14

Two months later

- Charlotte -

“Good going, Char'ton,” Neri'on said and dropped out of the shuttle.

Charlotte smiled tightly. They had given her a nickname that was a friendly joke, a mix of her own name and a Acerex ending that had some kind of royal connotation. She knew many of the warriors felt that she was high above them in status, since she was friends with Harper. But they were also proud of having her in their squad, and they would tell other squads that she was an alien princess.

She finished the checklist, locked up the controls and jumped down onto the ground. It had been another victorious mission, and the squad had performed better than ever.

Cori'ax sauntered slowly after the other warriors towards the tents, giving her time to catch up. He always did that, and it was one of the many little things he did that Charlotte liked. He was both honoring her and showing her that he wanted to be close to her.

“Another good mission,” she said when she caught up. “We chased them home, I think.”

“They're running, certainly,” Cori'ax said as she fell into step with him. “Your idea to keep hitting them as hard as we can immediately and then giving them an easy way to leave seems to be working.”

“It does seem that way,” Charlotte agreed and felt the elation of another victory slowly being transformed into arousal. This had been a good one, and they had been able to win without killing too many alien invaders. Charlotte's idea of leaving the enemy an easy and obvious way to flee from the Acerex army, instead of slaughtering everyone, had been pretty successful so far. It saves lives on both sides, and an enemy defeated with a shock like that was unlikely to try again. The Acerex habit of aiming to annihilate their enemies was changing. Very slowly, but it was changing.

Cori'ax reached out for her hand as they walked, and she looked up at him in puzzlement before she carefully took it, looking around. He'd never taken her hand in public before.

“Yeah? Here?”

He smiled. “Here. We're down, the mission is accomplished. And I've kept a secret from you: we have two week's leave. The whole squad. Starting the moment we touched down. It's only two weeks, but I have a suggestion about where to go.”

Charlotte grinned. She wouldn't mind a little vacation about now. “You do, huh?”

The huge warrior looked away. “Unless you want to go somewhere else, of course. I would understand perfectly. Actually, never mind.”

Charlotte peered up at him. He was always totally sure of himself, but now he almost seemed embarrassed. “Well, how about you tell me what you have in mind, and I'll tell you if I want to or not?”

He have her a     quick glance. “It's just... I haven't been home for a long time. I mean, the village I come from. I thought maybe ... but no, you have other places to go, of course. I'm sure you haven't been to your own planet for a long time. And of course you want to see your friends. It was just a thought, a spur of the moment thing. Please forget it.”

Charlotte smirked. It was very rare to see Cori'ax embarrassed. On one hand she wanted to make the most of it, but on the other hand he had done something that she knew was extremely rare.

“Just to clarify: you're inviting me to your home village?”

“Yes, but I spoke without thinking. The elation of the victory overwhelmed me for a moment.”

She squeezed his hand. “Hey, so, are you inviting me or not?”

He took a moment to answer. “I am. But like I said, I entirely understand if-”

She broke him off. “Sure, I'd love to see your village. Let's leave right away.”

He stopped in his tracks. “You don't have to do that. My village is primitive and remote. I fear you'd hate it.”

She was thrilled that she might be able to see the village he came from. He didn't have much close family left, but she would love to see where he had grown up. “Maybe you could let me be the judge of that? We'll go there. If I hate the place or, I don't know, they don't make the coffee exactly the way I want it or something else that's totally unforgivable, I'll just slap you and leave in a huff, okay? The Friendship is still in orbit and it would take me an hour to get up there.”

A rare, boyish smile spread slowly over Cori'ax's face. “Yes. Good point. Promise me that if at any point you want to leave the village, you tell me right away. I'm not that attached to it anymore. And I truly think you'll hate it.”

- - -

“I love it,” Charlotte sighed and laid back on the deck, feeling the breeze and the pleasant rays from Acerex's sun. “No, wait. Correction. I totally love it.”

Cori'ax's home village was on the coast of one of the continents, about halfway between the equator and the North Pole. The ocean was deep blue and as clear as crystal, so she could see the sandy bottom a hundred feet under the little sailboat that Cori'ax had borrowed. There were thousands of little islands all around the area, and the village was built on about fifty of largest of them. All the islands were rocky, but the rock had been polished by glaciers and water over millions of years and were now just gentle slopes that from a distance looked like the backs of huge, gray whales just cresting the surface.

Between the islands where people lived there were little wooden bridges, so that it was possible to walk from one end of the settlement to the other. But it was much more common to use boats, either rowboats or sailboats. The Acerex had boats with engines for emergencies, but they preferred to use the traditional ways or crossing the sea and the little straits between islands.

They had spent the first night on the mainland, but now they were going out to Skato, the island where Cori'ax's family lived.

