The Kingdom of Ecstasy

by S. R. Laubrea

  The affairs of the Alyi were a mystery, even to those who thought they knew her best. While suffering and rebellion crept along the surface of the one world, on the other side of its sun, hidden between intense light and replete shadows was another Dyjian. Its surface was yet shifting and shaping, the atmosphere volatile.

  While she worked out the cosmetic and practical features of the planet-to-be, the Alyi stirred something within the hearts of the three kinds on the planet-that-is, the inhabited Dyjian.

  Early that morning, Rollond had only sat up and stretched when a pair of arms reached around his shoulders and black claws scraped his chest.

  "Must you go in today?" Sanci asked, purposefully sounding drowsy.

  "You know I have a city to run. There are districts that need my oversight."

  She brushed her lips on the nape of his neck. "Mmm — but I could use your supervision," she said, her tone soft. She licked the side of his neck, her tail crossing over his lap.

  Right away, his abs tightened. What man wouldn't know what his business was?

  "You haven't touched me in the better part of six years," she whined, splitting her fingers around a certain part of him as she slid her hand down his hips.

  "There's an important matter I have to see to." He plucked her hand from him, and removed her tail. Today was the day he wanted to contact Ielase. The message was vital.

  "Nai'ii!" She straddled his lap and opened her silken nightgown. Then she splayed her fingers on his shoulders, and he let her push him back until she leaned forward over him. "What could be more important than us right here, right now?" She slid his pyjamas down.

  He rolled her underneath him. At once she clasped her legs around his waist.

  Oh, that familiar warmth. She had already slipped in an oblong ball of lube, and it had almost completely dissolved. Still, the remains of it touched him and he pushed it in deeper. "You're making this difficult," he said. "I've got orders from the Alyi and —"

  "Rollond," she said, her voice low and vehemently moan-like.

  He held his breath.

  "I need you." She said it all in that same tone. She knew precisely what his weaknesses were. She arched her back, flattened her belly to his, her breasts against his chest.

  Her skin rubbing beneath him sent tingling electric waves down his spine. He groaned, gasped; it was deliciously unfair.

  "Tsche, Rollond!~" She sang in his ear, her voice soft, though with an escalating pitch.

  He shuddered, letting loose sooner than he had wanted. "Damn it, girl," he panted, "do you ever play fair? You bring me to my knees before I can stand!" He paused, holding his hips flush to hers.

  She turned him until he was beneath her. "You don't like what I do?" she asked in that whiny voice, making pout-y lips.

  From all the times they engaged in sex, Rollond had learned that there was a certain kind of vulnerability to it. A weakness that he wanted to have, a desire to be manipulated, this craving to be forced into succumbing to Sanci's will. It was only when he wasn't in control anymore that Rollond thoroughly enjoyed her.

  And in her own way, she was very much like him: persistent, obstinate, strong.

  "No," he said, flatly. "I love you for it." He propped himself up on his elbows and watched her hips roll, until she flared the train of her tail and hid behind it. Something about her nacre eyes peering over the iridescent patterns on her crimson feathers was more enticing than watching her breasts bounce. "Make me come," he said.

  "Nai'ii."

  "Then stop."

  "How about you just don't come."

  "You can't stop me."

  "If you do, I'll make you swallow it." A smug grin lit her features.

  He knew she was reading into the struggle taking place within him. So tantalizingly close, he didn't want her to stop, and at the same time he didn't want to swallow a mouthful of his own semen. "But… you're going to make me."

  "Tsche."

  "T-that's not fair…"

  "You're right, its not."

  "Sanci please, I don't want to."

  "Mmm…"

  "Please!" he gasped.

  She licked the side of his neck and made that sweet sound just below his ear, that he could feel the heat of her breath where her tongue had just been. "Rollond," she whispered.

  An excited twinge tensed his stomach. There was the cold of her sliding off of him. For a second he had relief. That is, until she gripped his slippery member.

  "I'm begging you, Sanci!" He squirmed. "Please, my tyiha!"

  "You love me for it."

  Yes, absolutely; beyond the fringes of doubt. Though he squirmed, she didn't stop, and every fiber of his being was rife with chaotic ecstasy. Then, finally, she aimed him for his navel, and the inevitable happened. She stroked him until there was a small puddle on his belly. Then she lapped most of it up and pressed her lips to his, parting them with her come-laden tongue.

