by L P Peace
‘Why can’t you just let me have her? What game are you playing?’
Haddis shook his head and crouched on his haunches before looking up at Aerdan with a sad expression. ‘Why is it you still don’t consider what Danielle wants? Why is it you don’t consider what is best for our mita?’
‘What does that mean?’ Aerdan said, some of the anger and bluster bleeding out of him.
‘Figure it out, Aerdan,’ Bedvir said standing. ‘Before you drive her away from us for good.’
Bedvir and Haddis left the room, leaving Aerdan staring after them.
* * *
The next few days followed a pattern. Danielle laughed with Haddis, found comfort in Bedvir, friends in Kentor and Sidha, and nothing in Aerdan. She ignored him completely and refused to share the mess with him. For her comfort, Aerdan had taken to working, taking the majority of the shifts on the bridge and eating in his room to avoid her.
But it wouldn’t, couldn’t last.
Aerdan scrubbed his hands over his face for the fiftieth time and groaned. He’d been such a charvosh at main-meal. But it was so vrokking hard seeing Danielle constantly reaching out for Bedvir like he wasn’t vrokking there.
Like her whole world didn’t revolve around him like he felt his did around her.
Things couldn’t continue as they were. He was the captain of the ship! He couldn’t keep hiding in his suite and hiding in the bridge like he’d done something wrong. Haddis and Bedvir were the ones in the wrong, weren’t they?
But it didn’t matter. Aerdan was determined to win his female. In a day, they’d reach the temit, and he was determined to claim her in the forests, under the sky and trees like tradition dictated.
Temir had been covered in forests. Temerin didn’t have much time for towns and cities and though they had them, they were still covered in trees and never overbuilt. Temerin just didn’t have that drive to build bigger and bigger as other races did. They concentrated on making things that worked better, more efficiently, but they didn’t care about bigger. It had been an issue when they were evacuating Temir—most of their ships were small. Big enough for a mita, whatever size that might be for each mita. When they left Temir, they’d filled their ships with as many people as possible and jumped to different planets to deposit them, hiding them from the Bentari. Most ships had managed to make multiple trips before the Bentari fleet, lumbering and large, had arrived.
Aerdan growled and dashed the thoughts of the past as he walked through the ship towards Danielle’s quarters. He was determined to seduce his female and show her that she could trust him. That he could be better. That he would be better as soon as he knew she was his and his alone.
He knocked on the door to her room and waited.
‘Come in,’ a faint voice said. Something felt off about it, but Aerdan forged ahead.
He opened the door and found her vid screen was on, showing the sight of streaking stars going by. At first he couldn’t see her, but then he noticed her head poking out over the side of the bed. Shutting the door, he walked over and found her sat on the floor, staring at the stars. Her eyes looked red and dull. She looked up at him, and her features tensed.
‘What now?’ Her voice was shaky and uneven.
Aerdan’s heart plummeted in his chest at the sight of her. ‘Danielle, what’s wrong?’
She looked back at the stars and shook her head. For a moment, Aerdan thought it meant she wasn’t willing to talk about it, but then she sighed.
‘You’re here to tell me that you’ve realised I’m a divisive influence on your crew and you’ve contacted the Tessans to come get me,’ she said. Her voice was monotone and there was an element of pain there that broke Aerdan’s heart.
He dropped to the floor and put his arm around her shoulder. ‘What makes you think that?’
‘Because you guys have done nothing but argue since I came out of my room,’ she said.
Aerdan shook his head. ‘We’re Temerin,’ he said. ‘We fight all the time. Come. Tell me what this is really about.’
‘Oh!’ Danielle shook his arm from her shoulders. ‘Like I said, I’m a disruptive, divisive influence on the crew. I was on Endurance.’ Something broke in her voice. ‘I was on Endurance, and I did it on purpose.’
Aerdan frowned. ‘Why would you do such a thing?’
Danielle shook her head and covered her face. Shame seemed to radiate from her. Aerdan pulled her into his arms, immediately struck by the feel of his mate in his arms, and how her whole body was shaking.
‘It always seemed easier to be the bully than the bullied,’ she whispered.
