The Space Merchants

by Wendie Nordgren

  "May I help you?" Felicia asked me in her kind voice.

  I turned to her with a smile and said, "Hello, Felicia! How are you?" She clasped her hands together and then hugged me.

  "It is so good to see you! How was your trip?"

  "It was eventful," I answered.

  "I want to hear all about it. Come with me to lunch. I can close my door for a short time."

  "I would like that very much," I said and placed the skirt on her counter. "I'm buying that when we come back." She laughed, and we walked down a few stores to a small cafe. We ordered coffee and sweet cakes. Thunderdrop stayed behind my hair. Felicia told me about her new love.

  "His name is Soren. I met him while I was bathing at the Lake of Mist. He is so handsome and passionate."

  "Does he live here in Polybius?"

  "Yes, his restaurant is a few streets from here. He will make me fat!" We laughed.

  "These cakes may do that." We ordered two more, finished them, and walked back to her store. "What is the Lake of Mist?"

  "Oh, it is a magical place. You must go. Near a waterfall a pond formed. Spray from the falls fills the air in tiny drops that evaporate on their way to the pond's surface. A mist remains perpetually just above the water's calm surface. It is hidden from the sun on three sides by the mountains and a secret kept from tourists, but you are of my heart, so I will share it with you." In her shop Felicia wrote the directions to the Lake of Mists down on a piece of paper for me.

  "I would love to take Yukihyo there. It would be nice to be alone with him somewhere other than our quarters."

  "It is so romantic," she winked. "Wait here!" Felicia went to the back and returned with a gorgeous light aquamarine dress. Thunderdrop peeked out at it over my shoulder. The dress had thin woven straps rather than sleeves. I tried it on. The hem fell to the floor. The bodice hugged my chest and waist becoming fuller from the hips down. The thin woven shoulder straps continued from the shoulders down to my hips where they twisted around each other and then fell past each hip to the hem. The fabric in back gathered behind those woven straps and gently billowed behind me. In the dress and with my curls tumbling around my shoulders, I thought I looked pretty. "Perfect!" Felicia congratulated herself.

  "I'll take it! Is this too fancy to wear to dinner?" I asked.

  "No, it is just right." I changed back, and Thunderdrop jumped back to my shoulder from the white curtain of the dressing room. He kept hiding from Felicia in my hair. I thought he sensed that she might be afraid of him. I paid Felicia, gave her a hug, and walked with my bags down toward stores I had never entered.

  "The last thing I need is more clothing," I told Thunderdrop. A few of the stores sold sheets and bedding woven from Arachnean silk, along with pillows, drapes, towels, and other textiles. One store sold dishes and vases. Farther down and on the other side of the street, I saw the land transport. I crossed the street and began looking for Yukihyo and Hiroshi. I found them in a store that sold soaps, shampoos, and more expensive items like the curlers used at the baths. It looked like they had just finished the last of their deliveries.

  I overheard Hiroshi say, "Tatiana wishes to see me this evening, and I very much wish to see her. Drop me off, and I can get a ride with Phillip in the morning."

  "Hello, gentlemen," I said from behind them. Yukihyo, who had known I was near, turned a seductive smile my way that melted me. "I was listening. Who is Tatiana, Hiroshi?" Hiroshi blushed. "It's okay. You don't have to tell me," I said.

  Yukihyo chuckled, took my bags, turned to Hiroshi, and said, "Let's go." Hiroshi rode in the passenger seat and said nothing on the way to Tatiana's place. When the transport stopped, he grunted his thanks, got out, and waved. I moved into his vacated seat.

  "So, who is Tatiana and why is he so shy about her?" Yukihyo drove back toward town. Tatiana lived in an expensive part of Polybius away from the noise.

  "Do you want to go to dinner early?" he asked.

  "No, I want to go home, change, and feed Thunderdrop first. Well, who is she and why haven't I met her?"

  "Promise to pretend you don't know." Thunderdrop jumped off of me and began exploring the transport.

  "I promise to try really hard to pretend that I don't know who Tatiana is." He smirked at me.

  "Do you know what a courtesan is?"

  "No."

  "Do you know what occurs at Ms. Laura's on Malta?"

  "Yes," I blushed.

  "Tatiana is very exclusive, seeing only a few men, and they pay her very well," he said.