  The salted taste of himself was especially sour, and at the same time it was particularly sweet. She pushed more into him until white drizzled down the corners of his lips. He swallowed because she wouldn't, and she wasn't about to let up until it was all gone.

  In the end, she sat on his tummy, her tail swishing behind her while she gazed into his visage.

  Between humiliation, ecstasy, passion, and adoration, he didn't know what to feel. "What you do to me, you freak." He smacked her butt.

  "That's why I've got your babies." She grinned.

  "I need to call my secretary." He stretched, rested his head on his hands. "One day, we'll be legal. I can officially go out in public with you and call you my wife, mother of my sons."

  "Until then, can we have a couple more?"

  "Yes." He nuzzled her belly. "Give me a girl."

  "I don't think that's up to me to decide."

  "And this time, if I may be included…"

  "Of course!" She lay beside him.

  Dawn filtered through the curtains. The boys may not be up as early as their parents, but they were early-risers for six year olds. As soon as light cracked the sky, the door crept open.

  Lucein rubbed his eye with his free hand. "Mama?" He climbed onto the bed and nestled up to Sanci. "Good mooorning." He peered over her side. "Papa's still here?"

  "Yes, I am," Rollond said.

  "Is something wrong?" Lucein asked.

  "No, you know me. I'm taking care of things." Oh, the precious look of curiosity on Lucein's face.

  "Things like what?"

  "Like having sex."

  The three-lettered-word didn't register with the boy all that quickly. When it finally did, his face contorted into look of absolute shock and his mouth gaped in terror. Rollond busted-out laughing.

  "Why would you do that!?" Lucein sounded near hysterical. "That's disgusting — you get cooties from things like that!" He was still a child.

  "I know, right? Eww! But we want another baby, so I have to get the cooties," Rollond said, puckering his lips and making a pout-y face.

  "You have to get the cooties to make the babies!?"

  Rollond nodded.

  Lucein glanced down at the bed, his eyes bright with revelation. When he finally looked up, desperate determination marked his features. "I'm never having babies. I'm staying away from girls for the rest of my life!"

  "Good for you, son!" He rustled the boy's hair. "Keep saying that until you hit five hundred." No sooner had he said that did the door swing open.

  Gnyovante stopped just beyond the doorway. Rollond's face was still alight from laughter; his mother was glowing; and his brother was mortified. "Did I miss something?"

  "THEY WERE HAVING SEX!" Lucein shrieked. He scrambled off the bed and nearly thudded into Gnyovante as he bolted out the room.

  Rollond watched the chocolate-haired child stand there, brow wrinkled, head cocked to one side as if trying to surmise whether or not he was okay with it. Then he shrugged. "We're out of toilet paper," he said, and left.

  The white-haired man roll
ed to his side of the bed and snatched his phone. Normally he was at his office before his secretary, and by now, she should have called him.

  "Greetings, you've reached the Rynaelt, Sir Alekzandyr's office. How may I direct your call?"

  "Zazie, it's me. I'm not coming in to the office today."

  "Sir, then may I leave early?"

  "Check to see if any of the other Rynaelts have left anything on my desk. I want you to call me if there's any business I need to know about. Also, I need you to forward file six-two-seven to the PTNA channel 9. I trust it'll end up in the right hands. After that, you may leave."

  "Consider it already done. Thank you, sir." She hung up.

  He turned to cast a sideways glance at Sanci. There was only open space beside him. A cold sensation crept along his intestines.

  What if everything that letter entailed went horribly wrong? What if, in discovering the truth, the whole city turned on him? He'd come this far, he didn't want to lose Sanci or his boys.

  Dearest Alyi. Keep an eye on these intricate affairs.

  When the letter arrived in an undisclosed inbox, everyone in the Prisbeald True Nature Association complex wanted to see it, because it supposedly had the direct sanctioning of a Rynaelt. Meaning that it had an exclusive, hand-written signature.

  The file went from the executive of Commissions, through a committee, to the editor in chief of the Nature department, and finally appeared on Ielase's desk. She had only tapped it when the door to her tiny, suffocating office slid open. She'd almost glared him down, until she realized who it was.

  When Jaselin waltzed in, her expression softened.

