Descend- Seeing Stars

by Sean Oswald

  Meikiyo thanked him after he told her that he needed to rest. The larger fuses took more and more out of him each time, but that wasn’t surprising based upon the changes that he gained each time. He passed on the same durability and speed traits to all the girls, and they equally shared with one another.

  One interesting development was that the two duplicates of Scarlett were able to grant boosts to each individual's best two skills rather than granting new skills. For his part, Jay gained sonic kinesis from Harper, Disarming Presence from Grace, Summon Objects from Hanna, Flight from Uremi, and Rebound from Abby.

  Rebound was easily melded into his Kinetic Manipulation Mastery and only greatly increased the skill. Disarming Presence was combined with Veil of Illusion in the same way creating an Evolved Skill. Flight was absorbed into his speed skill which was his Primal adaptation skill.

  Once Jay had caught his breath, which required four hours of actual real world sleep he went out to find Eesa since he figured it was rather rude of him to marry a woman and then ignore her for days. Before he left his quarters, he took one last look at his monstrous stats.

  M1789

  Level: 265

  Awareness: 47,406

  Sensory Precision Mastery: 11,292

  Simple Telepathic Mastery: 5891

  Durability: 43819 (52,582-crown)

  Evolved Strength Forged Body: 16,318

  Evolved Astra Step: 3023

  Kinesis: 45,565

  Kinetic Manipulation Mastery: 15,682

  Genesis Modification Mastery: 6283

  Molecular Separation: 3164

  Metalmancy: 512

  Sonic Kinesis: 80

  Summon Object: 80

  Metabolism: 39,042 (46,850-crown)

  Primal Speed and Adaptation Mastery: 19,212

  Evolved Matter Absorption and Creation: 3543

  Necrotic Absorption: 2109

  Duplicate: 80

  Formation: 41,640

  Psionic Construct: 5674

  Evolved Temporal Sensory Manipulation: 4765

  Evolved Fire Form: 3228

  Evolved Veil of Illusion: 960

  Psi Pts: 4,349,440 (4,680,860 -crown)

  Chapter 23- Really Meeting Eesa

  When Jay found Eesa she was with Mia, Ava, and a number of Tamoori scientists. He hadn’t teleported but the speeds he moved at now, might have seemed like that to other people. Actually, as he thought about it, he was going to need to set aside time to work on further brain refining. With his increased stats he needed increased processing power.

  The Tamoori all jumped as he came to a stop. He noticed that their scientists were a blend of men and women and seemed to come from all four of the clans. They all had similar responses. Claws were bared and they looked ready to fight. These might not be the warriors, but this was clearly a warrior race.

  Ava and Mia, both greeted him reflexively. The fusion made it easy to know when he would arrive. Eesa had been inside the cockpit of the starfighter. The ship was triangular in shape with sharp fins at each corner. From tip to the tri-port exhaust in the rear it was just over seventy-five feet. Jay’s new perceptions took in all the measurements of the ship in an instant.

  When Eesa looked up and saw Jay she let out a low growl before turning back to adjusting whatever she was working on. The Tamoori scientists all looked from the cockpit to Jay and then back to the cockpit before walking away as one. Their ears all had stood on end and their tails straightened in tension.

  Mia walked up to him as she guided Ava away. Ava was saying, “But I think I figured out how to increase the weapons payload.”

  Mia coaxed her forward saying, “We will come back but right now Eesa needs some privacy.” Then to Jay she said, “Eesa really is great. But your conduct is an insult to her by the standards of her people. Take that into consideration. Oh, and remember that her people’s customs are not the same as ours.”

  Before Jay could say anything the two of them teleported away and he was left staring at Eesa’s back side sticking up out of the cockpit. Her tail was deadly still. He was cautious about drawing too many parallels between the Tamoori and cats on Earth. It seemed like the type of assumption that could truly make an ass out of him.

  He stood patiently waiting for her to finish whatever she was working on. Repeatedly he resisted the temptation to read her mind. His increased Awareness stat would have only made it easier, but it was that very type of situation which had made him leery about any more power ups.

  After a few minutes it became painfully clear that she was intentionally making him wait. He pondered Mia’s words and then realized maybe he was handling this the wrong way. If she were a human wife, he would have let her finish her work standing patiently, sacrificing his time to show her how important she was to him.

  Now though he wondered if that was exactly the wrong approach. He thought about what he knew about the Tamoori. They were an aggressive people, predators not prey as the elders had said. Clearly their society was very patriarchal.

  Then he pondered Eesa’s actions when she had first come with them. She responded to surprise with violence and had been defensive of her honor. But each time she would catch herself and become submissive to the point of absurdity. Unlike Ava, there clearly wasn’t a submissive bone in the Tamoori girl’s body but she must have been trying to live up to the expectations of her society.

