by Viola Grace
At this particular moment, he wished he had spoken up.
A message was flashing on his com, and he took it. “Master Analyst Huros, there is a visitor here for you. Please come to the medical centre as soon as you are able.”
He blinked and grabbed a solar shower before dressing and heading down to the medical offices.
Something small and a vivid blend of lavender and purple was waiting for him with the healers surrounding it and cooing at it. The small creature perked up when Huros entered the room, and it pattered over to him with short, hopping steps.
He scooped the small creature up, and a woman who was leaning against the back wall stood up with a raptor on her shoulder. “Good. I wasn’t sure but the little guy was positive that he had to come here.”
Huros looked down and felt the soothing of Tremor’s mind wash over his. He breathed more easily the moment that he started stroking the soft fluff that covered the body.
The stranger beckoned him into an office, and she closed the door. “Where is your partner?”
Huros blinked. “What?”
“The other person. Your mate or whatever you call it here. He was certain that he was to bind to a couple.”
Huros’s brows knit together. “I don’t know. I assume she is in her quarters.”
“She needs to be introduced to him as soon as possible.”
“I will see to it.” He nodded. Jimra had to be housed somewhere in the Citadel. She should be easy to find.
The bird on her shoulder screamed.
The woman sighed. “Apparently, we will see to it. Thathan is a bit bossy when it comes to settling her children.”
They left the office, and Citadel Master Yoris was standing in the centre of the space.
“Citadel Master, I am Priatta of Citadel Balen. This is Thathan. We are here to see the settlement of her final offspring, and we are seeking Huros’s mind mate.”
Yoris scowled. “She should be down for breakfast. Just a moment.”
Huros was swamped with well-being as the bruised and damaged parts of his mind were soothed and the healing began from the edges inward. He couldn’t think about anything but how balanced he was feeling. He hadn’t felt this good in five years. Well, that wasn’t strictly true. He had felt whole when he was kissing Jimra, but it had been such a fleeting moment that he refused to dwell on it. He wanted her too much to focus on her. The moment he started, he would not stop.
Yoris finished his communication, and all colour had drained from his features. “It seems that dispatch was not updated as to the linking situation. They have sent her to Urmak to put out a mine fire.”
Huros winced. That explained the pain in his mind. They were now bound. They could not travel without each other or their minds would slowly bleed out. Their focus, energy and control would fade and pain would take over.
“What can we do?”
Yoris’s hands formed fists and flames wreathed them. “We can’t do anything. Right now, she is over the mines and pulling the fire. It is up to her to make it safely home, and then, she is grounded.”
Tremor chirped, and there was a note of concern in his thoughts. Huros stroked his fluffy head and soothed him.
The woman with the raptor sighed. “Well, I hope for your sake that she comes home all right, or Tremor will have his work cut out for him. I will take you through the steps of caring for him, and we will wait until your mind mate returns.”
Yoris looked down at the bundle of fluff in Huros’s arms. “That is the Yaluthu?”
Huros smiled. “He is.”
“I expected something larger. What is he doing?”
“He has wrapped the wounded parts of my psyche, and he is pulling inward to heal it. I hope that Jimra is gaining the same benefit.”
Yoris dissipated the flames around his hands. “I hope she is as well. I just got a daughter; I don’t want to lose her.”
Chapter Six
Jimra let herself fall until the heat from the ground called her fire. She smiled, pulled up and cruised along the line of thick, oily smoke rising from the surface.
The mask made things easier for her while she got settled, but when she felt the flames, she started to haul the heat from the ground, leaving a trail of frost in her wake.
Hours passed as she sought out every bit of burning mineral. Even one inch of flame would reignite the entire disaster.
When the whole area was frosted over, she abandoned the soil and soared upward, the fire she wore, swirling and tangling around her. She could see the shuttle, and she powered past it, up into the air where she could release the fire.
Heat poured out of her in a jet, cutting straight through the cloud layer and toward the stars. She held back a tiny bit and wobbled her way to the shuttle.
Catching a flying vehicle was quite a bit different than falling out of it. Rorrom tried, but it still took her three attempts to haul herself into the drop hatch and flop down on the floor.
With the last of her energy, she poured the final blast of fire out through the hole she had just crawl through before she sealed it up and sent the signal to Rorrom.
The pain in her head was blinding, and she couldn’t stand it anymore. She flopped down in the hold and felt the ship pull away from the world beneath them.
* * * *
Rorrom got the emergency clearance and landed the ship on the tarmac next to the Citadel. He pushed Jimra out of the ship on the elevated gurney toward the group of people who were running toward him.
Citadel Master Yoris, another Master with a small purple bundle of fluff and two healers met him on the way in.
The healers touched Jimra’s head and hands, but they shook their heads.
Rorrom looked, and the other Master brought the small beast to Jimra. The creature immediately went to her head and pressed against it. The Master knelt at the other side and pressed his cheek to Jimra’s before kissing her.
