All That Glitters Ch. 48

"Oh, Christine, Miss," the young woman said.

"We are searching for a specific instrument for our two young girls. It is called a 'Ukulele'?" Junelliya said.

"How old are the girls?" Christine asked.

"Ikekia just turned one last month, and Zarrenia will turn one next month," Hanalei said. "But one of the housekeepers that came to our villa yesterday had the instrument and showed the children how to play it. They are enamored of it and can't wait to see them again. We thought that we could get an instrument for them to play with."

"They are playing a stringed instrument at one year of age?" Christine asked, surprise showing on her face.

"Well, I don't know if playing is quite the term I would use," Fayad quipped, "however, the children loved the instrument when they were introduced to it. We would like to get them one to help them with music as they mature. A Luttrell, even a small one, is currently well beyond their capacity to use."

Christine smiled. "Are you looking for a toy version or a real version?" she asked.

"Oh, definitely real ones. They would progress far too swiftly for a toy version. Though if you have some of those, we might take them along for the daycare," Hanalei said.

Christine took them over to the string instrument section, showing them a group of plasticine Ukulele and several different models of differing sizes of wooden models. She went over the advantages and disadvantages of the different models and informed the ladies that if they bought too small a model, the children would grow out of them too quickly.

They settled on the instruments they wanted and paid, Fayad and Hanalei carrying more than a dozen cheaper Ukulele while Junelliya carried the two instruments for their children. They were looking around in the mall and noted some stores that sold cooking spices and went in. Surprisingly, they found spices from Anuura.

They came out forty minutes later, with a lot of heavy bags of spices. Fayad had to hire an anti-grav lift to carry everything as the items were beginning to get hard to carry. It wasn't long before they ran into the Asocans, who had left The Tatsuya Forge and found the mall.

"Good afternoon, Asoc," Junelliya greeted her.

"Junelliya, I see you have been shopping. Oh! Is that Anuuran spices?" the Asoc asked, her nostrils flaring.

"It is, there is a shop around the corner where they sell them," Junelliya passed the contact information to the Asoc from her comp. The Asoc gave her a smile and hurried around the corner, looking for all the world like a child heading to a candy store. The trio laughed at the sight.

The group spent a few more hours in the mall before returning to their ship and heading back to Denders. All-in-all, it had been a successful afternoon of shopping.

They got some help to take most of the purchases to their villa, while the trio went to the daycare with the instruments.

Urano was pleased to see them.

"Oh, my. That will cause a stir in the daycare!" she laughingly told them. The plasticine models were very durable. They did not have the same sound quality as that of the wooden models, so the trio had kept those aside to give to their own children a little later at the villa.

They signed out the children and headed for the cafeteria, where they ran into Petronellaya, Elliya, Shylmiya, and Gallayea outside the doors.

"Is your conference over for the day or are you just taking a break?" Hanalei asked.

"Just a break for dinner," Petronellaya said. "We will be back at it from 19:00 to 21:00, when we will end things for today. Tomorrow will be the last long day for the week as many of the Toolend are involved in the actions on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. We will not get everyone back in the conference before Monday next, but we hope to keep things going with those that are in attendance, though each of those days will be early days."

"Do I smell spices on you?" Shylmiya asked.

"Anuuran cooking spices, yes," Hanalei admitted. "Much to our surprise, we found a shop in the capital that sells them."

"From the smell of you, you must have bought out the shop," Elliya said with a smile.

"Well, we do use a lot of spices at home," Junelliya explained. "There always seems to be someone at our apartment for dinner. We will use some here, but the rest we will bring back to Liramor-23. They should last us about six months."

That brought smiles from the empaths as they all entered the cafeteria.

************

Later that night, Hanalei and Junelliya were walking around Denders, enjoying the late evening sun. They came to the Red Light District on the edge of the central square. It really wasn't much of a 'district' more like two establishments that had red lights on them to denote their purpose. Prostitution was legal and very regulated on Terra. Everywhere that people congregated, there was a red light district.