‘I don’t understand?’ Aerdan admitted.
Danielle let out a shuddering sigh. ‘I was bullied in Alice Springs for wearing second-hand clothes and shoes,’ she whispered. ‘I was bullied in the school in Sidney for coming from the outback. No matter where I went, I never fit in. They’d bully me. Gang up on me. But then I learned if I divided them, they would leave me alone. It was just defensive at first, but lately, I realised I’d been doing it offensively for years. I didn’t know. It’d become such a habit. It had become who I was.’ Danielle started crying, her body shaking in several wracking sobs. ‘I thought I could be different. Be better. But I’m just doing the same thing here.’
Aerdan pulled Danielle closer as she gave into the hopeless sobs. He felt his fine Amaran silk shirt quickly become sodden under the fat tears rolling down her cheeks, but he didn’t care, seeing Danielle in this much distress was killing him.
‘No. I refuse to accept that,’ Aerdan said, holding her tight as he rubbed his hand over her back. He could feel the muscles and fine bones of her spine. She was so delicate, so vulnerable. She needed so much love and he wanted to be the one to give it to her.
After a few metri had passed, Danielle withdrew from him. Her eyes and nose were red, and he pretended not to notice when she wiped her nose with her sleeve.
‘I’m just so tired of always being the point of contention,’ she said, shaking her head. Finally, she looked at him. ‘I’m going to get some sleep. I’m okay,’ she tried to smile to reassure him, but the pain evident in her eyes broke him. ‘Please, just leave, Aerdan.’
Aerdan nodded, not sure what to say or do.
As he closed the door, he saw her, still sat on the floor watching the stars go by, unsure how to help her.
Hacri later, Aerdan stared at the stars from the bridge. He couldn’t get Danielle out of his mind. The feel of her in his arms, the way she shook as she cried, and the things she confessed to him.
She was in so much pain, and he didn’t know how to help her. He’d sent Sidha to her, but he’d returned a few metri later to tell him Danielle wanted to be alone. Whatever the trauma from her past, she refused to talk about it.
He still wasn’t sure what exactly was going on. All he knew was his mate was in pain and he didn’t know how to help her. According to Bedvir and Haddis, he didn’t even have the right to help her since she hadn’t accepted him and that hurt more than anything.
Worse, looking back over the period Danielle had been on board, he realised he had been divided from Haddis and Bedvir. Usually, the three of them were thicker than a vopak den, but since meeting Danielle, their friendly rivalry had turned dark.
But not for one moment did Aerdan blame Danielle. He knew exactly where the blame lay.
It lay with Haddis and Bedvir for not letting him have her.
Aerdan sighed and rubbed his chest. Something about that felt off. But Aerdan wasn’t sure what it was.
He thought about all of the times he’d tried to court Danielle, only to be usurped by Haddis and Bedvir. They should understand. He was trying to re-establish his mita. Why were they getting in the way?
He could still see the sad disappointment on Haddis’s face from that night. ‘Why is it you still don’t consider what Danielle wants? Why is it you don’t consider what is best for our mita?’
Our mita?
Aerdan had been so
angry at the time that this was the first time he’d realised what Haddis had said.
‘Our mita?’ Aerdan mumbled.
Something sparked inside his mind. A root took hold and began to grow, quickly spreading.
Danielle had pain. A lot of pain from her past. She felt she was a divisive force, and maybe she was, though that didn’t feel right.
Aerdan took in a deep breath as he waited for the impending revelation.
If she thought she was a divisive force, then maybe…
No. That wasn’t it.
Aerdan let out a sigh.
‘What’s wrong?’
Aerdan turned to see Sidha leaning against one wall.
‘I’m thinking,’ Aerdan said. ‘How long have you been there?’
‘A few metri. I’ve spoken to you twice, but you didn’t hear me.’
Aerdan’s mouth dropped open. ‘No, I didn’t.’
‘You even looked right at me once.’ Sidha smirked. ‘Still thinking about Danielle?’
‘Hmm,’ Aerdan intoned, sitting back heavily in the pilot's seat. ‘I’m worried about her.’
