12. Aizor

Chapter 12

Van-eesa picked at her meal, eating the bits of roast bribard but leaving the shards of delicate purple vegetation we cultivated in a field not far up the hillside.

"You don't like the moobars?" I asked. She'd bitten into one but pulled it out of her mouth, setting it on the edge of her plate with a grimace.

She muttered something indecipherable, her cheeks growing pink.

I felt the same about our inability to understand each other. While I'd love to remain inside our home to ensure I understood her words, duties took up much of my daylight time. I was my clan traedor. My people needed me. Hopefully, she'd quickly learn more of my language.

When I reached for one of her moobars, she nodded, urging me with a wave to take them.

"Moobar," I said, lifting it.

She repeated the word. When she tapped on the edge of the plate, I shared that word with her as well. She went from one object to another, pointing around the room, and after I'd given her our terms for at least twenty different things, she recited them correctly even if the words sounded slightly different.

She was clever. My earlier perception of her had been flawed. I was grateful once more to the gods for gifting her to me.

I pointed to the last bit of meat on her plate. "Bribard."

"Bribard." She popped it into her mouth and chewed, rubbing her abdomen and mumbling something in her own language.

Her tongue, so tiny and pink, appeared to have a difficult time with my language, but it was clear she was making an effort. The idea thrilled through me. Perhaps she wouldn't want to leave me after all.

She pointed to the few remaining strands of moobar on my plate and grimaced.

"You don't like them."

She shook her head and repeated her words.

"To quicken with my youngling, you need to eat a good diet. Meat alone will not be enough. We'll walk to the garden later today, and you can point out vegetation you might be willing to try instead."

She sighed, her lips thinning.

How could I please her? Pain stabbed through me, jumbling together with desire. Stark desperation made my shoulders slump. If the gods granted her request to return her to wherever she came from, could I go with her? It would be hard to leave my clan and the only home I'd ever known but losing her would be infinitely worse.

Though her body structure and appearance were so different from a Zuldrux, she was the loveliest being on this planet. Each time I looked at her, I couldn't stop drinking in the way her tiny nose curved up slightly on the tip, unlike the broad, thick noses of my own people. Her hair caught the light even inside, gleaming as if it had been spun by the golden upper portion of one of the crystal structures in the valley.

When I first saw her, I wasn't sure about mating with a female who only had two breasts, but now I couldn't stop staring at them. They jiggled, unlike those of the females in my clan. And I hadn't missed the ripe buds in the center surrounded by darker pink. How did Van-eesa's species nurse their young if they didn't have tubes projecting from the base of their breasts like a Zuldruxian?

I didn't care. Her differences only made her more appealing.

"Try this." I lifted a slice of the god-given fruit and offered it to her. She tentatively touched it with her tongue, and I stifled a groan. I needed to stop picturing that tongue on one of my cocks. Of her sucking like my smaller cock would on her clit.

Her eyes lit up at the flavor.

"It's fruit," I said.

"Mmm." She held my hand and bit off a good-sized chunk, chewing, her eyes gleaming brighter. I nudged the plate her way and watched with joy as she heartily ate everything on the surface.

"More?" I asked, waving to the counter.

She shook her head. No. At least the bobs of our heads matched.

"You need to know that I don't want to leave this place," I said. "It's the only home I've ever known. But for you, my mate," I swallowed down my dismay, "I would do it."

She frowned but didn't comment. But then, she didn't understand me. I wanted to gnash my tusks and bellow, but I sensed that would only repel her.

I reminded myself to be patient. I'd continue to teach her our words and slowly, we'd begin to understand each other when we were outside our home.

"After our meal," I bit down on and chewed through a spear of moobar. I wasn't hungry any longer, but we never wasted anything sent to us by the gods. "We'll take my hepadon to the valley to speak to the central gods."

She licked her fingers and sat back in her wooden chair, watching me as I finished her moobars. I'd poured her a mug of wellet, but she hadn't touched it. I nudged the drink closer to her, and she peered into the top, shaking her head before taking a tiny sip. She grimaced but drank the rest, probably to please me.

When it appeared she was finished, we left, leaving the structure to absorb the plates. They'd be renewed and returned when it was time for our next meal.

I took her to the evacuation building just in case, then back to the pools, though this time, we left the main channel and entered a small alcove on the right with a tiny pool just big enough for her to wash her hands.

She smiled up at me as we walked back out into the sunshine, and seeing her happy and knowing I was the cause, was a punch in the gut. It made my belly hurt, but it also felt amazing.

Taking her hand once more, I led her to the hepadon grazing area, the crunch of them biting off stalks of grass louder than the sound of our footsteps on the path. When we were close, I opened the gate and called for Voolon. Her head lifted and she snorted before trotting over to join us.

Van-eesa gasped and ducked behind me, seeking my protection as she should, though not from my tame hepadon.

I chuckled and dragged her forward to stand with me. "Be brave, my mate. Voolon will never cause you harm."

Voolon came to a halt in front of us, and I reached up to pat her snout. She nibbled playfully on my fingers before peering at Van-eesa. Her nose shot out to bump my mate's chest.

Van-eesa released another waaaa sound that must be her favorite saying.

Did she have similar pets where she came from? She must.

"Voolon is sweet," I said. "I raised her from the time she hatched from her egg." Later, I could take her to the hatching grounds, and she could pick out her own mount from the hepadon young. She'd raise it and train it to be gentle with her, though I didn't mind her riding with me. There was no better feeling than Van-eesa pressing her tiny frame against mine.

I took her hand and though she resisted, I placed her palm on Voolon's cheek. The hepadon nibbled it like she had mine. Van-eesa cringed, but she gave me a weak smile and patted the beast, quickly retracting her hand. She no longer released thewaaaasound.

"Up you go," I said, lifting Van-eesa and sweeping around to the side of Voolon to deposit my mate on the hepadon's back. Her eyes widened, and she gaped down at the beast who shifted but remained steady. A jump, and I mounted behind her. I tucked her back against my chest, lifting her onto my thighs.

My cocks announced they were eager for whatever might come next, the large one stiffening, the smaller one humming in tune with my heart.

Van-eesa wiggled and shot me a glare, muttering something I was grateful I couldn't understand.

When I urged Voolon forward with a nudge of my heels, Van-eesa latched onto my arm I'd wrapped around her waist. Emitting strangled gasps, she clung as the hepadon moved slowly past the edge of my village.

Once we'd reached the upper end of the trail weaving down the mountain and into the central part of the valley where the majority of the crystal gods lived, I urged Voolon to go faster.

Air rushed past us, sweet with floral perfume, the pungent aroma lifting off the needle trees now that the sunlight had hit them. I sucked in a deep breath, grateful all over again that I had the chance to live in this world during this time, that I had a healthy clan waiting for me at home, a sturdy structure to sleep in at night, plus the care of our gods.

And my precious mate who I hadn't given up on yet. I'd do my best to prove to her that I was worthy, and she'd soon welcome me with open arms.

As Voolon went faster, her paws thundering on the rough ground, Van-eesa shouted out her favorite word.

Grinning, I echoed it. "Waaaa!"