And they could.
Not only had their bond deepened to where they could feel emotions and differentiate between them, they could also communicate their feelings, even when they weren’t together.
It had started out with Taavi in the living room and Natalie in her bedroom. Natalie had been focusing on Taavi, almost shoving her feelings of happiness at him, when he yelled that he could feel her happiness. Then she made herself think of things that made her angry and shoved those at him. He immediately yelled that she was angry.
He had run into her room, both of their excitement mixing together, making them both giddy.
They had then taken it even further, he in the training room and she in her ship. They had taken comm’s, to communicate when they felt the other persons’ feelings, so when Natalie heard from Taavi, she was amazed.
Their bond grew stronger every day, every time they tested it.
It was almost like a muscle; the more it was exercised, the stronger it got.
It had been a good couple of weeks, but now Natalie was freaking out.
Taavi and Tali had just told her that their parents were coming to stay with them; that they wanted to meet her.
Natalie was sure they would hate her, being an alien who had stolen their son from them. She leaned into Taavi, both of them snuggling on the couch, waiting for Tali to return with their parents.
“Do you really think they’ll like me? What if they don’t? What am I supposed to do then?”
Taavi looked down at her, brushed some hair off her face and said, “Alaila, they’ll love you. You are my soile-miena. They won’t have anything bad to say, unless you were a spoiled brat, then they might hate you.” He chuckled when Natalie punched him playfully. He turned serious, rubbing his thumb along her cheekbone. “Seriously, don’t worry. You’re sweet, funny, and kind. You’re the first soul mate in over seventy years. You’re my destiny, and I am yours. And even if they didn’t like you, do you really think that would change my opinion of you?”
He turned his face away from her, staring across the room, silently.
Natalie’s brow creased, worried she had upset him, when he quietly stated, “I love you, you know. It doesn’t matter that you’re my soile-miena, I would choose you even if you weren’t.” He looked back to her, his heart in his eyes. “I love you, Natalie.”
Natalie was shocked; she could feel his love, his apprehension and his curiosity, all pouring out of him and into her. Not in a million years would she believe any guy would like her, let alone love her.
She could feel a ridiculously happy smile crossing her face. She turned to face him, swung her knee over his lap and straddled him.
She took his face in her hands, looked deep into his eyes and said, “It’s about dang time. I love you, too,” pouring all of her love and feelings into him.
She knew he felt her when his eyes widened before smiling back at her. The moment froze them for a few seconds before they lunged at each other, kissing frantically.
Taavi was trying to dominate her, pulling her head back by her hair and shoving his tongue in her mouth. As much as Natalie loved it, she gripped his hair right back, standing on her knees so his head was tipped back.
Natalie broke the kiss, smiling when Taavi frowned at her.
“Your parents will be here soon. No more kisses.”
Taavi let out a groan and let his head fall between her breasts. When he started nuzzling her, she shoved his head away and climbed off his lap, once again leaning into him.
The door beeped and clicked open.
Natalie and Taavi jump off the couch, moving towards the door as three people entered the room.
First, Tali walked in, followed by a woman who was an exact carbon copy of her, just older. Natalie actually did a double take, astounded that they looked so much alike – same golden hair, green eyes, and height.
The man was a different story altogether. For although he was Taavi’s height and had salt and pepper brown hair, and even though he appeared to be in good shape, he was much slimmer than Natalie had anticipated – almost to the point of looking ill. And beneath his golden skin was a pallor the other three didn’t have.
Natalie would bet he was sick.
When the man and woman saw Natalie, the woman shrieked with laughter, clapping her hands, while the man smiled broadly. They completely ignored Taavi, grabbed Natalie, and pulled her into a group hug.
Natalie was startled, but it felt good to be held by parents, even if they weren’t her own.
Clearing of throats had the people letting her up, but not away from them. They both had their hands on her shoulders and just stared at her, smiling.
Natalie was pulled backwards into Taavi’s arms, away from his parents.
“Natalie, this is Ginuvia, my mother, and my father, Harken.”
“Please, call me mom, or Ginny.” The woman grabbed Natalie again and wrapped her in her arms. “It’s amazing to meet you, honey. My boy is so happy,” she whispered in her ear, pulling back to show her misty eyes.
She kissed Natalie’s cheek and went to Taavi.
Natalie looked back at Harken, who was still staring at her with a small smile. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it gently.
“It’s so nice to meet you, Natalie. Taavi and Tali have told us so much about you, it’s great to finally meet you.” He squeezed her hand again, his eyes going misty. “To think, you’ll get to have the soile-miena bond. Tavanni has blessed us all.”
“Alright! Let’s get you settled in your room.” Tali grabbed the luggage and shoved it at Taavi, grabbed Ginny and Natalie, and towed them down the hall to Natalie’s room. “You get ten to unpack, but hopefully it won’t take that long, I’m hungry. Then we are going out to eat, my treat.”
They left their parents in Natalie’s room and walked down to the living room, collapsing on the couch.
Tali rolled her head on the couch, staring at Natalie with a mock look of trepidation.
