Valishnu Rising

by Chogan Swan

  “Maybe, but I can’t believe anyone would step into such dangerous territory with Amber and Ayleana just for the satisfaction of being a pain in the ass.”

  Calypso snorted at his remark and pulled open the door to the stateroom passageway.

  When they reached the cabin, Kest unlatched the door, and together they lurched into the room. Kest plopped to a seat on the king-sized bed as Amber came in, naked from the bath toweling water from her hair.

  She tossed the towel onto a hook then put her hands on her hips. “You brought me a present, Kest?” Her smile, full of mischief, spread across her generous mouth.

  Calypso smiled back at her. “You gonna unwrap me, gorgeous? Then we can compare which symbiont gives a better waxless Brazilian.” She looked at Amber and her eyes tracked down. “Not bad,” she said. A dimple formed on her cheek as her smile fought to change to a thoughtful expression.

  “Thanks for the help, Caly,” said Kest. “But as much as I’d love to listen to the two of you play dueling naughty talk, I’ll need to ask for a raincheck. Amber and I need to talk about something.”

  Calypso pouted then shrugged and winked at Amber. “Let me know when ya ready to come out ‘n play.” With that, she turned and sauntered through the door.

  Amber, still smiling from the banter, turned to Kest. “What’s up with you? You look a little—”

  Kest waved his hand, dismissing the question. “Kaitlin caught me on the back of the head with some weird, blind kick I didn’t see coming during Humana’s self-defense training.”

  “And Humana didn’t patch you up?”

  “Evidently it wasn’t serious enough to step on Aylie’s toes. She said there was only a minor concussion, but told me to have Aylie take a look.”

  “She should be here soon,” Amber said.

  “Well before she gets here, I want to talk to you about sex.”

  Amber grinned and slid onto his lap, straddling his legs between hers. “One of my favorite topics. Go.”

  “Yeah, I know. But seriously, do you remember the night Aylie crossed the threshold with….”

  “Drew?”

  “Right, thanks.”

  Amber put her hands on the sides of his head and looked at his pupils. “Why? Are you suppressing the memory, or did that little girl clock you harder than you are letting on?”

  Kest sighed. “Let’s just go with both and let me finish what I want to say while I have time.”

  Amber made a lip-zipping gesture and raised her eyebrows.

  “So—now that we know the difference between how she sounds when she’s having orgasms and what noises just mean having a good time on the journey—why did she have so many of the former that night with him compared to now that she’s with the two of us? I mean she never has more than one, and it takes … a while.”

  Amber’s face turned thoughtful.

  “And, yes,” Kest said. “What I really mean is me rather than the two of us, because we both know her pleasure spot is where you can’t really get to it. That means—if it’s about me—I’m either too thin or thick or too short or I just don’t know the right angle or some combination of all those. Right?”

  Amber shrugged. “If you are worried that he had something you don’t, I don’t think so. Unless the problem is ‘too thick’, because I saw his equipment when it was maxed out.”

  Kest cocked an eyebrow. “I missed that part.”

  “It was when she was ‘cooling him off’ in the creek,” Amber said. “Evidently, the water wasn’t that cold.”

  She grinned then her face turned thoughtful again. “But it could be something else entirely. It might be physical or it could be something mental. But even if it is physical, it still might not be about your size or shape.”

  Kest paused, trying to follow what she meant.

  Amber shrugged. “It could be a hormonal thing or she’s still keeping a tight rein on her sexual excitement. After all, it did almost turn her into something really scary. ”

  “Okay, I guess we’ll just have to wait till she gets here,” said Kest. “I need a shower. I know you just took one, but would you mind joining me to keep me upright? I may still be a little wobbly.”

  “Sure, baby. You should know how much I love keeping you upright.” She stood, trailing her fingers down his bare chest then snagged his workout shorts by the waistband and pulled him to his feet. In a few moments, she’d scattered his shorts and protective gear across the floor then, with an arm behind his back, she lifted him at the knees and carried him to the shower.

  Kest laughed quietly, still careful of his throbbing head. “I love it when you Amberhandle me like this.”

  “AMBER STRONG.” She shouted the words with a primitive, warlike roar usually associated with cavemen in B movies but finished with a giggle.

  “Don’t you dare drop me,” said Kest.

  CHAPTER 30 – ADJUSTING

  Thirty minutes later, Kest was dozing on the bed as Amber worked her fingers up and down his spine. The throbbing in his head was worse, but the muscles in his neck had released under Amber’s firm and skilled assault. But now he felt like the room was slowly spinning with him at the middle of the merry-go-round.

  He heard the door to their room open and felt Amber twist and rise from where she straddled him.

  A moment later, he heard kissing and sliding caresses.

  Ayleana.

  He smiled but kept his eyes closed so he could keep pretending the merry-go-round was real and there was nothing wrong with his head.

