Seven
Catherina
“Welcome,” I said as the groups were ushered into the large meeting room.
I’d spent several days picking and choosing Fire women and Hedordian men that had expressed interest in mating with others. Attitudes were slow to change and the vast majority of the Peoples still preferred to mate with others within their own cultures.
With the Fires and the Waters, I’d had to use the opposite sex of their own population as surrogates in order to bring the two groups close enough together for them to at least stand a chance, but I didn’t think that was the case with the Hedordian men and the Fire women. They were both stubborn, prideful people that didn’t back down from a challenge. I thought with a little education and encouragement, the two groups would self-select and my work would be done.
From my reading, I suspected the primary problem that I was going to have to overcome was the age old problem of gender roles. On Fire, the women were treated as total equals. They served in every aspect of the society on equal footing with the men and were treated the same. It was up to the Fire males to tame their women and for each to establish his dominance over her. Likewise, each woman had to prove herself worthy of the man that was trying to win her.
It sounded quaint and old-fashioned to me, but there could be only one leader in any relationship and the Fire women only responded to a man that could subdue her in combat. If he couldn’t best her, she cast him aside as unworthy and continued to look for another, and if she was too easily subdued, she likewise was cast aside. It was this practice that had led the Fires, males and females alike, into being the fiercest warriors in the universe.
It was a cultural tradition that dated back to the beginning of Firaspatciti, back when the Fires struggled to simply survive on their harsh planet. Bonding to a weak mate then could get you and your children killed. That need to find a male that could best them, to prove his worth as a mate, was deeply ingrained in the women. Now, the combat was a ritual but no less serious. It was why the Fires mated with such violence and passion. Now, sometimes with the use of the mating blades, the Fire males ritually subdued their women in their bed, proving time and time again they were fit to be bonded to. Once the bond was in place they worked together as partners, but the male had to maintain his standing in his female’s eyes when she tested him.
I’d seen some of my guards, male and female alike, return to duty bruised and scratched up. I’d thought it was from brawling at the local pub only to find out most of the injuries were obtained while mating. I’d witnessed the same thing with my own eyes not long after I arrived on Fire. I’d watched Kergah and Getther mate as part of my education into Fire sexual practices and I remembered being shocked at the violence of it. Had it not been for Stevan assuring me what I was seeing was two people deeply in love renewing their bond, I wouldn’t have been able to watch. Back home on Earth, Getther and Kergah both could have been charged with rape and assault.
The Hedordians where different. While I had little doubt the men could handle anything the Fire women threw at them, the Hedordian females tended to be more submissive at the beginning. They selected their mates based not on their combat prowess, but on brute strength, work ethic, and possessions. They wanted a man that was well established with lands and had the ability and willingness to work it. A Hedordian woman valued stability and security in her mate and prized a man that could care for her.
That wasn’t to say the Hedordian females were weak. Far from it. Like the Fire women, once bonded they were fully partnered with their men, and would fight like cornered lions for him, but they wanted to be courted and wooed at the beginning. I knew from having lived among the Fires, that wasn’t going to fly with these women and the men were going to have to break out of their courtly ways and take what they wanted.
“Please, sit anywhere you like, but Fires, you sit in the chairs labeled with the female symbol, Hedordian, the male.”
I’d arranged the room so there were a few extra chairs, but the chairs were staggered so that males and females would be intermixed. Might as well throw them into the soup at the beginning.
I smiled as everyone milled about, realizing they weren’t going to be able to sit in two groups but were going to have to sit next to the person that they could very well end up mating with.
Once the group was settled, I launched into my lecture. It wasn’t anything groundbreaking, it was a variation of the same speech I gave when I was out visiting other Peoples. I’d tailored it slightly for the two Peoples in the room, but it was basically just an ice breaker to start them thinking outside their own little boxes.
