“Is it someone else asking for entrance?” Molly asked under her breath.
Braxx nodded and then remembered she couldn’t see him. “Yes—a male apparently.”
“Now then, now then!” the Wise One exclaimed, bustling to the pink and purple door. “With any luck that will be Drogor with my new bunch of crystals!”
She threw open the door and a male around Braxx’s size with deep blue skin and the tiny, atrophied eyes of the Deep Dwellers came in. He had the short purple hair of all Tal’ossi males, both Top and Deep Dwellers, and his shoulders were so broad he would surely have to turn sideways to get through the doorway.
“Greetings, Wise One,” he sang in a deep, bass voice that reminded Braxx of the Earth instrument called a tuba. “I pray to the Cha’llah you are well and bring you new crystals to work your craft on.”
“Thank you, thank you,” the Wise One sang. Then she added, “Come in, Drogor! Come and meet Braxx from the Sky and Molly, she who has come from the stars to know the People.”
The big male came into the hut, handing a large woven basket of crystals to the Wise One as he did so. He squinted in the dim glow of the crystal fire as though trying to make them out in, what for him, was blinding illumination.
“Make greetings to each other,” the Wise One commanded and went to the back of her hut to begin sorting out the crystals Drogor had brought.
“Greetings, greetings,” Braxx sang and Molly joined him as the new male came up to them.
Though he knew the Deep Dweller couldn’t see well, Braxx still shifted positions to put himself between the alien male and Molly. The top of her negu was much too short, showing the undercurves of her full breasts. Worse, the tight pink nubs of her nipples kept poking through the silver, green, and blue grasses. Braxx had been trying not to look—except when she asked him frankly if she was “decent” but it was damn hard. He didn’t like the idea of a strange male seeing her so exposed.
But it wasn’t Molly’s appearance which seemed to draw the Deep Dweller.
“Greetings, greetings,” he sang and then broke off and began to speak instead. “By the Cha’llah! What is that amazing scent?” he exclaimed, by-passing Braxx and going right up to Molly. “Is it you, female from the stars?”
“Oh, uh—you must be smelling my perfume,” Molly gave a self-conscious little laugh as the Deep Dweller seized her hands in both of his.
“Whatever it is, it makes my shaft hard!” Drogor said frankly.
“Oh my! That’s… er, quite a compliment.” Molly was sounding distinctly uneasy now.
“All right, that’s enough.” Braxx put himself between them, drawing Molly’s hands out of the Deep Dweller’s huge paws and glaring at the other male. A possessive fire seemed to have been lit in his chest and it was raging out of control. No strange male was going to come over and paw the female he was protecting right in front of him!
His expression appeared to be completely lost on the other male but Drogor still took his meaning.
“Why do you stop our meeting, otherworlder?” he demanded, frowning at Braxx. “This female does not belong to you—I smell no trace of your mating scent on her! I smell only her own sweet scent and the stink of your aggression, which is unfounded as she is not yours.”
“Just because we are not mated doesn’t mean I don’t claim her,” Braxx growled.
“You cannot claim her if you have not marked her!” Drogor snarled. “You do not own her!”
“Boys, boys, please!” Suddenly Molly’s soft hands were pushing them apart. She was feeling her way forward, placing her fingertips delicately on Braxx’s bare chest as well as the Deep Dweller’s. “No fighting, please,” she told them in a soft, placating voice.
“But I must fight if I am to claim you, lovely one,” Drogor explained. “Your scent is too delicious to resist. I must take you into the deep places of the ground to stand before the Cha’llah and be claimed.”
“The hell you will!” Braxx growled. “This female is spoken for, Deep Dweller!”
“Your mouth makes sounds but your scent is not on her,” Drogor shot back. “You—”
“No one is going to claim me or own me,” Molly interrupted him, speaking in a loud, firm voice. “So please stop fighting.”
“I will cease if you tell me one thing, lovely one from the stars,” Drogor said to her. “Does this male own you?”
Braxx opened his mouth to claim that he did—though it was wrong, he couldn’t help feeling a strange possessiveness towards Molly—but she spoke before he could get a word out.
“No, Braxx doesn’t own me,” she said firmly. “Where I come from, females own themselves.”
“What? Ridiculous,” the Deep Dweller snorted. “A female cannot own herself.”
“Well I do.” Molly put a placating hand up to Drogor’s arm.
The sight of her touching another male sent a sting of painful jealousy shooting through Braxx although he knew it was foolish. Somehow he couldn’t shake this feeling of possession which had risen in him.
Mine, he thought angrily, his hands curling into fists at his sides. She’s mine and I’ll fucking break him in half if he tries anything!
