by Brandon Hill
“This isn’t the guest quarters, li-ah,” I said as the girl that I had fallen so deeply in love with turned to face me. She sauntered towards me, her violet eyes keen with intent, and my heart raced with anticipation.
“Actually, I’ve a guest suite accessible from here,” she said, and led me to the bed.
“These are your quarters?” I asked, more out of rhetoric than curiosity.
“Can’t you tell?” Sar’vana slid onto the mattress of the bed, brushing the clothes aside. “I figured that you would find this much more comfortable, after all.”
“It sure looks comfortable,” I said as Sar’vana pulled back the top spread. The remaining clothes fell to the floor, and she took hold of my hand. It took no effort at all for her to pull me down with her, and into her arms.
“My li-ah…” She whispered and busied her lips with mine, and I freely allowed the ardent desire to build between us.
I remember little of what happened. It was all a haze of sensation, desire, and the sound of the blood rushing in my temples ... until she removed my shirt. Once she did this, it was as if the universe were placed on pause. Sar’vana gasped and propped herself up, wide-eyed, her sight set dead upon the Na’li necklace that lay prominently upon my chest. I smiled at her all-consuming shock, but refrained from laughter. She was a beautiful sight as her once-panting breaths caught in her throat, and I removed the necklace.
I’d run through the wording of the ritual in my head multiple times when I read about it from Zynj’s library network, but until the moment that I had made my mind and placed the jewelry around my neck, I had never thought that I would have had the chance to say it, and with so much unbridled joy, rather than bittersweet happiness.
“Li-ah, Na-li an-yi’ha,” I said. “My darling, accept my offer of love,” was the closest translation. “Na-li rio’ri an laiyuu kai,” I continued. “And be my only mate forever.”
“Li-ah…” Sar’vana quavered, and I saw her lower lip tremble. Tears pooled at the bottoms of her beautiful violet eyes as she coughed back sobs of joy.
“Sar’vana Van … my li-ah, do you accept me?” I asked, switching to English as I unclasped the necklace.
Her mouth moved, but the word was choked in her throat as I presented the gift to her. I knew the tradition. She had to accept, and take the necklace from me before anything else. But it seemed that words had thoroughly been stolen from her. Actions, however, spoke instead, as before I could ask again, she grasped the necklace in her hands, leaned forward, and extinguished any further words with her kiss.
A flame shot through my body at the touch of her lips, spreading from my face, down by back, and into my limbs. I slipped my hands off of the necklace, relinquishing it to her grasp as my fingers traced their way through the soft fur of her arms, and then to her shoulders, and her back, where I pressed her to me, deepening our passionate embrace until necessity forced us to come up for air. Panting for much-needed oxygen, we paused, but still kept our noses touching each other’s.
“Yes,” Sar’vana said in a voice that was small and breathy, and my joy was complete.
I saw her clasp the necklace, settling it upon the place where it would remain for the rest of her life.
“Ta vu’ra-na. I accept you, Julius Galway … my li-ah.”
She passed her tongue gently across my lips, and I did the same. And our kiss led us into the softness of her bed.
As I quickly discovered, it was a very comfortable bed.
Sar’vana and I relished the bed’s supporting softness as we proceeded to seal the promise of Na’li in Felyan tradition: joining ourselves in love, body and soul, and thus making ourselves mates for life. That was truly our best time, I think. The first time was both awkward and wonderful as we learned about each other; the times during that week were bliss, but peppered with a certain anxiousness as we enjoyed the dwindling time we thought we had left; now, knowing that we had a lifetime, we took our time. We paced ourselves and gave ourselves to each other with freedom in an act that was neither fevered nor needful. We made love with a thoroughness that was seasoned with passionate affection and joy that exploded in an apex of shared ecstasy, and then left us both spent and satiated, as our love burned like fire that forged us together into one piece, our hearts and souls forever one.