“Okay. Now, I want each of you to turn to the person on your left, then your right, introduce yourself, and tell each other one thing about you, and one thing that you’re interested in.” I smiled. It was always the same, no matter who the People were. “Come on, come on,” I encouraged. “They’re not going to bite!”
I smiled to myself. Well, the Fires might, but that would only happen as one of these giant Hedordians was banging the shit out of her. Who knows, maybe he’d like it.
The Fires were biters. That was something I had to break Stevan of doing. I enjoyed the occasional nip during the heat of passion, but the Fires, they bit hard. Too hard. Not hard enough to draw blood, but hard enough to leave marks.
When I met with the Fire women alone, I’d warned them that not everyone enjoyed having the shit bitten out of them as they were mating, and like their men, they were going to have to tone down the roughness. They’d expressed disdain if their potential mates couldn’t handle them and I’d had to slap them down right then and there. I pointed out what the Fire males were learning, what Stevan had learned, and that was there were plenty of ways of showing their mates their prowess that didn’t involve pain. I challenged each of them to try to subdue a Hedordian during mating without resorting to pain. I’d subtly and indirectly questioned their ability to do it. I could tell from the look on their faces that each of them, to a woman, made it her goal to prove me wrong.
The Peoples ranged across thousands of planets, each with a slightly different atmosphere and gravity. The nanites took care of the atmosphere, but the Hedordian gravity was higher than Earth and my adopted home of Fire. Where the Fires looked like gymnasts, ripped and toned to perfection, the Hedordians looked like weightlifters with their giant arms, powerful legs, and beefy shoulders. They generally weren’t as tall as the Fires males, but much more powerfully built.
The Hedordians were an entertaining mix of contrasts. They were all huge guys, but very gentle. In my interviews with them, I could tell they were put off by the aggressiveness of the Fire women. They were used to pursuing and winning the lady, and to have a Fire walk up to them and asking them to mate, which was a possibility if one of them took a Fire’s fancy, was going to be a problem.
The Hedordians were as I imagined men were like in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries back on Earth. They protected their women, gallantly standing in the face of danger and sacrificing themselves so their mates could live. It was noble on the face of it, but not something the Fires were likely to find appealing.
Where I had challenged the Fires to soften, I’d issued the challenge to Hedordians to prove to me they were man enough to handle the Fire women. At first, they’d scoffed, but then they realized I was serious and was doubting their manhood. I saw them harden. Like the Fires, they were dead set to prove me wrong.
I wasn’t sure when push came to shove if they actually had it in them, at least at first, to go toe to toe with the Fires, but as I watched them talking to each other, I could tell this was going to be a lot easier than matching up the Fires and the Waters had been.
-oOo-
I slumped in my chair. I’d gotten the Hedordians and Fires off to a start two days earlier, and it seemed to go well. The Fire women were on their best behavior, allowing the Hedordians to take the lead. It wasn’t unusual for a Fire to walk up another Fire they’d never met but found sexually appealing, and the first words out of his or her mouth were to ask if other person wanted to mate. That wasn’t how the Hedordians worked, and a few of the Fire women had expressed frustration with the slow methodical pace, but they were letting it play out.
The Waters, however, were going to be the end of me. I’d paired them up with the Estaanayouk, the only Peoples I could find that I thought would have the patience to tolerate the Water males.
The Estaans, as I called them, were a quiet, introspective people. They were the philosophers of the universe. They were given to contemplating things such as the role of the Ancient Ones and why they’d seeded the universe with their kind but left no trace of themselves, not even a memory when they left and moved on to other planets. To give them their credit, the Estaans were more patient with the Waters than I was.
I tried to not let the Waters get to me, but just like when I was working with the Water females, teaching them to not be so submissive, I wanted to grab the Water males by the shoulders and give them a shake to wake them up. The women could be demure, so long as they didn’t let men run over them, but the males were going to have to step up. They simply had no sex drive to speak of and not a hint of aggression. I didn’t want men that were aggressive assholes that slapped their women around, but a little aggression was necessary to come-on to a woman, and these people had zero.