  "Oh, that's why he blushed. Why doesn't he just do what Phillip does and save his money?" Yukihyo's laughter echoed in the empty cargo hold.

  "Hiroshi doesn't have the time to cultivate such relationships."

  "He should make the time. It would be nice if he married and I had a new sister on Tora. Tina and Patna from the baths are both very nice. I should introduce him to them one day." We arrived home. I fed my spider and went to my room. I changed into the beautiful aquamarine dress, my gold sandals, and the necklace Yukihyo had given to me on my first trip to Scipio. I ran my fingers through my tousled curls. "How do I look, Thunderdrop?" He chittered at me and jumped up to his web. "Are you staying here?" He spread out and closed his eyes in response. I turned from my vanity mirror as Yukihyo entered. He was gorgeous. Yukihyo wore a blue shirt and black pants. His eyes shone like pearls beneath his thick dark grey lashes. His beautiful full lips smiled when they saw me.

  "Surely, I am the luckiest male in the galaxies to have the attention of such an ethereal beauty." Yukihyo kissed me.

  "You have much more than just my attention. I just so happen to love and adore my handsome alien boyfriend." He laughed at me.

  "Dinner, my lady?" Yukihyo asked as he offered me his arm.

  "Yes, please."

  We took the large land transport through the darkening streets to the waterfall restaurant to which we had been before. At night it was lit by candles. "This is the first time we've had dinner alone together off of Tora," I said.

  "Having you all to myself here is euphoric," Yukihyo said as he gazed into my eyes. He made my stomach flutter. I reached for his fingers.

  "I love having all of your attention."

  Yukihyo turned serious, "I would give it to you always if you would have it. The bonds of family mean much to me. It has always been the way of my people. Hiroshi is my brother, and I am grateful to him for becoming my family, but I find myself to be greedy. I want you to be a permanent member of my family as well, not as a clan sister, but as my life partner, my mate." I fully grasped his hand in mine in the flickering candlelight as the waterfall splashed in the darkness. I was deeply touched by Yukihyo's romantic words and smiled at him.

  "I am yours. You know that, even without my words. You mean more to me than anyone I have ever known. I had doubts that love was a real thing until you proved it to me by loving me unconditionally. My home is where I lay my head upon your chest and listen to your heart beat until I fall asleep." Yukihyo looked down at our hands.

  "I am not clear in my meaning. When I spoke to you of Hiroshi and I being brothers, I meant not only in our hearts, but officially as well. I wish for you to accept me as your mate officially, permanently." My heart began to hammer against my chest, as understanding hit me.

  Shocked, I said, "Your wife? Is that what you mean?" Yukihyo thought.

  "Yes, that is the word you understand for what I want." I stared into his eyes.

  "You want me to be your wife? As in we will always be together, and you'll never leave me? Like that?" My heart and mind had joined into a tornado. I thought I might faint.

  "Yes, but I do not understand your feelings. Does my desire displease you?" I didn't understand.

  "What?" I asked.

  "Do you need more time to decide what you think of me?" Yukihyo asked beginning to look hurt.

  "No, no, I know. I would be honored to be your wife. I just didn't think...." Yukihyo rushed to my side before I could explain. His
lips pressed to mine as he kneeled beside my chair. In time he released me. Yukihyo pulled me to my feet.

  Instead of driving back to Tora, Yukihyo drove us to a familiar place. Smiling at me he got up and went into the cargo area of the land transport and grabbed a large blanket. Yukihyo got out and walked around to open my door. I held the hem of my dress up with my hand. Yukihyo took my other hand in his as we walked together down the dark path. In an empty space, he spread out the blanket. Yukihyo sat down in the center of the blanket and pulled me down in a pile of aquamarine fabric beside him. Yukihyo laid back on the blanket and pulled me down with him. I rested my head on his shoulder. Together, we listened to the last soft notes of the rocks. "It was here that I first realized, I never want to spend a day having not seen your eyes," Yukihyo said. I lifted up on my elbow and kissed him. Yukihyo sat up, so I did as well. He pulled a scanner pad from his back pocket.

  "What do you have that for?" I asked.

  "It contains a contract for us, for our marriage. I prepared it in the hope you would agree to a permanent relationship with me. Do you wish to read it before we are scanned? First, do you wish to keep your name as it is, add mine to it, or just change to mine?"

