by Viola Grace
“Of course. It elevates status via osmosis.”
She remembered something from the night before. “Was he watching last night?”
Boran chuckled. “Huron’s logic was that we needed someone to watch our backs while we were distracted.”
“Oh. Well. That explains the look on Hai-ran’s face when he saw me this morning.”
“You look very pretty today. Almost glowing.”
“Oh, that was just because Huron greased me up in the middle of the night.”
“Is that what you are calling it?”
She elbowed him lightly, and they laughed.
“So, how is our sleepy little world?”
She shrugged. “It has had a few small events but nothing local law enforcement couldn’t handle.”
He pressed a kiss to her jaw, and when she turned her head, he kissed her. He pulled his lips away enough to ask, “Can I see the suit?”
“It is still at the support lab.”
He sighed in disappointment. “Do you think Ytal can get it?”
“Probably. He designed the boots so that I could still move in them. Salya did the suit, and Morker got the weapons department to do the collapsible batons.”
She kissed him, and then, she smiled. “Pervert or fetish?”
“Curiosity. I love your skin bare and open to my touch. That’s my fetish.”
“Ah. Do you cuddle all your patients?”
He grinned. “I tried, but Argo keeps slipping off my lap.”
The mental image made her laugh. “Right. I am not used to having time off. I think I am going to have to find a hobby.”
“You can come find me if you get bored. I have to do some recordkeeping.”
She gave him a quick kiss, left his office, and went to wander the house.
Argo and Huron were on a conference call, Ytal and Heron were studying, and Hai-ran was beating the hell out of dough with a cheerful grin on his face.
She was alone. Blissfully alone. She crept out of the house and snuck around to the pool. The guys would notice if she got a suit, and she wasn’t going to be long, so she put her dress on a chair and dove in. She swam for about half an hour, and she felt a lot more relaxed about her place in the world in general and with the guardians specifically.
Maya was about to get out of the water when she saw a silhouette, and the man in the chair was holding her dress.
She blinked. “Hello, Hai-ran.”
He smiled. “You swim well, Maya.”
“Thank you. Are you particularly interested in fashion?”
He reached behind him and pulled out a towel. He held it out.
She lunged out of the water, and he wrapped her in the towel, pulling her onto the deck. He stepped back, and she tucked the towel in.
She twisted her hair to wring the water out.
He had two chairs together, and he patted the seat. “I would like to talk to you.”
“Oh. Sure.” She suddenly remembered everything that he had seen the night before, and she blushed.
He looked incredibly worried. “Are you well? You changed colour all over.”
She wrinkled her nose. “I do that. What would you like to talk about?”
He blurted out. “What is your favourite weapon?”
“Oh. Um, bolt gun.”
“How about your favourite pastry?”
She rubbed the back of her neck. “I don’t know the name, but they are small, crispy with creamy orange stuff in the middle.” She shrugged. “Sorry. I landed and then just had to pick stuff out at the commissary. I didn’t have to learn anything.”
He smiled. “I know which ones you mean. The berries grow on this property, by the way.”
“They do? I haven’t really had much of a chance to explore with a tablet to figure out what I am looking at.”
He grinned. “I would love to show you around.”
“Is this a weird courtship?”
He nodded. “Ytal also said you were intelligent.”
“I have to ask you a question.”
“Certainly.”
“Why did you agree to be a surrogate? I am an alien, so there isn’t much that you will gain from it.”
Hai-ran smiled. “The child will make me stronger. To defend themselves, the pods make the host strong enough to defend them. In Huron’s case, he is already strong; his child will have nothing to do. In mine and Ytal’s case, we will get stronger.”
She nodded. “Okay. That makes the most sense about how easy it is to have you have an occupant for months. So, if you give me that dress, I will get some shoes, and we can go exploring.”
He handed her the dress but said, “Put on a bodysuit. There are thorns and other things around the fruit.”
“Right. The heavy suit. Got it.” She smiled. “Back in a minute.”
She pattered through the base, wearing a towel and carrying her dress. Her males stopped and stared as she headed for her quarters, and she ignored them, stepping into the solar shower and pinning her hair up into the normal twist. She got into her more robust suit and spent an afternoon berry picking with breaks to let Hai-ran attend to his dough.
Huron and Argo had to go out on a short mission to the governor’s mansion. There were protestors who were insisting that Huron could not be given to an alien. Apparently, he was popular, and she was not.
This was going to be a fun eight months.
Dr. Lylwin had a small scanner over her lower abdomen, and he nodded. “Okay, Huron, your daughter is ready for transfer.”
The feeling was exceedingly peculiar with a twinge of pain, and the doctor had caught the golden gumball before handing it over to Huron.
Maya watched as Huron put the small orb on the flap, and when it opened, and the orb disappeared, she found that her eyes were tearing up. She didn’t have much time to stare as the next orb appeared in Lylwin’s hand.
Argo took the orb from the doctor, and Ytal took in the pod. Boran’s swirling silver orb was embedded in Hai-ran.