Lying with Sar’vana upon the feathery soft cushions of her bed, I felt the tickle of her tail as it swished back and forth lazily upon my leg. Not counting a moment ago, it had only been a day since we last made love, and yet it felt like it had been weeks. I heaved a deep, audible sigh, Sar’vana’s head rising and falling upon my chest where she lay. I wished that this moment could have lasted forever, as I smelled the powdery scent of her fur, felt the warmth of her body, and the softness of her breasts upon me. She purred contentedly as I played idly with her fur, reaching down and stroking her spine. I felt her muscles tighten as I neared the base of her tail, and felt her stir.
“We don’t have time for more right now,” she warned in a tone that sounded as disappointed as I felt.
“I know,” I said. “But a little wishful thinking never hurt anybody.”
“That’s all it is, my li-ah.” She yawned, and I stifled a chuckle at how amusing it looked when she did it.
“We have a lifetime, actually,” I said, and slipped my hand into hers. “A lifetime together.”
“Oh!” Sar’vana’s ears pricked and she lifted herself from my chest, propping herself up to face me fully. “I completely forgot! I can’t believe I forgot it!”
“What?” I asked, suddenly anxious. “Forgot what?”
“What I wanted to tell you at Blue Point,” Sar’vana said with a self-deprecating laugh. “I feel so foolish! I can’t believe I forgot something so important!”
“Li-ah …” I laughed at her look of frustration, and then touched my hand to her cheek, signaling a lack of malice in that laugh. “Are you going to leave me in suspense, or are you going to tell me?”
A chime sounded just as Sar’vana opened her mouth to speak, and her smile dramatically shifted to a scowl. Through clenched teeth, she muttered something in Felyan, a curse by the sound of it, as her head turned towards the door.
The chime sounded again, and she brushed the back of her hand softly against the bristles of my five o’clock shadow, her eyes apologetic.
“I guess I’ll have to be left in suspense, then,” I said with my own modicum of frustration as I watched Sar’vana slide off of me, and reach for a loose bedsheet on the floor which she wrapped about herself. “I’m coming!” she shouted in annoyed Felyan as she approached the door.
I saw the door open only a crack as she passed her hand upon it, then spoke in low tones to someone on the other side that I could not see. She reached into the crack, and retrieved a white bundle, after which she shut the door.
“It was Gar,” she said, turning away from me, towards a smaller table beside her dresser. “Father wants us to meet him in his quarters for dinner before we head to the Elders. He found some clothes for you.”
“Really, now?” I said, sliding deftly out of the bed while Sar’vana placed the clothes upon a stand beside her dresser. It was a bit embarrassing despite the fact the she was now essentially my wife, as when the sheets slipped away, they revealed my renewed arousal, borne by the sight of the lithe beauty of Sar’vana’s body, exposed fully after she had allowed the sheet that covered her to drop to the floor. Quickly, I mastered my embarrassment and instead, catching a wave of child-like mischief, used the moment to my advantage. Sar’vana had been absorbed in straightening out the new change of clothes, and thus had not heard me slip out of the bed. Sneaking up behind her, I wrapped my right arm around her waist as she made a tiny gasp.
“Bath or shower?” I asked in a sultry voice, pressing her to me to where my lips caressed her ear.
“Bath or shower?” She said, genuinely confused by my question. “What do you-”
The fingers of my left hand reached the base of he
r tail, and her words died upon her lips as she at last understood. I scratched gently at the sensitive area, hearing her breaths catch in her throat, and a soft purr erupting unbidden from her depths as my lips traveled to her neck.
“Sh-shower …” Sar’vana whispered in a seductive lilt as she leaned into me, “… around the … c-corner, beyond the partition.”
“Good,” I said as her purr became a low growl. “Makes it quick.”
Hand in hand, we hurried to the shower, driven by urgency of time and our bodies. I then proceeded to show her that we did indeed have just enough time for one more.
Looking back, perhaps we did have time afterwards for Sar’vana to tell me what she had wanted to say, but between our fatigue after the pleasantly elongated shower and our hurry to get dressed, it seemed that neither of us remembered.
