Chapter 24

Serval

When Sophie told him that human rules of modesty were suspended for swimming suits, he had expected more skin, or maybe something tighter. He hadn't expected both. He really hadn't expected her to suddenly get nude right there on the beach.

He didn't mind, he just wasn't expecting it. She wasn't fully nude, though very little was covered. The sight of his gold accented female made his tongue entirely too fat in his mouth as he struggled to grasp the sight of her.

She stood there in a pool of purple fabric, shining like gold, as she turned for him. She had even pulled up her hair, so he could see her entire body. The sweeping nape of her neck and back. The curves of her breasts, hips, and thighs. The cute little roundness of her belly. Her adorable, tiny toes. The only thing really hidden were her nipples and cunt – and even then, he could see the bump of areola and the puffy mound between her legs. It would be so easy to yank those golden strips of fabric away and slam himself deep.

Uru, his cousin, had looked over as he was walking, caught sight of his sexy human mate, and tripped over his own feet. The other males of his family were staring, open mouthed, stunned by the sheer sensuality of her practically nude body. His sister had frozen, a bite of food in front of her mouth as she gaped.

Sophie smiled, and he was overwhelmed with a sense of pride.

Yes. That was his female. Look at her and marvel. Choke on the envy of knowing that she was so stunning, but they would never get to touch her.

She was his, only his. A precious gem for him to show off, but one only he could touch.

He realized only after she started giggling that he hadn't actually answered her question. He had just been staring. One of his cousin's mates smacked him in the face with her olules, breaking the others into laughter.

Serval leaned in close, his face right near his mate's. One of his olules stroked over her cheek, making her shiver. He loved seeing her react to his sting. Knowing that it affected her that way was even better than it not affecting her at all, as it would with an allowee female.

"You know, you can swim on my ship as well, right?"

She snickered as the insinuation before booping his nose. "I brought lunch. Let's eat and then you can show me around the bay. I'm interested."

He was loath to let her go, but as she walked away, he followed her like they had been tethered together and he was helpless but to trail behind.

Spirits below, she was gorgeous. Her butt jiggled with each step. Her skin practically glowed under the light of the sun. She laughed with the others as she ate – second meal today was leftovers from last night. No ovili though, because there was never leftover ovili.

Serval ate with the others, but he was so focused on Sophie, he might as well have just eaten sand. He didn't taste anything as she talked with the others, learning about ovili farming.

Since his home planet didn't have seasons, there were few creatures on Wav'aii that spawned or mated at specific times of year – and those that did usually were bound by migration patterns, not weather changes. The ovili were no exception. They spawned and grew however they pleased, and half the difficulty of harvesting them was knowing when they were ready.

Harvested too soon, and the ovili would be bitter and the effects nonexistent. Harvested too late, and their poison couldn't be cooked out without burning the meat and eating them might cause harm. But they all grew at different speeds depending on sunlight and temperature and salinity. So, it was an art to only bring up perfectly right ones, deciding which ones to let get too old so they could breed, and culling the sick ones.

They fed their ovili, seeded the nursery beds when one was ready to spawn, protected them from predators and disease, and made sure the beds were still strong and nutritious for them. It was a lot of work, but it was monotonous and simple.

Serval had been doing it since he was old enough to swim after his father – longer than he could actually remember. It was boring. Stifling. He had once imagined doing this for the rest of his life and would rather have jumped off a cliff into a rocky surf.

But to Sophie, it was all fascinating. She listened to everyone explaining what was done and how as though she were going to be examined later. Full attention, eyes wide, excited grin.

And when his father brought out her breather, she forgot the food completely as she grabbed the device, staring at it in wonder.

Breathers were used when someone needed to swim deep or for long periods. They were put on the face, gripped by the teeth, then sealed around the mouth and nose so the holder could relax. The body was cylindrical, laying across the mouth, with a vent at the front. When she breathed in, water would come in through the ends, be converted into breathable air through a series of filters that kept it from being pure oxygen, and when she breathed out, bubbles would be pushed out the front.

She stared at the simple device like it was some kind of magical artifact.

"I've always wanted to breathe underwater," she confessed, her fingers excitedly moving up and down the breather. "I mean, I know there's like scuba gear and stuff, but it never seemed quite so cool as just swimming free without anything weighing you down. Can we go right now?"

Serval chuckled, putting the remains of his lunch aside. He wasn't tasting it anyway. And he could only imagine what it must be like for a fully terrestrial species to suddenly have the open ocean completely available to them. The very existence of swimming clothes suggested that humans could visit the water, but that didn't mean they could appreciate it fully.

Taking Sophie by the hand, he pulled her to the water and began walking in with her. She followed eagerly, looking over the device.

"Now?" She asked, vibrating with excitement.

"Not until your head goes down. Take a breath, hold it, put the device in, go under, then breathe out. Then, you can breathe through it."

"This is going to be so cool! Oh! Does the combot work underwater?"

"Our models? Yes." He smirked back at her. "I paid extra for it on yours, but it's a pretty standard feature here on Wav'aii."

"Yes! Do you mind if I do some recording?"

He chuckled, turning as they reached the point where she was chest level in the water. "No. Go ahead. Show off the family farm."

