Ji’wa looked back toward the city, his jaw tightening. “I do not need more information from the Record Keeper or you. There are only two people in this mating, and we will navigate these waters without any further advice. Especially in terms of timetables. I know how much time I have left. If she does not choose me, at least allow me to pass it with some peace and pleasure.”
“You are a fool. You realize that, right?” Ger’se said, his fanned tail snapping through the air, spraying an arc of water onto the deck. “You should already be mated to her by now. Gods know that I have given you more than enough time.”
“I refuse to rush her,” Ji’wa replied placidly.
His friend snorted. “You give her time and slowly sentence yourself to death. It is a good thing that I sought a backup from the Record Keeper should this all go wrong. She, at least, had a solution.”
Ji’wa turned and frowned at the male. “What do you mean?”
“I mean a way for you to come back and live your life, a way to escape death that will certainly come as you long for her in her absence. You are too bonded to her now, even without finishing your maturation cycle for her and mating, but Al’hana knew a way. She does not advise it, but the way I see it, we are desperate. If you cannot win her over, all you will have to do is kill her, and…”
Jiwa’s tail snapped up and struck Ger’se before he even had a moment to think about it, the electric snap of his energy flashing down his tail, adding to the strength of his reprimand, sending the male flying from the boat. Ger’se sparked where Ji’wa’s tail made contact, and the male yelped seconds before crashing into the water. The sound was gratifying.
The male surfaced, coughing and sputtering in outrage.
“What is wrong with you?” he snapped.
“Never suggest killing my mate again,” Ji’wa replied stonily. “Next time, I will kill you.”
“She is not your mate, you ee’malek! Why can you not see that?”
Ji’wa turned a cold look on his friend, and the male froze, his eyes wide.
“You mean that… you really would kill me? We have been friends since we were nestlings, and you would kill me that easily. For a female.”
Ji’wa’s eyes closed, his expression tightening. “It would not be easy, but make no mistake that I would do whatever is necessary to keep her safe and to care for her. Even if that means cutting out a piece of my heart by destroying you.”
“I could always alert High Command,” Ger’se growled in a low voice. “What do you think their demands will be? Do you think that they will care about this female at all or that they will command you to do what is necessary to return where you belong? They would punish you and make an example of you, but they would not truly allow any harm to come upon the son of Gan’thro.”
Eyes narrowing to slits of fury, Ji’wa glared at him. “You do so, and it will be the end of our friendship. You do as you say, and I would find a way to take my vengeance on you.”
Ger’se sighed and ran his hair through his red mane. “Okay, fine. You are right. Killing her is not the direction I would want to go either but, ik’tawal, I do not want to lose you!”
Ji’wa ran a hand over his face and glanced down at the male, meeting the other’s bemused expression.
“Would you have really gone through with killing her?” he asked.
The male shrugged. “Perhaps sixty-five… no, more like forty-five percent sure I would have gone through with it. It would probably have scarred me for life, however. I have never killed a female. Just the idea of it makes me physically sick. Besides, I really do not want to see her die. Following your boat, I have been listening, and I rather like her. But I do not want to lose my friend. All the same, I guess I am a little glad you are determined to stick it out… We just need to work on your lack of skill at attracting a mate.”
Ji’wa gave him a disbelieving look. “And you have so much experience?”
“As a matter of fact, I have had some females show some interest in mating with me. Alas, no priming action. The spirit was willing, but my malth was uncooperative.” Ger’se sighed. Ger’se suddenly gave him a lopsided smile. “In any case, I was interested to see just how attached you are to her.” He rubbed his torso with a small wince. “Consider me now sufficiently informed. But determination and attachment are a great place to start.”
“Now who is the ee’malek?” Ji’wa scoffed. “You are fortunate I did not actually attempt to kill you for that.”
Ger’se’s grin widened before his expression turned thoughtful. “You know, we really need to come up with some new insults. We are on a new planet. Within a generation or two, who is going to know or even care that an ee’malek is an easily distracted fish that would jump into a predator’s mouth with the right incentive rather than have some sort of self-preservation? We only know because on the ship all we had were memories of the old world. Our offspring are not going to care at all,” he snorted.
“If you live long to enough to reproduce,” Ji’wa replied.
“I guess that goes for both of us, for different reasons,” Ger’se chuckled.
Ji’wa shook his head at his friend’s peculiar sense of humor, his eyes fixing on the city lights. Was it his imagination or did they seem even brighter, as if challenging him to steal his female away from all human rivals? Ger’se turned his head toward the city and squinted.
“What are you staring at so morosely, anyway?”
Ji’wa jerked his chin toward the city. “It is a human city… New Delos. Nerida needs to stop there to resupply the boat and make repairs. We have been fishing in order to stock her cooling unit for trade, but I know she is concerned, even though she does not speak of it.”
His friend curled his lip at it. “I imagine it is full of human males as well.”
“From what I understand, yes.”
