by Beth Sadler
Chapter 2
Teril joined the others on the bus when it left the stopover bound for Warsaw, its brake fixed by a distraught driver and local mechanic. Irena and Violeta had looked a little worried as they approached the bus, but Teril’s presence reassured them enough to get on board.
Sitting together around a table on one side of the bus, facing each other, they settled-in ready for the rest of the journey. This was one of the good points of the old bus, more modern buses crammed in their passengers with barely room to breathe. The seven hour run on the old buses rattled and bumped but, at least there was room to move about.
Teril pulled a pack of cards from his backpack and with Tasha translating, soon had Violeta eagerly playing a game of Snap. Pictures needed no words and Teril obviously understood this. Tasha was impressed by his understanding and thoughtfulness; he wasn’t just a brainless hunk.
Tasha kept taking secret sideways looks at the man sitting next to her. He was without doubt the most impressive man she had ever met, and that included her very handsome brother, Jethro. His wonderful jet black, curly hair gleamed with good health, he stood six foot six if he was an inch and his broad shouldered body was lean, strong and muscular. Blue eyes gazed out of a chiselled, tan face, reflecting not just beauty but, a kindness that reached into her soul. This man was special and Tasha knew it. She just had to work out how she fitted into his agenda, because, one thing she was sure of, he had one and it included her. She just wished it was a romantic one.
The next few hours passed in pleasant contemplation of the beautiful countryside they were passing through. The large homes, with substantial stable blocks and arena’s, intrigued Tasha. She’d been raised on a horse stud until she was eighteen, so she was supremely interested in the signs of expensive equestrian establishments in a country that was so poor. Her parent’s death in a car accident had left Jethro and herself alone and brought an end to that idyllic lifestyle, but she still rode every chance she got.
Teril packed the cards away when Violeta became sleepy and helped Irena make a temporary bed on the seat for her with his jacket. She would need a short nap before they reached the main station on the outskirts of Warsaw, as another bus was needed to reach the centre of the city.
Grabbing the chance to study Tasha up close Teril pretended to snooze, but secretly kept sneaking glances at the beauty by his side. Irena caught him once and smiled at his obviously smitten behaviour. He grinned back, letting her know she’d caught him out but, he wasn’t sorry.
Tasha’s gleaming abundant, copper coloured hair was a magnet to his eyes. Nowhere had he seen such a colour in all the planets that he had visited. Wispy curls struggled to escape her long, tight plait and tickled their way across her forehead and nape. How he wanted to twist them around his finger and kiss them away from her neck. Hail Hera, how was he going to tell her that he had fallen head over heels in love with her way back in St. Petersburg? He was from Teeron and a Teeronite fell in love instantly and forever so, for him it was not such a shock. He knew Natasha would not feel the instant belonging as he had, she would need to be wooed and won. Other Teeronites had won their Earthling loves in the past but, it had always taken time and effort. He let out a silent groan of frustration, if only he could speed up the process.
He had felt the age old signal as soon as he’d walked into the lounge of the backpacker’s hostel in St. Petersburg. His hand had tingled and then quickly the sensation had run up his arm and spread its warmth across his chest. Without having to think about it his body had turned towards the chair in the corner of the room and, there she was. Teril’s fate was sealed. So, how was he going to tell her that she was part of his mission and that he needed to run tests on her while staking his claim to her love?
Teril had been sent to trace as many of the offspring of a Teeron and Earth bonding that had taken place nearly a hundred years ago and Tasha was more than possibly one of them. On his last mission to Earth Teril, and his team leader Zabron, had discovered Jenna, an ancestor of this bonding. They had given the shocking news to the Interplanetary Research Co-Operative where an in- depth trace had been quickly instituted. It had then been discovered that Jenna’s Teeron ancestor had been killed before he could register his life-mate and any subsequent children. Unfortunately WW1 had just started and he and his team members had met sudden, tragic ends. Interplanetary travel had been particularly dangerous a hundred years ago.