  This arranged marriage might be more problematic than he had expected at first. He had assumed he would meet whatever the basic obligations were, but otherwise would give her freedom to continue on as a fighter pilot. She would have to learn to adapt to their culture, but he equally needed to respect hers.

  As he watched her, he realized that he found her backside more enticing than he had expected. The tail didn’t bother him much. He likely would have been repulsed by a human woman with hairy arms and legs but her fur while much thicker also seemed sleeker and more luxuriant. Beyond the tail sticking out the back of what was something like khaki shorts, her backside was very fit and much like a human woman’s would be.

  Maybe this wouldn’t be all bad, Jay thought to himself. Then he decided he would play the part if he had to. Silently he thanked Ava, as learning to meet her needs were hopefully going to be helpful here.

  “Wife, how much longer are you going to keep me waiting?” Jay called out in the Tamoori language.

  He saw her back go stiff and then her shoulders slumped, and she stood up turning around. “I am sorry, lord husband. I did not realize that you were there.”

  Jay knew that to be a lie, but if it helped her save face, he could go with it. “Ah, perhaps I should make more noise next time. What are you working on?”

  Her ears twitched as he had noticed those of the scientists. He felt for just her surface emotions and realized this was a sign of embarrassment. Of course, he didn’t understand what she had to be embarrassed about. “I know that I am no longer a pilot but does my lord husband wish me to no longer work on the starfighters?”

  “Of course not. You may work on the fighters as much as you want. What you do with your time is up to you. I don’t know how it works with your people, but you should have seen that my other wives are all free to work on whatever tasks they want to,” Jay replied.

  “From what I have observed, your wives are constantly trying to work on projects for you. They seem to be driven by a desire to please you, lord husband. Is this not what you expect?”

  Jay was caught off guard by her assertion and question. He wondered if that was really how it appeared to her. Or was it really that way. Then as he thought about it a bit more almost all of his time was spent trying to please or protect his wives. Everything he did, he did for the ones that he loves and that seemed perfectly healthy and natural.

  It wasn’t far-fetched that his wives should feel the same way about the activities they engaged in. It just wasn’t what she thought it was, at least he didn’t think it was. They weren’t being subservient to h
im. They were working as a team with him. They just happened to be a team that loved and cared about each other. He just wasn’t sure if he could explain the difference. It wasn’t that long ago that he wouldn’t have felt worthy of anyone feeling this way about him.

  “It might seem like that to you, but I equally spend all my day trying to protect or please them. It is not that one is above the other, we are a team,” Jay said.

  “Of course, you work to protect your mates and cubs. That is only natural. Your other words make no sense.” Then she growled and lowered her eyes to the ground. “I fear my tongue has gotten the better of me again, lord husband. I will strive to do better. I do not mean to question you.”

  Jay shrugged and thought what the hell here goes. “I don’t mean to question your culture, but in my culture a wife may question her husband as she wishes. They are equals.”

  “Equal does not mean the same, but if that is your wish, then I do have a question for you, lord husband. May I ask it?”

  The frustration grew inside Jay, but he held it back. “Yes, that is what I meant.”

  “Am I repugnant to you, lord husband?” It was hard for him to make out inflections in the Tamoori language, but her surface thoughts were so powerful that they practically jumped into his head. She was genuinely unsure of the answer he would give.

  Quickly so as to leave no doubt he replied back, “No, never. Our people do look somewhat different, but your form is very pleasing to me. Beyond that, my other wives have assured me that you are intelligent, hardworking, and honorable. Why would you ever think that?”

  She growled as she said, “I have been told that you have joined with other women since our wedding, yet you have not even bothered to speak to me alone.”

  Jay’s face went red. She was right. He had done her wrong. It certainly hadn’t been his intention, but more and more he was finding that a leader it was all too easy to make one right decision that led to another right decision that led to yet another right decision and yet the entire mess ended up being wrong.

  “What does it mean when your face turns pink like that? I’m sorry lord husband, I don’t mean to anger you. I got carried away when you said I could ask a question,” Eesa said as she dropped to one knee and held her hands out, palms up.

  “Stand up, wife. You have been honorable but through inattention I have not treated you fairly. When a human’s face does this it might mean anger but more often it means shame or embarrassment. At this moment, I am feeling shame for not having treated you correctly. Please know that the other women that I joined with are part of Team Jay and this was not a first-time thing or intended to slight you,” Jay replied

  “Oh, I was not speaking of the copulation. Certainly, it would have been more proper in the customs of my people to pay attention to a new wife on her wedding night, but your other wives have already explained the system of Team Jay. It is rather convoluted, but I understand wives, fuses, and concubines.

