroughly in Catseye tentacles. It felt nice.

* * * *

"Well, did you enjoy it?" Jasmine asked after we escorted her visitors to the door.

"I did. I'm never going to be any good, am I?"

"I haven't met a human who has become a good player, but my sample size is very small. There are human games that are not dissimilar, and so players of those games could be very good at this game."

"You play a lot of games," I said.

"Joy of life," she replied. "And diplomacy of a fashion. But mostly joy of life." She shifted. "You and Clover were comfortable."

"Have you noticed something about me?"

"What is that?"

"I'm comfortable with anyone who treats me as a friend."

Her tentacles stiffened, and I realized she was taking my statement the wrong way, or I thought so anyway. "Are you returning me to my cell, or are guards coming?"

"You are ready to go."

"I have one more thing to say to you, and I want it to be the last thing I say tonight."

"I will take you."

She could have let me walk alone, but of course, she didn't. Nor did she furnish the bathrobe. Instead, she dimmed my visor and took my arm. Five minutes later we came to a stop outside my cell, and a moment later, I could see. I looked at her, and her tentacles were hidden, a shawl draped over her shoulders for additional obscurity.

"Please come in," I said. "I wish to say something to you."

"All right." She led me inside, but the door didn't close. I stepped away from her. "Is it possible to turn that dark?" I gestured to the ceiling. "And that. And I don't mean using my visor. I wish privacy."

She studied me for a moment, and I thought my request was making her nervous. But she nodded, and a few seconds later the ceiling dimmed, the door behind her closed, and that wall also turned opaque. I couldn't have told you where the light was coming from, but I could still see.

"Please take off that shawl, Jasmine."

"Just say what you want to say, Andromeda."

I shook my head. "It's still Andie. Please remove the shawl and unwrap your tentacles. Trust me for literally ninety seconds."

"All right," she said slowly. The shawl came off, and without taking her eyes from me, she used a tentacle to drop it to the bed. At that, I closed half the distance between us.

"You don't usually, but tonight you did something."

"What is that?"

I stepped closer and caught one of the tentacles. She didn't pull away, but she looked at me nervously. I used two hands, one holding the fleshier portion, the other very near the tip. It waved at me.

"Tonight, you treated me like a friend." Then I kissed just the tip, the very tip of the tentacle.

Everything froze. When she didn't move, I gave the tentacle tip a very gentle stroke with one finger and then released it. Then I turned away. "That's all I wanted to say, Jasmine. Good night."

Still she didn't move, not immediately, and I waited to see what she would do. It took her time to decide, but then she moved forward, two hands and four tentacles settling on my shoulders and arms. I stayed where I was, relaxed. Then she turned me around, right into her arms, and wrapped around me thoroughly.

When the tentacle slipped across my lips, I kissed it, and she immediately slid into my mouth far further than Clover had. I closed my lips -- and my eyes, but I wrapped my arms around her.

She held me that way for a very long time, the tentacle tip settled against my tongue, the rest of her tentacles holding, then moving, holding, then moving.

Then she withdrew, first from my mouth, then everywhere else. I opened my eyes and watched as she stepped backwards.