  Stunned for a second time in the same night, I asked, "So, are we getting married right now?" Yukihyo kissed me and smiled at me.

  "Of course, why wait?" I couldn't think of any reason to wait. Yukihyo asked, "How do you wish to be known?" I thought.

  "Green is a name that I associate with bad memories. I don't mind dropping it." Yukihyo tapped a few times on the scanner pad. I saw his smile in the dim light and the illumination from the scanner. Yukihyo pressed his palm against the scanner's surface and then held it out for me to do the same. Yukihyo tapped it a few more times and then laughed.

  "It is done!" Yukihyo showed me the official record that Teagan Green had married Yukihyo Lee. He showed me my official documentation and permits with my new name, Teagan Lee. I was a married woman? "Shall we go home, my lady wife?" he asked. I laughed with more joy than I had ever felt.

  "How am I supposed to believe this is even real? What if I'm dreaming?" Yukihyo lifted me to my feet. He wrapped his arms around me.

  "If you dream, you shall wake in my arms each morning and fall back into your dreams at night where I shall catch you." Yukihyo folded up our blanket, and we made our way back to the transport as husband and wife.

  Once inside my quarters, Yukihyo ran his hand from the base of my spine up into the back of my hair. He drew my lips to his and kissed me with a tenderness that melted my heart even further. Our clothes fell to the floor, and we fell into each other on the bed. I felt the emotional bond we shared deepen with the push and pull of our bodies. I ran my hands over the muscles in Yukihyo's arms as he moved above me. I tried to move closer as he pressed against the place within me that drove my thoughts away with each touch. My existence broke apart into bursts of fiery sparks. Yukihyo's movements became frantic until he too exploded in pleasure and collapsed on top of me. I stroked his hair as he rested his head upon my breast. As he brought his breathing under control, Yukihyo closed his lips around my nipple, sucking it between his teeth. I gasped and another wave of pleasure burst through me. Yukihyo kissed my breast and pulled himself from inside of me.

  "I'll be right back, lady wife." He stood and left my quarters with nothing on. I sat up against my pillow and pulled my blankets up to cover my chest. Yukihyo returned and got into bed with me under the covers. "Will you wear this for me?" he asked. Yukihyo held a ring out to me. I took it and looked at it. The ring was made of a brown stone and was designed as two intertwining circles bound together with a thin dark wire that looped intricately around and between them, binding them together. The ring was a work of art, if ever I had seen one.

  "Yukihyo, it's stunning. I've never seen anything like it. Where did you get it?" He thought for a moment and then put it on the ring finger of my left hand.

  "I had it made for you. Hiroshi told me it is a custom of your people to symbolize a life joining. It pleases you?" I looked at the ring on my finger.

  "I'm your wife." It started to sink in. Yukihyo held my hand in his, enjoying the sight of his ring on my finger. "What are the brown stones?" I asked.

  "On the way to Malta, you were frightened by the asteroid storm. I caught a few asteroids in a collector, so that I could show you they were nothing to fear. I became distracted after we landed, with work and the attack on the mine. When we arrived on Scipio, I brought them to a jewelry maker. I wanted you to remember that you have nothing to fear, and our love will bind us together through storms and the vastness of space, separate, but joined together with an unbreakable bond. The metal weaving through and around the sculpted meteors will grow and widen outward from the rock as the years pass, binding them more strongly, but crushing neither of them. However, the growth will not be noticeable to the naked eye." I had started to cry. Yukihyo wiped gently at my tears.

  "You did all of this for me?" Yukihyo kissed my forehead.

  "When you are afraid, I want to destroy your fears. When you feel sadness, I need to replace it with joy. When you feel weak, I will lend you my strength. All that I am and will be is yours my lady wife, for all of my days." I saw the truth in his pearl white eyes. I felt it in my heart and in the pull between us, centered under my ribs.

  Thunderdrop spun a line of silk down from his web and walked to the bed, crawling up the blanket. He blinked at us.

  "Yukihyo, you give me everything." My voice broke. "What can I give to you?" He kissed me.

  "You are near me. You let me hear the sound of your voice and feel your touch. It is you who gives me everything. You became my wife today, as the rocks sang to us, Teagan Lee." We slept with my spider crawling about the blanket.

