Space Fairy Tales: Beauty and the Beast

Sneaky

I had hoped that I could sneak into the house unnoticed and not have to rehash the date to anyone, but as soon as I pressed my hand against the palm reader and walked through the door, I saw Ada, sitting in the living room and watching TV. Her eyes flicked over to me and caught my expression. Quickly, I smiled.

"Hello, Ada," I said, inching towards my room. "How's your night been?"

She turned off the TV screen. "Good. There's a new download for the food machine. I tried something called stroganoff. It was pretty good." Then she stared at me, waiting for me to give her information about the date.

"Um," I said. She was going to wait until I said something, wasn't she? "The date was good. I learned a lot about the Rouges that I didn't know."

Ada raised an eyebrow. "Belle, you don't go on a date to gather information." She studied me for a moment. "Also, you don't look like you had a good date." She leaned forward a bit, frowning. "Have you been crying?"

"No," I said, touching my face nervously. "It's cold."

"You didn't have fun, did you?"

I sighed. Well, I guess I wouldn't be able to sneak into my room. "He said females couldn't be good soldiers."

"Yes, he is a little old-fashioned at times," Ada admitted. "He doesn't mean anything by it, though. I think he was raised mostly by his Veralin grandfather, which is a male-dominated culture. Although I'm sure you know that, being you."

Veralin--that explained the pointed ears and the very un-human perspective on females. But while it explained it, it didn't excuse it. Gaston was an adult who'd had plenty of opportunities to see how strong females were. And what he had said about how Coraline should've just gotten married and she wouldn't have died... Although I knew technically she would be alive today if she'd never had become a soldier, she would have hated her life. All Coraline had wanted to do was fight with the Federation. And she hadn't died because she was female, she'd just... gotten unlucky. The Rouges were a vicious species, and even with the inferior technology, sometimes people died, male and female.

"Belle." Ada interrupted my thoughts. I realized she was still waiting for me to say something. She didn't like it when I tuned out and started thinking in the middle of a conversation.

"I really appreciate you setting up the date," I said, taking a step towards Ada. "And I don't regret going, but..." I bit my lip. "I don't want to date someone who has such..." I paused, searching for the right word. "Such a small perspective." I shook my head. "He laughed at a Woolka cub's dream, for heaven's sake. Called it 'cute.'"

"What?" Ada said, confused.

"There was a Woolko family at the seat next to us. The cub wanted to be join the army."

"Well, baby Woolkos are cute," Ada said, smiling a little at me.

I laughed once, shaking my head. "People should be able to do what they want with their lives, cuteness regardless," I said. Hearing my own words, I realized that this was the same thing I wanted: to follow my own dreams, like the cub. 

Ada shrugged, shaking her head at my stubbornness. I decided to change the subject. "Where's Father?"

"Not home yet," she said, settling back into the couch, presumably to finish the television show.

I frowned. It was already well into the evening. My father had probably gotten absorbed into his work again and forgotten about going home or eating dinner. "I think I'll get changed and bring him some dinner, just in case."

"He's a grown man, he'll be fine," Ada said, clicking the volume back on to the television. I caught the deep voice of the male love interest. "You don't need to remind him to eat."