  "Love of my life!" he said, sliding his arms around her waist. "This is our big break. I know it in my guts."

  The light of her desk shifted and brightened. It was a typed letter, and on the bottom it was signed.

  Jaselin's face beamed in the holographic light. "I'm itching to see his signature," he whispered in her ear.

  She scrolled back to the top.

  To whom this may concern,

  While I thoroughly enjoy the wholesome programming the PTNA offers the city of Prisbeald, it has come to my attention that there is a clear deficit in material covering our neighbors just on the other side of the junction.

  I am personally offering significant funds to whomever possesses the audacity to begin a complete series covering the nature, habitat, culture, mannerisms and other things as pertains to the Kyusoakin. I would like for the city to be as informed and educated on the matter of what and who these beings are, as opposed to being fraught with superstitions and urban legends.

  To my complete understanding, the Kyusoas of Ashui-hilo are diverse and pose no threat to anyone on the grounds of amicable human interaction.

  I want this to begin immediately.

  Sincerely,

  R. J. Alekzandyr

  Rynaelt

  "Oh, he's got a calligraphic hand!"

  "He's left-handed," Ielase said, "and he writes it backwards."

  Jaselin traced his finger along the lettering, trying to emulate doing it reverse-left-handed. "And how do you know all this?"

  "He used to work for me, that's how I know about his signature." She never told him about their adventures inside Cou, or the time they spent at Tyluthwe. She also knew the exact dimensions of Rollond's strange dick, if it could be called that, though he'd never let her get near him, not even with a 50-foot pole. Add to that the fact that he had no balls. She had immediately thought he became a eunuch some time after the fall of his home nation.

  Then he turned up with children, and those boys were unmistakably his.

  "He's a strange man," she said, a distant look in her eye. She glanced up and found her husband analyzing her. "I asked you to stop doing that."

  "I can't help but think you know more than you've let on."

  "I thought this was our 'big break'." As much as she had knocked skulls with Rollond, she didn't want to divulge details about him. To the city, he was 'RJ', and they were content to know him by his initials.

  "Yes," Jaselin pulled up a second chair and positioned himself on the other side of the desk. "I want you to go this one alone. The intention is to have raw, uncut footage, like a documentary crossed with a slight reality show. He wants to see these creatures at their bare-bones, and that's exactly what we'll give him — live. You'll take a microcam with you, and I want you to have the solarcharge for your cell. Call me if anything happens. I'll be there in a second if you need me."

  "When am I setting out?"

  He put the microcam on her desk. "ASAP," he said.

  "I could be gone for weeks." She took the camera. It was barely a fist-full.

  "It's alright," Jaselin said. He stretched across the desk, the message scrunching under his chest in the blocked holo-light. He sought her lips, and she didn't withhold them from him, sliding her hands into the back pockets of his jeans. She gave him a tight squeeze. "Besides, I have your baby pictures!"

  "You never cease to gross me out with that," she said, pulling the sleeves of her jacket over her arms. She tucked the microcam into her day bag, and in a matter of moments she was out the door.

  She took the rail from the transit station nearest the complex. The ride to the junction was as tranquil as it was eerie. Her hearts fluttered at the thought of returning to a kyusoakin establishment. So much about their way of life was different. They were a care-free species, for the most part, and she missed their adamant, curious and considerably robustious children.

  And… Rah'ii.

  The brutal reality was she's human and he wasn't. Unfortunately, it couldn't work. It would never work between them. She clutched the shoulder strap of her bag, and recalled the night before her wedding, when she had gone into Ashui-hilo.

  Two months after they all arrived, she met Jaselin. Two years later he knelt and slid a bangle on her arm, and she said yes. The night before the wedding she went to tell Rah'ii the news, though her hearts were thrashing.

  "I want you to know that I've met someone, and we're marrying tomorrow."

  He nodded, slowly. "You are a woman," he said, "so you were made for a man." Not once did he look up, and for the first time, she thought she had brought him to tears.

  "Rah'ii, I'll always be your friend…" She reached out for him, to run her fingers through his mane.

  Before she could reach him, he sauntered away on all fours, his tail dragging behind.

  What could have been different? She loved Jaselin. That wasn't going to change.