The clothes that were brought for me consisted of a white tunic, simple white pants and sandals, along with a leather belt fashioned Felyan style, with a long, narrow strap that wove through loops set in the belt’s wide section. It was altogether a very comfortable ensemble, made of a material that was soft like silk, but not quite as sheer.
“How did they even know my size?” I wondered aloud, feeling the cloth of the shirt as I followed Sar’vana to her father’s quarters.
“Probably the doctor,” Sar’vana replied. “Her instruments most likely told her when she first examined you.”
“Pretty slick,” I said with an approving nod as Sar’vana passed her hand over the large door that loomed in front of us, twice the size of the door to her quarters. “I’m sorry we’re running so late, by the way. The shower … well, it was kind of selfish of me.”
“Oh, I’m not complaining,” Sar’vana replied, and flashed a wide, sultry grin my way. “I’m happy, li-ah. Happier than I’ve ever been in a very long time. How can I not be? You wanted me, and have made me your lifemate. What more could I have asked for?”
Love spread through me like warmth at her words, and I squeezed her hand when she slipped it back into mine. I wanted to kiss her again; I wanted to forego this dinner and bring her back to her quarters, where we could make love again. But I purged such selfish thoughts from my mind. Her father was important in this as well, and I appreciated this opportunity very much. After all, it wasn’t every day that the director of the Felyan technicians invited you to dinner.
A large painting stood out among everything in the dining room. It rested behind the director, who sat at the ornate marble and wood table. The painting portrayed a female An’Kya Felyan, robed in a flowing, strikingly green dress. The familiar striped patterns upon her nearly white skin were ghostly pale; even her luxurious mane of hair and the fur on her tail that was wrapped around the dress’s lower section was white. Her eyes were an almost milky blue, and a serene smile graced her lips. Amidst the vibrant forest background, her beauty was utterly haunting.
Agura stood and crossed the room to greet us … and then stopped, confused at the sight of the necklace that Sar’vana prominently wore. When I explained how I discovered it, a joyous laugh burst forth from him and he grabbed Sar’vana and I and pulled us into a group embrace with his long, powerful arms.
“I should have known that it was only a matter of time!” He boomed as he released us, much to my relief, and then eagerly gestured for us to sit. Almost immediately after we did, a retinue of An’Kya Felyans emerged from a door at the chamber’s far end, carrying trays of steaming exotic foods.
“Once we return to An’re’hara, I’ll be holding a feast in your honor,” he said to me and Sar’vana, speaking in a way that assured me that he would most likely not take ‘no’ for an answer. “I’ve no doubt you will make my daughter very happy,” Agura said as we sat to eat. A retinue of An’Kya Felyan servants appeared from the doors behind Agura’s chair to serve the first course. They each slid a haunch of unusual-looking reddish meat onto our plates, along with something that looked like a boiled white cabbage. Another servant poured wine from a decanter into the glass before me. It had a very strong odor, resembling a medley of fruit juices.
“If it’s not too forward of me,” I said to Agura while examining my food and noting its not at all unpleasant aroma, “you seem very relaxed about all this.”
“And why wouldn’t I be?” the director replied matter-of-factly. “What father would not be proud to know that his daughter has chosen a lifemate, and especially if she made a choice of one he thinks so highly of?”
I could not help but be more than a little flattered at his accolades, though it was obvious that he did not exactly understand what I was saying. “I meant the meeting with the Elders.”
“Ah. That,” Agura said before tasting his wine. I did the same with my glass and found that the taste was much bolder and sweeter than I expected. “I see no reason to worry. They’ll confess to their wrongdoings and hand our people over. They wouldn’t dare be so testy as to show off their stubbornness. There’s too much at stake.”
“But … do you know how much they hate you?” I said, holding nothing back. “You’d be surprised.”
“Would I?” Agura put down his glass, and not skipping a beat, took the haunch of meat into his hand and delicately bit off a piece. “I’ve dealt with humans most of my life, you know.”