“I hope you don’t mind I moved your stuff into Taavi’s room. Since you sleep together anyway, I thought it was redundant for you to have your own room and make my parents stay somewhere else.”
Taavi laughed.
“I’m so okay with this arrangement. What about you, alaila?”
Natalie rolled her eyes, grumbling, “Yeah, whatever. It’s fine.” She leaned over Taavi and slapped Tali on the leg. When she shrieked, Natalie laughed. “That’s for being an idiot and not giving me a heads up. So, not to pry, but is your dad sick? He looks a little under the weather.”
Taavi and Tali exchanged a look, communicating something Natalie could only guess.
Taavi finally looked down at Natalie.
“It’s nothing to worry about, alaila. He’s been sick for a while. He has a virus, it’s not contagious and it will run its course, but it affects the brain, making it hard for him to maintain weight and steals his energy. It only lasts a few months and then goes away with no lasting side effects. He’ll be fine in a month.”
When Tali nodded, Natalie felt immense relief. She couldn’t stand getting to know someone, a parental figure no less, and then lose him, or her, again.
She just couldn’t.
Taavi apparently felt her emotions and rubbed her back.
“I promise, he’ll be fine. Just give him a month and he should be good. I wouldn’t lie to you. Just try and put it out of your head. Tali has been working diligently alongside his healer helping with things, and he’s as healthy as he can be besides the virus. Everything will be fine.”
Natalie nodded her head, taking his feeling of certainty and confidence to heart.
“I just don’t want to lose anyone else. I don’t think I could take it.”
Taavi rubbed her back.
“I know, but none of us are going anywhere soon. You have to trust in that.”
Tali gave a loud sigh and clapped her hands.
“Okay, enough of the heavy, let’s get ready to go out. I don’t know about you
two, but I am starving!”
Chapter Eighteen
Another week flew by hanging out with Ginny and Harken.
When Tali and Taavi were working, Ginny, Harken, and Natalie went into the city and explored. The day after they had arrived, they went into a flea market. The stalls sold anything from fresh fruits and vegetables, to clothing, to electronics.
Natalie and Ginny had had a blast buying a few glass figurines, some amazing tasting fruits, and spent an inordinate amount of time trying on sishan – the Tarlon equivalent of silk clothing. It was beautiful fabric, though it had a more satiny feel to it than silk would, but it was beautiful and felt lovely.
It had been five days since their arrival, and they had gone back to the flea market they had gone their first day. They were wandering down the fabrics and clothing stalls when they stopped at a stall that sold sishan clothing exclusively.
Ginny decided she wanted to gift Natalie with something nice, so Natalie decided to try on a beautiful deep blue dress.
Harken, Ginny, and the stall owner just stared at her when she came back out.
The waist cinched under her chest and flowed down her body, ending just shy of the top of her feet. It had halter straps, was bare in the back and had a deep vee in the front.
“My dear,” Ginny breathed, “that’s perfect. Taavi won’t be able to keep his eyes off of you.” She turned to the vendor and snapped her fingers to get his attention. “I’ll take this dress, the green one, and this purple one. Thank you.”
Natalie was blushing from the attention, but couldn’t help but feel pleasure at the compliment.
Harken bent to kiss her cheek, and winked when he said, “My son is a lucky man. You look beautiful, my dausa.”
They had started calling her dausa on their third day together when they had found out about her parents and brother. Even though Natalie hadn’t said a thing, they had seemed to recognize it still hurt. They had been very sweet about the whole thing.
It had started when they were talking about only having Tali and Taavi and wishing they had tried for a third.
They had been walking down a path in a park when Ginny asked the inevitable questions.
“So dear, do you have parents? Siblings?”
“Oh, um…” Natalie looked around, feeling a little awkward that the mood was about to go down the toilet. “Well, actually my parents passed away a year ago with my brother. They were in an accident and the doctors couldn’t get to them in time.”
Ginny gasped, while Harken’s face flushed.
“I am so sorry, honey. I can’t imagine how difficult that must have been for you…they must have loved you very much and been very proud of you. From what we’ve seen, you are exceptional.”
Natalie gave a small watery smile.
Even after telling her new friends about it, thinking about her family still made her feel like there was a hole in her chest.
“Yeah. They were the best parents and brother anyone could ever ask for. I miss them every day. I think they would have loved it here… and loved you all.”
Ginny grinned, grabbed Natalie’s hand and sat on a bench.
“Here, come sit and tell us about them. They must have been just as special.”
Harken settled on the other side of Natalie to listen.
“Well…my brother and I were four years apart. He was older. I loved to follow him around and even though he pretended he hated it, he would call me his little shadow. He would always play with me, would hug me when I was hurt or scared, and bug me incessantly, though I returned the favour. Like one time, he had a girl he was starting to see, and I put a chemical in his underwear that made him itchy. When she came over and they were hanging out in the living room, he was bouncing all over the couch, trying not to itch his butt, and then he gave into the urge and itched and itched and I guess it kind of freaked her out because she left and never spoke to him again. John was so mad.”
They all laughed, imagining.
A deep breath helped her to rein in her emotions.
