Mantrin Imperial Guard - 005 Ethos of Solbrecht

Chapter 2: The Loss, Part II

Author's note: A small but important thingy that needs be mentioned. Kut'lari are created by Arrow Tibbs. I hope I've portrayed them well.

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Jetreycka, Majih and Seylah

The hotel where they decided to spend the night was run by and designed to appeal to members of their species, which translated itself into suites for two, four or even eight guests. Despite paying 160 credits a night, Majih was satisfied with the pleasant decor of their quadruple room with its communal arrangement, hoping Jetreycka in particular would appreciate a moment of tranquility before their trip the next morning.

Their kind wasn't known for ostentatious behavior, but that didn't mean they had no sense of luxury. Large navy blue floor pillows, with a subtle gold-colored trim around their edges, surrounded a rectangular tan-colored rug in the center of the room, which was embroidered with the hotel's logo, as well as welcoming messages and inspirational quotes in spiraling Preidogian.

The near-square beds, placed in two sets of two on opposite sides of the room, with plenty of space between them and the seating arrangement, were huge mattresses bordered in light-colored wood. Large pillows and crisp clean sheets of a cotton-like material with an almost silky quality topped the beds, as well as thin covers in the same color as the floor pillows.

The room was located on the sixth floor, offering a nightly view of the city through the sliding glass doors, which doubled as windows, offering access to a balcony. The torch-like wall lamps created a cozy atmosphere with their warm yellow glow and the dark polished wooden floor was like the one commonly found in many of their people's houses, adding to the living room feel. The cream-colored walls were painted with spiraling patterns in different shades of autumn brown and red, reminiscent of written Preidogian, as well as nyvharn, a flowering climbing plant common to the region.

With nothing but his beige shorts on, Majih had sprawled himself on the cover of one of the beds, his head and back resting against the two large pillows, his flexible legs stretched in front of him. With the beds sized to accommodate every thinkable member of their kind, being a six-foot tall Talocaan Mantrin had its advantages. No matter how he positioned himself, his long legs couldn't reach past the edge.

Flipping through the channels on one of two large holo-tv's with lazy hand gestures, its screen projected at an angle from the ceiling to serve the two beds on his side of the room, he wasn't interested in watching anything in particular, and decided to amuse himself with the mind-boggling content. The concept of television on Solbrecht was wildly different from back home on Sogowa Prime, both in terms of entertainment and information value. One major difference was the ridiculous amount of advertisement for unhealthy foods and all kinds of products that no one really needed, except to impress their neighbor.

Absent-mindedly gnawing on the claws of different fingers of his right hand, his ears had been listening to the sound of running water, until it finally stopped after about fifteen millicycles since the start. The adjacent shower space was very spacious and Jetreycka was enjoying it to the fullest, which he couldn't blame her for. If there was one luxury he had learned to appreciate, it was a hot shower whenever he got the chance.

"You sure you don't want some?"

Deciding that there wasn't anything worth watching anyway, he turned off the TV with a hand gesture and pushed himself up in a seated position. Sitting in the center of the left of the opposite beds with her legs crossed, Seylah happily munched on a dark brown rectangular sweet called chocolate. He had joined the girls into the store where she bought it, surprised Seylah wasn't scared away by the prices of all the imported goods after complaining about the tags of certain items of clothing. In fact, she bought three bars in total, of which she had already consumed the first two earlier that day.