Zabron had subsequently bonded with Jenna and happily taken her home to Teeron with him as his life-mate, so, at least that story had ended well. Now Teril had a new team partner to help do the follow up research. Triena was tracking him from their transporter and running programs for him as needed.
Jenna had displayed unusual abilities possibly due to the mixing of the races, so, now every effort was being expended to trace all of the descendents in case they needed special help only a Teeronite could provide. Teril, being the undisputed genius of genetic research on Teeron, had been given the job of tracing them all.
The problem was Jenna was an abandoned baby and had no records of her family. The best Teril had been able to do was to trace her DNA back to the Teeron researcher that had died nearly a hundred years earlier in a small village in France. By compiling a list of all the women of child-bearing age in the area at that time, Teril had created a list of possible descendents. The Interplanetary Research Pod based back in Australia was working non-stop on tracing everyone on the list, tapping into the world ancestry data bases to do it. It was Teril’s job to find them and run the DNA tests, then help them come to terms with their heritage. Natasha’s had been the first name on the list.
Teril felt Tasha’s firm slender thigh press against his leg as she shifted position to get a better view of the countryside. Hail Hera, his blood pressure was never going to return to normal at this rate. He damned his lousy language skills. If only his English was better he might find courting Tasha and completing his mission a lot easier. Ah well! Time to get to work now that she was slightly more comfortable with him.
“Natasha James, I must speak with you of your ancestors, especially your French relatives. Please to have dinner with me tonight and I explain?”
Tasha’s curiosity was aroused, what did he know of her relatives or her life? The plot thickened. She gazed into his eyes, searching for any evil intentions. All she saw was an endless patience and a kindness that made her decision for her.
“Call me Tasha, everyone else does. I was named after my many times Russian great grandmother but, I never use my full name.” she smiled in agreement. “I’ll look forward to dinner in Warsaw with you, and especially the explanation. Where are you staying?”
“I stay at backpacker’s hostel in city. You tell one for me please?” He hoped that she suggested the one she was staying at but, he daren’t get his hopes up.
“If you haven’t pre-booked somewhere then, you had better come with me to my hostel. It’s the biggest one in the city and about the only place you’ll get a bed without a booking.”
Teril couldn’t believe his good luck. Now all he needed was for his English to dramatically improve and maybe he could get through the, I’m an alien and need to run some tests on you, speech without freaking his love out entirely.
“Thank you, I will happy to do as you say.” Taking a deep breath he relaxed back into his seat and quietly started to plan the evening.
Tasha returned to contentedly gazing out the window and her own thoughts, she would find out what was going on tonight, there was no hurry. This trip from Russia across the Baltic countries was a journey of discovery for Tasha. She had recently indulged her curiosity with an ancestry site on the internet back home in Australia and found that her several times grandmother was Russian. Her ancestors had escaped along this route to France before the Russian revolution, and settled happily there until WW1 broke out, trapping them once again. In nineteen thirty eight her great grandmother and her French husband moved to Australia, just in time to avoid th
e German occupation during WW2. The family flourished in their adopted land and all went well until the car accident that took Tasha’s parents ten years ago.
Tasha and Teril said their goodbyes to Violeta and Irena near the main train station in Warsaw. The great box-like building was the tallest one in the city so it made finding your way around simple. Places were either, North, South, East or West of Centralna. The young family’s journey took them in the opposite direction to the hostel they were staying at. With promises to write and visit, they watched a tearful Violeta stumble away holding her mother’s hand, while staring back over her shoulder at Teril.
“You’ll be her hero all her life you know.” Tasha laughed at his obvious embarrassment. “It’s going to be hell for her boyfriends when she grows up, none of them will rate compared to you.”
“She forget me quick once home,” he mumbled, red faced.
Shrugging into their backpacks, the two made easy work of the rest of the walk to the hostel. Tasha wasn’t as tall or fit as Teril but, she was strong and at five nine had the long legs to go with her height. Also, the last few weeks of backpacking through the Baltic’s had strengthened her legs.