  “I was on the barge, working on Valishnu. Caly says I need to check out his ‘boo boos’,” Ayleana said.

  “It’s only fair,” Amber said. “He’s always checking out yours.”

  “What? Oh. Yeah, I get it.”

  “I’m just going to ignore this conversation until my head stops doing what it’s doing,” Kest whispered.

  Ayleana’s fingers brushed across his temples, her filaments tingling against his skin.

  “I need to turn him over. You take his hips.” Ayleana’s voice was cool and neutral.

  “No problem,” Amber said. “I like his hips. Look at those cute little dimples on the sides.”

  “I could do this,” Kest said as they gently turned him over.

  “Just be still now,” Ayleana said.

  “Yeah, next we dress you up in my sexy clothes,” said Amber.

  “Don’t make me laugh, it hurts.”

  He kept his eyes closed as Ayleana ran her fingers slowly up his spine to his neck. Just below his skull, she paused, and the tingling sensation became stronger. The throbbing eased and the room slowly stopped revolving.

  “She must have hit you on the top of your head, driving it down. One of the disks was a little inflamed.”

  “Ah!” said Amber “So, his head was swelling … the one on his neck I mean, because, that’s never caused a problem on the other one.”

  “It feels better now,” Kest said.

  “Open your eyes, so I can check your pupillary response.”

  He opened his eyes and smiled at Ayleana. “Hi there, beautiful,” he said. “Did the pupil respond correctly?”

  Ayleana’s lip quirked on the left side. “Yes, you did. You’ll need to breathe through your mouth for a minute or so. I’m going to observe from inside.”

  She lay down on top of him. The familiar feeling of her downy skin on his flesh felt like a warm bath. She slid up to bring his sex between her breasts in the way that kept it from being trapped against her ribs. Her hands, much larger than his now, cradled his head, and her thumbs plugged into his nostrils. The tingling from her filaments ran up inside his nasal passages, but he held still until he felt his body move from his control to hers.

  Then there was no need.

  His eyes—open when he’d felt control pass—stayed open. Ayleana’s face was focused and thoughtful as she worked. This was the third time she’d been inside his brain without Tiana. He wished for the connection Jonah could make wi
th Tiana. But according to Tiana, he didn’t have the brain structure that made it possible.

  But that doesn’t mean we can’t connect.

  They would just have to work out something else.

  He felt the filaments begin retreat. When she released control to him again, he whispered. “Can you smell how I feel about you, Nighthawk?” he said in O’odham.

  “Heu'u,” she whispered back.

  “And?”

  “And I love you as well,” she said in nii and touched her forehead to his. Their eyelashes touched, but neither of them blinked.

  “We are good co-wives for Amber. Is it not true?” Kest said—again in O’odham.

  “Heu'u,” she said, her voice slightly louder.

  “And you and Amber are good co-wives to me,” he said. Though he used the O’odham word for co-wife—which was without gender—he spoke the other words in nii, making the double click for strong conviction. “Amber and I want to be good co-wives for you. Will you share with us how we might do that? We have sensed that something needs to be done.”

  Silence held for several long breaths then her tears fell into his eyes—yet again—neither of them blinked.

  Her next words came so softly Kest almost missed them. “The love you both hold for me is an honor beyond my worth.”

  Kest smiled, though her words nearly brought tears to his eyes. “You should value your worth more highly, co-wife.”

  He crooked his finger to Amber and reached out his arm to bring her close. She slid into the bed next to them and wrapped her arms below theirs, pulling them all closer together.

  “Aylie,” Kest said, switching to English and tightening his arms around them both. “Amber and I know something is … complicating your experience when we are expressing our love for you.”

  “… and having fun,” said Amber. She laughed and tickled the side of Kest’s face with her tongue. “I’m going to take the ball from here, Aylie. Kest is, as usual, perceptive about matters of the heart, but I’m stepping in for a bit because we need to get some of the simpler matters out of the way before we start digging in to all this complexity.”

  Amber looked back and forth between Kest and Ayleana until Kest nodded. “So,” she said, “let’s travel back in time to the night Ayleana and Drew spent together working out her required threshold orgasms. Are we all there? Good. How many orgasms did you count, Kest? My estimate was eleven.”

  “I make it more,” Kest said. “But maybe they were running together for a while. Aylie is the one who can say for sure, of course.”

  Amber turned to Ayleana and raised her eyebrows. Ayleana looked back and forth at them, but she kept herself from meeting Kest’s eyes.

  “It’s a simple question, Aylie.” Amber said. “Kest isn’t going to have a breakdown from exploring this topic, and we need to know what’s going on, so I’ll just keep forging ahead.”

