The baby shower was perhaps the most frivolous event I had ever attended, though I admittedly had not attended many events in my lifetime. Humans outnumbered A’li-uud in droves, and they were mostly females who squealed at every gift Phoebe opened and played silly, somewhat repulsive games about faux baby waste. My attention was waning by the time the meal was served, and I was unable to process more than a few consecutive words in conversation by the time the musicians were finishing their final song. Octavia seemed much more enthusiastic, cheering along during the games and cooing in tandem with the onlookers when Phoebe unwrapped a gift she found cute. If there was anything I enjoyed over the course of the afternoon, it was watching her.

Ola’s surprise visit to the party was enough of a cloud to hang over my head even if I had found the baby shower exhilarating. I was not so much bothered by her aggressive attempts to be forgiven and brought back into the family as though nothing had ever transpired as I was by the threat she had made at the end. Had she simply warned she would seek vengeance, I would have easily dismissed her and forgotten her while watching Octavia’s face light up when she saw the miniature jodhpurs identical to those Dhal’atian warriors wore. Because she had made a point of telling me she had a plan in mind, however, it lingered in the back of my mind across the hours until it severed my ability to overlook it.

I was relieved when the guests started leaving, and I began eyeing Octavia for a sign that she was prepared to join the departing fray. She and Edie were gabbing endlessly, though, with Edie’s human beau lounging in his chair lazily, and it seemed she would remain there all night if I did not say something.

“Should we leave so the hosts feel no need to linger behind to entertain us?” I suggested casually when Edie flounced away for a moment to get another beverage.

“Oh, I figured we’d hang around a while longer to see if Edie needed help cleaning up,” Octavia replied a little apologetically. “Is that okay? I mean, she did set all this up herself, basically.”

I wanted to protest, but her selfless generosity endeared her to me, and I took her hand to lift it to my mouth and give it a soft kiss. “Of course,” I complied.

She smiled, and Edie bobbed back into her chair. Their conversation resumed as if it had never been interrupted, and I sat back in my chair to lounge just like the Corporal. It seemed he knew very well about Edie’s habit to draw socialization out until it was bled dry.

Eventually, after what felt like many hours but was more than likely only one, the rest of the guests dribbled out of the tent until Octavia and I were left with Edie, her soldier, Phoebe, and Zuran. I was relieved to hear Octavia ask Edie if she wanted any help cleaning up and Edie’s flippant response that she intended to do no clean-up until the morning. Only then did I realize night had fallen. I hooked an arm around Octavia’s waist and steered her in the direction of my brother, who was piling the many gifts into several small, manageable piles.

“Well, Zuran,” I said loudly, drawing his attention from the presents, “I can honestly say I would never have imagined a day like today with you as the centerpiece.”

“Well, brother,” he returned as he stood to face me, “neither would have I.”

He grinned, and I grinned back at him. Octavia was elbowing me in the ribs, and I knew it was to urge me to say something supportive to him or offer my congratulations, but I squeezed her side to quell her elbows and continued to tease my twin. “I can only imagine what else you will have to endure now that your life has become half-human.”

“Say what you will, but do not forget you are not far behind,” Zuran zinged, swiveling his eyes to Octavia pointedly.

I felt Octavia take in a sharp breath and swing her head up toward me. It was no different than the awkwardness I felt when Edie was saying things about having children. I did not wish to upset Octavia by saying the wrong thing in response, so I merely remarked, “We will see, I suppose.” Tilting my head, I offered, “Congratulations, brother. It pleases me to see you so fulfilled.”

Octavia said her own goodbyes to Zuran, with her words much more sentimental and his much more sarcastic, and then we sought out Phoebe getting some fresh air outside the tent. We repeated our goodbyes, though I was considerably more gentlemanly to her than I had been to my kin, and started walking toward the great walls of Ka-lik’et. Before we drew too near the city, however, I took Octavia’s hand and pulled her in a different direction.

“What are you doing?” she asked, startled. “Why are we going this way?”

“I want to go where we will be alone, and no one will happen across us,” I told her.

She gave me a suspicious look and dug her heels in, which sent streams of sand shooting up on either side of her shoes. “You’re getting fresh again, aren’t you?” she prodded.

Though I liked the idea of “getting fresh” with her, as she called it, I had something else in mind. The party had brought back a lot of reminiscence about the wedding when I had first met Octavia, and it had given me an idea I only thought appropriate for this evening. Rather than answering her question, I continued to pull her along before she relented and started following me voluntarily. Once Ka-lik’et was completely out of view, I came to a halt and turned to face her.

“Now will you tell me what we’re doing out in the middle of nowhere?” she asked, propping her hands onto her hips and jutting her chin forward stubbornly.

“I thought you might like to dance,” I said.

She stared at me for a minute, her eyes darting all across my face like she was hunting for any sign that I was being anything less than serious. “You want to dance,” she repeated. It was not a question.

“Yes, I do,” I said. “With you.”

“There’s no music,” she pointed out. “There was music at the baby shower, but there’s no music here.”

“The breeze is our music.” I closed the gap between us and turned her around, pressing my front to her back and admiring the way her curvaceous backside fit so comfortably in the confines of my hips. “Can you hear it?”

As I reached around her and strummed my fingers lightly over her belly, she breathed, “Yes.”

“Can you feel it?” I asked, dropping my teeth to her ear.

“Yes,” she murmured again.

“Will you dance with me?”

She exhaled slowly, and I heard the guttural lust in her voice as she hummed for a third time, “Yes.”