Cori'ax was sitting in the back of the sailboat, steering it with a simple tiller. Charlotte was lying lazily on the little deck in front of him, hearing the sail flap in the breeze and the waves clucking against the hull, just relaxing and feeling happier than she had for a long time.

“I'm glad,” the huge warrior said. “And somewhat surprised. It's such a simple place.”

Charlotte shaded her eyes with one hand. “Am I really that complicated?”

“Not as far as I can tell. But you are an alien ambassador. Confidante of royals, even. And this is a humble village, even by Acerex standards.”

“Did you ever consider that I'm a simple girl, despite all that?”

“Not until now. Watch out.”

He pushed the tiller away from him. The boom that held the bottom of the sail swung slowly from one side of the mast over to the other, and then the sail filled out as it caught the wind again.

She shaded her eyes with one hand. Cori'ax was sitting very calmly, handling the boat with the relaxed confidence that he always exuded. He had a content look on his face, and Charlotte realized that he must have been sailing like this since early childhood.

But no one would mistake him for a sailor. For once his torso was bare, and the flame tattoos framed the burns he'd suffered on the Fire Planet. He had many scars all over his immensely muscular body, acquired on countless alien worlds. But there were no fresh ones. Since Charlotte joined the squad, their injury rate had gone down sharply.

The sword lay in the bottom of the boat, within easy reach for him. Even here he was ready for anything. But he was relaxed.

“You love this, don't you?”

He nodded. “My early life was like that of any other Acerex male, just a preparation for the Fire Planet. But I was lucky. I had this, too. Whenever I had the chance, I would sail. In the boat, I could push away the thoughts of the horrors that lay ahead. It emptied my mind and let me enjoy just being alive. While it lasted. Because I knew it wouldn't last long. Like all warriors know.”

One of the gray islands lay straight ahead, and Charlotte guessed that it was his home. There were bright red trees in the middle of it and a handful of little huts along its shoreline. It looked calm and idyllic.

“When were you here last?”

“Right after the Fire Trials. I recovered from my injuries here before I went on active duty. After that, I made sure not to come back here. I suppose I wanted to preserve this as some kind of paradise in my mind, just dreaming of returning here once and for all when I was too old to fight in the army.”

Charlotte frowned. “But here you are now.”

He sent her a look that had both puzzlement and happiness in it. “Yes. I changed my mind and realized that this place is still here and ready for me to enjoy any time I want. And it's improbable that I'll retire alive. So why not gain all the pleasure from it that I can?”

Charlotte nodded. Not many Acerex warriors survived to old age. But Cori'ax had become more careful in his fighting, and she thought maybe it was because of her. “Well, try your best to stay alive. Some of us like to have you around. As in, really seriously like it a whole fucking lot and don't you dare go and die or there'll be serious trouble.”

They were very close to the island, and Charlotte sat up. She had gotten herself a light, white dress on the Friendship, something that Acerex women rarely wore. She would look very alien to Cori'ax's family.

She squinted to look ahead. It seemed that the shore was just an unbroken line of smooth, hard rock, and the boat was travelling pretty fast in the breeze. It looked as if Cori'ax was intending to just sail right onto the rock. When the boat was just a foot or so from the rocks, Charlotte yelped and jumped back to get away from the rock wall ahead. “Are you crazy?!”

Shit, of course she couldn't trust him to not try something insane, even here.

He just smiled and put the tiller all the way over, and the little boat had suddenly rounded a small outcrop that had been invisible until they were right on top of it. Now the boat was safely sailing up a natural canal with a wooden pier at the end of it.

There were people there, too. Three men and a woman holding a child by the hand. The child was waving happily.

Cori'ax and Charlotte waved back, and then the boat lightly bumped into the pier, Cori'ax threw a line to the men standing there and they had arrived.

Strong arms helped Charlotte ashore and she got a good look at the people. Yes, this was Cori'ax's family, all right. They were all unusually tall, and their facial features were similar to his. Only the little girl hadn't developed the strong features yet, and was as round and cute as any toddler.

Cori'ax came ashore. “Pilot Charlotte, meet my uncles. Warrior Heri'ax and Warrior Rexi'on.”

The old men both lightly slapped the hilts of their sword. “Greetings, Pilot.”

Charlotte smiled. “Warriors.”

“My sister, Gese'tia.”

The woman smiled warmly and took Charlotte's arm. “Welcome.”

“And who is this?” Charlotte said and smiled at the little girl, who immediately turned her face away in sudden shyness at the attention from the stranger.

“This is Cori'ana,” her mother said. “And may I compliment you on your Acerex. I have never heard an alien speak it.”

“Mostly military phrases, I'm afraid,” Charlotte said. She knew that warriors had their own jargon that was almost impossible to understand for non-military Acerex and that was badly suited for talking about anything beside war, not least because it was riddled with swearing and words that should not be used in polite company. But she'd had no chance to learn the civilian language, so she knew she would have to stay mostly quiet so as not to risk offending anyone.

