Mating Flight

by Mating Flight (lit)

  He raised his head a little. His eyes had darkened. "That was a nice welcome."

  "If I could be in your arms the rest of my life, I'd be all right."

  "I wouldn't mind, but I wouldn't get much work done."

  "You don't understand. My species doesn't take mates, not really. Not like yours does. Many of us fall in love for life, and there are people who claim to be soul mates. The soul is the essence of a person, and when people become soul mates they become two halves of a whole. But I don't feel like a soul mate. My body throbs when you touch me and I know you're my mate. But how can it be when humans don't take mates?"

  "Why question what's true, Shel? We're mates. A mating flight is powerful in a number of ways, beyond virility for the male and fertility for the female. By entering your body during the flight I became one with you. I was claimed as soon as I filled you."

  "But I didn't feel anything. Not then."

  "You told me you were thinking of other things. Come on, I'm hungry."

  Sheleigh halted him by placing her hand on his arm. "Kleet, why was the information in this room kept secret from me? Why was the fact that your species is winged kept a secret?"

  His hand over hers tightened painfully. "You didn't tell anyone that, did you?"

  "No. I've been here and at the residence all morning. Why ..."

  "We don't tell outsiders about our wings. You must never tell anyone."

  "But why?"

  "We'll talk about it at home tonight. Come and eat."

  Chapter Ten

  Sheleigh wondered about the secrecy off and on for the rest of the afternoon. Averan history was fascinating. It kept her absorbed until Kleet came to get her at the end of the day. She didn't argue when he kissed her in greeting, or when he took her hand as they rode the hydrolift to the roof. He was possessive and demonstrative, two qualities desirable in a husband. She would spend the evening doing married things like eating dinner together, talking, comparing their day, making plans for the week, and then they'd go to bed together. Her lower body clenched at that thought and she felt the tenderness from his last possession. Further mating might be painful. She assumed Kleet would want his husbandly rights tonight. She'd have to tell him how tender she was.

  Kelfer was waiting for them in the air transport.

  "Sheleigh."

  "Avatier." She climbed into the transport. Kleet slid into the seat next to her. Once they were airborne she addressed her father-in-law again. "I don't know how a woman addresses her mate's parents. What would you prefer?"

  "My name is fine, although I would prefer you address me by my title in public, as Kleet does."

  "All right."

  "Kleet told me you would like your mother here for the babies' births, but that your mother has never been away from her planet."

  "That's true. But I'd feel more comfortable with my mother here. These are my first babies, after all."

  "As you know, Avera isn't open to visitors."

  "But she's my mother." Keep calm.

  "You'll want your father, too?"

  "He'll probably come with my mother."

  "Will they stay with the other humans from your group?"

  Sheleigh wondered if her parents could stay at the Kryszan residence. She didn't know Kelfer. She didn't know Averan traditions. "Wouldn't they stay with me?"

  "If they were Averan they might. But they're not Averan."

  "Neither am I."

  "You're Kleet's mate and you're carrying his children. That makes you an honorary Averan."

  That's why the secrets could be shown to her. But it still didn't explain why there were secrets at all. Kelfer had the power to block her parents from coming to see her. How adamant could she be with him? She was afraid to give birth in this foreign place without her mother nearby. She refused to entertain thoughts of what else she might fear.

  "I'd prefer my parents to stay with me, if at all possible. They'll be nervous enough after a long space journey and being among different species."

  Kelfer glanced out the window and back. The transport approached the residence. "We'll discuss this topic more later. Kleet, I'd like to talk with you privately."

  The transport landed perfectly on the roof pad and they disembarked. Kleet held her hand again. She was grateful for his support after being summarily dismissed by his father. She hoped Kelfer wasn't going to say something to Kleet like, "Keep your mate in line."

  She walked with Kleet to their suite of rooms, where they freshened up for dinner. She debated what to say to him before his talk with his father. They faced enough obstacles already in their marriage without adding discord between her and Kelfer.

  "Kleet, I want my mother here. If she travels all the way from Earth, she really should stay with me. She won't interfere with your lifestyle. She'll simply help take care of me and the babies, get to know her grandchildren and see how I'll be living for the rest of my life. She's not a threat to your family or your species."

  "And if, by chance, the babies are winged? What then?" His tone was sharp.

  She gasped. It was the secret of the wings! They were afraid her parents would find out they had wings. She almost laughed. Her portly father with his nose stuck in books was no threat to them. But Kleet's fierce expression sobered her. His grip on his forearm was painful.

  "How could we expose defenseless babies to outsiders?"

  Shocked, she wrenched away from him as though he'd struck her, which he had, in a way. "My parents would never hurt any baby, especially not my babies. My parents are no threat to our children. They'll love their grandchildren, I can guarantee it." They might be shocked at the sight of winged grandchildren, but the babies would still be their grandchildren. Sheleigh knew her mother would be ecstatic to hold any type of grandbaby in her arms if it came from Sheleigh's body.

  "What would your parents tell others about winged grandchildren? Wouldn't those others want to investigate those winged grandchildren? Wouldn't they guess that one of the parents also had wings?"

