Azdrei’in nodded when Artemis insisted that she wanted him to stay while the Om’phaer examined her. He repeated her request to the physician, who agreed that there was no problem for him to be in the room, and then turned around to wait while she changed out of her clothes. It was the more sensible decision for him to stay close by, since she couldn’t communicate with anyone else among his kind, but he still felt a bit like he was sitting in on an exam for a female of his own species. It was awkward, and he shifted his weight slightly as he faced the curtain that partitioned off the exam table from the rest of the space. She had changed nearby him a few times now, but he didn’t know if he would ever get used to it.

Only when he heard her climb up onto the exam table did he turn around again to watch as the Om’phaer prepared the equipment she needed to take samples from Artemis. “Your units of measurement are different than ours,” he told her when she tried to tell him how much blood the physician could draw. “I will just tell her to take half the amount she would from one of our people.” And he did in the next moment, to which the other Lunvalgan chuckled in response.

“There is nothing to fear,” she assured him. “I only need enough to fill this.” She held up a small, empty vial about half the length of her index finger and then attached it deftly to the needle that she would use to draw the fluid. “She may dislike the feeling when I take the blood sample though. Our instruments are designed to pierce Lunvalgan skin. Hers is much softer and thinner… Will she fight back if she is in pain?”

“I do not believe so,” Azdrei’in answered with a frown. “She is not violent… Artemis,” switching to English, he turned to the human, deciding to forewarn her before the physician introduced the oversized needle. “Because you’re smaller than us, it may hurt when she takes your blood.” With a tilt of his head, he indicated the medical instrument in the Om’phaer’s hand. Even though he doubted she would attack the other Lunvalgan out of nowhere if she was in pain, he still felt like she deserved to be able to brace herself before the needle was plunged into her skin.

When she asked about genetic makeup, he repeated the question to the physician, who made a contemplative noise before she shook her head. “There is no way to tell before I run the tests, but it seems unlikely. Phenotype is far different than genotype. Just because her species has a similar appearance does not guarantee that her DNA will be similar too. I would prefer not to get our hopes up this early on.”

Azdrei’in echoed the answer to Artemis and then glanced at her again when she asked what would happen if it turned out they were similar enough to interbreed. At that, he pressed his tongue against his teeth, unsure quite what to say. He knew the answer already. If she could carry a Lunvalgan child, it was almost certain that his leaders would want a male to mate with her. However, the thought of her being handed over to someone else bothered him. He also didn’t know how she would feel if she found out that she would be expected to reproduce with a member of his kind. He and the other Lunvalgans were used to being governed closely by the Eilix, but if she wasn’t prepared to accept their authority, she could hate their decision or put up a fight.

“It will happen the same way the rest of our women attempt to carry children… with a male partner,” he told her after clearing his throat. That was as specific as he felt comfortable being, so he left it to her to infer the rest. Instead of elaborating, he fell quiet and watched the Om’phaer clean Artemis’s arm with a sanitizing swab where she had found a visible vein from which to draw blood.

“I haven’t come across any friends yet,” he mused in response to her comment, relieved for a change in topic that allowed him to forget about the bitter fact that she might be paired with a male that wasn’t him. “The man who walked here with us was a…” he paused briefly as he searched for the right word, “Coworker. He was a coworker. We have trained together, but I don’t know much more about him than his name. My friends are warriors too, but I haven’t seen them since we arrived on the spaceship.”