“Your scent is intoxicating,” the big Ta’losi insisted. “If you are not owned by another male, I must claim you.”
“Drogor,” Molly said gently. “I thank you for your compliment. But truly, the scent you smell is artificial.”
“What?” Drogor frowned, clearly not comprehending.
“It is…from a flower grown on my home planet,” Molly said, obviously improvising. “Soon it will wear away and I will smell like any other, uh, female. I promise you.”
“I doubt that,” Drogor said, frowning. “A female’s scent is her own and no flower can mask it or make it better.”
“Now then—is there trouble?” The Wise One came back over, holding a basket with a fist-sized lump of black stone in it. “Because I won’t have trouble in my hut—you know that, yes, you do!” she exclaimed, squinting her one large eye at all of them.
“This male from the sky says that I cannot claim this female, Molly from the Stars—though she does not belong to another,” Drogor complained. “She has none of his scent on her so he cannot claim her as his own, yet he keeps me from taking her. It is not right, Wise One!”
Braxx expected the Wise One to back him up and say Molly could not be claimed but she only looked doubtful.
“Well, an unclaimed female who is not scent-marked by a male should be available…” she began.
“Please, Wise One,” Molly said quickly. “I have come to study the People and live among them for a short time only. I cannot make my life here forever—I have people of my own back on my home planet.”
“And is one of these people a mate?” The Wise One inquired cocking a busy purple eyebrow at her.
“Well, no, but—” Molly began.
“But she’s still not available,” Braxx growled. “She cannot be claimed.”
“We will see about that.” Drogor frowned and then turned back towards the Wise One. “I must go, I must take my leave,” he sang to her formally.
“Yes, I think that’s best, Drogor. But don’t forget to take my Cha’llah stone back to the Cha’llah flow to be restored to full strength.” The Wise One held out the basket with the fist-sized lump of shiny black rock.
“I will do so, of course.” Drogor nodded and took the basket.
“Thank you, thank you,” the Wise One sang. “And please bring it back soon,” she added. “I must make a full strength healing crystal for Molly from the Stars. I was only able to craft a weak one with the power left in my stone.”
Drogor nodded and turned to Molly, his nostrils flaring as he apparently took in her scent once more before going.
“Will I smell you at the feast tonight, lovely one?” he enquired.
“Oh, uh, I’m not sure,” Molly said but the Wise One said,
“Nonsense—of course the two of you must come! The feast will be in your honor, visitors from the stars.”
“Then we’ll be there, together,” Braxx emphasized, putting an arm around Molly possessively. She seemed startled at first, probably because she hadn’t seen his gesture coming. But then she leaned into him and put her arms around his waist. She even put her cheek to his chest.
Though he knew she was just playing a part for Drogor’s benefit, Braxx couldn’t help the way his heart swelled. He pulled her even closer, wrapping both arms around her and enjoying the soft swell of her breasts pressing against his chest. Gods, she was lovely! And Drogor was right—she smelled amazing.
But the display they were putting on appeared to be lost on the big Deep Dweller. He probably couldn’t see well enough in the illuminated hut to even tell that Braxx and Molly were hugging—or if he could, it didn’t show on his face.
“Farewell, farewell until the Feast,” he sang and then he left, banging out of the Wise One’s hut as suddenly as he’d come.
* * * * *
“Well, that was certainly interesting.” Molly took a deep breath and started to pull out of the hug with the big Kindred when she heard the door shut. But for a moment, it seemed Braxx wasn’t going to let her go.
He just held her, a low growl rising in his throat—a growl with a note of deep, male possession in it.
“Uh…Braxx?” She turned her face up to him, wondering if he had noticed she was trying to get free. It wasn’t that she didn’t like hugging him—actually, the broad, bare planes of his chest felt amazing and his scent, as always, was completely addictive. But she could feel that her negu had parted and her bare breasts were pressed against him which was extremely embarrassing.
“Sorry.” He let go of her at last, though one large, warm hand stayed resting on her arm. “I just didn’t like the way that other male was looking at you and trying to claim you.”
“Don’t you mean the way he was smelling me?” she asked, half laughing as she tried to rearrange her top negu to cover her breasts. “He didn’t say anything about how I looked but he sure did seem to like the smell of my deodorant and perfume.” Then she got serious. “Should I have said I, uh, belonged to you?” she asked, feeling foolish and embarrassed. “I mean, is that an important cultural element among the Ta’lossi—the claiming of females?”
“It might have been better if you’d said you were mine.” Braxx sounded troubled. “Although I don’t know if he would have believed it even if you’d told him so, since as he said, you carry none of my scent on you.”
