’Stay away’

Those two words had become Dron’s mantra over the past two days.

He knew if he were to come out on the other side of this with his dignity and mind intact, he would have to stay away from Tempest.

The desire to have her was too strong.

Since the night of the festival, Dron found that he would have to pleasure himself at least twice a night just to get the edge off. Of course it did nothing but frustrate him since he couldn’t get to completion.

He just couldn’t help himself. He wished that his hands were Tempest’s wished that he could hear her moaning and laughing in his ears as he took her body.

It would never happen, and Dron knew it.

So instead of torturing himself by staying close to her, he chose to stay away.

Every morning, he would get up hours before she did and go out to do things around the property that he hadn’t actually needed to do. He’d cut down trees, hike hard trails, hunt for animals.

Anything to keep himself busy and not have to go back home.

After the first day, Tempest had tried to talk to him and get him to stay in the house with her for a little while. She was pleasent and it was clear to Dron that she was a little disappointed that he didn’t choose to stay with her but there was nothing that he could do about that. He knew that if he were to give up on staying away from her something more would happen. Something he was sure he wouldn’t recover from.

He might actually start to care for her.

Tempest would just have to be mad at him.

Dron sliced through the thick brush about mile and a half away from his home. There was absolutely no need for him to be this far out. If he were to come up on any animals this far away it would be cruel of him to kill them as he was intruding on their space at this point.

Dron continued, his attention quickly moving from space to space, checking to make sure there was no danger.

He felt ridiculous. Going through all this just to stay away from a woman. Who would’ve known that it would be this difficult. He stopped and closed his eyes. He needed to get himself under control. He couldn’t hide away forever like a coward. Sooner or later he was going to have to go back and face Tempest.

He would have to be in the same space with her.

When he opened his eyes once again, right in front of him was a large plant, one he hadn’t seen before. Or at least one he hadn’t paid attention to. He lifted his wrist, and activated his device. He scanned the plant and the device returned inconclusive.

"What?" Dron murmured to himself. There was no reason for that to happen. The device had a running list of every animal and plant on the planet. How was it that it didn’t know what kind of plant this was.

Dron inched forward and gently touched the bright yellow leaves. He waited for a second to see if his body would have any kind of adverse reaction.

The flower had bright yellow leaves and a dark brown center. It was tall and the stalk was thick.

After a few seconds, when Dron realized that it was harmless he plucked the plant and pressed it to his nose. It had a rather intense smell. One he couldn’t recognize.

He looked off into the distance. And there was another. Dron rushed and plucked that one as well.

A new challenge. One Dron didn’t really need to present itself. Dron followed the direction the plants were growing in and before he knew it he was at the border of the main town for the military class. He stepped out of the brush, doing his best to hide the large bouquet of bright yellow flowers he held in his hand. He knew he wasn’t welcome here, but he also knew no one would actually physically remove him.

Maybe he could find out what kind of plant this was.

Metal clanked from the blacksmith tent. Grunts and shouts as soldiers sparred with each other in the streets. Strong chemical odors wafted in the air, seeming to come from every direction.

Dron may not be welcomed in town, but it smelled like home. It smelled like war. It even sounded like it.

Dron lifted his chin and pulled his shoulders back as he walked further into town. It didn’t take very long for him to become the center of attention. The people who were just walking freely around town suddenly detoured and walked as far away from him as possible.

"What are you doing here, boy?" A deep voice called out from the side.

Dron hissed at the disrespect before he even had a chance to turn and look at who was talking. He pulled himself up short and fell into perfect soldier stance when he realized who it was.

"Mark Chief Tuliq." Dron addressed his superior.

"I asked you a question. What are you doing here?" The mark chief stepped closer getting so near Dron’s face that he fought to keep from backing up.

"I was just coming to find an academic. I had some questions." Dron didn’t want to have to tell the Mark Chief anything but he knew if he did try to keep this from him his superior might accuse him of being subordinant.

"An academic? For what? What questions could you possibly have?" The soldier squinted his eyes and backed up. "Oh, let me guess, it has to do with that parasite of a woman?"

Dron clenched his fists. "What parasite? Surely you don’t mean my mate." Dron narrowed his eyes. If there were ever a time when Dron wanted to punch this alpha in his face, it was now.

"Who else could I be talking about, Dron? Honestly, how could you ever agree to mate with a woman such as that?"

This was strange for Dron. So far, all the people that he’d come across had gone on and on about how lucky he was to have a rare jewel as Tempest.

"What kind of woman would that be?" Dron tilted his head trying to get to the bottom of this.

