"I need to clean you up," he said softly. He turned me in his arms so that I could stare into his face. There was a softness that hadn't been there before. He walked into the small bathroom and set me on my feet inside of the sonic shower. Both of us were naked, so it was trivially easy to press a button and get both of us cleaned up. Xuan kissed me as the sonic shower cleaned our bodies of all the fluids that coated both of us.

I leaned into his huge body. "You're good for me," I said. I felt freer than I had for years, encircled in his arms. "I wish we could stay like this forever."

"We have to eat and sleep sometime," he laughed, although he kissed the top of my head. "You feel good in my arms."

I felt something warm inside of me. I didn't know if it was the first bud of something that would bloom into love, but it felt good. I sighed. "My mother will slaughter me if I'm not home by dark."

"It's almost dark now." He climbed out of the sonic shower. He was fearlessly nude. We were the only ones in the ship. He went to the front and charted a quick course home.

"We'll stay away from mountains," he assured me. I went to get my clothes from the floor inside of the tiny bedroom. I realized the entire room was done in shades of green, which made me think of frogs. I giggled to myself as I got dressed enough to satisfy polite society.

Xuan was sitting naked at the control panel.

"Do you want to put on clothing?" I asked him.

"Why are you dressed?"

"Because when we dock, I'm going to have to run home and explain to my mother where I was. I can't exactly do that naked."

"I can take you home."

"You can take me part of the way home." I didn't mention that I was too sore to ride on his airbike, because I wouldn't give up an opportunity to stick myself to his back as we went roaring through the streets. "But not to my door. My mother won't approve."

Those four words punctured the mood of this afternoon. I watched his face fall.

"I should get dressed," he said, his voice sounding as lively as a piece of battered gray driftwood. He moved past me.

I knew that I'd said the wrong thing. I bit my thumbnail, thinking of how to make it up to him. How could I explain that my mother never thought that anybody was good enough for me? She wanted me to save myself for marriage, but she didn't get to make all of my decisions. I was an adult now, no matter what she thought. I needed to have a talk with her about Xuan. Maybe it would be good for hi to come to the door after all. What could she do to me anyway?

When we got to the dock, Xuan let the ship float into its place. I trailed him like a kitten as he headed back to the office and talked to the proprietor for a few minutes. We walked back to the place where he'd fought. I could see that his air-bike was under a big bubble. He scanned something which made it retract.

"Take a helmet," he said. He climbed on first. I clutched his waist and turned my head. I could feel how tense his back was.

I couldn't enjoy the bike ride as much as I had before. I was just twisted up inside and I was sore. I wanted to clarify that my mother uniformly hated every man, but I couldn't spit out the words. The roar of the engine would've drowned them out anyway. He took me to the corner of our estate.

"This is your stop." He cut the engine. I took off my helmet.

"Xuan, I..."

"You better get inside before your mother sees someone she doesn't approve of." His eyes were hard and cold when he turned to talk to me.

"But it's not you!" I protested.

He tilted his head, a movement made larger by his giant helmet. "What do you mean?"

"She doesn't approve any men. Didn't you wonder how I made it to adulthood without being touched? Draka morals are pretty loose when it comes to that sort of thing, but I've just never had the opportunity to..."

"Do anything," he finished for me. His eyes were sparking a little bit. "I see." He took the helmet from my hands and stowed it in the storage compartment below him.

"I really like you," I said, feeling as shy as I'd ever felt.

"Do you want to meet tomorrow?" he asked me.

"Yes," I said with as much enthusiasm as I could muster.

"Then meet me at the port tomorrow."

With that, the airbike roared to life. I watched him go by as I walked into the house just as darkness fell.

* * *

"Where have you been, young lady?" My mother's voice cracked like a whip.

I sighed. "Out having fun, Mother." I felt cold inside of the stone palace that I called home.

"And without a note for your poor mother? I've been sick with worry that you were lying dead in a ditch somewhere."

"They know better than to let a Draka noble die in the street."

"I heard that you went to a fight and left with one of the fighters." I froze in the act of going upstairs.

"I did," I said as carefully as I could. "What else did you hear?"

"That's enough for me. I had several comm messages from Draka nobility who saw you behaving disgracefully and being involved with a Yore."

"He's wonderful, Mother," I protested.

"Then it's true!" she half-screamed. "A noble lady doesn't behave like a cat in heat in public. How am I supposed to arrange a good marriage for you if you can't behave properly?"

"I didn't act like a cat in heat," I protested, but she was already screaming over me.

"You've brought disgrace on me and your family. You can go to bed without dinner."

I felt like a little kid all over again. "Yes, Mother," I said as I ascended the stairs. I didn't tell her that I'd already eaten with Xuan. She'd cool down overnight and we'd have another talk tomorrow.