Sophie beamed, throwing her arms around him. She kissed him eagerly, thankful that he was letting her record. But he understood completely. He wouldn't ever let a story opportunity pass him by, he didn't expect her to either. And he didn't mind being on camera.

He loved showing off his female. Let the entirety of Earth see how well he cared for and adored her as she enjoyed his planet. His family.

She put the breather in as he instructed and ducked under the water.

And her ass immediately floated back up.

Serval swam back and down, easily able to sink so that he was still walking on the ground even as his head moved under the surface. His female, so soft and squishy, had to work to swim, to keep herself under, as she kept trying to float back up.

He could only laugh, his voice echoing in the water, as he took her hands and pulled her after him as he pushed off, swimming deeper into the bay. She kicked forward, still horizontal in the water, as she depended on him to sink further.

Serval turned, pushing off the ground, pulling her by the hand.

He swam.

Not her cute, human flailing. He swam like an allowee, cutting quick and easy through the water. It was freeing. The pool in his ship, though it wound through and around the rooms and halls allowing him to swim in circles without needing to stop, wasn't the same as being out in the open water. The fresh, salty water on his skin making his wii glow, the warmth of the sun through the water's surface, the calls of his family speaking the deep language, as they returned to work.

The bay had multiple beds prepared for ovili growth at the artificially flattened, sandy bottom. They could be finicky, but his family had it down to an art. It was more instinct than science at this point, but there was a healthy amount of both.

Each bed was a square, about as wide as he was tall, with high walls coated in an oil that would keep the ovili from crawling out. They kept small nets over them, protecting the ovili from most predators, with holes just big enough for the bags of feed they dumped onto them to filter through.

He brought Sophie to the bottom, showing her around silently. He tried to talk to her, but the deep tongue was too hard for her human ears to hear underwater. So, he eventually gave up and just reverted to hand signs as he pulled her around the farm.

His cousins, his father, came swimming back as they finished eating. They called out to them in greeting, waving at her. Sophie beamed, waving back, twirling in the waves. The water cradled her body so easily. She had almost no control. Even when she tried to step onto the side of an ovili bed the way he did, she couldn't do it. Her feet touched the walls easily, but she didn't balance on them so much as she just put them there, her arms flapping to keep herself upright.

Chuckling, Serval took her by the hand and pushed off into the water, swimming to the mouth of the bay where their island opened up into the surrounding sea.

His home island was part of a long cluster of islands, not very dissimilar from each other. Specifically, his and seven others formed a ring, with a deep dip in the middle. From his island, he could look out and see two neighboring islands. The water obscured things just enough that he couldn't quite make them out from there, but it was clear enough that, when he brought Sophie to the entrance of the bay, she could look out and see the submerged city.

He heard her gasp of amazement, got to enjoy the way her eyes widened, as she stared at the bright lights coming up from below.

The deep section between their ring of islands had a city that served the entire chain. It was a single, massive dome completely covering the deepest part. Beyond the clear plex-steel that protected the city from the water, they could see the large buildings – homes and businesses – of the city. Five entrance tunnels had a two-door system that allowed people to swim in, the water to be drained out, allowing them to walk in practically dry.

Sophie said something, waving her hands excitedly. Serval could only smile at her, completely unable to understand. She didn't know how to manipulate her voice so that it was more easily understood underwater. He just floated back as she waved her combot forward and got footage of the city before pointing quickly to the surface.

She kicked at the water, moving, but slowly. Serval grabbed her hand and swam her up himself, cutting the distance much faster. He broke the surface just before her. She threw back the escaped tendrils of her hair as she yanked her breather out of her mouth, beaming at him.

"It was incredible! Serval, did you see?! A whole city! Right there! Under the ocean! I've never seen anything like it!"

He smiled, calmly floating on the surface as she bobbed up and down next to him, talking excitedly about something common he had seen his entire life.

But it was totally new to her fully terrestrial species. An entire functioning, sunken city must be an amazing thing to see for the first time.

"Can we go there?" She asked, then, before he could answer, she kept talking. "This place is so awesome, Serval. Just, all of this! I can't believe this is my life!"

With a delighted cry, she threw herself back. Serval pushed after her, surprised when she just floated there on the surface on her back. That was something his species couldn't really do. While he could tread water, perfectly stable and confident, he couldn't just float like that on the surface. His little human mate was so soft, however, the water easily buoyed her.

He kept up with her as she turned her head, smiling. The bright sun made her glow – her skin, her hair, her bright, golden eyes.

"Beautiful," Serval whispered, stroking her cheek under the water.

She closed her eyes, leaning on his palm.

He leaned in, covering her lips. She opened for him immediately, returning his kiss as she continued to float. Laid out on the surface. A temptation, a lure, drawing him to her. How could he possibly resist?

From below, distorted because his ears were out of the water, he heard a few of his cousins calling out salacious and teasing things. He broke the kiss, ducking his head underwater to glare at them balefully as they laughed good-naturedly.

He popped his head back through the surface again, to find his mate was giggling too. Her eyes were sparkling as she easily turned in the water, coming off her back and treading water beside him with a smile.

"Got a place we can go?" She asked.

He immediately nodded. "This way."