Maya winced, and her body contracted, causing the doctor to focus on her for a moment. “It’s fine. I am just shedding the lining that they had been hanging out in. Are they all okay?”
Huron reached out and took her hand. “We just all have to remain relaxed for an hour and let the pods attach.”
Maya lay back and wished that she could let her sister know that she had knocked up three guys in one day.
Six months passed in a blur. Maya looked around the table at breakfast on the due date, and she looked at the revoltingly robust and cheerful men who were due any minute now.
The ridged abdominal plates meant that only the father could experience the kicking of the little ones, but it also meant that the babies didn’t move much. Health was determined by the rate of nutrient transfer during the scans.
Huron smiled. “What are you thinking?”
“That it isn’t fair that you guys don’t look like you are carrying six pounds of baby in there. With my species, the woman would be out to here, and you could see the baby moving through her belly.”
Huron put her hand on his abdomen. “She’s still today, but I can feel something going on.”
Dr. Lylwin was watching carefully. “Any movement of skin?”
“Not yet.”
She sighed and went over to Hai-ran. “May I?”
He smiled. “You never need to ask.”
Argo was nervous. “Anything?”
Maya put her hand over the armoured ridge, and she frowned, pulling her hand away. “Is it supposed to be wet and sticky?”
The doctor was over in a moment. “Hai-ran, you are in labour. Argo, your daughter is on the way.”
They got Hai-ran up and walking into the house with Argo fussing.
Ytal was looking nervous. Maya asked again. “May I?”
He took her hand and pressed it to his belly. She touched a small hand, and her eyes widened. “Boran, can you help
Ytal? Your daughter might be the firstborn. I felt little fingers.”
Huron frowned. “I don’t feel anything.”
Maya walked over and touched him. She touched the mind of her daughter, and she started to move. She looked up at him. “You are prime and first in everything, but I asked your daughter to wait, so she did. Come on. This is going to be a busy morning.”
She extracted Boran’s daughter from Ytal, looked at her charcoal face, dark hair, and white-silver eyes. “She’s lovely.”
Boran had tears in his eyes. “Thank you, Ytal.”
Ytal patted him on the arm and exhaled.
She cleaned up and went to Hai-ran. He grinned and flinched. “I had hoped to have your firstborn.”
Argo snorted. “What he said.”
The little blue hand emerged, and Maya slid her free, rocking the baby in a saltwater tank until her little gills opened and she started breathing. “Oh, there’s my girl.”
The baby kicked and started swimming. Argo crouched next to the tank, and he blinked his huge black eyes rapidly.
She kissed Argo and Hai-ran and then cleaned up again to help Huron’s child into the world.
The doctor was helping the other two with the clean-up from the little occupant. Huron was focused on her.
She sent her thought out. “Heron, would you like to see your sister born?”
The thudding of feet in the hall made her grin. “I have invited Heron for this.”
Huron chuckled, and he nodded. “Good. Hey, Heron. She’s almost here.”
Maya eased their little one into the world, and she promptly started bawling along with her child as she laughed. “She’s so pretty and stripey.”
Huron smiled. “She is. She is also enormous.”
Maya laughed at him. “Consider the source.”
He blushed. She handed him his daughter.
Dr. Lylwin attended to Huron, and when he was resting comfortably with his daughter, she was being given the nutrient mash that all Relitan’s were raised on.
Argo’s daughter was able to breathe air now; her lungs were proven when she started wailing.
Boran’s daughter took up the cry, and Huron’s daughter looked up at her father with wide eyes.
The other two girls went quiet.
Huron grinned. “I don’t mind her being the third. It seems she has her mother’s skills.”
Maya looked at the golden girl with the lacework of dark markings already started. “This could be an issue.”
Chapter Seventeen
Presenting newborns to the governor was a tradition, but they had to get past additional protestors.
Maya walked in front of her court in her guardian uniform. When the protestors tried to block her, she pulled the batons. They sneered. She extended the grips and then flicked out the blades.
It was a miracle. In the face of an angry, protective mother, they cleared a path.
They entered the governor’s mansion and headed toward the single chair on the low dais at the far end of the room. Hiirin was sitting in her formal garb, and Maya closed her batons, tucking them away.
She presented her firstborn, by Boran, Boya. Then Argo’s daughter, Arya, and Huron’s daughter, Huya.
Hiirin looked at the three little girls being held by their fathers. She looked to Dr. Lylwin. “Are they all healthy?”
“They are, Governor.”
“Are they all Relitan?”
“They are, Governor. All with the standard projection for sexes of future offspring. Completely normal with the exception of the talents.”
Hiirin got to her feet, and to Maya’s shock, she hugged her. “My beloved treasure. You have made some wonderful girls.”
Maya mumbled. “The guys helped a lot... and frequently.”
She had to wait until the governor was fussing over what she called her granddaughters, even though only one was blood.
Boxes and crates of presents for the infants were presented.
Hiirin held Huya and stroked her cheek. “Such strong markings even now. I have never seen a child born high caste before.”
Huron smiled, and Heron piped up, “She already has a talent, too. She can calm people.”
Hiirin looked at him and back at the little baby with the dark gold eyes. “She can?”