  "Why are you so afraid of others, knowing you have wings?" Maybe he would tell her now, while they were alone.

  "We're too vulnerable to attack in the air if someone knows to look for us there."

  There was more to his statement. She sensed the history throbbing through his words. She knew something had happened to the Averans. What was it? She had to know. "Tell me all of it. Who attacked you?"

  He hesitated. Was even this bit of their history considered too secret for her to know?

  "We don't know who they were. We thought at first they were ..." He trailed off and stared at her. His expression was troubled. Another realization exploded in her mind like an epiphany. He wasn't used to thinking of her as his mate, as an insider. The Averans had kept their secrets so long that he had trouble breaking generations of taboo.

  "You thought they were the same as the first visitors," she guessed.

  His eyes widened and he gripped both of her arms. He searched her face intently. "Who told you that?" he demanded. His voice was harsh and strained.

  "No one told me. I'm trained to observe societies, to look for their historical advancement. Your history contains an anomaly. This morning I learned that your society was primitive. Today you're highly advanced. But you still live in caves, figuratively and literally. You didn't get the technology on your own. Some other species helped you. Who?"

  "We don't know what they were called. He never told us. His spaceship became disabled, so he landed here. He taught us about power generation, mining, computers, communication, manufacturing, and mechanical flight. We learned all he could teach us in his lifetime. He always looked for rescue. That's why we thought it was someone from his species coming to rescue him.

  "But it was a different race of beings. We couldn't communicate with them. They took what they could find, which wasn't much at that time. Then they shot Averans who were in the skies. When they couldn't find enough people in the skies to kill, they murdered everyone they could find
at the government hall, including the Avatier's family. That's how my family acquired the rule. Several thousand of us died that day, men, women and children.

  "The caves saved us. We burrowed deep into the mountains and hid for days. They finally left, but it took weeks to find out everyone who'd died. Every family lost someone. The Avatier's family was completely decimated. Many mates were lost, so families were vulnerable without a bonded couple heading them. Children were lost, which put families at risk with no next generation.

  "More mating flights were flown that year and the year that followed than ever in our history. New mate bonds had to be forged. New pregnancies had to be started. Old mate bonds had to be strengthened. We grew strong again through the mating flights. But from the day of the massacre we agreed, every one of us, that we would not show our wings to outsiders."

  Sheleigh's chest and throat were tight with sympathetic grief for what the Averans had suffered. Even though it had happened hundreds of years ago, Kleet talked as though he'd experienced the emotions of that day. He must feel very deeply about what happened.

  "Can you describe these killers? Does anyone know what they looked like?" She had to be sure. Avera was in the right part of space to have been victimized by the Malchovists.

  "We all learn what they looked like so that we know to prepare to fight if they ever come again," he said with fierceness. "They were shorter than us, male, no hair on their heads, with burly bodies. They wore blue and brown one-piece suits."

  "Malchovists," she hissed, horrified for the Averans.

  Kleet reared back from her and his expression was accusatory. "You know them? They belong to USP?"

  "They're our mortal enemies. For over a century we've protected our member planets from them. As new species come to us for protection, we spread farther into this sector of space. They've killed thousands of us, too. We've hunted them, with the intention of exterminating them, but without success."

  He looked relieved. His hand clasped hers again so she ventured to ease his mind further. "You have nothing to fear from USP or the species that belong to USP. We celebrate diversity and physical differences. You've seen some of our different species already. You can tell your people they can stop hiding their wings now."

  "No, we can't risk it. It was a huge risk taking you as my mate."

  She gasped, stung by his words. "So much for your proclamation of love. How could you even think you loved me if you thought I was such as risk?" She turned away from him. Didn't love go hand in hand with trust? She'd thought so.

  "I do love you, Shel. But that doesn't mean I'm willing to risk my entire planet for that love." He slid his hands up her arms to her shoulders and drew her back against his warm firm body. She resisted until her body touched his, then the mate bond encouraged her to press against him. He murmured the next words against her temple. "I thought you'd understand the desire to protect fragile life now that you're pregnant."

  She shook her head against his chest. "You don't need to fear USP. We'll help you. We'll protect you from that ever happening again."

  "I want to believe you." He wrapped his arms around her and she slid her arms over his. "We were so afraid when the first of your people came. We hid the children so they would live if there was more killing. Then we armed ourselves to fight for our families and our lives. I still remember the fear I felt that day. That's not something you can just dismiss."

  No, a lifelong fear might take a lifetime to fight. Her lifetime. "I'll teach you and your people that you have nothing to fear from USP. My children will teach you, and their children will teach you."

  His arms tightened around her. "You almost give me hope."

  She sighed as she further resigned herself to her future here. Kleet had just given her the opportunity USP needed. She would be the only one offered this opportunity. To waste it would be unpardonable.

  "I need to tell my superior that your people were attacked by Malchovists." He stiffened behind her, so she hurried on. "I won't mention the wings, but they must know. My group is vulnerable while we're in an area where Malchovists have raided."

  "We won't allow more of you to come down. My people are already nervous about your group being here."