“My parents…” her voice trailed off as her throat closed. “My parents were amazing. They were so involved in our lives, always encouraging us and telling us how proud they were of us for doing anything. Win or lose, pass or fail, they were just proud of us for trying. They were so proud of me when I got my piloting license and joined the I.F. They were excited to visit me on Alpha Station, meet my coworkers; see the stars. But they died before they were able to come… I miss them so much.”
She broke off, deep breathing as Harken squeezed her hand and Ginny rubbed her back. She could feel her face get hot, the pain in her throat growing as she shoved down the ball of grief.
She blew out a breath and said, “I just wish they were here. I have no other family, and I’m shy, so I didn’t have a lot of friends to support me when they died. I was alone. No one left in that world loved me, no one cared one way or another about me… a couple times I even thought about just joining them, but I knew they would be disappointed in me if I did that.”
They were quiet as they allowed Natalie time to pull herself together.
“But I did find people who cared about me. Kayla and Ben – they call themselves my family – they came to see me every day, not letting me be alone for long periods. They knew I needed them, even though I didn’t really talk to them when they came around. They made me eat, Kayla made me shower, they watched movies with me, and dragged me to the station banquets. And now they’re gone, too. The only reason I’m dealing with this is because everyone I’ve met has been great, especially Taavi and Tali. I can only pray that when this is over with the Nezleans the wormhole is still there. Otherwise, I may never see them again. But enough of this, you promised me a nice walk in the park and then lunch.”
Ginny patted her hand, looked at Harken, who nodded his head in the affirmative.
Natalie looked between the two, confused. Were they just communicating? Are they sure they weren’t soile-miena’s?
“Did you guys just read each other’s minds? I thought Taavi said you weren’t soul bonded.”
They laughed, shaking their heads.
“Oh no. We aren’t. We have been together so long, we can basically read each other’s minds. We don’t need to have a soul bond, just the bond of time and friendship. But Natalie, we were wondering, would you allow us to call you our dausa? I believe that is daughter in your language. We would never want to take the place of your parents, but we are just so thrilled Taavi found you. You are a wonderful young woman and we just feel like you’re part of our family already.”
Natalie nodded, again unable to talk for the frog in her throat. At this rate, they would think she was an emotional basket case.
Clearing her throat, she said, “Yes. Yes, I would very much like to be a part of your family.”
They all smiled, the women a little teary, while Harken had to clear his throat a few times.
They had brushed off the emotional moment and made their way out of the park for lunch.
Ginny paid for the dresses and waited for Harken to grab the bags, hooking her arm through Natalie’s as they strolled past the other vendors. As they stopped at a particularly beautiful jewelry stall, Ginny sidled up beside her.
“I hope you don’t mind me asking, but when you had the dress on, I couldn’t help but notice you have some slight scarring on your shoulder.”
Scars? She didn’t have any scars.
“I don’t have any scars, Ginny.”
Ginny looked over at Natalie, her eyebrows low on her face.
“But, I swear I saw some pale scars there. It was on this shoulder,” she said as she gently touched the shoulder the Nezlean had bitten.
All at once, Natalie felt sick to her stomach.
Here she was, safe and sound on the planet, while that man was out there somewhere. She couldn’t believe in all this time she had barely thought about him. Now, he was front and center.
“Oh, those. Well, did Taavi and Tali ev
er tell you how I came to be here?”
“Of course they did, dear. They told us about finding you on a Nezlean freighter…” Ginny trailed off, her face paling as she realized what she had said. She glanced at Natalie’s shoulder, and then back at her face. “Oh, dear. I really stuck my foot in it. I’m very sorry. Please ignore that question.”
“No, it’s okay,” Natalie rushed to assure her. She didn’t want her feeling bad for an honest mistake. “I honestly had forgotten I had them until you said anything. Tali fixed me up almost as good as new, and they don’t hurt at all, so I tend to forget they are there.”
Ginny shook her head, glancing at Harken who was standing behind them quietly, before looking back at Natalie.
“I can see I upset you. Let’s just forget I said anything. Anyways, I can’t wait until Taavi sees you in that dress. He will positively swoon.”
Natalie forced a laugh, trying to picture Taavi doing just that, and failing miserably. She just she kept laughing, trying to put Ginny at ease. As the other woman chattered away, hooking her arm in both Natalie and Harken’s, Natalie couldn’t pay attention. All she could see was Imhal’s cruel smile and his final promise to see her again.
~ ~ ~ ~
The next couple of days, they wandered around the city to visit the mall, art galleries, restaurants, and the monuments. They had such a great time telling her the history of their planet and sharing the sights with her.
She was surprised when a lot of the history they taught her about Tarlon was similar to Earth’s, eerily similar. Though when she thought about it, it did explain why their language was basically the same. When she asked Ginny and Harken about it, they just shrugged.
“You know, you’re right. I never thought about that, but we do have similar colloquialisms. Maybe it’s just a naturally progressive language, this English. In Tarlon, we speak much more formally,” Ginny commented
Destiny Found (Epsilon Chronicles Book 1) Page 13