The ladies noted several Byandi males leaving one of the establishments. They were slightly tipsy but were also quite happy. They were talking animatedly to one another as they passed the ladies.

Junelliya noted one of the women from one of the establishments smiling at the Byandi as they passed. She gave a shake of her head. Junelliya raised an eyebrow at her. The lady shook her head, her smile broadening.

"The Byandi heard of something that we humans do that they do not," she told the pair.

"Oh, you must mean oral sex," Junelliya stated, surprising the woman.

"How did you know?" she asked.

"We were on the beach last year when one of the males found the human porn sites after purchasing his first comp. Every time he saw a topless human female, he was reminded of the topless porn stars in action, got rather excited, and had to run into the ocean," Hanalei quipped, getting a burst of laughter from the woman.

"The Byandi don't do oral sex, so many males, and a number of females too, have been intrigued by the act. I'm not surprised that they came here where they can get a thrill that they would never have from their own," Hanalei stated.

"Why don't they do oral?" the lady asked, curious.

"The Byandi are shellfish feeders. Their tongues are designed to push broken seashells out of their mouths. They are too short to extend much beyond their lips. As well, their teeth are made for crushing shelled sea animals. They have multiple rows of teeth throughout their mouths. Not ideal for placing something that delicate inside of," Junelliya told her.

The woman's face suddenly went bright red as she doubled over in laughter. "Oh my! That is rich. I shall have to explain to the other ladies why we have so much business from the Byandi."

The pair giggled as they waved and continued. "The plumbing is the same but the waters don't mix," Junelliya quipped, remembering a quote from last year.

"And in this case, the plumbing is dangerous to use!" Hanalei giggled.

The pair laughed as they walked along.

************

A little farther along the beach, Raymond was wading into the ocean for a late evening dip before the sun went down. Not too far offshore, but in deep water, he felt something under him. Suddenly, a Byandi face popped up in front of him.

"Hello, Raymond," Raymond recognized the voice of Meela, the Byandi nurse from Liramor-23. He smiled at her. "Out for a last minute swim?" she asked, getting a nod from Raymond.

"Us too," she said.

"Us?" Raymond asked.

Suddenly, he felt many hands on him, dragging him down. He managed to get a breath before he sank. Several Byandi bodies bumped up against him. He knew immediately that they were all female as he could feel their breasts.

Hands moved all over his body. They were being gentle but insistent. He suddenly felt his swim shorts coming down and then off his body. He began to struggle a little and was pushed to the surface where he took a big gulp of breath before being dragged under again. This time, the hands worked his cock, making him hard.

The ladies brought him back to the surface and rolled him over onto his back. Before he knew it, he was moving quickly through the water. He wondered where they might be taking him before they came to an abrupt stop nearer the beach.

Once more he was placed in the vertical and brought back under water as the females rubbed up against him. Hands were working on him and he felt himself returning to full hardness again, not that he had lost much of his erection before.

He was brought back to the surface and swiftly brought to the beach. The females laughed, splashed him with water, and fled back into the ocean. Raymond looked around and realized he was on the nude beach exclusive to Denders, which was fine as he didn't have his swim shorts with him.

He came out of the water, still feeling the heat the Byandi had brought to him, which meant he was still hard as rock. There were more than a few people on the nude beach. They smiled when they saw his state.

Damn! he thought. I need clothes to get back to my villa.

He put in a call he never wanted to make...

Gillaya came to the edge of the nude beach, carrying a pair of Raymond's shorts. Kim and Liea were with her, eliciting an arched eyebrow from Raymond, who was now standing with two rather pretty nude women.

"What? It's not as if they haven't seen you before," Gillaya quipped as Raymond took in the sight of Liea and Kim.

"What happened, Raymond?" Liea asked. "Someone stole your shorts off the beach?"

"Ah, no...I kind of lost them in the water," he admitted.

"Oh? How did that happen, Raymond?" Kim asked pointedly.

"Well, they had help getting lost. The Byandi kind of slipped them free."

"Actually, the Byandi didn't lose them," Kim replied. "Meela came by a few minutes ago and apologized for her friends 'exuberance'. She was carrying your swim shorts, the ones you 'lost'."