  She took a long breath. “Okay, let’s just deal with physical stuff first. Because I got a good look at Drew’s equipment when you had him in the creek, and I know Kest’s dipstick is a bit longer than Drew’s. So if we aren’t hitting the happy spot inside you, it’s either a matter of coming at things from the wrong angle or—”

  “I’ve changed,” Ayleana said, interrupting. Her eyes dipped, avoiding looking at them. “Since that night, my pleasure node is 5 centimeters further away from the entry point of my bagua. I didn’t even pay any attention to the fact that I was growing like a weed there too while I was avoiding thinking about sex for so long. Now, Kest barely brushes the edge of it at deepest penetration.”

  “Because you’re so much taller now?”

  Ayleana nodded, not raising her eyes.

  “So how far are we talking about?” Amber said.

  “The closest part of my pleasure node is 23-centimeters into the canal, and it’s about 3 centimeters in diameter. My entire canal is 36-centimeters long. It’s freakish.

  Amber shrugged. “Come on, Aylie. If Kest or I considered you freakish, you could tell, couldn’t you? Why does it matter what other short-minded nii might think?”

  She grinned. “See what I did there? And … you’ll probably never meet them anyway. But let’s get back to the issue. I know Tiana can do some amazing things changing her body. ¿Es eso—”

  “As far as we know, there’s never been a need to move the pleasure node,” Ayleana said, shaking her head. “My race has never even explored that body change.”

  “What about us?” Amber said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “It’s pretty simple. Can you change us to accommodate what you need?”

  Ayleana stared at her. “Change a partner to fit what I want? But that … that’s not our way.”

  Kest could feel her heart speed up against his chest. The thought of doing what Amber was suggesting was uncomfortable for her.

  Ayleana shook her head. “Not when you and Kest are already perfect for each other. Your primary erogenous zone is on the outside of your body. I can tell how much you enjoy it when his body slams into yours. If he were any longer that would become a problem. For you two, the sexual anatomy match is optimal.”

  Amber smiled in triumph. “So what I hear you saying is … ‘you could do it’. You could change both of us. You could make him long enough to reach your pleasure node, and I could adapt to it if you helped me. And …”

  Amber smiled and closed her eyes. A thoughtful expression lingered on her face. When she opened her eyes again, her smile had become filled with mischief. “… I think we can have fun on the way there too. Aylie, you’ll have to tell us more about what changes are possible.” Her eyebrows twitched twice, suggesting possibilities then she turned to Kest. “Okay. Go ahead. You can bring up all the complicated stuff now.”

  Kest shrugged. “Maybe the solution isn’t quite as complicated as the problem. I guess we’ll have to see. But I’d appreciate it if these changes you’re imagining don’t change my center of gravity too much.”

  Amber laughed. “Have a little faith, Kest. I’m sure that with my input, Aylie can make some improvements on Mother Nature’s already admirable efforts.”

  “I’m not going to do anything he doesn’t want,” said Ayleana. “And I’ll know if he’s even a little reluctant.”

  Kest shook his head. “Look, the entire function of what Amber calls my ‘equipment’ is about enjoyment for the two of you. If I have to make a few adjustments, I’ll deal with it.”

  “That’s not entirely right, Kest,” said Amber. “It’s important to me that you enjoy what goes on with your equipment too, and I’m sure Aylie feels the same way. We’ll be taking a team approach to this problem.”

  Kest chuckled, a soft sound through his nose. “Go team,” he said.

  “I feel like I’m being dragged by a herd of dymba,” Ayleana muttered in Nii.

  Kest blinked, but controlled his urge to laugh.

  Amber glared at Ayleana. “Whatever you said, I know you’re talking about me behind my back right in front of my face. When I learn that language, you won’t be able to do that anymore.”

  “Good,” Ayleana said, turning to Amber and kissing her long and hard. Her facial stripes increased in contrast. Amber’s café-au-lait skin flushed. A warm sensation below Kest’s ribcage bloomed as he watched the faces of the two he loved captured in the joy of their connection.

  This is a step toward heaven.

  After breaking the suction with a loud smack, Ayleana grinned. “You can use that as motivation to finally get serious about learning more languages. But seriously, thank you for taking the lead on this.”

  “Well, it was Kest who took the lead,” Amber said. “I just steered it here a bit faster.” She grinned and rubbed her hands together. “Now … the lab has a good 3D scanner we can use to get a baseline. I can call and see if someone can run it over here. Then we can go straight to making 3D models. While I make the call, you get him ready for scanning.”

  Amber turned and rolled off the be
d. She grabbed her phone from the bedside table and started tapping its screen.

  “How does your head feel now?” said Ayleana, touching his temples then running her fingers and filaments through his hair.

  Kest flexed the muscles in his pelvis to release the blood that seemed to want flow in a special direction. Ayleana raised her chest from his hips to allow it freedom. “I meant this one up here,” she said and plugged her thumbs into his nostrils. “I guess I’ll have to check for myself.”