“Well, how could I?” Molly asked. “I mean, you’d have to, uh, rub all over me or something for me to smell like you.” She could feel her cheeks getting hot as she spoke but she was only telling the truth, right?
“I’d have to do a hell of a lot more than that to scent-mark you properly,” Braxx growled and she could almost picture the frown on his face. Once more, Molly wished she could see him. Would he have handsome features? Or would they be stern and craggy?
Somehow Molly thought he would be the latter, but she wouldn’t have cared if the sighted world thought he was as ugly as a mud fence, as her mom had used to say. To her, the big Kindred was extremely attractive. She wished now that she would have claimed to belong to him but at the time it just seemed so damn embarrassing…
“What exactly would you have to do to, uh, scent-mark me?” she asked, her curiosity piqued by his statement. “I mean, what—”
“Now then, now then…” The Wise One, who had apparently left for a moment when Drogor did, came bustling back. “I have your healing crystal almost ready, though as I said, it’s not a full strength one.”
“Oh…thank you, Wise one,” Molly said, smiling gratefully. “You’re so kind to go to so much trouble for me.”
“Don’t thank me yet, child—we’ll have to see how it works. The Cha’llah tells me your injury is deep and will be difficult to heal.” She patted Molly’s hand. “But because you have dealt with your inner pain, the outer effects the crystal should be able to heal. Yes, indeed.”
“Well…that’s wonderful!” Molly said brightly. She hoped the Wise One wouldn’t be offended when her primitive magic failed to heal Molly’s blindness. It would be extremely awkward if the clan’s spiritual leader turned against them.
“The crystal is not quite ready but I will bring it to you at the end of the feast,” the Wise One told her. “Now go…shoo! You must both spend time in the male and female huts before the feast begins.”
“We must?” Braxx sounded uncertain. “But…I was never told to spend time in a special hut in the time I was with you before, Wise One.”
“Because you never came during our time of Pledging,” the Wise One said, as though this explained everything. “Go now, the both of you. I must have time to commune with the Cha’llah in order to finish this healing crystal for Molly from the Stars.”
“Thank you, thank you and farewell,” Braxx sang and Molly joined with him. She couldn’t help thinking that her own soft soprano went surprisingly well with his mellow baritone voice.
Then Braxx took her hand and led her out of the hut.
“Well, that was interesting,” Molly murmured to him. “What now? What are these male and female huts she’s talking about?”
“I believe they’re located in the center of the village.” Braxx hesitated for a moment. “Do you wish to take my arm or should I continue to hold your hand?”
Molly bit her lip. Was this a loaded question? She really wanted to keep touching the big Kindred and holding hands was more intimate than just grabbing his elbow. But how did Braxx feel?
Well, there was no point in playing games. They’d already admitted their attraction to each other. And though they’d vowed not to act on it during the field study, surely a little hand holding couldn’t hurt.
“Do you want to keep holding hands?” she asked the big Kindred. “Because I do—I like holding hands with you.”
“I like it as well,” Braxx admitted in a low voice. “Besides, it may help to reinforce the idea that we are together.”
“That you own me,” Molly said and was surprised at the burst of longing that broke over her at her own words. Not that she wanted to be “owned” in the caveman kind of way Drogor seemed to mean when he had spoken of it. But she would like to belong to someone…and to have that someone belong to her.
“That I own you,” Braxx echoed and for a moment, Molly wondered if she had heard the same longing she felt in his voice. Then he said, “Come,” and began to lead her to the village.
Later Molly thought it was a walk she would never forget. She felt the open air on her skin and heard the humming of some far off, alien insects. A soft breeze stirred her hair, bringing the scent of growing things and an almost unbearably sweet, floral perfume to her nose. Braxx’s hand was warm and firm enclosing hers. In that magical moment, she felt excited and grateful to be alive.
Here I am on an alien planet with so many new things to learn and someone I really like to help me learn them. And I’m just at the beginning—I have three whole months ahead of me!
She felt like she had as a kid on the very first day of summer vacation. Knowing that the next grade of school was months away—months which felt like an eternity as a child.
Think of all the new things I’ll learn and record. Though she had left her clothes folded neatly in the Wise One’s hut, she had kept the tiny handheld recorder she’d brought, which had a wrist strap so she could be certain not to lose it. It swung comfortingly at her thigh, its solidness reassuring her that this was real—she was truly here on Tal’os Trenta and her field study had begun.
Think of all the adventures I’m going to have, Molly told herself. It’s going to be so exciting I won’t be able to stand it!
She had no idea of how right she was…or how incredibly adventurous her life was about to become.