Alone, she was unable to make her mark on the world. Her, work, while beautiful, could never be fully completed until she had met her partner. One dancer is beautiful, but two dancers become legends.
       -Reen and Chari Servei, Timeworn Teardrops

Footsteps sounded against the marble floors of Aster-Reet. Forden looked up from her desk.

The newcomer was an Aeree. That in itself was not unusual; Aster-Reet was an integrated law firm with a fairly even count of human and Aeree.  Yet Forden had never seen any new employee, human or Aeree, look as lost as this one.

If Susa were here, he would comment on how the stranger's beige suit clashed with his light blue skin. His blond hair was slightly out of place, as if he had half a bedhead. In his right hand he clutched an UltraTablet case; in the other, he held a Starbucks cup.

Forden had often admired how all of her Aeree co-workers carried themselves gracefully, almost regally. This individual, however, also moved with a certain awkwardness. With every step he took, Forden became more and more convinced that he was either going to either perform ballet or trip and fall flat on his face.  What actually occurred was closer to the latter.

Forden could only watch as the Aeree male stumbled, spilling his drink all over his suit. He cursed, dropped his UltraTablet, and attempted to wipe off his suit with his sleeves before catching himself. 

A giggle escaped Forden’s lips. The stranger turned and locked eyes with her through the open door of her office.

"Hello, I— I'm the new associate. My name is Jay-Ton Servei. Do you know how I could get this cleaned up?"

Forden couldn't help smiling at him.  "I’m Forden Cassel," she said, reaching out for a handshake. "I know who can fix this."

* * * * *
"So, how was your first day, overall?"

Forden and Jay-Ton sat in a corner table at the office library, surrounded by piles of documents. After a quick trip to Susa's boutique, Jay-Ton was now wearing a clean dark blue suit that complemented his complexion. Susa had also fixed "whatever the hell happened to his hair," so it was no longer sticking up on one side. Forden considered it a significant improvement.

"I'm surprised there are so many Aeree at Aster-Reets." Jayden commented. "I was the only Aeree at my last firm."

Forden rolled her eyes knowingly. "So, was your last firm in Wisconsin or Wyoming?"

"Wyoming. How did you—”

"Those two states have some of the smallest Aeree populations. I lived in Wisconsin as a kid, and I only knew two Aeree up until I was twelve," Forden explained.

Jay-Ton nodded. “Humans don’t live in Darven. Most are tourists, visitors, or politicians. The first time I even met a human was at a book talk my parents were giving.”

“What kind of books do your parents write?” Forden asked. “I’m assuming they co-write them. That’s how it works for you guys, right?”

Jay-Ton seemed flustered. “Well, my parents wrote this romance novel called Timeworn Teardrops, I don’t know if you’ve read it…”

“Wait, your parents wrote that?  Amazing!” Forden said. “Of course I’ve read it! It’s probably one of the most popular Aeree novels here on Earth.”

Jay-Ton rolled his eyes. “You wouldn’t be so thrilled about it if you had to hear them quote lines to each other every day. That’s partly why I never wanted to go into the arts.”

“So you and your partner wouldn’t talk about work in front of your children?” Forden raised her eyebrows.

Jay-Ton nodded. “No. On Aeree, lawyers don’t usually have kids anyways.”

“And why is that?” Forden asked.

“They don’t have the time.” Jay-Ton explained. “If both parents were working full time at a firm, who would take care of the kids?”

Forden was unconvinced. “Couldn’t one stay at home?”

Jay-Ton shook his head. “That could potentially ruin the pair’s bond. They only reach maximum productivity together, and if one wasn’t there, the other wouldn’t be as effective. Or worse, they might start bonding with a coworker instead.”

“Oh.” Forden said. “So whether or not you have kids depends on what kind of job you have?”

“Usually.” said Jay-Ton. “There are exceptions, but normally pairs who have jobs that require them to be in the office all day don’t have kids. If they do, the kids are raised by family members or somebody else. Pairs with jobs that allow them to work at home do have kids most of the time. That’s why you see a lot of writers and artists with children.”

“Makes sense.” Forden said, suddenly feeling a bit embarrassed. “Sorry if I’m coming off as culturally insensitive, or ignorant.”

Jay-Ton shook his head. “No, it’s alright. I’ll probably have a few questions for you, too.”

His mouth was barely smiling, but his eyes twinkled. They were a deep brown. They sort of reminded Forden of a dog she had when she was a child.

* * * * *

Forden never wanted to see a pink highlighter ever again. If she did, she might use it to stab Tessa.

She was sure the other associate meant well, but Forden was sick of reviewing a document highlighted in her least favorite color. Tessa also thought it was best to highlight about half the document, apparently unable to differentiate between what was significant and what wasn’t. Forden was getting a headache just from looking at the page.

A voice interrupted her suffering. “Sorry to intrude, Forden. I have the Harley Transports documents you asked for.”

Forden smiled warmly at the Aeree. “Thanks, Jay-Ton.”

Jay-Ton smiled back shyly, and then ducked out of the office.

Forden flipped open the document. She was relieved to be greeted with green highlights.  She liked green.

* * * * *
“Hello, ma’am. Did you want to see me?”

Brinley White gave Forden a long look from behind her glasses. “Yes, Miss Cassel. Please take a seat.”

Forden sat down on the other side of the desk. A long pause followed. White appeared to be debating what to say. Finally, she spoke.

