Part 1: A week and a half later in Alexander's room (The first two parts are in present tense so you don't get confused!)

"Foo..."

"Fukajazieanas."

"Fuck a...jazz hands?"

"So close!"

"Yet so far..." I shake my head in a dramatic manor. There are books everywhere and I'm sitting on the floor with Usari who's trying, emphases on trying, to teach me the anaba language. He tried the other day too but gave up rather quickly. At the moment, I'm still working on greetings and I haven't even attempted reading.

"Hang on! Stop!" I hear Maska from outside the door. There are tiny foot step slapping against the hard floor. Moments later I hear small fist hitting the door. "Alexander! Alexander! Help!" I hear two voices say, almost perfectly in sync. It could only be Rufinaki and Jeckmeyki. They are Rezala and Tunupa's two daughters. I only met them a few day ago at supper, but they've become rather attached. They're both seven and anaba's don't start schooling until eight. They learn so fast there is not rush.

Usari walked to the door and opened it wide. The two little run-aways rush in a collapse in my lap. Maska is now in the doorway, looking a little exhausted. "I'm sorry sirs!" Maska says, sounding out of breath. "It's fine," I reply, "is babysitting not your gift, Maska?" Usari was just standing there, still holding the door, smiling to himself. Maska shook his head, "No, I suppose not." I really don't mind the girls. I love children, always have. I guess that's why I became a teacher! Even if I only got to teach for a year.

"We can watch them for awhile." Usari says to Maska as he looks over at Rufiniaki and Jeckmeyki who are now messing with my hair.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, yes! You have other things to do. It's not a problem."

Maska just nods a little before making his way back down the hallway. The woman who normally watched the children went on a trip to visit family so Maska is burdened with caring for them for the next few days. Usari turns back around and walks back over to where we are sitting and joins us.

"What is this?" Rufiniaki asks, pointing at the book we had opened earlier.

"I'm teaching Alexander our language." Usari says back.

"He can not speak?"

"No, not our language. He is learning."

"We can speak his language!" Jeckmeyki chirps in.

"Yes! You can! But he is not that smart." Usari says back.

"Whoa! That's not very nice!" I laugh a little, but try to sound serious.

"Apologize!" the girls both say, pointing at Usari.

Usari puts his head down to the floor and his blond hair pools around him as he says sorry in a sarcastic voice. Rufiniaki runs and jumps onto his shoulders trying to pin him to the floor. They were both little balls of energy and wrestling was just one of the many things they enjoyed doing.

The girls started running around the room and I got up to chase them. Usari was still laying face down on the floor, pretending to be wounded. Moments later the room was destroyed. My pillows were on the floor, an old blue robe from my wardrobe was wrapped around Jeckmeyki and Rufiniaki was sitting on Usari again with her short black hair all over her face.

There was a sudden knock at the door and I jumped a little. I opened the door and a slightly concerned looking servant. "Excuse the interruption, but are the girls in here?" she asks peering into the room behind me. Jeckmeyki and Rufiniaki run up to the woman and grab her legs. Looks like Maska found a new victim for the girls. The servant turns to leave, but not before noticing the poor state of the room. "I will send someone in here." she says to me before turning her attention back to the girls.

I look back at Usari who is still just laying on the floor breathing heavily. "Are you in need of assistance?" I ask. "I do not think anything is broken." he says as he slowly pulls himself up. I look out the window and see the sky turning the beautiful purple that it always does in the evenings here. Usari starts to pick up the books and I put the bed back together.

"I think I am going to go back to my room and take a bath." Usari says as he sets the books in a neat stack beside the couch. "I took one right before we ate supper, but I think I need another one now." I say, almost to myself. "Uh," I turn around to see Usari making one of his nervous faces. It's never good when he does that. I fear what he's going to say next.

"I, uh, thought you maybe would want to accompany me in the bath."

Did he just ask me to get in the bathtub with him? "O-okay." is all I can mutter at the moment. Usari looks a little less embaraced now and just nods a little before walking to the door quickly. "I will just go fill up the bath. Just...come in whenever." he says while slipping out the door.

Is this normal? I know on Earth, public baths are popular in some places. However, I don't think the anabas do things like that. Would it be rude if I went in there and told him never mind?

Part 2: Usari's room and bath time

After arguing with myself for about fifteen minutes I decide to suck it up and be a man! Even if that means getting naked in a tub with another man...

I open the door to Usari's room. It's rather dim in here. I just realized that I had never gone inside. Sure, I've glanced inside when the door was open, but this was the first time he'd invited me into his room. It is the same size as mine and the layout of the room was the same, but it looked completely different! His bed is oddly shaped and against the wall opposite of the bathroom. It's covered in gorgeous jade colored blankets and more than enough pillows. There's a desk near the window and a wardrobe similar to mine beside the bathroom door. The walls are coveted in paintings and there is a large book shelf beside the bed. The books and clothes laying here and there make his room feel homey, I guess.

The sound of water running can be heard coming from the bathroom. "Usari?" I walk in cautiously, not knowing what to expect. The bathroom looks similar to mine,but again, there seems to be more stuff in it. It smells amazing in here though, almost like lavender and I looked over to see Usari sitting in a tub of bubbles. He sinks down a little as if to hide in them. His hair is pulled into a bun and he's just watching me. Not knowing what to say I just look the other direction and start undressing. I finally get everything off and try to get in without making eye contact with him. I know his glossy grey eyes are following me though.