  The rail came to a graceful halt. The doors slid, and she stepped out onto the platform of the dilapidated transit. Just two miles separated her from Ashui-hilo. The junction was four miles broad from the transit. Though it was about sixty miles from its center.

  Ashui-hilo was a walled community. They didn't like the idea of humans being able to freely waltz on and off their territory, so they set up entries and exits. Then again, from what she knew of Tyluthwe, all kyusoakin Communes were something like that.

  Two kojae sat on their hinds when she came near, their tails crossed over their wrists.

  She knew that they inferred from her scent that she didn't have the proper genitalia to insinuate peaceful intentions. "Tsche au," she said, waving.

  "Qamacht au dyiche?" 'What business you have here?'

  Her first instinct was to present the letter. She started for her bag, then stopped. That wouldn't mean anything to them. "Nai… yiim… ryispaach luimaa au ethuoil ptungae qa'ai PTNA." 'I am here to represent you to our public through the PTNA channel.'

  The one koja glanced at the other, who shrugged. They motioned for her to enter.

  She reached into her bag and withdrew the microcam. With the scan of her thumb, the thing flickered to life. She gave it a quick toss and it took an orbit around her head. She glanced around, and the microcam aimed its lens this way and that, recording whatever she happened to look at.

  Ashui-hilo wasn't like other Communes. Probably be
cause it was a gigantic city. The first thing that drew Ielase's eye were the immediate structures: great poles, thicker than the base of the most ancient tree on Dyjian, were spread out before her.

  "Dearest Alyi…" She gawked up into their dizzying height, only to realize that she couldn't see the peak from where she was on the ground. Broad plates, like the open, flattened cap of a mushroom layered their way up the pole, and on the tops were other structures — buildings — and still more dangled like decorative bells, secured as if by vine-laden chains.

  Excitement twanged at her guts while her stomach grew queasy and sank. "I should've refreshed my Tswaa'ii before coming here. Sweetness, this place!"

  She struggled to find Ashui-hilo's gathering place. But when she found an open, disc-like formation on the ground with more than a mile of open space, the thought ran through her mind that this was the place. "The first thing you do when entering a kyusoakin society is find their local gathering pit and wait."

  She sat down and crossed her legs. "It may seem strange, waiting, when immediate integration would seem the more plausible thing to do. But what you want is for the little guys to come up to you first. You see, the kyusoa are a patient, observant species. If their children display signs of fear, they'll either boot you out, or disembowel you on the spot.

  "Obviously I'm not worried about the disemboweling part." The first one to approach her was a little goji. She had gotten to sniffing Ielase's scent downwind, and before acknowledging the woman, she lifted the flap of Ielase's bag and stuck her head in.

  "See, see?" She watched the girl rummage around, then turn and stare up at her.

  "Zahaschtae nai'iitomei primaacht." 'There's noting to play with in here,' she said.

  "Su'u," Ielase said, picking the goji off the ground. "Nibatzuh ahmyitaadt oulufi'fe myiq au,' she said: 'I'm sorry, I didn't plan on you being so cute.'

  Soon another one stepped up to her and tapped on her calf. The nijuan stared up at her. "Tsche au, giistaad ni goji suulqaasz?" 'Hi, can I play with my sister please?'

  Before she could put the goji down, a familiar voice sounded from her left: "Your Tswaa'ii is better."

  She cast a glance his way. "Ashenzsi?" She put the goji down and almost skipped up to him, neverminding that she was still broadcasting to a live audience. She tossed her arms high over his shoulders as he craned down to embrace her.

  "I take it The One has sent you?"

  "You mean RJ?"

  "Is that what we're calling him now?"

  She nodded. "Yes. You know him, always gots a face to keep."

  "Tell me about it." Ashenzsi rolled his eyes. "You need a place to rest during your stay, or has someone already invited you in?"

  "No, I could use somewhere to put my things."

  "Would you like to stay with me?"

  "Yes, that'd be lovely."

  "Tsche, follow."

  There were cantons according to Caste, although the kyusoakin intermixed throughout the day. Dwellings among the mated pairs were determined by the caste of the female, as she was the physical and social superior of the two sexes.

  The canton belonging to the Uutaijen was rich with sunlight. It was like a garden, the netroas spread out, lush burgundy grass and an array of brightly colored blooms.

