“Here.” 

 

The way DH’s face lit up as they described the clothing they were having made absorbed TO’s attention so much so that they didn’t even notice that Petra had come back with food. When they turned to look at what a cocopod was, they let out a shrill yelp and jumped up from their seat. 

 

“What?” DH asked, turning away from Lendulin. They followed TO’s horrified gaze. “Ah.” 

 

A Cocopod was apparently some kind of enormous insect, about the length of TO’s forearm. It had more feet than TO could count, attached to more flat, rounded body segments than TO wanted to count. 

 

“What is that?” TO said, their ears pinning back, their wings wrapping around their arms. 

 

“… a cocopod?” Petra said as she passed one to Lendulin. 

 

“TO has an issue with bugs.” DH said, eying the insects wearily. 

 

“… But they’re dead?” Petra said, “And well cooked-“ 

 

“You eat those?” TO said, shocked and feeling a little sick. 

 

“… I can shell it for you if you like?” Lendulin said. 

 

“You’ve never eaten one before?” Petra asked. 

 

TO was certain that at some point, they had eaten insects. Insect meat was protein rich and extremely efficient to cultivate. It was present in most supplements and added to most dishes. 

 

That was fine; the idea of eating dried and powdered or flaked bug meat didn’t bother TO. The idea of breaking apart a twisted, monstrous giant of an insect bothered them. 

 

The bug still had eyes. TO was certain that they saw one of its too-long feelers twitch. 

 

Lendulin took the skewers from Petra, a napkin from the pile on the table, and started working at pulling apart the insect and removing meat from the shell. TO couldn’t even watch; it made them sick. 

 

“It tastes better straight from the shell.” Petra said as she pulled off a segment of the bug, squeezed its shell, and popped a small chunk of meat out. TO looked away quickly before she could actually eat it. 

 

“They really don’t like bugs.” DH said. They looked up to TO and gently patted the seat next to them. 

 

TO wanted to leave now; didn’t want to be around people eating bugs like that… But they really wanted to have some kind of rapport with Petra. With a shudder, they sat back down, staring at the table so that they didn’t have to look at the bugs directly. 

 

“What about you?” Petra asked DH, “Do you need yours shelled too?” 

 

“… I’ll try it as it is.” DH said. 

 

“Really?!” TO’s stomach clenched, “You’re going to eat it just like that?” 

 

“She said it tastes better this way!” 

 

Petra laughed, “good for you, DH!” She said, “Try it the right way!” 

 

“We didn’t see anything like this in Opulentia.” DH said as they took the skewer. 

 

“They don’t serve food like this there.” Petra scoffed, “Consider it an Outer Ring speciality.” 

 

“Why don’t they serve it in Opulentia?” TO asked, terrified of the answer. 

 

“Shit, you two really are fresh.” Petra said, “Opulentia is the high end shopping place, right? They’d never have street meat.” 

 

Their stomach lurched as they heard more shells crack from where Lendulin sat. “Street meat… this came off the streets?” 

 

“Actually, it came from the water, but street vendors cooked it.” 

 

There was a crunching noise from where DH sat. A moment later, a surprised hum. “This is fantastic though.” DH said, “It’s better than the stuff we had for lunch.” 

 

“Yeah, well, we’re good at making these taste good. I know at least twenty different ways to cook them myself.” Lendulin said as she finally pushed over the napkin towards TO. It didn’t look appetizing; torn up pieces of whitish meat, the juices seeping into the napkin.

 

It was better than seeing the bug itself, with all the legs. They wished they could just go home and have a food bar. They were here now, and the idea of wasting food made them almost as anxious as the logs on the cocopod did. took a deep breath, picked up a tiny piece of meat in their thumb and forefinger, and popped it into their mouth without examining it too hard. 

 

The meat melted in their mouth, a wave of flavour - salty and savoury- washing over their mouth. It was so much better than the food they had eaten in Opulentia; the texture was better; the taste was better, and there seemed to be a lot more food. 

 

Nevertheless, the image of the bug wrapped around on that skewer, its legs sticking out…

 

“How is it?” Lendulin asked. 

 

“It’s good.” TO admitted, “… I don't think I can eat it.” 

 

“You can get it made in soup, and you never see the bug.” Lendulin said. “But the longer it’s in the shell, the better it tastes.”