Thankfully it's a large tub so I don't have to sit up against him. You could easily fit another person in here with us and there would still be room, but let's not do that! Now that I am thoroughly uncomfortable, I close my eyes and sink down into the fragrant water, trying to pull myself back together.

"The water smells nice." I say, trying to avoid another unintentional staring contest with Usari. He nods a little before pointing towards a small bottle on a shelf by the sink.

"It was a gift from my sister."

"That's a nice gift." I respond.

"Do you have any siblings?" he asks as he pulls his legs up to his chest.

"No, if I did I never met them."

"Why wouldn't you meet them?"

"I stayed in foster care most of my life. I never met my real family."

"Foster care?"

"Yeah, it's where families take in a child who doesn't have one for a little while."

"Why didn't your family take care of you? Isn't that their job?"

"I don't know. Things are a little different on Earth. Sometimes children are an accident or families just can't care for them like they thought they would be able to."

Usari looked almost sad now. I doubt that he could fully grasp the idea that there are so many orphaned children on Earth. That wasn't a problem here since they can't just pop out babies. I think he mumbled something like 'sorry' but it was so quiet I could hardly hear it. We both just sat there for a few minutes, taking in our surroundings.

Usari suddenly sat up. He tugged at his hair and it fell from its bun down his back and half of it into the water. He grabbed a bowl that was on the side of the tub and poured water onto his hair. He was washing it gently to keep from tangling it too much. I guess it's hard to take care of such long hair. I can only imagine what Wetam goes through when he bathes. I don't know what came over me all of the sudden but I grabbed some soap and move over towards him and start helping him with his hair. He pulls back at first in surprise, but then a small grin spreads across his face and he leans his head down.

I finish rubbing the soap through his hair and he starts pouring more water over himself. "Thank you." he says brushing the wet hair away from his face. "Uh, can I?" he asks, gesturing toward my own curly hair. I settle back down into the water and he begins pouring water over my own head. Usari grabs the soap and stops. "Won't it get messed up?" he asks with a hint of worry in his voice. 

"My hair?" 

"Yes, won't the little rings become straight?"

"Are you talking about my curls?" I ask. That's an odd question, but I just realized something. I haven't seen a single anaba with curly hair. Does that mean he thinks I fix my hair to look like this? I burst out laughing, not meaning to and Usari's head just tilts to the side in question.

"No, no! It's fine. They stay like this! See, I promise." I reassure him by pulling on one of the loose curls, only to have it turn upwards at the tip again.

"It grows like that?" Usari asks excitedly. I can only nod at him while trying to hold in my laughter. Is this why he stares at my hair a lot? I wish he had just asked earlier.

Usari continues to wash my hair. Taking his time, entertaining himself with it. I don't mind it though. It feels nice having someone wash your hair. Once he finishes he starts ringing out his own hair. He reaches for a towel as he stands up, quickly covering himself. "You can stay in if you want." he says as he wraps the towel around himself and starts combing through his hair. I don't really want to be left in here alone thought so I reach for a towel as well when we walks into his bedroom.

And...I forgot to bring clean clothes. Of course. I slick my hair back and peak into the room. Usari has a pair of pants on and turns around to see me.

"Are you okay?"

"Could I maybe borrow something?"

"You didn't bring any clothes?"

"Nope."

"Guess you will be walking back to your room in only a towel. Walk fast so one of the servants do not see you."

"Wait...what?"

Usari's face is completely serious. He's going to make me walk over to my room half naked?

"Or you could just stay in here for the night." he slowly starts laughing to himself. Wait, did he just pull one over on me? Dear god, I actually believed him for a second there!

"I am sorry." he says, grabbing a thin robe from the wardrobe and bringing it over to me. "Please accept this as an apology." I laugh now at my own self before grabbing it and going back into the bathroom to put it on.

The robe is really long and it falls over my feet. It's not like the robes that we wear during the day though, this one wraps all the way around my waist and ties. It still hangs off my shoulders, revealing my chest, and I keep trying to pull it back up like a woman whose breast are too big for her shirt. It's soft though and it keeps me covered for the most part so I'm not going to complain.

I walk back into Usari's room and see him sitting on the edge of his bed just looking out the window at the night sky. He looks peaceful yet a little sad. Has he always looked like that? I want to say something but I don't know what so I just walk to where he's sitting.

"I guess this means that you can go back to your room now?"

"I'm not sure. You see, this robe keeps slipping off of my shoulders and revealing my chest. What would I do if a child were to pass me by and it fell again, exposing me?"

"Oh that would be horrible!" Usari says with a silent laugh. I don't know why but I feel like staying in here, at least for a little while longer. Usari doesn't seem to mind the company. He realized I didn't want to leave and got up and grabbed a book off of the shelf. He sat down on the floor and I joined him. The book is rather old looking on the outside and it looks like it been read through a lot. Usari began flipping through the book and I see pictures of beautiful white sand and large mountains. "They are all places here on Nadar." he says, looking at my face to see my reaction. 

"They're amazing!" I respond.

Part 3: Good night

We talked for an hour or two about places on Nadar that he wanted me to see one day as well as places he still hadn't gotten to see himself. Then I started telling him about different places on Earth. He was fascinated when I told him about snow. Nadar was such a warm planet there had never been snow there. After that I think we talked some more but I don't remember what. I never made it back to my own bed to sleep.