  When they arrived at Ashenzsi's he parted the curtain for her. The netroa was cone-like. The first floor was a broad area, with the living room marked off by a depression in the foundation, and the kitchen rested on bamboo-like rods covered with mats where most of the standing was done. A single-pole ladder led to the upper floors.

  He had decorated his dwelling in neutral tones: browns, tans, grays, blacks, whites. It made the more colorful things like the striped, rainbow resting pillow in the living area pop out.

  "Your room will be on the third floor. There are four of them, and you have two to pick from. They're the less-furnished ones."

  "Great! Thanks." She ascended the ladder. Peering into two of them, she did notice some personal items that occupied two of the four rooms.

  Why would Ashenzsi need two rooms?

  "Do you have a roomie?" She called down to him.

  "Ma'aukjen," Ashenzsi said. "How was it?"

  "Su'u…" A second voice sounded from the first floor. "Unfulfilling," he said.

  "That's why I gave up my sex."

  "Stop gloating, you taalwumete-infested aqiaadtzsi."

  Then there was the sound of someone starting up the pole.

  "Ma'aukjen, before you go up there, there's something I need to tell you —"

  Oh, the look in his swirled, basalt-gray and magma-orange eyes, like staring down the throat of a live volcano. He stood there, something like shock halting all progression towards his room.

  Her hearts stopped. "Rah'ii," Ielase said, her tone soft.

  He grimaced and immediately descended the pole.

  Dyinaacvas, the 16th day in the month of Korec.

  Five days a week she made footage from dawn until dusk. On the sixth day, she called Jaselin until her cell died. Then she'd recharge it and resume calling him.

  But Rah'ii, although he made himself adjust to her presence, spiraled deeper into an unresolved turmoil.

  Four years had passed since she dropped the news, and six years since he last had a taste of her. She had moved on, it was clear from the things he'd overhear her say to her husband — how the concept made his stomach churn.

  He had to respect her and her mate. No matter what, that was his priority. Yet even now, at length within another tyiha, he dreamt of what could have been. If only he had the courage to do it some years before, even back at the estate of her father. Maybe she wouldn't be on the arm of some uunani kyisoulaat.

  He steadily came to a halt. He looked absently into the tyiha's face, and although her dissatisfaction was evident, he couldn't hide the bitterness from surfacing on his face.

  "Uutaijen, what is wrong?" she asked.

  He withdrew from her. "Forgive me, I've lost all focus." He wrapped the folds of his robe around himself and departed from the hut.

  Soon enough he came to a shallow pool. He stripped and sat in it, the sun-warmed water making his skin ripple. This was what he had to come to grips with: that he wasn't through with her, not as much as she seemed to be with him.

  It was the years between them that refused to let her die to him within his rou'u, further cemented by the fact that he had tasted her first. Not even four years worth of tyihai could wash her from his mouth.

  He scrubbed his tether, rose from the water and laid on the bank of the pool for the sun to dry him off. Deep down, the embers of his feelings still burned. The words from then still rang in his heart:

  Deschki a'elle: 'Free to love.'

  He gathered his robe, tied it by the sleeves around his waist and started for the netroa he shared with Ashenzsi.

  Now, on a Dyinaacvas Ashenzsi spent most of the day sleeping. Meanwhile Ielase was on the phone.

  "Darling, its about to die," she said. "I hear it bleeping."

  There was a pause. Rah'ii ascended the stairs.

  "I know, I will," she chuckled.

  He stopped just beyond the archway, the drapes drawn.

  "Yes, I'll be home in another week. It'll go by quicker than you think. Don't forget that I love you." She hung up, sighed.

  He took a deep breath, gripped the rising anxiety in his belly and with the back of his hand parted the curtain. "Nehamaschti au?" he asked: 'Do you really?'

  She didn't turn to look at him, leaning on the windowsill instead. "I do," she said.

  "Temyiae nisaidt u'un Va'vaa-ii." 'Tell me it in Tswaa'ii.'

  "Kyiluunghe gijyi au!?" 'What does it matter to you!?'

  "Netai ja'unau a'elle?" 'Do you love him?'

  "Nai… nai telmacht aasui!" 'Of course I… I do!'

  "Netai ja'unau a'elle?" 'Do you love him?'

  She stood quietly. "Nai aasui…" 'I do…'

  "Aevu'uin?" 'And but?'

