Five
Catherina
All heads bowed as I stepped through the portal into the receiving room of the palace, Tokalas and Peval stepping through a moment behind me. We quickly stepped aside to allow the rest of my security escort to arrive. Nobody went to their knee in the ritualistic offering of their life, thank goodness. That honor was reserved for Stevan alone.
At first, I’d been distinctly uncomfortable having everyone bowing and scraping before me, and had to ask Kergah if I could stop it. He’d said if I commanded it, but it was a sign of respect and he recommended that I accept it as it was intended. If I stopped it I would be subtly saying I didn’t care if I had their respect, which would dishonor them. I didn’t want that, so I adjusted.
“How was your trip, my Lady?” Kergah asked.
Kergah seemed to be everywhere, often at the same time. If Stevan couldn’t greet me on my return from off-planet, I could depend on Kergah being there. There was only one man on Fire who I respected more than Kergah, and that was Stevan.
“It went well, Kergah. Their…” I paused as I tried to remember her title.
“Supreme Leader and Voice of the People?” Kergah suggested.
I grinned. “That’s it! Their Supreme Leader and Voice of the People seemed very interested in working with the dating agency. They should be easy to match up with others since they have so little modesty.”
“Indeed,” Kergah chuckled. “It’s surprising that they don’t begin mating until their twenty-third year. Let’s see, that would be almost eighteen on Firaspatciti, so they would be almost thirty-seven in your Earth years.”
I nodded in understanding. Of course, if you lived two hundred Earth years in perfect health, what was the rush? What I found more interesting than how long they waited to begin mating was the fact the People of Rastophar wore nothing or next to nothing. Their climate was perfect, and clothing was strictly optional across the entire planet. All the leaders I met with had worn clothing, out of respect for me, but I’d seen more flesh covered by bikinis back on Earth, and like all the Peoples of the universe, they were lovely. The women were heavy breasted with wide hips and dark mysterious eyes, and the men were well endowed and athletic looking. Most interesting, none of the Rastophars had hair… anywhere. I didn’t know if it was because they found it unattractive and removed it, or they simply didn’t grow hair anymore. Regardless, the look worked for them and giving my speech to the assembled crowd had been… difficult... since I was distracted by all the eye candy on display. Maybe that was why they waited so long to mate. There was no great mystery or taboo about seeing beautiful people nude like there was on Earth.
“How’s Stevan?” I asked with a small smile.
He’d given his speech to the Pearakuts yesterday and I knew he was anxious over the results. We’d mated twice last night, the first time slowly and passionately, the second time more vigorously as he burned off stress and nervous energy.
“Cautiously optimistic, my Lady. The tide seems to be turning in our favor. His speech has gone out to all the worlds and support is flooding in. The Pearakuts are receiving calls from other worlds to rise up and add their voice to the fight against the long darkness.”
“It was a moving speech.”
He smiled. “Lord Stevanualfutherac Gerretterdedsath will go down in history as one of our greatest Leaders.” I lowered my head in acknowledgment. “By your leave, my Lady. I have other duties to attend to.”
“By my leave,” I responded.
Kergah knew he didn’t have to wait for me to release him, but he was a stickler for protocol and I tried to honor that.
Once we were back in the protected confines of the palace, my personal guards were excused unless there was an emergency. Peval had already left, but Tokalas was standing to the side. He was clearly giving me space to talk with Kergah in private, but just as obviously, he was waiting to talk to me.
“Something, Tokalas?” I asked.
He approached. “My Lady,” he said as he dipped his head. “I would like to speak to you for a moment.”
When it was only myself and my two guards, they rarely referred to me as ‘my Lady,’ normally calling me Catherina as I asked them to. Since Tokalas was being so formal, this was obviously important to him.
“Walk with me,” I ordered and began to move toward the door. The receiving room was too public. It was under constant surveillance and heavily guarded since it was the only room in the palace where a portal could be opened from the outside.
Tokalas was my longest serving personal guard. He’s served in that capacity when he and Sereni were my guards and before we’d had the breakthrough with the Fire and Waters. I’d kissed him, twice, during a session with the Waters while trying to make a point, and that had been the turning point for them. I’d heard through the palace grapevine he’d endured considerable teasing for kissing me, but he’d conducted himself with honor and had never spoken of the incident.
I pulled Tokalas to a stop in one of the wide halls. There was no place truly private in the palace other than mine and Stevan’s quarters, but this would to for now.
“What do you want to speak to me about?” I asked.
He looked at me a moment. “I… wish to find a bonded mate.” I knew he had more to say, so I held my tongue. “I want to have children, but…”
“But what?” I prompted when he didn’t continue.
“But I haven’t been able to find a mate. I was wondering if perhaps you could share some of your wisdom?”
I smiled. “Of course, Tokalas. But you don’t need my help. Fire males are much prized as mates. You’re young and handsome. Surely you must have women waiting in a queue to mate with you.”
He dipped his head. “I follow the teachings of Hartherustruthary. I’ve had women that wish to mate with me, but I am forbidden to produce offspring until I’m bonded.” He looked down. “The women that have wanted to mate with me only wanted to mate. They wanted to tame the wild Firaspatciti male, but none have wanted to bond with me.”
