Chapter Eleven

 

 

The VIP quarters were wide and spacious. Fiona twirled happily through the room while Aarak had a meeting with Hedding.

The food was being spread out for the creature, and it was already beginning to feed.

Fiona replayed the view from above in her head as she sat on the edge of the bed. It had been incredible. She had felt the care and concern that the creature had felt for the land beneath it.

This world was about to bloom, and the creature’s work over the centuries was about to pay off. Caches of the incredibly strong fertilizer were about to activate, and the development of the world was going to go from a walk to a gallop.

The crash site of the Ekadi was also one of the areas on the tour, and their pathetic civilization had been shepherded to this place where they could survive and thrive. Their response was turning into one that she was all too familiar with—if you don’t understand it, kill it.

Food was sitting on a sideboard, so Fiona got to her feet and nibbled at bits of the offerings, waiting for any side effects before continuing on. When she was full, she walked back to the bed and laid down. Her guards were outside the door, and she was safe to simply rest.

As she felt the cool bead against the side of her neck, she smiled. If that little braid weren’t there, her hair would be even wilder than it was. Aarak had surprising domestic skills.

She wondered if he could cook.

 

* * * *

 

The attendant retreated after verifying that his lordship’s woman was asleep.

She immediately passed the guards and headed down to the meeting hall where Master Hedding was meeting with Lord Aarak.

She rushed into the room and paused, walking calmly toward the man she dreamed of. “My lord, your companion is asleep. If you desire anything, I am here to serve you.”

He glanced at her with his devastating eyes, “No, thank you. My mate has me satisfied for the first time in my life.”

The maid stumbled. “I heard you could never be sated, my lord.”

“I couldn’t, and for her, I am not. No other women can gain my attention now, for, with her, I need hold nothing back. I can take my fill, and she can take more. Frankly, it is wonderful.”

The maid blinked.

He smiled kindly, “I appreciate your offer, but if I had need, I would simply have to touch her cheek, and she would roll over to receive me. I have finally found someone I wish to keep at my side. I wish you to find yours.”

He rose to his feet, inclined his head to Hedding, and headed for his temporary quarters and his mate.

He passed the guards that he had assigned to her and entered the room that was only just large enough for comfort.

Fiona was curled up on her side, facing the door, fully dressed with her shoes on. He grinned and walked up to the bed, removed his clothing, and cuddled against her on his side.

She curled against him and pressed her hands to his chest. The smile on her lips warmed his heart as she settled into a deep and restful sleep.

He could have chosen a mate with more exotic features, but he never could have chosen a better one for him. He was lucky that he had made it to the station in time. The thought of her with another one of his kind turned his stomach.

Aarak wrapped his left wing around her and held on tight. He wasn’t risking his treasure.

 

* * * *

 

The Ekadi bathrooms were a little odd, but she managed to do what she needed to in the morning. She had a shower and then got into her dress from the day before.

Aarak had woken before dawn to engage in more meetings with the Ekadi. Fiona got dressed and looked out the window where dawn was peeping, and the creature appeared in the light, heading toward the city. As Fiona watched, the creature got closer, the huge fronds undulating as if it was under water instead of breathable atmosphere.

Fiona stood in the window and watched the approach and was stunned as the creature came to a halt with one frond held down to the window while the others kept it aloft.

“You want me to climb that?” She blinked slowly.

The creature didn’t say anything, but it remained in the locked position.

Jumping onto an alien wing six stories above the ground wasn’t something she would have normally done, but she felt a pull in her mind that promised joy and tranquility, and she had to respond.

The first step out of the window was the big one. When she landed on the frond, it curled around her protectively, and she was able to scramble up and onto the back of the creature. The wind tugged at her skirt and hair, but when she managed to get midway into the frond, it folded upward and deposited her on the heavily grooved back of the creature.

It turned and flew away from the city. From down below, Fiona could hear exclamations, and with a final look over her shoulder, she saw her guards in the window of the guestroom, staring helplessly.