"Ah, so that is why you are with Gillaya?" Raymond asked embarrassed.

"No," Liea admitted. "We were with Gillaya when we heard your request for a new set of shorts. Then Meela came to the door. Of course, we had to come along and make sure Gillaya didn't attack you."

The ladies all shared a laugh at that one. Though it really wasn't much of a laugh as Gillaya probably would have attacked a naked Raymond. It was a good thing he was with company.

Smiling company, Liea thought, taking a good look at the two women, their hands on his, er...back...well, perhaps a little lower. That's why he's still hard. They really were pretty women...

Day Four of the Interspecies Summit, Denders Resort, Terra, The Sol System

Raymond woke between two naked women. It took him a moment to realize where he was. He was in their apartment at Denders. He was trying to remember which of the two was the renter. Ah, yes, Alya Garrant. And her friend, Joyce Worten.

Raymond was wondering why he had woken when Alya twitched again. She was dreaming, and it didn't seem to be a pleasant dream.

The woman's eyes suddenly snapped open. Raymond had seen the look in those eyes many times before, in his mirror as he recovered from his 'work' on planet Emporium. He had despaired that he would ever return to humanity back then.

Raymond took the woman into his arms and held her close. His mouth closed on hers in a long, drawn out, but soft kiss. He broke the kiss, looking down on her and saw a single tear roll from her eye and down her cheek. She pulled him back into her embrace, holding him close. It took some time but eventually, she fell back asleep. This time, her sleep was unmarred by dreams...

************

The Piscium family was in the cafeteria for breakfast and, as usual, their table was getting longer as their friends seated themselves. This morning, they had been surprised when they had been directed to the already extended set of tables by the staff. Hanalei had laughed at that.

The conversations were light between the family and their friends and Junelliya had found herself getting into the background music, by a skilled pianist.

"Go see music?" Zarrenia had asked at the end of the breakfast. That was when Junelliya realized that it wasn't piped in music but someone actually playing the piano.

The family made their way to a back room where there was a small group of people around a grand piano. Fayad recognized one of them.

"Professor Xavier!" He gave the diminutive woman a hug. "It is good to see you here."

"Thank-you, Fayad. I would like to introduce you to my friend and fellow professor, Aghavni Akopyan. She is a professor of music," Xavier indicated the woman sitting at the piano. The woman wasn't much taller than Xavier though that is where the similarities ended. She was white, had light brown hair and remarkable hazel eyes.

"You good," Zarrenia said, clapping her hands. That brought a smile from Aghavni.

"Thank-you little one," the woman responded.

"Me Zarry," she told the older woman. "Me learn play."

"Oh, and what instrument do you play?" the Aghavni asked.

"Me play ukeh...ukulluulll..." Zarrenia tried to say the word.

"Ukulele?" Aghavni offered helpfully, getting a smile and a nod from Zarrenia.

"You remember telling me about the vid clip you saved from last year, Aghavni? This is the woman who was playing in that clip," Xavier told her friend.

"Hello, I am Junelliya Herlan," Junelliya said, extending her hand, which the other woman shook. The woman had the look of celebrity worship on her face.

"You're really her?" Aghavni asked, her mouth open. "The one who played those wonderful songs?"

"I don't know what you were expecting, but I do play a little," Junelliya replied.

Xavier snorted. "I would love to be able to play as little as you can, Junelliya," she interjected with a smile. "I am trying to recruit Aghavni to join us on Liramor-23. We do not currently have a music professor at our campus." She gave Junelliya a significant look.

"Maybe we can talk later. Xavier, why don't you bring your friend around to our villa this evening?" Junelliya suggested, getting a nod and a grin from her friend.

************

The Piscium adults were in a ground vehicle heading for the Johal Compound. The mission today was to get those who were going to be living in the compound established in their new quarters.

The first thing they did when they arrived, was to check out the condition of the little temple. Trevor Winston had told them that he had taken particular care not to cause damage to the temple and the Pisciums were pleased to see no apparent damage. They offered a prayer when they finished their inspection.