I felt my heart go out to him. One night stands sucked. I knew that from experience.
“And because you want children, you don’t want to bond to a Firaspatciti woman.” He dipped his head again in acknowledgment. “Have you asked others to bond with you?”
“No.”
“Then how do you know none of your mates wanted to bond with you?”
He smiled, but it was slightly sad. “Some only wanted to mate with me for the experience and I never spoke to them again. With others, the mating lasted longer, but I didn’t sense the companionship. The mating was all physical.” He looked at me and his smile returned, but it was sadder still. “With others, as I began to feel closer to them, they pulled away. They didn’t feel the companionship, or didn’t wish to.”
I nodded. I had been in his exact position in my old life back on Earth. I smiled at them. “Well, their loss will be someone else’s gain. Our Lord has asked me to help the Fire women find mates. I don’t think he’ll begrudge me helping another Fire male, do you?”
Tokalas smiled at me. “No, my Lady, but I don’t wish to take time away from your duties. Perhaps just a word of advice or—”
“Tokalas,” I said, cutting him off. “You’re my friend, aren’t you?”
“Yes, my Lady.” I stared at him a moment, so he tried again. “Yes, Catherina.”
“That’s better. Friends help each other. I will be delighted to help you. It’s so much more fun working with one person than hundreds.” I gave him my best smile. “You’ll become my hobby.”
“Hobby?” he asked, stumbling over the word.
I was always surprised when the nanite translation broke down. It seemed to happen over the strangest words. Like bird, or love, or in this case, hobby.
“A hobby is an Earth word that means to do something for yourself for pleasure. Don’t Fires have hobbies?”
“We spend time with friends and engage in sporting events. Those are pleasurable activities.”
“They are, but a hobby is something you normally do by yourself, for yourself, simply for the fun of it. There are as many hobbies as there are people performing them on Earth. My mother grows flowers. My father builds tiny replica boats that he carves from wood.” I brightened as a thought occurred to me. “I’ve seen you spend hours caring for your blades. That could be your hobby.”
He frowned slightly. “Caring for your blades is your duty. A well cared for blade is a mark of pride.”
I waved it off. “No matter. Just know a hobby is something we humans do for our own enjoyment.”
“And helping me find a bonded mate will give you enjoyment?”
“Yes.”
“Even though that’s also your duty?”
I smiled. “Yes. The difference is, I’m helping you because I want to, not because it’s my duty. Understand?”
“I think so.”
“Is Peval your friend?”
“Yes,” he said, looking at me strangely. He obviously had no idea where I was going with this.
“If Peval asked for your help in training, is it your duty to train her?”
“We all share the responsibility to make sure each of is ready to perform our duty.”
“I understand, but would you help her because it’s your duty or because you wanted to help your friend?”
He smiled. “I see. Your sparring with Peval, is that another of your hobbies?”
“I guess you could say that. But honestly, I don’t enjoy it nearly as much as Peval does. More likely, I’m her hobby.”
He chuckled. “Yes, now that you’ve explained it, I believe you’re right. You’re Peval’s hobby.”
I smiled. “It’s settled then. Tomorrow, we’ll stop by the dating agency and… what?” I asked as I saw the stricken look on his face.
He drew himself to attention. “Nothing, my Lady. I thank you for your help.”
I sighed. I liked it so much better when I was just Catherina before I became Stevan’s bonded mate. “If this is going to work, Tokalas, you have to be honest with me. What’s wrong?”
He hesitated so long I didn’t think he was going to answer. “I’d… prefer… to not make your assistance… public.”
“Ah. Okay. In that case, I need to do some research at the dating agency tomorrow. I need you and Peval to be ready to travel at fifth hour tomorrow. Will you make sure she knows our destination and is ready to go? I also want some help digging through the files. Will you assist me in doing that?”
He smiled. “I stand at your weak side, my Lady.”
“Good. I see we have an understanding. And Tokalas… I consider it an honor to help you. You have done so much for me, and your people, in the last year. It will bring me much joy to help you find your bonded mate.”
“Thank you… Catherina, but the honor is mine.”
“Go. Find Peval and make sure she is ready for tomorrow.”
He drew himself to rigid attention and dipped his head low before pivoting and marching away, every bit the elite guard he was. I smiled at his retreating back. There was much I admired in the Fires, but sometimes they were hard to understand. How could they not know, or understand, what a hobby was?
I shook it off. Covering for Tokalas should be easy. If I wasn’t traveling, I spent most of my time at the dating agency anyway. Once I got a feel for what he wanted, then we could begin working on picking out someone that was interested in mating outside their Peoples.
I was looking forward to helping Tokalas one on one. It was so much easier, and more fun, to help individuals rather than large groups. Even in the beginning, when I was trying to get the Fires and Waters together, I had the most fun working with individuals between the formal classes.
It had been so long since I’d worked with an individual I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed it until Tokalas had asked for help. I smiled as I made my way to my quarters. Maybe from now on, I’d always keep my hand in, helping one person at a time, just for my own enjoyment.