  Another paus
e. She had to think.

  Tswaa'ii was a strange language. It had a knack for exposing secrets, because It descended from Savuung, the language of secrets, the obscure tongue of the Xei. Tswaa'ii was believed to be words originating from the Rou'u, and the Kyusoakin knew that whomever couldn't speak it didn't have a clean Rou'u.

  That's why he wanted her to answer in it.

  "Aevu…" 'But…' "Listen," she said, reverting back to Gyuton. "Jaselin is so sweet. We never butt heads, and he's always there for me. He handles my childish fits well, and his love for me is near-endless. He — he loves me the way you did."

  "The way I still do —"

  "But he's human. Rah'ii, that's what it is. He's what you could never be! And yet… you are what Jaselin isn't."

  "Uin aunai avaazsi?" 'And what am I to you?' He approached her at the windowsill. His hands trembled, until he lay his palms and spread his fingers on her hips. Gradually, he moved them forward, until his arms were around her.

  She pressed herself against him, and tilted her head back.

  He didn't dare touch the bare skin of her neck, though the shimmer of her pale flesh beckoned him. He'd already committed enough disrespect, prying into her — into them — and embracing the delicate creature that belonged to Jaselin.

  "Qeitaavudt niau e'ei." 'You were mine first.'

  "Tsche," she sighed.

  "Uin staazsi kyiuu." 'And it was good.' He sensed the rise in her, body growing hot, pulse quickening. She was soon to be in want. He wondered if she would've run off to her man. He let her go and stepped back.

  Now, neither one of them had paid Ashenzsi any mind. He had rummaged through Ielase's bag and gotten her microcam. With a tiny surge of his aelyth, the cam came to life. He clutched it in his hand, turning it to his face.

  "This is the sound of the future," he said, keeping his voice low so that the two of them couldn't hear. He lay on his belly at the archway and parted the corner of the drapes just enough for he and the camera to see.

  Rah'ii sat on the ysi. She joined him on it, pulling herself close at his side. "Rah'ii, you are the only one to whom my rou'u belongs." she said, her tone soft.

  "Come back to me. I'm desperate and alone."

  "I don't know how."

  He sat up, opened his robe, and exposed the head of his tether that rested at the slit of his hips. "Suck and drink from me, that no man may ever want you again."

  She looked uncertainly at his tether, that he extended towards his navel. She sat back, as though her first instinct was to flee. But the three of them knew better. She leaned forward between his legs and took hold of him.

  He relaxed the powerful muscles of his tether, and let the long organ be fluid in her grip. How she blushed, daring t lick it. Then her whole face brightened.

  "I hear its sweet," Rah'ii said.

  "Mmh, it is.~" She pulled his organ down so that she could lay on her belly and took him with pursed lips.

  He ran his fingers through her mahogany hair, until she straddled him.

  Not once did the actual dimensions of his form register with Ielase. For all the decades that she had known Rah'ii, in her mind he was no taller than a man. A tall man, like Marqisian. Now that she straddled him, she was a small thing on a lengthsome creature.

  He snipped the fabric of her skirt and it fell away. Her delicate panties posed no problem. He pulled the crotch back and to the side, then —

  All this was unfolding before an audience. When Ashenzsi had just turned on the microcam and the whole thing was starting to go live, the studio was too aghast and intrigued to cut it, and it went live to teles across the globe.

  Ashenzsi lifted the microcam and crawled from the archway. He ducked into his room, aiming the cam down at him. "Tsche, the way is open. The fear of many of you uunani is unfolding before your very eyes. It may not happen today, or take place tomorrow. But there will come a time when the man will be ill with love for the tyiha, and the woman will choose the koja.

  "You saw it here first: brought to you by Prisbeald's True Nature Association, channel 9!" With that he set it on the floor outside of the second guest's room.

  Melvas, the 17th day in the month of Korec.

  That morning Ielase rolled and stretched over Rah'ii. His tether must've receded sometime during the night. She drew the skirts over her naked form, and sat up. Then she felt the pressure within her lower belly.

  What if that all went gushing out of her? She'd have at least an hour's worth of a mess to clean up. Yet she couldn't remain in the ysi forever.

  "Don't fall, you'll dislodge the plug."

  She nearly jumped at the sound of Rah'ii's voice. "You're up early."