  At first, I thought that it was because our peoples did not have the same anatomy for mating, but I have learned that is not the case. Your wife, Huong, was most helpful in understanding that we are almost identical in that regard. Although apparently your member does not have a barb to hold it in after mating is accomplished. I hope I am not out of line in admitting that part of the process always sounded quite painful when older women described it.”

  Her manner of fact way of talking about it was both embarrassing and refreshing at the same time. And of course, it was Huong. He just hoped she hadn’t overstepped with Eesa.

  “If you aren’t talking about the sex then what are you talking about?” Jay asked.

  “Your other wives explained what it means to be fused with you. I am the only wife who is not fused with you. Worse than that you are fused with twenty-five other females. Not even Jad-bal-ja is worthy of so many women. There is great honor to the wife of a man with more than one hundred women, but what good is it if I am a wife if I have no ability to feel your emotions or be joined with you?

  This is not something that our people have but it sounds most profound. So, I must wonder why you have not offered to fuse with me but then you go and do so freely with not one but five other women,” Eesa said.

  Jay tried to explain about Higen and Meikiyo’s request. He explained how fusion gave him great power not just a connection with the women he was fused with. She then asked him the logical question as to why he had not fused with all of his women then and Jay tried to explain about wanting to only have women that he could trust and like in his head.

  He had to be careful as he explained that not to make it sound like he had excluded her because he didn’t find her worthy. Ultimately, he said, “I’m simply not sure if it would be possible to fuse with you or if it is whether you could survive the process.”

  That last part triggered her challenge as she said, “I was given to you as a wife, but many before you sought me as their mate and each of them, I defeated in combat. If I must prove my worth to you then I will fight you.”

  Jay tried to steer her away from it, but she could not be dissuaded. She was fixated on proving her worth. So, he asked, “Please tell me about this custom. When a male tries to claim you as his mate do you fight in earnest or is it some type of mock battle.”

  She scoffed at that and said, “It is to submission or death and is very earnest. But I cannot fight you in the same way. The council has made me your wife, you have no need to fight to earn me. Yet, I still wish to show you that I am not a woman to be taken lightly.”

  Jay said, “This would hardly be fair.”

  “Why because you are human, and I am Tamoori? Will I always be less in your eyes? How long will I have to bear this shame for the sake of my people?” She lamented.

  “It isn’t fair because none of my wives could match me in a fight. It would not even be close. Whether it is right or not, I simply have abilities that none of them can match,” Jay said.

  “You have not tried me, perhaps you will be surprised,” she said defiantly.

  Jay thought for a moment and then held up his hand to blast out a jet of flame so hot that she had to throw up an arm to cover her face. Then he manipulated the metal of the floor and formed a series of three-foot spikes up out of the nearly indestructible A’snkarnt metal.

  “Yes, I know all about your sorcery. You wives are immensely proud and even though I saw it, I doubted at first, but they call you the Master of Time, but this is to be a physical battle not one of mystical arts,” Eesa said.

  “Master of Time,” Jay laughed. “That might be a bit extreme. But since when is a fight a fight if you don’t use all of your abilities?”

  “Since now. You are not questioning my knowledge of Tamoori customs are you, my lord husband?”

  He shrugged and said, “Fine, but it will make no difference. So, what do we have to do?”

  She said, “We must have some witnesses. Preferably some of your people and some of mine.”

  “Very well then go and gather your witnesses and meet me back at the spot where I met with the council in one hour,” Jay said.

  She kneeled and lowered her head with a toothy grin upon her face, “As my lord husband wishes.”

  Chapter 24- Throwing and Jumping

  When Jay showed up with his other seven wives in tow to act as witnesses, he was surprised to see that there were thousands of Tamoori and not warriors. Sure, there were warriors present but they looked mostly like families. They were down on the ground almost like it was to be a picnic. Some of the children even appeared to be eating snacks.

  The council members were waiting for Jay and his group to arrive but this time Eesa’s father took the lead. “Is this all that you are bringing as witnesses?”

  “Yes, you have to remember that there aren’t that many of us and the rest are needed to be doing the work required to save our people. I didn’t expect this many Tamoori to come.

  “As you wish, but even in war time, there is a need for relax
ation. This way they will get to watch the contest today and cheer for a princess of our people,” Namur-san said.

  A moment later, Eesa walked out. She was wearing what he would call a gymnast’s suit with shorts over it. Her feet were bare, and claws extended from each of her toes. They were a bit off putting but her entire outfit showed off her very feminine form. “Greetings, lord husband. Are you ready for the contest? I hope you won’t dishonor me.” The last part she said very softly.

  “I will do my best. I admit I am glad that this is not a fight, but a contest. So, what is involved?” Jay asked.

  Namur-san said, “Your wife has invoked the right of challenge. Any female may do so against a prospective suitor. If he wins then she is his wife, joins his house, and is his to do with as he wishes. If she wins then he may never approach her again.