Maya sighed. “She can. She doesn’t like it when the other two fuss, so we have to keep them apart for hours a day so that Boya and Arya have a chance to yell. They love to yell.” She chuckled.
Maya smiled as Dr. Lylwin bowed to Hiirin and told her of their findings. Their family stood around while the medical report was given.
Hiirin asked a question that Maya wasn’t expecting. “How is Maya?”
“She is affectionate but detached. She does not quite see the children as hers. The Terran specialists have some ideas, and I would like permission to try them.”
Hiirin nodded. “What kind of a delay will it be?”
“Two months, Governor. May I begin?”
Lylwin waited until Hiirin nodded, and then, he turned to Maya and pressed a hypo to her neck. “Sorry, love.”
She felt the cool injection, and she narrowed her eyes. “If you weren’t pregnant, I would turn you into a pretzel.”
He winked. “This should help.”
“What is it?”
“You haven’t properly bonded with the children, so you are engaged in post-partum depression and disassociation.”
Maya looked over at Boran with narrowed eyes. He rocked his daughter on his shoulder. She tensed her lips. “Squealer.”
He shrugged. “For the health of my queen, Maya.”
The fact that they had split her into the person they joked with and the head of their little clan was annoying, but that is what life in Relita was about.
Hai-ran and Ytal were examined by the governor, and she smiled at Hai-ran. “Your elevation is sufficient for you to take a child of your own.”
He nodded. “Thank you, Governor, but I would like to surrogate for one or two more rounds before I do so.”
Hiirin beckoned to Ytal and turned his head to look at the expanded markings. “Who did you carry?”
“Boya.”
“Extraordinary. Would you take space in the next clutch?”
Ytal shook his head. “I also would like to go again. There is no lack of affection or contact as a surrogate.”
Huron smiled. “Nor as a father.”
Boran chuckled. “The hardest part for us is holding back.”
Hiirin looked at her. “I read the report, but it couldn’t have possibly been accurate. You still have a sex drive while gestating?”
Maya blushed and looked to the members of Hiirin’s court that were listening intently. “Yes. I get a spike in hormones, not a decrease.”
“I read the reports, but I couldn’t credit it.”
Maya smiled. “The males get the hit as well. Theirs kicks in around month five of gestation.”
Hiirin looked at her son. “Is this accurate?”
“Yes. It also helps with the initial nausea.”
“Hm. Well, if it assists you, that is excellent, if unconventional. I would like you to be recorded holding your daughters, those who had surrogates, the surrogate shall stand behind you.”
Maya watched as the family portraits were lined up in a photoshoot to send around the world.
When Hiirin smiled and said, “Now, Maya, hold each one in turn.” Maya got nervous.
She held Boya first and stroked her little grey cheek. “Hey, darling.”
The baby grinned and kicked her feet.
She looked up when called, and the formal picture was taken.
Arya blew bubbles for her, and they floated up and away, and when they popped, there was a giggle that emerged from the bubble itself.
She slept in her tank at night but managed to breathe air the rest of the time. She was also super cute with her blue and green marks.
>
“Come on, Arya, we need a good photo of you.” She smiled at the baby and then looked up when the photo drone called for her.
Huya was the last, and she was cute and giggly. All of the girls were happy. They were surrounded by caretakers, and any need did not go unanswered. She pressed her forehead to Huya’s and got the bright cheer of a well-fed baby with a clean nappy.
The drone chirped, and she lifted her head, looking at the drone.
The final image was of her standing with all three girls in her arms. It was a trick, but she did it when they got a call before Ytal and Hai-ran were awake. Dawn with her girls was not something to be missed.
She finished the photo ops for the governor, so she could announce the birth of three new talented Relitan queens.
Hiirin smiled. “I am going to be coming for a visit when Lylwin is due. I want to see the delivery in action. It has been a while.”
Lylwin murmured, “It goes very fast, Governor.”
“Then, I shall stay the day before.” Hiirin grinned. “My security detachment is going to hate it.”
They gathered up the gifts, and Maya took Baya and Arya so that the huge boxes could be brought.
They left the mansion, and the protestors had broken through the barricades, and one of them ran at her. With her hands not free, she did what she had been trained to.
How fucking dare you! If you take one more step, you are going to be out on your asses.
The wave of the broadcast made a number of them clutch their heads, some of them flinched, and others fainted. Two males stood in front of her, and she kicked out, and they both fell over.
Huron smiled. “Well done. I didn’t know you could use a psychic shout.”
“It showed up when I was carrying the pods. I didn’t want you getting a big head.”
Their group laughed as they walked back to their shuttle, which was waiting under guard. The protestors were going to be fine, and the governor was about to embark on an advertising campaign that depicted them as the future of Relita. She wasn’t wrong.
In the shuttle with the babies in their travel pods, she asked, “So, Lylwin, what the hell did you inject me with? My breasts are itching.” She watched as Hai-ran flew them back to the base.
“Just a fairly simple cocktail that will allow you to express milk. There are hormones released by nursing that will help you attach to the children.”