I just couldn’t understand it. The Estaanayouk women were stunningly beautiful. They were tiny, most barely five feet tall, with blonde hair and slight builds. All had small noses, most with a cute upturn at the end, and while their eyes were about normal sized, in their diminutive frame they looked as large as the Aquallian’s. If they’d had wings they’d looked like pixies.
The Waters were upset that their own women were mating outside their People and giving them the cold shoulder, but here were potential mates that seemed to like them, and they couldn’t seem to get one foot in front of the other to do anything about it. The Estaanayouk were doing all the work and the Waters were letting them down, just like their own women.
I was shuttling between Fire and Estaan, working with the two groups, but I was thinking about throwing in the towel on the Aquallian males. They deserved to die out. I frowned at my spiteful thought. That wasn’t fair and I knew it was just my frustrations taking control of me again, but dammit, they infuriated me like no group of men I’d ever met.
I pulled at my bottom lip, trying to figure out what to do. “Tokalas!” I called.
He stepped into the room that had been given to me to work with. “Yes?”
“How do you feel about helping me out again with a little demonstration?”
He chuckled. “I’d be delighted to kiss you again.”
I grinned. I knew he was kidding and that he wouldn’t dishonor Stevan or himself by doing so.
“How’d you like to kiss an Estaan instead?”
He paused. “They’re lovely but so fragile looking. I’d be afraid I’d shatter her.”
“They’re not made of glass, Tokalas. Just be gentle, like we’ve talked about. Think you can do that for me?”
He bowed his head. “Of course. Why?”
“Because these fucking… because these Water men don’t know what to do with a woman anymore. They don’t know how to engage with one, and they don’t know what to do when one engages with them. I want you to show them.”
He bowed his head again. “I stand at your weak side.”
I grinned. “Good. Our pupils are scheduled to arrive in about eight clicks. Set it up with Peval. I want you in the room with me when they arrive.”
“By your leave,” he said as he turned crisply and marched away.
I watched his retreating back then rose. Maybe lightning would strike twice.
I spent the next two hours working with the Estaans and Waters, using Tokalas as a prop. His job was to do what came naturally when an attractive woman spoke to him as I coached the Waters, asking for suggestions on what Tokalas should do to encourage the Estaan women.
It was a slow, hard slog, but a few of the Waters seemed to get it if nothing other than as an academic exercise. They were still just as submissive as ever, but the Estaans were becoming bold, enjoying the game with the Fire. I’d hoped the Waters would get into the spirit and I had several of the more outgoing Waters to take Tokalas’s place. Typically, the moment it was their turn to indicate interest to encourage the woman that was flirting with them, they didn’t. I felt my frustration bubbling to the top again.
I pulled Tokalas aside. “I’m going to pair you up with Verery next. See if you can get her to kiss you.”
He flashed me a crooked, impish smiled. “Should I kiss her back?”
I giggled. “If you like. But you have to let her make the first move, okay? Can you do that for me?”
He bowed his head but said nothing.
“Verery, you’re up,” I said as I motioned to Tokalas. “Show us how you express interest in a man.”
It took nearly thirty minutes, but I could tell that Tokalas was winning her over. I’d been working with him in private for the past couple of weeks, coaching him as part of his finding a mate, and he did an admirable job controlling his Fire impulses.
Like all the Fire males, Tokalas was damned attractive and Verery had obviously either gotten into the game or had stopped pretending. She was leaning in closer and holding his gaze as she touched him on his arm or shoulder.
I was watching the Waters so intently, trying to get a read on them, trying to see if any of this was getting through to them, that I almost missed the kiss.
Tokalas pulled back from the gentle kiss, Verery sighing and smiling up at him. We were nearing the end of the class and I was ready to wrap it up and get out of there. Tokalas was meeting the first woman I wanted to pair him up with later this evening and I wanted to spend a final few minutes with him before I introduced them to each other.