Rorrom blinked, “Uh, Master Yoris, what did I miss?”
“It is a blood link, and neither I nor her link thought to inform her that she can no longer travel alone without ramification. The beast is a Yaluthu, an empathic healer. They are now a trio.”
“That explains the passing out; what about the seizure?”
“I suppose it is part of her physiology. Her body probably panicked.” Yoris stepped forward and stroked her hair the moment that Huros got out of the way.
Rorrom watched Yoris pick her up. “I will take her to her room. Meet me in my daughter’s quarters as soon as you can.”
The little creature squeaked angrily, and Huros put him on Jimra’s chest.
The Citadel Master flew off with the woman in his arms. Huros took off at a run.
One of the healers looked at Rorrom and smiled. “Confused?”
“Uh, very.”
“Jimra is Yoris’s daughter from before he declared. Huros had to be sedated and Jimra had a cut. Her blood got on his skin, and they linked. The fluffy thing is a Yaluthu, and Yoris is not pleased with the union. Got it?”
Rorrom exhaled sharply. “Got it. Too bad. I liked Jimra. She had potential.”
“She still does but not with you. It is funny, I wonder if it is that she is an alien or something else about her. She has quite the group of admirers in both sexes.” The healer patted him on the arm. “Come on and get some tea and a hot meal before you have to move the ship back to the spaceport.”
Rorrom followed the two healers inside while wondering how Jimra was doing. She had been pale and thrashing in the cargo hold when he grabbed her and strapped her to the gurney. He unbuckled her the moment she stopped fighting, but he still didn’t know why he had to tie her down.
He just wished it could have been under different circumstances.
* * * *
Jimra felt like she had been hit by a skimmer. She groaned and opened her eyes, surprised by the robe she was wearing over nothing else, and the purple creature with the whi
rling black eyes who was staring directly at her. It chirped hello and hopped down the bed to her hand, pushing its head under her palm.
“Hello. Tremor, is it? What a charming name for such a particularly stunning creature.”
He made a happy, warbling noise, and she felt the pain in her body recede.
“He’s a Yaluthu.”
She tensed at the voice behind her and ignored the fact that she could feel his body heat through her robe. “Huros.”
“Correct. Your father and I neglected to inform you of the details of the link, and it could have cost you your life. I am here to correct that.”
He put his hand on her shoulder and her heart thudded and her mind relaxed. She cleared her throat. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that you need to know what this blood link actually means. We cannot be apart.”
She wrestled with that thought while he explained that the blood link was related to the declaration. A declaration of the same-sex preference meant that they were surrendering their right to reproduce. Children born before the declaration were accepted, but there was a special registration process that could take months if not years. They were legally entitled to their family ties, but the Ypra government had to verify both parents. Bloodlines were everything on a world with strictly controlled reproduction.
It was all confusing and wrapped in politics, which was not Jimra’s favourite subject. When he finished explaining that the same-sex preference had to be recorded because it meant that two people had left the breeding population.
“All males are temporarily sterilised at puberty, so it is uncertain as to how your mother got pregnant in the first place.”
Jimra smirked. “I can explain that. We are accumulation breeders. When we decide we want at child, or when we are faced with an exceptional partner, the woman’s body collects the DNA from her partner and uses it as the catalyst for her building a baby. It is peculiar, but we just need someone that we feel is worthy.”
“Did your mother birth any siblings for you?”
Jimra sighed. “No. She said I was enough for any parent. Once she had gotten it right, she didn’t need to do it again. My stepfather agreed.”
Huros smiled. “So, we need to be careful when we mate.”
She stared at him. There was no doubt in his voice. “Uh, I think medical can fix something. A prophylactic would probably do. There is something that the males use to get around the accumulation problem.”
His eyes warmed. They were a deep purple that far outstripped her pale lavender gaze.
“So, how long is Tremor with us?” She quickly looked away from his intense gaze and down to the creature who was enjoying her tickling it behind its tiny ear, chuckling with a wheezy chirp when she moved under its wing. Tremor hopped up onto her belly and walked up until she was staring into his black eyes.
“Hey, he is the opposite of you, Huros. He has black eyes and dark purple fluff, you have black hair and dark purple eyes. His beak is even the same colour as your skin.” She stroked Tremor as Huros shifted toward her.
Tremor rubbed against her hand again, and she relaxed, her nervous tension fading. She could literally feel the arousal coming off Huros.
“You didn’t mention what happens next in our relationship.”
“Our families will meet, and the formalities of the ceremony will be held. We will sign a bonding contract and have three days to ourselves, with Tremor, of course. You will inherit your share of your family’s wealth and property.”
“What about you?”
“I received my share when I declared.”
“Do same-sex attractions get less?”
He looked surprised. “No, they get more. They will not receive the bonuses that a reproducing couple will, so they are provided with an additional share.”
“Well, that explains why Yoris said they have to do math because of me.”