They then went into the office annex to find chaotic activity. The respective occupants of the various offices were working to set them up to their peculiar desires, placing mementos and other odd things in each office, checking their computer connectivity and just looking around.

Hanalei stopped to ask each of those she noted in the annex if they were satisfied with their offices. For the most part they were, with only a few minor details needing to be resolved.

The trio then went through the tunnel into the compound proper and the living quarters for those who were working in the compound.

They were met in the central reception area by Ji'en Nahdi, the Matriarch of the compound.

"Hanalei, so good to see you again," Ji'en gushed. "I am so grateful for you making me the head of the compound, Hanalei."

"Not at all, Ji'en. You earned your place by your hard work and dedication to those who survived. I am just glad that I was able to make something of the compound and not have to relinquish control over it.

"How are things progressing?" Hanalei asked.

"Swiftly. I think everyone was very eager to get into their new permanent quarters and to see their offices. It will take a couple of days to sort everything out, but that is to be expected.

"The new workers from the Greater Community are all here and helping their senior personnel. It should be fun working with eleven different races," she quipped.

"Just remember, whatever happens, you are in control. I have emphasized that on many occasions to the senior leaders of those who will be working here. Their jobs are in the office annex, your job is in this part of the compound. They come to you for support. As long as you keep that up, there shouldn't be any issues. If you have issues, let me know. Our family has some serious connections with the ruling families of all of the species. We can get people here replaced if they start causing problems.

"How are your new quarters here?" Junelliya wanted to know.

"Excellent. Much larger than what we had before and what we currently have at Denders. We will be comfortable here and it should be interesting to try out the different cuisines from the member races in the new kitchen."

"Speaking of which," Junelliya said, and pulled out a large bag. She opened the top and Ji'en squealed with joy when she smelled the flavours wafting out of the bag.

"OH! Anuuran spices!" she clapped her hands, looking all the world like Ikekia and Zarrenia when they were happy. That brought chuckles to the trio.

"I know you will make good use of them," Hanalei said, touching her comp to that of Ji'en's, transferring the information on the shop she found the spices in. That got a smile from Ji'en.

"The shop gets spices in once a week. I'm sure that you can make arrangements with them for your needs," Hanalei indicated.

Things went smoothly and quickly. By the end of the morning everyone was situated and happy. Hanalei called them all into the cafeteria, the only place large enough to hold all of them at once.

"Welcome to the Johal Compound and the new Interspecies Consulate. I hope that you have found your accommodations suitable to your needs. They were designed in conjunction with engineers from each of your species.

"The new rooms includes rooms for visiting delegations of senior persons from your respective species, your personal rooms, three large lounge areas, a large saltwater pool out back for the Byandi, a large freshwater pool for the other species, and a large joint kitchen that will serve all of the members. In addition, there are dedicated quarters for the staff which includes staff from each of the species, which means you will have 24/7 staff support in this compound.

"The head of the building itself is Trevor Winston. He is responsible for any maintenance issues, for any future additions that might be required and for ensuring the uninterrupted running of the building on both the quarters and office side of the compound.

"Ji'en Nahdi is responsible for all of the staff support in the building, which means she controls the people who support you. Should you have any issues with the staff, she is the person to speak to. The staff have all been trained to handle emergency situations from power issues to an all out attack on this compound.

"Keep in mind that they have the ability to cause you some serious harm when you are dealing with them." That got some laughter from the delegates until Ji'en opened a hidden cabinet built into the wall and pulled out a power weapon. A few quick moves proved her competence with the weapon. She promptly shut down the now active weapon and replaced it back in the cabinet and closed it.

She then pulled a collapsible rod from behind her back and swiftly went through an exercise Kata using the now extended rod. At the end, she collapsed the rod and placed it in the hidden recess behind her back. No one said a word, but the point had been made.

"Ji'en is also responsible for the security staff of the compound along with Marcus Tumaro, who is Head of Security for the compound. You can go to either of them for issues on security," Hanalei explained, pointing out Marcus to the delegates.