Calming A Racing Heart

Chapter Two

       A/N      I was remiss in my first chapter not to give a big shout out to  my cover illustrator Mr. A. Shaffer.  He did a great job of bring my cover idea to life.  Thank you and hope to work with you again soon.  

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            At the party, Joshua found himself in an all too familiar situation. His father had engaged the largest ballroom of the hotel they were staying at. The room was lavishly decorated, and no expense had been spared on the food and drinks that were served. A live band played quietly in the background and many couples availed themselves of the spacious dance floor.  It was already being touted as the social event of the year.   Jonathan was not shy about showing off his wealth.  

          There must have been two hundred plus people in attendance. Any family with business, political, or social standing on this planet was invited, eligible daughters in tow. It was no secret that the illustrious Jonathan Moore was seeking a wife for his only son and heir.  Who didn't want their daughter to be the winner of such a grand prize.  Joshua couldn't help but feel like he was the center cut display in a wholesale meat market.  Looking over the crowd, he was always amazed at the number of humanoid type aliens Earth people had encountered once space travel had become feasible. Many of them were indistinguishable from the people of Earth.  To Joshua all the daughters were the same; primped and groomed to perfection and indistinguishable from each other.  

            Casentell was a world almost completely cover in water. Their race evolved from the abundant aquatic life that filled their oceans. This life had evolved to settled on the few dry landmasses that dotted the planet. Despite their aquatic ancestry, other than a decidedly blueish tint to their skin, the people of Casentell were physically identical to Earth humans. With such similar physical traits, intermarriage between races had long since become common place. Jonathan didn't seem to care who his son chose as a partner as long as he made the choice soon.  Representatives from many other alien worlds were also in attendance. Anyone who lived up to Jonathan's social and financial standards was there. Only one race isolated themselves from festivities such as this.

          The Joongs.

          Almost nothing was known about this race as they rigorously avoided social contact with others. Their isolationist behavior was tolerated because of the vital role their race played for the benefit of all the planets. Only their race were ability to navigate the starships that made interstellar travel feasible. Without a Joong navigator at the helm, ships would be limited to taking hundreds of years to travel between star systems or be irrevocably lost.

          Joshua spent the first half of the night following his father around being introduced to families whose names he forgot as soon as they moved on to the next group.  A few people were still surprised when Jonathan introduced Joshua as his son.  The two of them would never be picked out of a crowd as father and son, being such polar opposite physically. Slightly shorter than his son, Jonathan had a slender figure where Joshua was broad. His hair was dark brown where it wasn't stylishly streaked with gray with matching brown eyes. Joshua just assumed he took after his mother's family, not that his father had ever confirmed that.

            After all the introductions, Jonathan left Joshua to fend for himself in the swarm of daughters who flocked around him vying for his attention.  For his part, Joshua was ready to call it a night. Whatever he was longing for was definitely not here and no one in this crowd even vaguely piqued his interest. Knowing that it was too early to leave, he excused himself to a table in a secluded corner of the room and sat nursing the drink he picked up at the bar along the way. It was a local liquor that he had found to his liking. Several young women tried to join him at his table. He made it abundantly clear that he wanted to be left alone. He would hear about this from his father in the morning, but he really didn't care. At that moment, getting quietly drunk had more appeal than faking interest in any of the women around him. He saw his father glaring at him from across the room and he smiled, tipped his glass to him and downed another mouthful.