Wherever the creature wanted to take her, she was going for the ride. She really wished she had had breakfast.

 

The creature flew for hours at an astonishing speed. Fiona held on to the grooves of the markings when she needed to, but for the most part, she was able to lie on her back with one hand over her head for stability and watch the sun trying to catch them.

Stars were poking through the lightening sky, and it was amazing to her that she now had confirmation that some of them had people on them. The humans of Earth were no longer alone, and some of them were heading to the stars. It was a heady thought.

She laughed. She was in the stars. It was still so hard for her to understand. She had survived the worst that nature and humanity could manage for her, and now, she was on the upswing across the universe. Well, she supposed it was true. Location, location, location.

The creature began to slow, so she rolled over and looked at their destination. Soft sand had slid down a hill, and an exposed rock glowed green with a soft pulse.

“I think I can see what you wanted me for.” She sat up on the creatures back, and when she saw the stiffened frond, she headed for it.

The dress wasn’t exactly made for climbing, but she made do. When she was on the ground, she made a run for the crystal and scooped the sand away from it, grabbing it with both hands and hauling away.

The rock tingled in a way that told her it probably wasn’t the greatest thing for her to hold onto. Regardless, she worked the rock free of the sand around it, and then, she raised it above her head.

To her surprise, the creature didn’t take it; it turned and offered her two fronds. Catching on, she put the crystal on the left frond, and she clambered up the right. By the time she was on the back, the crystal had been nudged next to her, and she took the hint. This was hers to protect until they got back to wherever she was being taken.

The creature turned and headed back the way they had come. Fiona exhaled in relief and watched as they flew back toward the city.

A dark speck in the sky turned into Aarak, and she was surprised when they crossed each other, and he didn’t make it onto the creature’s back. He stopped, turned, and followed them, growing closer minute by minute.

He was nearly to them when the creature slowed, and he overshot them. They were near the valley, and she reduced her speed until she was barely moving. The hint was there, so Fiona grabbed the crystal and slid down the frond once again. Fiona walked in front of the creature with the crystal; she centred it and then put it in the grass before running out of the way.

During the trip, she had gotten flickers of the idea of what was going on. Aarak flew up to her, grabbed her, and hauled her into his arms while he got away from the creature.

“What did it do?”

“She. She needed help and thought that because I was your mate, I would understand.”

“Did you?”

“More or less. Enough to get the job done. Watch.”

The creature lowered herself over the crystal, and its colours began to change and flash wildly. Fiona clapped her hands in delight. “She did it. She has been trying for centuries, but now, she did it.”

“Did what?”

Fiona leaned on his shoulder as he climbed higher to keep his distance from the creature. “She got pregnant. The next time she rises, there will be two of them, but first, she has to eat.”

He frowned. “I thought she needed food to reproduce.”

“She does, but the crystal is one of her eggs. The images I got were scattered, and I have quite a headache now, but she needed a woman to collect the egg because she wanted a girl. Every time a man finds a crystal, they have touched it, and it turned male, which means that it would fly as soon as it was grown. This world needs more work than that. It needs another keeper, so the child will take this on as a nest and the mother will move on, and they will meet every hundred years.”

She sighed happily and leaned against Aarak. “It is sweet, really.”

“It can be sweet, but we are leaving. She will be fed, her people will leave her alone, and you and I will return in a hundred and three years to meet her daughter.” He kissed her forehead.

“I will be dead by then.”

He snorted. “No, you won’t. You might even have a child of your own to show her.”

“I used to dream about being a mum.” She was dozing from the stress of the day.

“Did you? Well, we can hope.” He pressed another kiss to her forehead, and he flew directly to the area where they had landed their shuttle.

He kept her in his arms in the shuttle, and her guards were giving her dark looks. She sighed and settled in Aarak’s arms, confident in her good deed for the day.