Ger’se slanted him an amused look. “And you are just going to walk through there in all of your sirein glory?”
“Of course not. Nerida is disguising me in a way that we hope will not draw significant attention.”
The male snorted. “This I must see. And I look forward to hearing about how well you restrained yourself from attacking any male who gets too close to your female.”
Ji’wa stiffened in affront. “I am not so undisciplined that I can’t control my impulses. I can protect and defend her without revealing myself.”
“So you say. But you have never had a mate before. This should be an interesting test of your control.” His friend chuckled, earning him a black look. Ger’se lifted his hands, a grin playing around his lips. “Do not glare at me for pointing out something we both know.”
“I really dislike you sometimes,” Ji’wa growled.
“Perhaps, but that is only because I am like the brother you never had.”
Ji’wa chuckled despite himself. There was certainly no denying that. Unfortunately, the banter did little to ease his tension. The distant lights still filled him with unease, not the least of which was his own worry that he would do something to endanger his female and draw attention to the fact that he wasn’t human. That would prematurely end their time before they accomplished all that Nerida needed to.
For her sake, he had to stay in control.
“At least all the different lights are nice. It is… pretty,” Ger’se observed at length. He cut a quick look to Ji’wa. “Since you are trading foodstuffs, I imagine that you and your female are enjoying satisfying meals.”
“We are,” Ji’wa said, lips quirking. After all the male had just put him through for his own amusement, he would have to beg for his supper.
“You are going to make me say it. Such a hard male. Very well. If there are any crumbs and delicious little morsels you have left to spare, would you mind feeding them to your desperate, withering friend?”
“The desperate withering friend who suggested I kill my female?” Ji’wa asked.
“All with the best intentions and only partially serious.”
Pausing for a moment, his ear fanned out to catch whether Nerida was waking in her sleeping chamber. A sleepy mumble came from the room as she shifted in her bed until she began to snore softly once more. His lips curled affectionately at the sound, and he left the living quarters, emerging on deck with the food.
Ger’se grabbed the plate and immediately began scraping up food with his claws and stuffing it into his mouth. A low, happy sound escaped him, and he immediately filled his mouth with more food.
“This is wonderful! Who knew that the fish of this planet tasted so good cooked? I have been forcing myself to survive on travel rations and the occasional raw fish, when I can catch one. Did your female cook this?”
Ji’wa nodded. “I cooked for her a few nights ago to demonstrate my worthiness as a mate, but she does most of the cooking while we are far from the islands. I am not familiar enough with how the cooking units work to trust myself not to ruin the food, although she has been teaching me a little. Cooking on the beach is like what we learned in survival simulators, so I can at least do that much.”
Ger’se nodded his head thoughtfully. “It is challenging enough courting our own females, learning new rules and ways of human courting adds an additional complexity. I will endeavor to help your case as much as possible… if you continue to leave food on the deck for me at night.”
“And what are you going to do for this food?” Ji’wa teased.
Ger’se licked his thumb with his tongue as he considered. “I will swim ahead to the city and get a look around. Meet me on the deck in four hours. I can give you a little advance warning of what I have seen.”
Ji’wa nodded again. “Fair enough. I will see you in four hours.”
His friend cleaned his plate, going as far as licking every crumb from its surface, before returning it and diving back into the waters with a flash of his red fins. Ji’wa watched as the ripples in the water stilled before settling back comfortably on the padded mat that Nerida provided for him from one of the couches.
She had since offered to let him to sleep in the main room of the living quarters, but he found that trying to sleep indoors as the boat moved on the water was a combination of sensory input that made him feel slightly ill. Enough so that he felt much more comfortable sleeping outside when the weather permitted. There had only been a handful of days where rains had sent him fleeing inside.
Closing his eyes, he allowed himself to drift off until the cold droplets of water falling on him roused him. Opening his eyes, he groggily looked up to see Ger’se grinning down at him. He pushed himself up to a seated position.
“Report. What did you see?”
His friend smirked. “As you like, Commander. It is a chaotic, disorganized mess. Our High Command would probably pull their fins out if our people behaved as they do, but there are a lot of interesting smells, and even late into the night there is quite a bit of activity going on in the city center. So many smells and sounds of amusement. I might actually be jealous that you get to experience everything directly instead of watching from the shadows.”
“In disguise,” Ji’wa reminded him.
“From what I could see, it might be worth it,” Ger’se sighed.
“Focus. Were there any noticeable threats?”
“There was a fortified tower that seemed to have weapons mounted to it, perhaps a measure of defense, but it was in an isolated location. The city itself seems open. I did not see any other obvious weapons outside of those who carried small personal ones. Outside of what appeared to be a patrol milling around, there did not seem to be much in the way of security that would prove troublesome. I would say, as long as you do not rage on some unsuspecting human or try to slaughter or challenge one who interferes with your female, you should be pretty safe.”