  That wasn't news to her. "USP may begin to patrol space around this planet." He shuddered. "They don't need to come down to the planet to protect us. They'll do it from space."

  "Everyone is in space, both the good and the bad people. We're the only ones who aren't in space."

  "In order to enter space, you'd have to give up your isolation. You'd have to risk meeting other species. You'd have to expose your secret."

  "If we continue to evolve as we have, in another few thousand years we won't have a secret."

  She turned in his arms to face him. "You can't wait that long to enter space. I'm from space and you've adopted me into your species. My children will be taught about USP and humans and space. My children will be USP citizens, as I am." He looked startled and she felt a spurt of satisfaction at surprising him with that bit of knowledge.

  "USP isn't going away, Kleet. We know you're here and we want to get to know you. We want to help you. We want to see you in space beside us. The future is coming at you at light speed. It's standing in front of you right now. I brought knowledge with me into your home, and now you can't go back to the way things were before."

  She watched his face twist with regret and dismay. He hadn't thought far enough beyond his heart, his loins and his people. He should have thought all the way to the stars. "I didn't lose my ties to my own planet, my own family and my employer just because you bound me. I'm more than just Sheleigh, just as you're more than just Kleet. We both have strong ties to other things and other people. I'm also tied to the future."

  "I didn't think ... I didn't know." He looked chagrined.

  She raised her palm to his cheek. "How could you have known? You've been pretty insulated on Avera."

  "I've explained why we've had to be."

  "Yes. But change is coming, Kleet. You won't be able to stop it."

  Kleet left her to the tender graces of Lefair while he spoke privately with his father. The Kryszans were well off financially. They could afford to pay others to cook and clean for them. This freed Lefair to attend the duties of the wife of the Avatier, of which there were surprisingly many. She filled Sheleigh in on her day while they waited for their men to finish talking. Sheleigh kept only part of her mind on the discussion in the comfortable sitting room. The other part speculated about the talk between the men. If it involved talk of her parents, she should be there. If they discussed isolationism, she should be involved in that, too.

  She'd found Kleet to be a strong and forceful man, but his father seemed to be stronger. Perhaps it was because Kelfer had held the rule for so long. When Kleet had been ruler that long, he'd be stronger too. But in a contest of wills, she wasn't sure that the younger man could win against the older man.

  It was frustrating being tied to a man she barely knew. He didn't understand her needs, so how could he stand up against his father for those needs. That made it harder to wait with Lefair.

  "Don't worry so much, dear. I've never known Kelfer to make a decision which wasn't for the best of all concerned."

  "He's mortal, that makes him fallible. Besides, he's used to deciding for Averans. I'm not your species. I have different needs."

  "Your needs don't seem much different from ours. You want love, a home, a family and happiness. You have all that now. Kelfer will make sure you keep it."

  Sheleigh's chest felt tight. Yes, she'd wanted those things for the future. She was blessed with them earlier than she'd planned. But ... "I don't want to be made a prisoner while I enjoy my good fortune. My needs are to remain connected to others in USP, to share ideas with others in my field, to have access to new species and all species in general. I need the freedom I've enjoyed as a USP citizen and the freedom of ideas I've grown used to. That's how I differ from Averans. Kelfer can't possibly
know what I need, because he's never lived anyplace else."

  Lefair frowned, clearly thinking hard. Sheleigh had found her mother-in-law to be a bright woman. She was sure Lefair would try her best to picture another's point of view. She willed Lefair to understand. Lefair's brow cleared. "I'm sorry, dear. I don't have your experiences away from this planet to understand what your life was like before you came here. I believe what you say, but I can't empathize with what you need."

  Sheleigh sagged with disappointment. If this bright woman couldn't understand, there was little hope that others would understand. She didn't want to point out that she was alien. Not when she had so much painful adjusting to do.

  Kleet and Kelfer joined them shortly. Their expressions were solemn and resolute. Her stomach clenched with anxiety. Kleet took her hand and led her into dinner. She couldn't read anything in his face, although his jaw was firmly set. She'd seen that expression this morning during her mate confirmation. She didn't want to go up against his will again so soon.

  Kelfer broached the subject she hoped for and dreaded in the middle of dinner. "Sheleigh, I understand your desire to have your parents here for the babies' births, but I just don't feel it's prudent or feasible at this time."

  She set her utensils down on the table with a small snap. Hurt hit her first, like a fist in the gut. Anger followed immediately afterwards. Her determination fired her with righteous indignation. She attempted to temper her roiling emotions with logic.

  "Please explain your reasoning." Despite her attempts at control, her words were clipped.

  Kelfer's features hardened. Too late she remembered that he wasn't used to being questioned by people outside of the council. She'd never seen Kleet question him before today.

  "There are places where ... outsiders ... are not yet allowed. The medical facility is one such place. Sick people cannot be asked to cover their wings so that outsiders won't see them. So, for your parents to come all this way and not be able to be with you during the birth makes no sense. I won't allow you to jeopardize my grandchildren or yourself by having the babies at home. We don't know if your human physiology will be affected by the births."