‘I am also. She has been damaged by someone in her past. She refuses to talk about it, but I feel the pain is similar to mine.’
‘I don’t know how to help her,’ Aerdan admitted.
Sidha was quiet, so Aerdan looked up at him. ‘How about you just stop hindering her.’
A bolt of defensive anger rose. ‘What are you talking about? I’m not hindering her.’
Sidha sighed. ‘Aerdan, Danielle doesn’t know it yet, or hasn’t accepted it yet, but she’s falling in love with all three of you.’
Aerdan reared back in his seat and glared at Sidha, who put his hands up in a defensive gesture.
‘It is not my intent to hurt you, but Aerdan, sooner or later you’re going to have to realise what’s happening here. What you’re supposed to do about it so that by the time Danielle realises her feelings, the three of you are ready for her.’
‘Ready to fight for her?’ Aerdan asked, though he tried to state it as a fact.
Sidha sighed and shook his head. ‘No, Aerdan, not to fight for her. To be with her.’
‘The three of us?’ Aerdan gasped.
‘Yes, the three of you. Why not? It’s not as if your community would care. They’ll consider it a blessing whether she has one or a hundred males. Dammit, Aerdan, she needs all three of you. You need to get your act together before she realises that or she’ll leave and never come back.’
Sidha ran his hand through his long blond hair, a sure sign of the Sindaal’s frustration. ‘I have to help Kentor in the hold. I’ll speak to you later.’
Sidha was out the door and gone before Aerdan could say anything. A part of Aerdan wanted to call him back and repudiate what he said, or to make him explain it. Aerdan wasn’t sure which.
He turned back to the view screen and stared at the stars, even more confused than before.
‘Haddis, Bedvir, I need you to come to my suite.’
Haddis heard tension in Aerdan’s voice. Without thinking, he set the bridge to auto and was up and out of the bridge a moment later. He passed Kentor on the way out.
‘I’m going to—’
‘I know. Aerdan asked me to take over.’
Haddis nodded and ran along the main hall of the ship. At the back was a small staircase and the lift that ran from Aerdan’s suite to the hold beneath. Ignoring the lift, he took the stairs three steps at a time until he emerged in the open doorway of Aerdan’s suite.
He walked in, seeing Bedvir had beaten him and was hovering awkwardly around the large circular sofa that dominated the main room.
Aerdan was stood in front of it, a serious look on his face. ‘If you would both please sit down, I have something I need to say.’
Haddis was sure he felt his heart stutter to a halt. Nodding wordlessly and worried what this conversation meant for their future, he sat, feeling the moment Bedvir landed on the sofa next to him.
‘As you know, we had issues a few rotes ago concerning my feelings for Danielle.’
Bedvir huffed out a laugh. ‘Issues. Is that what we’re calling it now?’
Aerdan’s face flushed, the purple-grey of his skin taking on a darker shade of purple. ‘I apologise, Bedvir,’ Aerdan said, his shoulders dropping slightly.
Surprised, Bedvir and Haddis looked at one another, Haddis seeing the same anxiety on his face as he felt inside his chest.
‘That’s a first,’ Bedvir answered.
Haddis nodded in agreement. In the years they’d known Aerdan, he’d never apologised or even hinted at contrition.
‘Well, I am,’ Aerdan said. ‘I know this must be strange coming from me, but considering the circumstances, things have to change.’
‘What things?’ Haddis asked.
Aerdan sighed. ‘It’s been pointed out to me that Danielle may well be in love with all three of us.’
Haddis sat, waiting for what he was sure must be to come. When Aerdan looked at them, confused, he realised Aerdan hadn’t known. Haddis kept his mouth shut, waiting to see where Aerdan was going with this.
‘I don’t know quite how we’re going to do it, but… I think we should share her,’ he said.
Haddis looked at Bedvir could see his disappointment.
‘So close,’ Haddis sighed, looking at Aerdan.
Aerdan looked from one to the other before a flash of anger lit his eyes. ‘What? What? What now? What am I missing? This is it, isn’t it? The solution the two of you have been going on about for days?’
‘Part of it,’ Bedvir said.
‘Then what’s the rest of it?’
