The Lost Queen

48. Still Moving

The girls, Marcus, and Dipak never come back to the afternoon meeting. I don't know why. I think it's good. Tre does a good job.

After the meeting I spend an hour relaxing in my room then I go to dinner. They have all the different foods out. I get in line right away. The line moves quick. I find that blue food and see a picture of an animal beside it. I shake my head and walk into Tye.

He laughs, "You and me both. What are you looking for?"

"Orange fish. It's amazing."

"What's it called?"

"I don't know. I call it orange fish. It's an orange fish."

"Well there's something orange down there."

"Damn I missed it. Thank you."

I get there and Uhmok is standing there, "Is this what you were talking about?"

"Yes." I put 3 pieces on my plate then 1 on his. "You won't regret it. It's fish."

"Ok I'll try it. We do eat fish and you were right about the nuts."

"I do know good food."

"So where is your planets food?"

"We eat that every other meal except this 1. I don't know if they put anything out of ours."

"Your food is a lot like ours then. Breakfast was identical. Eggs and toast. What is that?"

I shake my head at the blue thing. "Mystery animal. Eat at your own risk."

"You ever tried it?"

"Nope. What is that?"

He looks over and we both freeze. "It's still moving Kehlani."

"I don't want that."

"Yep."

We go by it and get to the next table. "This is my planet. They did put stuff out. It's just noodles and sauce though. I like cheese sauce."

"I like cheese too. This seems safe." We both get some noodles and salad. Then some chicken from earth. 

I look around. I do not want to sit by people that bother me or force me to act royal.

"Come here."

I follow Uhmok and we go to a little table for 2. "This works. I'm tired of people who expect me to be royal all the time. I just want to shove my fish in my mouth whole."

He starts laughing and grabs a couple glasses of wine from the brain. "You like red?"

"Yes." I put a bite of fish in and about melt. "I haven't had their fish in nearly a month."

He puts a little bite in his mouth, "Oh wow. You were not joking. This is amazing." He gets up and goes back to the display table.

He comes back with a whole plate of it and I crack up laughing. He puts it down in the middle for both of us. "About like we were the first time we tried their food. We were all sitting around the fire eating everything. Usually we're so careful about eating but damn. None of us could stop that day."

"What's your favorite planet?"

"Nobino. It's the orange fish planet. The little people. It's beautiful. The whole world seems more peaceful somehow. Anyways, we got there and found they slept on the ground or old leaves for padding. They had a fire going in the middle of all the sleeping spots. If they needed fire somewhere else they would take it out of that one. I went for a walk 1 day and found a lake. The water was so clear I could see the bottom. I could see the fish swimming and the traps they had set up. Then I walked into a cave. There were carvings on the wall of the stars and moons. It was there I realized how really similar we all are. Barely any different really. It's like we're born with the knowledge that there's more out there somewhere. The planet itself is so untouched. The animals roam right up to me. There's 5 big moons in the sky."