Cori'ax's family had prepared a nice meal inside the largest hut, and Charlotte said little as the family got caught up on his life. After all, they hadn't seen him for years.

Even to her, their admiration of him was obvious. The older warriors hung on his every word when he told them of his battles, and Charlotte noticed that he downplayed his own skills and bravery, talking more about his mistakes than his successes. It was so typical of him, and she loved it.

She played with little Cori'ana, speaking to her in English and making the little girl squeal in delight from some of the little games she made up.

The seafood was delicious, and when they were done, Cori'ax took Charlotte on a tour of the little island and those around it, using bridges instead of the boat.

The island was much redder with vegetation than it looked from a distance, and there were little forests and glens and glades. The ocean breeze made the air fresh, but the trees also sheltered them. Nature seemed quiet and untouched.

“Not a bad place to grow up,” Charlotte said. “And your family is super nice.”

“Not bad,” Cori'ax agreed. “Yes, I was lucky.”

“So all the more painful to leave for war duty in space, right?”

The warrior laughed. “Young men don't know how blessed they are. I was as eager to finally become a warrior and do my duty as any other male. This seemed like a backwater to me then. I was not able to fully appreciate its qualities.”

“When did your mother die?”

“Oh, before I went to the Trials. It was an illness that I understand Earth medicine can cure, but which ours couldn't. My father was killed in action shortly before. Is your home village similar to this?”

Her home. She tried never to think too much about it. There wasn't much good there. It had never been a real home. “Not really. It's more of a city than a village. Traffic and noise and all kinds of smells. It's nice in its own way. If you're allowed to enjoy it. I rarely was. Too busy being shuffled between foster homes and ... and things like that.”

They walked in silence and crossed a bridge to another island. The sun was setting, and their shadows grew longer.

“'Things like that',” Cori'ax repeated softly. “Those words seem like they contain a lot. And I think I can handle hearing them.”

Charlotte looked away. The islands were so low that they could see the horizon in every direction, except towards the mainland. Something in he rebelled against bringing out her less-than-ideal childhood here and now.

And while Cori'ax probably thought he could handle hearing about the crappiest parts of her early life, she couldn't trust him to. He probably didn't realize how different Earth society really was from the world he lived in. She didn't think she could bear it if he failed. “Oh, there's not that much to tell, really. Just garden variety neglect. Parents who suddenly left, one after the other. Useless public services. Some who wanted to help but were prevented. Others who didn't care one way or the other. Well, at least it made me want to get away as soon as possible. So I enlisted first chance I got and became a pilot. Total coincidence. The closest recruitment office was for the Air Force. I never looked back, and I don't really want to.”

Cori'ax squeezed her hand. “Then I won't force you.”

She looked up at him. “One day I will tell you. But not here, not now.”

They were approaching a little cluster of huts, and some people came out and greeted Cori'ax warmly and with that same admiration that every Acerex seem to treat him with.

“These people are proud of you, you know. Your sister named her daughter after you.”

Cori'ax chuckled. “Misplaced pride can be found anywhere.”

Charlotte looked up at his burned face. “I am, too.”

“Ah.” For once the large warrior was lost for words. But he looked away, and his ruined face took on a slightly darker color for a second.

They crossed six more bridges until they were on one of the outermost islands. There were no huts there, but there was a meadow of thousands of delicate, white flowers. They stretched for several hundred yards into the distance, and looked like a black sky strewn with stars.

Charlotte gasped. “That's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen!”

“Elereon flowers,” Cori'ax said with satisfaction. “The only special feature of our village. Some tourists come here to see them. They're found nowhere else that I know of.”

Charlotte squatted down and looked. The flowers were extremely delicate, and they were blindingly white. But that wasn't the most remarkable thing about them. “Where's the soil? They grow straight out of the rock! There aren't even any cracks!”

“So it seems. Apparently they use the silicate in the rock as their structure. They live on the nutrients carried on the wind and the rain. They grow straight out of the stone. And they turn out as the most beautiful flowers found on our planet. Try to stroke it.”

Charlotte ran one finger gently across one flower. “That's insane. You can hardly feel it's there at all!”

The flower was so soft and smooth that silk would seem coarse by comparison.

“You can try to pick it,” Cori'ax said.

Charlotte gripped the stem far down and picked the flower from the rock.

The she stroked its crown. It looked exactly the same as before, but now it was suddenly hard to the touch. Rock hard and brittle. “What the hell ...”

“They fossilize in an instant when they're picked. When they lose contact with the rock, they turn to stone themselves.”

Charlotte turned the now hard flower around in her fingers, astonished. “I've never heard of anything like this. It still looks exactly the same- ow!”

A white crown leaf, now as hard and sharp as a razor, cut her finger when she stroked it.