‘You’re still not taking Danielle into account,’ Haddis hissed. ‘You’re still acting as though she has no choice in this. Aerdan, we want to be with Danielle. I want and always have wanted the three of us to mate the same female. To fall in love and make love to the same female. But this has to be as much about what Danielle wants as what we want.’
‘We have to woo her,’ Bedvir said, ‘As a threesome.’
‘I’m not doing anything like that,’ Aerdan said. ‘I exclusively like females.’
Haddis felt his hand slap into his face before he’d realised the urge had occurred.
‘So do we,’ Bedvir said. ‘I feel no attraction to males. I mean, we have to go to her, the three of us, and let her know we love her, we want her, together.’ Bedvir said the last word slowly, as though he was talking to a child.
‘Oh, yeah. That makes more sense.’
Haddis looked up at his best friend, mystified by how someone so intelligent could be such a charvosh in this moment.
‘So now what?’ Bedvir asked.
‘We wait until the temit,’ Aerdan said confidently. Haddis could see his eyes sparkling and knew that meant only one thing.
Aerdan had a plan.
* * *
Compound Errors descended through the atmosphere to the planet they’d named Crassis.
Danielle stared out of the bridge at the stunning alien world before her. The sky was shaded somewhere between red and pink, the colour so strong, so saturated that Danielle got vertigo as her mind tried to comprehend a sky so different to Earth.
Beneath the vessel, the plant life was different shades of blue with spots of purple, orange, and pink. As the ship descended towards their destination, she saw a beach caught between a virgin forest and vast blue ocean. The trunks of the trees were dark, almost black, while the sand was Aegean blue. It was almost monochrome with all the blue, but it was stunning and Danielle fell completely in love.
Her first alien world.
Well, not entirely, she realised. She’d been on the Raqhan colony of Vasa for a few hours before the Tessans picked them up. But it was a Raqhan colony so she tried very hard to forget it.
‘We’re landing there,’ Aerdan said. There was a natural clearing about a mile away from the ocean. The closer they got to it, the more of these clearings Danielle saw. W
ithin many of them, ships sat, smoke rose up through the trees, and she could see people walking about.
Temerin.
As the ship flew over the forest, Danielle’s eyes tracked over the clearings. There had to be a couple of thousand people here.
Haddis brought the ship to a stop over the clearing and manoeuvred the ship down through the canopy.
Danielle gasped. The canopy was thick and despite the clearings, the forest was dark due to the size of the trees. Beneath the canopy, the plant life was slightly bioluminescent.
The forest was lit with aquas, turquoises, and greens. The shading of the leaves was still visible in the planet's range of blues, purples, and pinks that seemed to dominate the colour scheme. It was like a fairy tale. Like something she’d read in a book in her childhood.
This place felt magical!
A sudden eagerness burned through Danielle. She wanted to go out there. Explore the forest, meet the people, maybe Imalia would be here.
When Danielle stood, she realised Haddis, Sidha, and Kentor, who were all on the bridge with her, were watching her, grins on their faces.
‘What?’
‘That’s the first time we’ve seen you smile like that since you joined us,’ Haddis said. He reached out, his fingers caressing her cheek and then gone so quickly, a shock of something electric and compelling went from her heart through her body. ‘You are truly a beautiful soul.’
Danielle smiled, despite the sinking feeling in her chest. Something flashed in Haddis’s eyes, but it was so quick she couldn’t tell what. She desperately wanted to believe what Haddis had said, but Danielle knew better. When Haddis realised, he would never look at her like that again.
‘Let’s go and greet people,’ Kentor said, pointing out of the window at the groups of Temerin walking towards their ship. ‘Father’s here.’
Haddis turned to the window, his eyes opening in shock. ‘And Gahdi Inria,’ he gasped.
‘Gahdi Inria?’ Danielle asked.
Kentor pointed out a group that were obviously Kentor and Haddis’s family. They had the same red markings, red hair of all colours, and red eyes. A large male as big as Kentor led the group, next to him a wizened old woman, her hair still as red as the others, was leaning on his arm as they walked towards the ship. Despite her age and way she was slightly hunched, her gait was strong and sure.