“You and Servei did an excellent job with the Harley Transports case. Your teamwork over the past eight months has been quite impressive.” Forden relaxed a little. She was quite proud of the work she and Jay-Ton had been doing.

“Thank you, ma’am. Have you spoken to him about this?”

Ms. White shook her head. “While your work is beyond reproach, I didn’t call you in here to praise you. I’m here to talk about another issue that has come to my attention.”

Forden swallowed. She knew what was coming.

“Ms. Cassel, are you familiar with how the Aeree choose their life partners?”

Forden nodded slowly. “They choose a person who will remain by their side throughout their career and help them accomplish their life’s work. This person is supposed to help them leave their legacy or mark on the world.”

Brinley White leaned towards Forden as if sharing a secret. “Now, Miss Cassel, we can safely assume Servei, like most Aeree, has little to no divide between his career and his personal life. Now, while we do have a few Aeree couples at this firm, most have been working together for years and are relatively stable partnerships. There have been a few flings between the unbonded Aeree associates, but Aster-Reets has remained mostly drama free.”

“Ma’am, I—”

“Over the past eight months, Servei has opted to work with you whenever possible. While this has proved quite beneficial to the firm, I want you to assure me that you know where to draw boundaries between your career and your personal life.”

* * * * *
A hurricane of thoughts flooded Forden’s head as she took the elevator down to the lobby. What if Jay-Ton does want to be in a relationship with me? What would that mean for our working partnership? Forden’s parents had both been of the opinion that personal and professional life should be kept separate. Both her mothers had had difficult experiences with relationships in the workplace before they had met. I’m not Mom or Mima, Forden reassured herself. Besides, it’s not like I haven’t been thinking about it already.

They had been growing closer. She liked him a lot. It was pretty obvious he liked her back. He just hadn’t said anything yet. Forden hadn’t wanted to bring it up, even though she wasn’t against the idea.  Forden’s reflections were interrupted by the sound of the elevator doors opening. Jay-Ton stepped inside.

“Hello—” she started to say but she was cut off by Jay-Ton singing.

“Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you-”

“Seriously? Rick Astley? Why-”

“Never gonna make you cry, NEVER GONNA SAY GOODBYE, never gonna tell a lie and HURT YOU!”

“That song is ancient . . .  Where did you even hear it?” Forden said as the two stepped out of the elevator. She was unsure whether to feel amused or annoyed.

“I was familiarizing myself with the cultural aspects of the human race. I was studying internet meme culture when I came across this song. Do you know it was one of the most popular memes back then? You could argue it was one of the first.” Jay-Ton said cheerfully.

Forden groaned. “This is better than what happened with Lord of the Rings, at least. Listen, Jay-Ton, White called me into her office today. She said—”

Jay-Ton interrupted her again. “I need to contact my parents now, but would you be alright with telling me about it at dinner tonight? We could go to that Italian place we went to last week. I’ll bring the Clark documents with me so we can work during dinner.”

Forden stared him in the eyes. This was not a new development. In the last few months, she’d spent many dinners reviewing cases with Jay-Ton. Still, she had to ask.

“Jay-Ton, is this a date?” she asked quietly, unsure whether she wanted to hear the answer.

Jay-Ton paused for a minute. “Yes. Sorry. Do you not want to go now?” He asked nervously.

Forden sighed. “I’d love to go.”

“You don’t sound very excited.” Jay-Ton observed quietly.

“No. No, I am.” Forden tried.

Jay-Ton appeared confused. “OK.”

Forden ran her hands through her hair. “Look, I’ll talk to you tonight, OK?”

* * * *
The two sat across the table from one another in silence. Jay-Ton was fiddling with his fork, eating his pasta. Forden had finished her plate already and was looking at the Clark documents. She could feel Jay-Ton staring.

“Can I ask you a question?” Jay-Ton said.

Forden nodded.

“I forgot whether the long ones were spaghetti or ravioli.”

“Spaghetti.”

“Thanks.” said Jay-Ton.

The silence returned, interrupted only by the rustling of pages as they reviewed the Clark documents. Finally, Jay-Ton spoke again.

“So, are we just going to sit here without saying anything?”

Forden sighed. “No, let’s talk about us. This is important. Most of the office knew this was going to happen. No wonder White was on our case…”

Jay-Ton looked determined. “You said that I was the only person you could count on to help you with a case. Multiple times. I don’t even know any of my other coworkers that well. We do work with other people sometimes, but you agreed that the level of productivity when we worked together was the highest it had ever been. This would help the firm, right?”

Forden sighed. “I’m just worried how people will react. It would be different—”

“—If we were both Aeree.” Jay-Ton finished for her. “Are you saying you shouldn’t date me?”

Forden shook her head. “Before we do this, I want to be sure we know what we’re doing. This will change everything. It’ll affect the firm, too. I want to be sure we can both commit to this.”

Jay-Ton looked her in the eyes. “I’m sure.”

Forden hesitated. “If we do this halfway, we’ll both lose our jobs.”

Jay-Ton kept staring at her. “I’m committed. I’m going to try my hardest. People can tell us it’s not going to work, but they’re wrong. Are you up for this?”

Forden looked at him.

“OK.”

“We've known each other for so long
Your heart's been aching but
You're too shy to say it
Inside we both know what's been going on
We know the game and we're gonna play it”

-- Astley, Rick. “Never Gonna Give You Up.” Whenever You Need Somebody. RCA Records (1987).