Huros was rubbing his cheek against hers, and she turned more fully toward him to make it easier. The contact eased a tension in her mind she hadn’t fully realised.
“You need to rest more, and you will do it more easily if I am with you.”
She tried to come up with a reason that she shouldn’t rest and recover, but she couldn’t. Her body still hummed a little with pain, and if she could take care of it herself, she wouldn’t have to drain poor Tremor.
Jimra rolled to her side, and Huros spooned in behind her. Tremor moved into the curve of her body, and Jimra was out in eight deep breaths.
Tremor was still with her, and he was eating seeds out of a tiny bowl on a pedestal at the foot of her bed.
Jimra was thirsty, so she carefully rolled out of bed and put her favourite cup under her dispenser before pressing the fill button. She drank that cup of water and four more before she felt moderately alert.
She brought a cup of water and held it for Tremor until he was sated, and then, she scooped him, his food and the water and took them over to her small table, setting him down and making him a path with footstools and chairs so he could get up and down.
With Tremor sorted, she took a shower and got dressed in her day-off suit and robes. She really didn’t feel up to any additional training today. “What day is it anyway?”
There was the feeling of time passing, but she hadn’t managed to work out how much.
With a grumble, she sat at her terminal, and when Tremor tapped her on her leg, she hoisted him into her lap. Two days had passed since her run to Urmak. She had missed her classes and training sessions with Viika, but she was sure that Yoris had let her know.
“Well, did you want to go for a walk around the Citadel?”
Tremor chirped.
She smiled and brushed a seed crumb off his blunt beak. “Well, then. We need to show you your new home.”
She got an image of him on her shoulder, and she looked at his chubby feet. “Do you think you can hang on?”
He chirped defensively.
She sighed and got to her feet, putting his slight weight on her shoulder. “If you fall off, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
He dug his claws into her shoulder, and he was surprisingly stable. They left her quarters and headed down to the dining hall.
“How did they get you here? They are really protective of their environment.”
An imaged of Huros lying pale with large holes in his body and scalp hit her. The healing was performed and the marks disappeared. Huros jolted awake, and there was terror in his eyes as he took in the world around him. The view that Tremor was showing her was from the medical recorder.
Jimra staggered to the wall and braced herself on it as she was run through his physical recovery and mental deterioration. The recorder showed Yoris making a case for Huros getting a Yaluthu and a woman with a serious face and a raptor on her shoulder taking on the Ypra government. When that didn’t work, a woman with glowing eyes and a strange voice did it.
Tremor was a volunteer. He wanted to be with the people who needed him and that meant Jimra as well as Huros. He was an equal opportunity fluff ball.
Jimra went to the dining hall and fielded questions about her new companion and Tremor.
She had tea and ate her breakfast, giving Tremor the pieces of fruit that he asked for in her thoughts.
Just four months earlier, she wouldn’t have imagined sharing her mind with anyone, let alone a fluffy ball of good-natured help. Sharing her thoughts with two beings was a little surreal, and it made keeping her mind on her reality a little difficult.
When she was done, she got back to her feet and followed her impulses to the administration offices. Huros was standing and speaking with one of the other analysts. He paused in midsentence and came over to her, kissing her softly. Tremor chirped in approval.
“You look better, Jimra.”
She looked at him, and the fear and hesitation that she had first seen in him, and first felt, were gone. “I am better. Tremor and I just had breakfas
t, and I ended up following you here.”
He smiled. “Yoris wants to see us. I am done here if you want to go.”
“I am up for it.”
He put his arm around her back, and she relaxed at the contact. Whatever had happened between them, contact was important to her feeling normal. She just wished she had known about it before she had touched him. It would have made her feel less like an idiot.
Chapter Seven
Yoris looked at their close seating in his office, and he gave a resigned nod. “You both look better.”
Jimra made a face. “I wouldn’t have gone off world if I had any idea what would happen.”
Yoris nodded. “I know. I forgot to tell the dispatchers that you were off the roster until further notice.”
She blinked. “Hey, that is my income stream.”
He chuckled. “You will be fine. When you and Huros are officially bonded, we can send you three on missions together.”
Jimra was still unsure of how to react to the fact that her blood had made the decision for her. Huros took her hand, and Tremor rubbed against her. She blushed when she realised they could both feel what she was feeling.
“My family is available the moment that you give the word, Master Yoris.” Huros nodded.
“Three days from now. There is a meeting set for the Uramiss family seat. It will be dinner and Jimra will need a gown. The fabricators are standing by.”
Huros inclined his head. “I will notify my people.”
“How many people are going to be there? It sounds like quite a few.”
Yoris shrugged, “We have thirty-two folk in our family. Huros’s family is slightly smaller but still will bring about twenty-three people to the event.”
She scrambled around in her mind for the names and finally found it. “Prime families?”
“Of course. Only the prime families carry the genes for talents.” Yoris smiled.
“And I need a dress?”