Cori'ax chuckled. “'Elereon's revenge'. Whenever you pick one, you must make sure that you let it cut you afterwards. It's only fair. In fact, not being cut when you hold one is a challenge. They will have their vengeance, one way or the other.”

Charlotte held the flower gingerly and studied it from up close, sucking the little cut on her finger. The elereon was so complicated and delicate she could keep looking at it forever. “So can I keep it?”

Cori'ax took the flower and wrapped it in a soft cloth before handing it back. “That's the idea. Keep it as a memory of this place. And perhaps as a lesson. Even if you come from the hardest rock, losing contact with it completely might not be healthy.”

Charlotte looked up at him and he gazed straight back with those bright, yellow eyes. He was sincere. She had never known this giant, reckless warrior could be capable of this depth, too. He was much more than met the eye, and she found it extremely attractive. And he understood her without judgment. How could one man be this great?

She sighed and took in the marvelous surroundings, happily losing herself in amorous feelings. This place was special to him. And he had taken her to see it. “So, you know you have to fuck me now, right?”

He winked. “You think this whole thing wasn't a carefully planned ruse to do exactly that?”

She laughed. “Oh, you don't have to go to these lengths to get in my pants. As long as you have a pulse, I'm pretty much ready to go for you.” She looked around quickly. “So this isn't some kind of holy site, is it? Or something else that means we shouldn't do anything naughty here?”

As a reply, Cori'ax dropped his pants and his large erection stood skywards. “If it is, then I don't know about it.”

The sight of him so obviously ready ignited a spark in her pussy, so she pulled the dress over her head and stripped off her underwear. “But maybe it will become one after this. I mean, I'm sure I'll always remember this place. If you're up to your usual standard.”

“Cori'ax do his best when mate with female,” the warrior said jokingly in that primitive way that made her insides melt.

She went in close and sought his lips, and he received her the way he always did, eagerly and warmly. He placed a large hand on her butt and pulled her in as she laid both arms around his neck and jumped up on him, just to feel his enormous strength as he effortlessly held her entire weight in his hands. She loved doing it, loved feeling light and delicate compared to the huge warrior with the fire tattoos and the scars and the giant ropes of muscle under his skin.

She kissed him passionately and drew in his scent, feeling the heat in her loins increase from being this close to him and feeling his rock-hard manhood poking her very close to where it would soon go.

Cori'ax carried her like that to a little patch of grass among the many flowers, making sure not to step on any. Then he laid her down there, holding her tight and putting her down more gently than she herself would be able to. The grass was soft and had a fresh smell to it that reminded Charlotte of home.

Cori'ax spread her open and his yellow eyes went glassy. “My woman is ready for me.”

“Uh-huh. Take her.” It was all Charlotte could manage, longing for the union.

He entered her with no ceremony, because none was needed and she was soaking wet. As always he went slow on the first thrust, making sure she was okay. And as always that little act of consideration and total control let Charlotte relax completely and just give herself over.

“Oh my staaaars ...!” She arched her back as he penetrated her sex and his sensational cock stimulated every sensitive point inside her at the same time.

Every time he fucked her, Charlotte tried to enjoy it more, to not come after just a couple of minutes, to drag it out more. But she'd never succeeded. This time she was determined that she would.

He fucked her slowly, the way he used to, and she curled her legs around him. It was strange – now, just seeing his tiger-like yellow eyes above her was enough to send hard shots of heat to her pussy, because every time she saw that she had a spectacular orgasm right after.

It was building now, the avalanche of liquid heat that would overwhelm her and make her lose control in sexual bliss like she never had come close to before she met him. Each stroke into her sex by his hard rod ignited those sparks of pure pleasure, the white-hot sparks that filled her body and her consciousness.

“Fuck me,” she pleaded unnecessarily, more for her own sake than for his. “Fuck me hard.”

He increased the speed. He knew her so well, he was so sensitive to her needs. Of course he had long since recognized her pattern, that when she started egging him on was when her orgasm was very close and all he needed was to-

“Ooooh yeaaaah!” The buzzing started at her clit and the incredible waves from it overwhelmed her whole pelvis. She felt her determination weaken. She was not going to drag this out after all. He wanted it differently. He wanted her to come. And when he wanted that, she always came. It was his choice, not hers.

She looked up at the sky, so alien in its colors. She saw the clouds and she heard the waves of the ocean crashing into rock and the slight breeze and the smell of the ocean. Being fucked here, out in the open on an alien planet, by this giant warrior who made love better than she'd ever experienced, was the most primal thing she'd ever done. And it made her happier than she thought possible. Everything else in the universe vanished. She had never been more herself than right at this moment.

She looked into Cori'ax's yellow eyes and felt his cock buzzing and her body just going over the edge and she screamed out her endless joy.