Ji’wa let out the breath he had been unknowingly holding. The new information gave him a small measure of relief. They just might have a chance of success—as long as he controlled his instincts.
He winced at the thought, and Ger’se laughed, no doubt knowing exactly what discomforted him. He turned a glare on his friend.
“Thank you for the report. I believe I will have everything under control.”
“As you say, Commander,” the male returned with a wide grin.
Ji’wa growled, his tail fin snapping in irritation. Ger’se would eat his comments. Ji’wa would control himself just as he had been trained all his life. He would succeed.
Chapter 18
A fog rolled over the water early in the morning as they pulled into the city port. The water lapped against the docks, but visibility was so low that Nerida could barely make out the platforms with the lights glowing above them. Ji’wa stood just outside the steering cabin, his tail fin snapping every so often. He turned back at her as she aligned the boat with the nearest empty space within the dock, the concern in his expression easy to read. She gave him an encouraging smile in an attempt to reassure him.
Under the shroud of the fog, the city didn’t appear welcoming. It certainly wasn’t ideal, but they had little choice. She had been expecting the temperatures to drop, so the small shift, even in the south, was readily felt as the fogs that covered much of the seas and coastal areas of Terra II during the winter rolled in. There was a chance that they might lift for a day or two at a time, but that could be long in coming, and they couldn’t risk it with the uncertain state of their solar sails.
Moving her hand across the steering panel, she activated the magnetic anchor and felt the boat tremble slightly as it latched on to the anchorage provided. It was part of what made the cities the safest places to winter for one’s boats if they weren’t part of a pod. It wasn’t necessarily safer for the boat’s owner—not with the crime that tended to run rampant in the cities—but at least the boat itself would make it through the season. It was for that reason alone that she was comfortable anchoring there for however long it took for repairs to be made and supplies gathered.
“Are you certain?” Ji’wa asked several minutes later as she assisted him with the final touches of his disguise, pulling the heavy hood forward over his head. “This is not what I expected.”
“It’s just the winter fog and early hour,” she murmured as she smoothed the material. “It makes things appear a bit unnerving. It’s nothing I haven’t seen many times in my youth when we had to make an emergency stop on our way to our wintering spot. Not at New Delos, but we have stopped at Farthing City several days north of here. Around midday, the fog will thin a bit and the people will be out more. At least the shops will be open.”
Ji’wa made an unenthusiastic sound of assent and dropped his head slightly as he had been practicing, making himself appear somewhat shorter than he actually was—closer to human proportions, anyway. Hopefully he would pass well enough that no one would suspect. It was common to see shrouded men and women suffering from terrible injuries, whether from the hostile winter weather, one of many accidents that could befall one during the storms, or from the creatures of the sea. The fact that he was covered was unlikely to draw attention as long as no one saw anything that stuck out as inhuman.
Nerida looked him over carefully, patting him down to make sure that if someone bumped into him nothing would draw anyone’s attention. Even though she was keeping her touch as impersonal as possible, a low rumble came from Ji’wa, making her smile as she went about her task. She couldn’t deny that she loved the way he seemed unable to hide his reactions from her. She skimmed her hands over his pectorals. The coat felt like it fit as it should. His rumbling increased with his obvious pleasure, and for a moment, she thought she caught sight of the yellow glow of his eyes through the disguise. Pausing, she squinted up at the darkness surrounding his face. She couldn’t s
ee anything amid that swallowing darkness. Certainly not glowing inhuman eyes. Nerida sighed and gave his chest a pat, satisfied that the disguise would hold.
“I think you’re ready. Let’s head back out onto the deck and disembark. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can get out of here. I don’t want to risk getting stuck here all winter if the storms sneak in and trap us before we have the chance to leave.”
Nerida slid past him and headed toward the door of her room, aware of the fact that his head turned as he tracked her movements. He was always aware of where she was, so that didn’t surprise her. His footsteps sounded heavier than normal with the addition of the block sandals on his feet. Not only did they add weight to his footsteps, but his gait was a bit rougher with the way the sandals pinched his three long toes, but at least they didn’t cause him any problems with the small claws that extended off his heels. Nerida felt a pang of guilt making him wear them, despite his assurances that they bothered him only minimally when he had initially tried them on. He didn’t complain at all or show any signs of increasing discomfort as they left the docks and made their way into the city. Instead, he appeared distracted by their surroundings.
“I will try to make this as quick as possible so we can find lodgings while the repairs are made, our trade good are offloaded, and deliveries loaded into the cargo hold.”
He eased closer to her, a tiny growl rattling from him as a dockworker emerged from the fog, his bulky body brushing uncomfortably close to her. The worker didn’t so much as lift his head and acknowledge them. No doubt he was half-asleep still, lumbering through the murk to complete his morning tasks. Still, even if he hadn’t noticed, it didn’t mean that no one else might if Ji’wa continued to growl at people.
Sirein: A Dystopian World Alien Romance Page 15