“See how easy that was?” I asked, glaring at the Aquallians. “How was it?” I asked Tokalas.
Verery was still watching his face. He’d been extra gentle with her, and I could tell she liked what he’d done to her.
“It was nice,” he said, smiling down at the tiny woman. “It was very nice.”
I wanted to end on the positive note of Tokalas getting kissed and I’d had all I could stand from the Waters today. It was clear to everyone, at least the women in the room, that Verery wouldn’t mind if Tokalas kissed her again, but this wasn’t to pair up the Estaans and the Fires, it was to pair up the Estaans and the Waters.
“I have a homework assignment for you tonight. Dinner together. That’s it. I want everyone in this group to have dinner with another member… but!” I added, knowing what the Waters would do if I didn’t clarify what I wanted, “while it’s okay to go as groups, there has to be an equal number of men and women in each group.”
I stared the Waters down. They’d said they were interested in mating with the Estaans and had volunteered to participate, so by God, they were going to participate. They were going out a date and have fun or I was going to put my Hurellat covered foot right up their ass.
-oOo-
“You ready?” I asked Tokalas.
He smiled at me. “A Hedordian?”
I smiled back. “She’s lovely, Tokalas, and very interested in meeting you. Just be yourself.”
“I can’t thank you enough, my Lady.”
I smiled and I could feel tears threatening. Tokalas was a good man and he deserved to be happy and have a family. I gave him a gentle pat on the chest.
“You’ve been a good student, Tokalas. It’s been my pleasure. Come on, let’s not keep your companion waiting.”
I ushered Tokalas into the opulent palace guest room where Lurell was waiting. I’d invited her to be my guest in the palace for the evening. Like most Hedordian woman, she was powerfully built, the result of hard labor and the heavy gravity. She stood three or four inches shorter than my own five foot five, and I had dressed her to show off her muscular legs and arms. Where Fire women were lean, like a marathoner, Hedordian women were lushly figured like the Aquallians.
Lurell had a lovely face, round with a bright open smile, and her face lit up at the sight of her companion for the evening. She rose slowly from the comfortable chair. Tokalas was used to being the aggressor, and Lurell was used to being pursued, so the introductions should go smoothly.
Lurell Grambliweith, allow me to introduce Tokalastherious Keretyartherat,” I said, stumbling over and butchering his name as I did with all the Fires.
“Call me Tokalas,” he said, stepping forward and taking her shoulder in the traditional Fire greeting.
“Nice to meet you, Tokalas,” Lurell said, as she touched her lips with her first two fingers and then extended her hand in a return greeting. She glanced at me as her smile spread. “Lady Catherina told me how handsome you were, but I think she undersold you.”
Tokalas smiled. “Thank you, Lurell. She would tell me nothing of you, only that you wished to be my companion for the evening.” He glanced at me. “She has chosen well.”
I smiled and opened a portal. In the palace, only a select few could open a portal, and any attempt by someone without authorization would fail and set off alarms that would result in palace guards arriving on the run. That wasn’t how I wanted Tokalas’s and Lurell’s date to start.
Tokalas was taking Lurell to one of the finest restaurants on Fire, then off to Water to see Folu Rain. She didn’t know it yet, but I had suggested it to Tokalas when she expressed an interest in seeing it during our interviews.
“Go. You don’t want to be late,” I said while making shooing gestures with my hands.
Tokalas extended his elbow and Lurell slid her arm through the opening as I’d coached them. It was a very old-fashioned Human custom, but it served well to pull the partners in close and have them touch. It was a new and unique idea on all the planets I’d visited so far and the Peoples seemed to enjoy the novelty of it.
The portal closed and I relaxed with a sigh. It was a good thing I enjoyed my work because it was exhausting… especially when working with the Aquallian men. It was far too early to start patting myself on the back in success, but it appeared that Lurell and Tokalas were going to hit it off. I smiled to myself as I turned to the door and left the guest room. If only all the pairings I came up with were this easy.