"One that was sent here to strip our great land of our culture."

Dron shook his head, before he corrected himself and shrugged his shoulders twice, "That’s not true. Tempest may be the only way for our species to continue. More of her kind could be exactly what we need."

"Are you arguing with me, boy?" Mark Chief Tuliq stepped further into Dron’s space. When Dron didn’t respond, Mark Chief Tuliq continued. "We shouldn’t allow someone to dilute our blood. What do you think your children will be? Do you think they are going to be true Thraqen? They’ll be abominations. Than again," Mark Chief looked Dron up and down, "you’re the cursed one. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that you want to be party to this. Your blood is tainted anyway. Whatever mess you sire is bound to bring our people down, doesn’t matter which omega it comes from."

Dron grinded his teeth so hard it felt like they were coming to pieces in his mouth. He couldn’t give in. Mark Chief was the only member of the military who wasn’t a high royal who was a higher rank then him. He’d worked too long to get to where he was. One punch and it would all be over.

Dron was starting to think that it would be worth it.

"It’s a shame you feel that way. Now if you don’t mind I have someplace else to be." Dron walked around his superior doing his best not to think too hard about what the man had said. He wondered how many other people felt the same way that Mark Chief did. How many other people felt that Tempest being here was some sort of sin.

Dron wouldn’t focus on it. He didn’t care. He knew they were wrong. Tempest was a gift from the moon gods themselves.

Dron kept his eyes locked straight ahead. He bypassed the metalworkers and the harvesters and side stepped around the group of people waiting to spar. Dron made his way to the only academics in the town. They were on loan from the higher class simply because the soldiers needed some help with strategy.

Luckily there was only one person in the small hut when Dron walked in.

"Hi! How are you. Did you see the new moon phase is about to be upon us? The sea is already churning. Did the Mark Chief send you in here? I already told him I was moving as fast as possible. I don’t know where they-"

Dron cut the man off before he could continue talking. In all his life, he’d never heard someone talk so fast. Not only that but to jump from topic to topic with no segue.

"Please stop." Dron put his hand up.

The academic in front of him looked as if his bones wanted to pop out of his skin. He was fidgety. His eyes darting from side to side as if he were looking not for the danger but for something missing.

What really bothered Dron was the fact that there was no condemnation in the man’s eyes. He wasn’t looking at Dron as if he was a bother. He was looking at him as if he were just like everyone else.

"Do you know who I am?" Dron questioned.

The man in front of him quickly scanned his eyes over Dron’s body. "Dron. The cursed one. Such nonsense. You just have an anomaly in your skin. Nothing more than a birthmark. No real powers to curse. I tried to tell my superiors that, but they told me I didn’t know what I was talking about. Ha! I don’t know what I’m talking about. I’ve read countless texts on the developments of Ustean fetuses. Do you know the high royal marks are only there because they are lacking a certain gene. They are the ones that are ill formed. You are actually an evolved..."

Dron shook his head, he was trying desperately to keep up with the man speaking. It was almost as if he were talking a different language he was going so fast.

"What is your name?" Dron said loudly trying to get a word in.

"Me? Oh, you’re the first one to ask my name in a long while. You wouldn’t believe how rude some of these so called military men can be." The man sighed. It was the first time he’d taken a breath—at least it seemed that way to Dron. "I’m Clik."

"Clik?" It was an unusual name.

"Yeah, apparently my mother had a sense of humor and didn’t want to prolong the naming ceremony by giving me a name that actually had any meaning." The excessively hyper man shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, Clik, I’ve come across something on my land that I’ve never seen before and I wondered if you or anyone else would be able to tell me about it." The flowers that Dron had picked were already wilting. Most of the petals had been ripped off.

He showed Clik the flowers and expected him to be just as confused.

He wasn’t.

"Ah! They’ve taken root. How wonderful. I’ll have to update my logs. I told my superiors that we would be able to grow them. I mean, just because the last two dozen tries were failures doesn’t mean-"

"Clik, focus!" Dron snapped in the man’s face.

"Oh, sorry. What was the question?"

"What are these?"

"They are sunflowers. They are native to Earth. I figured since we have finally managed to relocate an earthling, we should try to see if any other of their species would thrive here. Based on the amount of flowers you’ve been able to harvest it seems as though these work."

Earth flowers? That is where Tempest is from.

"You know about Earth?" Dron questioned narrowing his eyes at the overly excited man.

"Yes, I know more about earth than anything, minus the earthling I suppose."

Dron didn’t even need to think about it, "Tell me everything."