 

“I hope you bought me some of that.” another voice said. TO looked away from their food and down the street where another figure was heading towards them; this one was rounder and softer than the other two, with a more humanoid upper body than Lendulin had. She had a tail instead of legs, but it was more akin to a snake's tail, and more convenient for getting around on land. She was pushing a rusted wheelchair before her. 

 

“Sorry I took so long.” She said as she approached, “The wheels needed some oil, and…” She trailed off as she caught sight of TO and DH. Her eyes flicked to their ears, to their faces, and their wings. She smiled, but the color seemed to drain from her purple toned skin. 

 

“New friends?” SHe asked, her smile wavering as she brought the chair closer. 

 

“Yes! Pearla, this is DH and Tio; they just came to Arkane-”

“Merchants.” Petra said, “They’re the ones from that party. The ones I told you about?”

 

“And we’re entirely unconcerned about suddenly missing food.” TO said. 

 

“I see…” Pearla said as she brought the chair over to Lendulin.

 

“Thanks; you’re a lifesaver.” Lendulin said as pushed herself up from her seat. The muscles in her arms and muscles rippled as she lifted herself into the wheelchair with very little effort. 

 

That was how she would have made it home on her own; she was solid muscle. She could have easily dragged that chair up a flight of stairs and down if she wanted. 

 

She caught TO staring at her, and winked, “I told you I could manage.” She said. TO felt their ears flush, and they mumbled an apology. “It’s fine.” Lendulin said, “You got me home faster at any rate.”

 

“Speaking of being home, shall we take off?” Pearla asked, “It’s late. I’m sure your friends want to get out of here as soon as possible.” 

 

TO eyed Pearla, observing her. They had suspected Lendulin of knowing who they were because of how nervous she was, but they were certain now that they had been wrong. Was Pearla just as anxious as Lendulin, or did she know?” 

 

“Pearla has a weird bug on her back.” TO said in Synthspeak. It was a lie, of course, and DH could see that thanks to their ears, but Pearla was back on to them, and couldn’t see that. Not that TO thought that she could read their ears, but if she knew their language, then it was a possibility. 

 

“She does; should we tell her?” DH responded, picking up on what TO was doing quickly. 

 

“No; that might be impolite.” TO said back. They cleared their throat, and stood up. “She’s right.” TO said in Galactic Common, “We should get home… but-” They held out their communicator, “It was wonderful meeting you all; I wonder if we might stay in touch?”

 

Petra raised a brow ridge at TO, “You’re merchants who get invited to the government house, and you want to ‘stay in touch’ with us?” 

 

“Of course!” DH said, holding out their own communicator as well, “You all seem so nice! And-” They turned to Lendulin, “You said you wanted to see the dress when it was finished, didn’t you? I could show you!”

 

Lendulin beamed and took out her communicator. Tapping them together, they synced each other as contacts.

 

TO turned to Petra, “You too?” They asked, giving a wide smile. Petra eventually scoffed, and took out her communicator, “Yeah, sure.” She said, “Who knows, maybe you’ll be cool enough to start up a business around here that doesn’t suck.”

“I’d like to know what you mean by that.” TO said, “Another day, perhaps?”

“Sure, whatever.”

Finally, TO held their communicator out to Pearla, “We only just met, but you were so kind-”

“I-I’m so sorry.” She said, “I forgot my communicator back at home.”

“Really?” Petra said, smirking at her, “Since you got that partner you keep talking about, I thought you had your communicator glued to your hands!” 

 

Pearla turned a vivid shade of magenta as she put a hand over Petra’s mouth, “Shush you!” 

 

“She has a new partner now, but it’s all top secret.” Lendulin said, grinning, “Won’t tell us anything; name, pronouns, position. It’s been a few months, and not a word!”

“I think it’s some merchant who asked her to keep them quiet.” Petra said, “You know they hate to be seen with a legless.” 

 

“It’s not like that!” Pearla said, “Just shush you!”

“Sorry, sorry.” Petra said as she pulled Pearla’s hand away, “Come on. Let’s go. We gotta try to fix Lendulin’s old chair, anyway.” She and Pearly took up the chair; Lendulin holding the front, Pearla taking most of the back on her long tail, and they started off. 

 

“Be safe!” TO said as they watched them head off. They walked a little further, and were about to round a corner before TO got up, and dashed forward in silence, with DH following close beside them. They rushed up, staying in the shadows as they approached the corner that the three had turned. 

 

Once they caught up, they saw Pearla, holding her hair out of the way as Petra looked at her back in confusion. 

 

She had understood.