  "You were hoping to slip by?"

  "I have a job to do."

  "You sound just like the white-haired man."

  She shrugged. At least dawn was filtering through the window, whereas it'd be dark for a number of hours when Rollond rose.

  "And how are you?" he asked.

  "Satiated." She pressed her lips to his.

  "There's plenty more where that came from."

  "I don't doubt it. But I must be getting back to my documentary."

  "If you must."

  She staggered up from the ysi, and without a second thought passed the curtain to —

  There sat the microcam.

  "Ooh… Dyiij, my Alyi." She knelt and tilted it back. The LED ring around the lens was bright. Had it been broadcasting the entire —

  And there she had emerged naked. If it just happened to be on, that alone was incriminating enough. She scooped up the device, turned it off and rushed into her quarters. She snapped her phone from the windowsill and swiftly dialed.

  It rang once. You have reached the voicebox of Jaselin Natetherein. Leave me some words and numbers and I might show you my greatest card trick! Bleep.

  "Jase! Oh, Jase, please answer. I need to talk to you, something's come up."

  She hung up and hit redial.

  It rang once. You have reached the voicebox of Jaselin…

  She tried once more.

  It rang twice, and he answered.

  "Jase?"

  No response.

  "Jase, it's me. There's something I need to tell you —"

  "You mean there's more?"

  Her hearts stopped. "You — what did you see?"

  "'Suck and drink from me, that no man may ever want you again.' Sound familiar?"

  "Jase, I can —"

  "I really don't want your explanation, Ielase. I don't know what I want, but I know I can't — deal — with this right now. I wish I could justify it as rape, but I saw the whole damn thing. His jizz is sweet, is it? What, was mine too salty, too sour? I hope he always tastes that good to you."

  "I need you to hear me out, Jase, please…"

  "What?"

  "I know what you saw — what I did — is inexcusable. And add to that the fact that I never told you about Rah'ii. But what came over me… was more compelling than anything I've ever experienced. More compelling than what drove me into your arms. Like it was in my nature; I can't help that I'm drawn to Rah'ii like I am. And I should've told you. I hate to say it, but —"

  "No, I get it. I do. I'm not putting that bangle back on, and I don't care what you do with yours, Ms. Ankuseth." He hung up.

  Melvas, the 23rd day in the month of Korec.

  Three chairs occupied Rollond's office. Normally there was just the one, and on the occasion that he brought his boys, the two, but Gnyovante wanted his own seat separate of his brother.

  On the other side of the desk sat an olive-skinned man, dark reddish-brown locks plastered to his head from the downpour. The silence was palpable, despite Lucein's genuine smile. It must've been Gnyovante's hardened, dedicated stare.

  "So you must be the boy who said his mother was a kyusoa." Jaselin said, pointing at Lucein.

  "Don't come up in here like you know us," Gnyovante said.

  "Oh… Sorry." Jaselin stared at the screen-locked desk.<
br />
  "Don't let him intimidate you," Lucein said. "He's only six. Yes, I said that." He scooted his chair a ways around the desk and offered Jaselin his hand.

  The man stared at him. "What happened?" he asked, gripping the boy's offer.

  "What do you mean?"

  "You only have four fingers."

  "You mean that isn't normal?"

  Just as Jaselin was about to respond, the door in the rear of the office slid open and Rollond stepped out. He took the center seat at the desk and motioned for his son to round back to his place. "Jaselin Natetherein, welcome. It's a pleasure to finally meet you," Rollond said.

  "The pleasure is all mine, Sir Alekzandyr."

  "I prefer RJ."

  "Y-yes. Sorry."

  "I was reviewing the case you submitted, and first I want to say that I'm sorry to hear of the sudden disenchantment you went through with Ielase. I'm sure that must've been a shocking revelation in its own right. Yet I've been meaning to ask you: are you certain you want to pursue charges against her on the grounds of bestial indecency?"

  Rollond noted how Jaselin's shoulders drooped and his gaze dropped to his feet.

  "Honestly… no. I don't. Look, I don't mean to come to the head of my district with my problems, but I'm in need of direction. I don't know what the right thing is anymore. When I see her from the broadcasts, she's so damn happy with that creature. Yet humanist law is persistent that there will be no accepted unions outside of our species. I don't want to see her executed, but that's the law.