  Chapter Nineteen

  The next morning, we awoke to the chirping of birds. Stretching against his warm side, I said, "Good morning, husband." Yukihyo hugged me tightly to him and then spent some time making it a better morning. Then, in the shower, Yukihyo pushed my back against the shower wall, lifted me to wrap my legs around his waist, and made it an even better morning. "I should marry you every day," I said as I wrapped my hair in a towel. "We haven't even gotten dressed or had breakfast, and I'm already tired," I laughed at him. He reached for me again. "Thunderdrop is hungry."

  "Fine." He grabbed some pajamas and went to his quarters to dress. I put on a light blue silk dress and some soft shoes to match, gifts from Simon. Thunderdrop climbed the dress to my shoulder. We went to the laundry room, and I gave Thunderdrop his breakfast. Then, I hurried to get a cup of coffee. Yukihyo waited for me at the table with cups for us both.

  "Thank you, husband! Is that what you want me to call you or something else?" He flashed me a naughty smile.

  "You may call me whatever you wish after this morning." I blushed. I sipped my coffee.

  "May I get you some breakfast?" I asked.

  "I would like to buy my wife breakfast at the little cafe near Felicia's shop. Then, we should deliver Sashka her mother's cake. After that, I will do anything my lady wife wishes."

  "In that case after our first breakfast together as husband and wife, and our cake delivery, what do you think of visiting the Lake of Mist? Felicia gave me directions. We could play in the water and enjoy what she describes as a most beautiful setting." Yukihyo stood, held me, and approved our plans with a kiss. I washed our cups and Thunderdrop's bowls, and then the three of us prepared to go. We grabbed towels, our swimwear, and the cake, and then headed to the large land transport. Yukihyo drove us to the cafe.

  After our breakfast, I ordered small sandwiches and bottles of juice for our lunch. Yukihyo delivered the cake, that had survived uneaten in our cold storage, to Sashka. As I exited the cafe with my spider on my shoulder, Yukihyo came out of Sashka's store and took the lunch bag from me. Using Felicia's instructions, Yukihyo drove us to the Lake of Mist. Just as Felicia had described, the lake rested in the protection of high cliff walls on
three sides. Trees and flowers grew from the walls, protecting and darkening the cool water. Soft mist floated a few inches above the water's surface. We changed in the back of the transport to the excited chittering of Thunderdrop. As soon as we were free of the transport, he scampered away to play in the trees.

  "I have never seen this place. It is remarkable," Yukihyo stated. Other people were enjoying the lake as well, but the lake was much larger than I had expected and provided privacy for its visitors. Hand in hand we stepped out into the clear fresh water. Yukihyo swam far out into the middle. I waded in as far as my chest. The stillness was interrupted only by a soft splashing from a low waterfall on the far left side of the enclosure. Yukihyo swam to me. His hair was slick with the water. His eyes, so like the color of the mist, were almond shaped and framed by dark wet eyelashes.

  "I am pleased to have such a handsome husband." He picked me up in the water and held me in his arms. I kissed his jaw. Then, smiling wickedly, he tossed me! My butt hit the water, and I sank. I came up sputtering with wet hair plastered all over my face. "Yukihyo!" I moved my hair back and wiped my eyes. He laughed at me shamelessly and kept out of my reach in deeper water.

  Smiling at me he said, "You must promise to forgive me before I will come closer."

  "Okay, I forgive you." He swam to me.

  "Put your hands on my back. Hold on, and I will show you what I have found." He turned his back to me, and I placed my hands on his strong shoulders. Yukihyo swam with me on his back to a small hidden grotto. It was shallow enough for me to stand. Hanging above and obscuring the entrance, flowers grew from vines that draped and fell toward the water. Pink and white flower petals floated on the water's surface. I felt Yukihyo's hands removing my shorts. My eyes widened in shock. Before I could protest, his lips were on mine. His strong hands lifted my thighs, and I wrapped my legs around his waist. I was helpless to prevent the moans escaping me. Yukihyo placed kisses along my neck. I threw my head back and clung to his shoulders as the waves of pleasure began to crash through me. When I came back to myself, mist shrouded water and delicate flowers surrounded us. I could feel my husband inside of me and relaxed my legs to give him his freedom. We replaced our clothing, and he swam with me back to the shore. We spread our blanket out and enjoyed our lunch together. After drying a little in the shade, we dried off a bit more with our towels and changed in the transport. I walked back toward the lake.