Jūnūfjir
© 2022 by Walter Reimer

Thumbnail art by  rabbi-tom


Varan had come home as part of a personnel rotation while her ship was still in the refitting dock at This Far, and had as usual let her mother know that she was coming to Chadan. Vorun had assured her that she and Yerim were looking forward to seeing her.

The rest of the family came for lastmeal, but the vir sensed that something was a bit askew. Her older sister and younger brother couldn’t stop smiling. Still, it didn’t appear suspicious.

After dinner, seated on the floor with her nephews, her mother’s new husband said, “Vorun has told me that you are lovers with a Terran, Varan.”

“That’s true, Kath,” she said. Calling him ‘Father’ was courteous of her, and he acknowledged that with a smile.

“I – aka, had some concerns about her,” and he reached out and took Vorun’s hand, “that she might have some motive for cultivating a friendship with you.” He smiled again. “But as you say, she is not part of that faction that warred against us.”

“I hope I’m able to remove your misgivings,” Varan said.

Yerim glanced at Vorun. “Meredidh’s parents went a way to achieving that goal already, lir v’chat,” Varan’s mother said, and at her questioning look Vorun said, “They’ve been in contact with us.”

“Really?”

“Yes,” and her mother’s tail snaked out and touched a portion of the home’s entertainment system.

The screen displayed the image of Varan curled up and asleep, with the golden palomino mare’s two brothers.

Varan sat there, openmouthed and her ears flat against her head as her sister and brother laughed and her nephews just watched curiously. She felt her fingerclaws and toeclaws twitch as the impulses to either fight or flee warred briefly with each other.

Still, no one had ever been documented as dying from embarrassment, so the vir eventually calmed down and laughed along with her family.