  "As far as I'm concerned, if she's happy, what's the harm in it? You're our Rynaelt. She used to tell me that if the world ever seemed upside down, I should turn to you. And my world is turned wrongways. So, I want to petition that the humanist laws be abolished."

  Rollond leaned forward. "What is your position within the PTNA?"

  Jaselin looked up. "I'm the editor in chief of the nature department. Why?"

  "I find your request quite noble, Jaselin. However, to get enough leverage you must defend Ielase's show."

  "I don't understand…"

  Rollond bobbed his head. "She's not the only one. Ielase is just one exposed case out of millions world-wide. What people need to see is that there's nothing to fear. They're not animals; they're intellectual beings of a higher existence, much like ourselves."

  Realization brightened in Jaselin's eyes. "What about the other Rynaelts?"

  "I'm not concerned about my peers." Rollond leaned back.

  "How can you not be?"

  "I have friends in high places."

  Jaselin gave him an odd look. "The Rynaelts are the highest authorities in Prisbeald. Exactly who or what could be higher than you lot? Unless you're talking about something like Divine Providence."

  Rollond wrote something on a piece of paper.

  "… You're left-handed," Jaselin muttered.

  "I used to work under the supervision of her and her brother down at their father's estate, where I also met my wife, Sanci."

  "What sort of person is Sanci?"

  "She's a kyusoa."

  "And you're not afraid you'll be put to death?"

  "I have friends in high places."

  "So does The Cult."

  "Mine are higher than theirs." He handed the slip of paper to Jaselin. "I want you to keep me informed. And please, call me Rollond."

  The man's hands trembled with Rollond's cell number in his possession. He stood up, his eyes eager. "I… will." He turned and departed the Rynaelt's office.

  As soon as Jaselin was out of sight, a small hand tugged at Rollond's cuff.

  "Papa," Lucein said, "how do you know you can trust him?"

  "I don't. But you saw and heard what he had to say. My intuition is that he's 'on board'."

  "Until he isn't," Gnyovante said. "What if he comes back looking for our blood?"

  "I'll deal with that," Rollond said. "For now, a lesson in the monotony of politics."

  The desk came on with a soft jingle. The three of them spread out around it, and Rollond divided the display into three planes.

  Lucein fidgeted in his seat. It was the first time in his life Rollond allowed the boy to manipulate something relating to his work. It wasn't the most paramount of things. Yet it was sensitive enough that Rollond could tell the boy felt important.

  On the other hand, Gnyovante was harder to satisfy. He struggled to involve himself with things of a sensitive nature when he wasn't putting his hands to work.

  Rollond watched him out of the corner of his eye. Maybe the chocolate-haired child didn't have as much diplomacy in his blood. Maybe this boy was more of a firebrand warlord. Rollond could imagine Gnyovante as a subtle tyrant, and he wondered how he had managed to spawn a being with such potential.

  A few hours later, Rollond stretched back in his seat. Lucein was fiddling with his palm-sized crystal-thingy, meanwhile Gnyovante seemed near the end of his wits. Rollond jabbed Gnyovante's shoulder.

  That boy's ever-stoical and distant gaze was unnerving.

  "Come on, kid. Lets go pummel something until it breaks."

  "That sounds awfully reckless," Gnyovante said, staring Rollond down, who matched that emotionless and far-away stare.

  "So?"

  "Okay."

  "Lucein, you want to watch the office?" The thought of leaving a six year old in charge of delicate situations and sensitive information would've made any competent man cringe until he shat himself.

  The boy arched his brows, as if asking if Rollond would really let him do it. "Can I order lunch?"

  "You can tell Zazie what to get."

  "Will I get to dictate the outcomes of people's affairs?"

  "If you think you can." Jaselin was the important issue of the day. Beyond him, the petty cases that came across Rollond's desk were easy enough for Lucein to handle.

  "What about attending a conference?"

  "That might bore you to tears."

  "I'll do it!" Lucein's lips formed a wide-eyed, ear-to-ear smile that rivaled that of the Cheshire Puss.

  "Good, we'll be back in a few hours."

  Third Born.

  Luorvas, the 20th day in the month of Baa'ai;

  What happened the day Sanci gave birth;

  Summer of the 697th year of the Second Epoch of Dyjian.