Humans have spent their life traveling through space toward a new, possible habitable planet. They don’t expect to find Erantus, a livable planet already home to three other interstellar immigrants. One of these is the rishi, a technologically advanced species that chooses their reproductive sex and morphology during puberty resulting in a bio-caste based society led by a handful of Queens.
Charlie
She fought to be on the ground team to touch solid ground for the first time. Then everything went wrong. Stranded after their fuel supply is compromised, she convinces the others to turn to the rishi for help where things continue to spiral. Now kept as a captive-ambassador, Charlie is at the mercy of the rishi until they decide humans are trustworthy. It doesn’t help that one of them is threatening to kill her before she compromises the rishi’s carefully crafted safety nets. Thank goodness she’s made some new friends, at least.
Kiret
As a member of the Civilian caste, his jobs tend to be intellectual and technically detailed. This one’s a doozy. He needs to learn how humans work inside and out. Biologically, socially, culturally. He didn’t expect to actually like the strange little human. As they get closer, he’s starting to question his own place in rishi society and the expectations that have been forced on him. He’s never “rebelled” before, but it’s starting to feel like an excellent idea.
Sharra
Even after being assigned to monitor the human on video feeds, it wasn’t until his paramour Kiret started working with Charlie that Sharra took an actual interest. It turned out they’re pretty interesting, on their own. But is this…jealousy? Over how much of Kiret’s time is being monopolized? Oh these are some complicated emotions. And his own brother threatening such extensive violence certainly isn’t making things easier. Everything used to be so much simpler…
