Page 26 of Palaces and other Prisons
“Food has been sent.”
“Enough for ninety people?” He did not want to draw ninety dots or lines. “Um…can I?” He pointed at the charcoal.
Ul pushed it and the rough paper toward him. He drew nine dots the way Ul had done. Then ten dots. He pointed to the smaller cluster. “Nine.” Then the bigger cluster. “Ten. Ten lots of nine is ninety.”
He really hoped that Ul knew his times tables.
Ul wrote on his paper. “No, not enough. I send more, but your people need to…trade? Work?”
“You want them to help? What do you need them to do?” He was sure that management wouldn’t have a problem sending some teams out to work. It would give people things to do.
“There was damage to bridges and buildings.”
“Would you like me to write a letter, like Ifer?”
Ul nodded. “I want to talk about…” He reached out and put a tentacle over Dawson’s hand. Immediately, his freckles turned pink. “This.”
“Is it not normal?”
Ul paused for a moment as if searching for the right words. “It is normal for my kind when…”
“Attracted to someone?” Or was he putting his foot in his mouth and swallowing up to his knee?
Ul laughed. “No… Can make small.” He cradled his arms.
Dawson’s eyebrows collided in confusion. “Babies? Children? But you’re a man, aren’t you?” Not that he knew anything about krakke. Was that like kraken? Oh…Ul’s kind was in human myth, but they’d gotten it all wrong.
Ul spoke in his own language as though trying to find the words Dawson was still amazed that he was speaking English so well and getting better the more he talked.
“I am a man. Katrina is a woman.”
Ul nodded. “Krakke only one kind and need a human to make babies.”
“That seems like a design flaw.” But that is what he’d seen in the stained-glass window. “Wait…you’re saying that not every human can make babies with you? The librarian’s freckles didn’t turn pink when he touched me.”
“He touched you?” Ul’s voice was low, and a ripple of something close to desire rolled down Dawson’s spine.
“Only to show me something.” Was Ul being possessive? “Back to the freckles—they only turn pink when compatible with the human?” So it wasn’t about him at all.
“Yes. Why we need to talk.”
“You want babies. Heirs to rule after you.” That hurt more than it should because Ul was only interested in him because his freckles turned pink. Not that it mattered as he’d be leaving on the boat anyway.
Ul winced. “I did not expect this. And it may not be possible. I tried many times with my human.”
“Your human?” Every word was making this worse.
“We shared a bed. He was a match.” He waved his long fingers as though Dawson should be able to work out the rest.
“Your husband? You were married? Or you are married?” He did not want to be getting in the middle of that.
“He died several years ago. I am attracted and compatible, but you did not know these things. You need to understand, to think and talk.”
That was a lot to think about. And potential children was not a discussion he ever thought he’d need to have. Sure, kissing Ul in the rock pool had probably been a mistake, and the silence that had followed had hurt because he had wanted more. He’d hoped for a fling, though, and now things were far different than what he believed. “I’m not sure what we’re talking about.”
Was Ul expecting him to father children?
He glanced at the list of food required by the platform, and his stomach tightened. “Is that list dependent on our talk?”
