Among Stars

Grocery Shopping

Naina leaned on an enormous window near the Habitat Module's lobby and watched outside as a tiny spaceship, not much bigger than Travelstar's main engines, slowly retreated from the landing pad, turned towards the galactic east and the Empire and sped away.

"Safe journeys, little elf," Naina whispered to herself. Quera had had no problems unlocking and enabling the ship. Those mercenaries were sloppier and more unskilled than a Quenstarian Wriil, which had gone extinct because it couldn't figure out going into the sea wasn't a good idea if you can't swim.

Naina had given her the backup scanner, so she could use it to stay away from the Zheng. It had taken most of the day, but in the end, it was worth the way. Naina smiled gently at the disappearing ship.

"I never even learned her name," she mused, smiling. "At least she's safe for now." Naina took a deep breath, stretched, and shuffled towards the elevators.

"First, food," she said. "I'm so tired of eating supplements, that I'd kill for actual food for a change." She walked into the elevator and asked to go to Floor A-78. The elevator trip was surprisingly short, and Naina walked out to a mixture of smells and sounds that reminded her about the intergalactic markets Quenstar held when she was little.

All kinds of spices, sweets, drinks, every smell filled the air, while all you could hear was a constant hubbub of people of all backgrounds talking among each other. The floor was divided into several extensive areas, each with their own booths, stalls, and stands.

Naina walked towards a random hall and bought a plate full of food from the first stall she arrived to. She walked away, slowly eating the food and savoring each bite and making content little noises. She wandered around until she found a stall that delivered, and not just sold, fresh portions.

The stall was occupied by what seemed like large bumblebees badly disguised as humans, complete with a mask that looked like a child had drawn it. Proxians. They were very famous for their pickled vegetables and dried... well, something. Naina had never learned what it actually was made of, only that it was absolutely delicious. It was just called "The Meal," and was a cultural food of their kind.

Naina stopped a little away from the stall and tried to remember the customs of Proxians. They were universally known as very polite and super strict with their culture amongst themselves. They did well with outsiders, even if they ignored their culture. They just appreciated, and you got better service if you acted decently.

Naina walked to the stall, clasped her hands together, lifted them on the top of her head and bowed her head slightly. "A'hjent dwinra, t'hak," she said, and lowered her hands to her stomach, still keeping them clasped.

The Proxians made an excited sound and put their other pair of hands clasped on the of their heads, and the other on their front, clasped too."A'hjent dwindea, ha'trea. Quenstarian," they said and bowed their heads slightly. "We are excited to meet someone to know our customs, and even our language!" one of them said.

"We know it's difficult to pronounce it with your physique, so we can stick to Galactic Common," another one said, but looked very pleased that Naina did that.

"Sorry about my accent," Naina said and smiled. "It's been a long time since I met one of you. I've been in the black for a long time." She took a deep breath and filled her nose with the smells from their offerings. "Which reminds my stomach, that I loved The Meal so much that I probably walked here unconsciously. It's been ages since I ate properly," she said.

The Proxians made an expression that could only be deciphered as a wide smile. "We see you have good taste, Quenstarian," one of them said. "We have an offering today that with every Meal purchased, you can pick one jar of any pickled vegetables, free of charge."

Naina flashed her eyes open and smiled so widely she thought her lips would crack. "Really?! This has to be my lucky day," she said, almost purring. "I love the pickled selection so much I never can decide which ones to get." She looked around the stall and nodded to herself.

"My ship is the ISS Travelstar. I'll transmit my ID now," she said. "I'll take... uhm..." said, paused, looked at her wrist and grinned. "Yes, I'm still fine with funds. Funny how you can't really spend anything while you're a hundred thousand light-years away from the Empire," she said, grinned, and continued, "You have four kinds of pickles, so I'll take forty Meals so I'll end up with ten of each kind, right?" she asked.

The Proxians nodded, looked at each other, and nodded again. "Normally, yes, but we actually have a stock of pickled Ch'reats too, if you want them?"

Naina blinked several times and then her smile grew even wider. "I didn't know you sold them to outsiders! I've tasted Ch'reats a few times in my life, but always at festivals or something. Those are soooo good," she said and licked her lips. "I'll definitely take a set of those too!"

The Proxians nodded at each other. "Very well, Quenstarian. We will fill the order at our earlier opportunity, but no later than tomorrow morning," one of them said. "And you are correct, we don't normally sell them at all, but we had a marvelous yield last harvest, so we had more than we could use ourselves," another said.

"Besides, we see so few people that respect our culture. We wanted to give you a special just for that," a third one said.

Naina smiled at them. "Thank you!" she said. "I'll transfer the funds... now," she said and tapped her wrist. She once again lifted her hands on top of her head and clasped them together. The Proxians followed suit. "Ot'hrak dwinra, t'hak nhaen," she said, lowered her arms to her stomach and bowed her head slightly.

"Ot'hrak dwindea, ta'trea nahena," the Proxians answered and bowed their heads slightly. "Safe travels, Quenstarian," one of them said.

"May your harvest be bountiful," Naina answered. Then she seemed to ponder something for a moment. "Funny how your own language can get rusty..." she said quietly, then turned towards the Proxians once more, touched the tips of her index fingers together and curtsied slightly. "Yiellian queiea an-dialan," she said and closed her eyes.

The Proxians looked at each other. "That lilting language is too hard for us to pronounce without sounding rude, but we are familiar with the phrase. Thank you, Quenstarian," one of them said. They all closed their eyes and bobbed down in an approximation of a curtsy. Naina smiled at them, nodded slightly, and walked towards the other stalls, planning on stocking up on some other things before heading to the Ship Market to see if she could find a good deal on a converter.