“Li-ah, we’re quite knowledgeable as to just how prejudiced humans can be against us,” Sar’vana said. “Look at how long it took for you to lose that attitude with me.”
I had been about to take a bite of my own food when Sar’vana’s words stopped me cold. “You … you knew?” I said, my voice flat and inflectionless.
“I’m not a fool,” Sar’vana said, with a longsuffering grin on her muzzle. “Your scent gave more away than you knew. But the choice was yours to make. I learned of the effect my scent had on humans long ago. It’s not something I can help, though I could have used it to my advantage. Of course, to force it upon you would have been wrong.”
“And here I was, thinking I’d hid my reservations well.” I said, grinning in spite of myself. “But you know, you kind of put together what the ambassador told me.”
“It’s because he taught it to her,” Agura said.
“That sounds almost like birds and bees talk,” I said.
“Birds and bees?” Sar’vana said, her expression blank. I glanced at her father, who did not seem to comprehend either. I was momentarily bemused at this, as Sar’vana had always showed a fair grasp of human idioms before.
“Personal matters involving … ah … reproduction,” I translated with some abashment. Of course, neither Sar’vana nor her father was offended by this. Both merely smiled with comprehension.
“Ah! Well, it is ‘birds and bees talk,’ as you said,” Agura remarked. “And normally, it is something that parents share with their children, but Shezmi beat me to it.”
“A Vlissian taught you that stuff?” I asked Sar’vana with surprise.
“Well, he was my teacher,” Sar’vana replied, placing a leaf of the cabbage-like vegetable into her mouth.
“During your time on the ship?” I asked.
Sar’vana nodded. “He volunteered. Father was often busy, so he didn’t have the time to teach me everything, and everyone on the ship had a job to do.”
“Thankfully, Vlissians are the only race who knows us just as well as ourselves.” Agura said. “And they know more about your species than you’d imagine.”
“Well, he did seem pretty knowledgeable about Felyans,” I said with a nod. “And he knew quite a few things about us as well. I wouldn’t be surprised if he knew more than that.”
“Have you told him, my dear?” Agura now spoke to Sar’vana who paused in her meal, and looked down at the floor.
“No, father,” she said in a small voice. “Not yet.”
“I’m surprised,” Agura said, and then grinned shrewdly my way. “Well, perhaps not that surprised, come to think of it.”
“Father!” Sar’vana whispered sharply, and gave a tiny, faint h
iss at the director, who laughed. Following his lead, I had to smile with some amusement. I guessed that even Felyans had some discretion when it came to matters of intimacy between mates, but then Agura did remind me of the forgotten thing that Sar’vana wanted to tell me. I opened my mouth to ask, but it was as if she had absorbed the powers of the ambassador. “Later, my li-ah,” she whispered to me. She smiled, resting her chin on her hands. “When we’re together and alone again. Trust me, it’ll be worth the wait.”
I was at the same time eager and a bit frustrated. I knew that she must have had her reasons, but I was beginning to dislike being kept in suspense. Still, it was Sar’vana’s call … whatever it was, and so I had no choice but to wait. Several minutes passed silently between us as we ate, and this made me slightly uncomfortable. The painting of the beautiful Felyan woman loomed over us, and so, partly out of curiosity and partly out of a need to break the silence, I spoke. “That painting is beautiful, by the way.”
Agura stopped eating, and smiled. It was neither broad nor boisterous; instead it was a wistful expression, almost sad. “Her name was Sari,” he said. “She was my lifemate, and Vani’s mother.”
I inspected the painting further, taken by the exotic beauty this white-haired Felyan possessed. “I’ve never seen a Felyan with white hair before, or so pale,” I observed aloud. “I imagine she must have made you very happy.”
“She was everything to me,” Agura said, leaning forward upon his elbows. “You probably don’t know this, but white hair on a Felyan is not a good thing.”
I … I’m sorry!” I stammered, suddenly afraid that I had committed a fairly large faux pas, but the director waved dismissively, his placid, wistful smile still present.