Chapter Ten
Stevan
“Enter!” I called with the chime.
“My Lord,” Catherina said as she entered my suite and knelt.
“Rise and approach. Are you ready to begin our lesson?”
“Yes, my Lord.”
She seemed subdued. “Is everything okay?”
She smiled at me, but there was something off. “Yes, my Lord.”
“Stevan,” I corrected softly.
“Stevan,” she amended, but she wouldn’t meet my eyes.
I could order her to tell me what was bothering her, but I didn’t. I tried a softer approach. “If you are not feeling well, we can reschedule this for another time.”
She smiled again but kept her eyes low. “No, Stevan. This is fine.”
I stepped forward and tipped her face up to mine. “If we are going to work together on this, we have to trust each other. Tell me what’s wrong.”
She sighed. “I’m not comfortable doing this.”
“I’ve given you my word that I won’t attempt to mate with you. Do you doubt my word?” I kept my voice calm, but if that’s what was bothering her, it was a grievous insult.
“No, Stevan. It’s not you that I don’t trust.”
“No one will ever speak of what we do here, Catherina.”
“It’s not that either. It’s me.”
“You?”
She nodded. “Yes. I’m… becoming lonely.”
“You miss your own kind, your old life? You can return, if you wish, but you have accomplished so much! I’m asking you to not go. Not yet.”
“That’s part of it, I guess.” She shook her head and smiled at me. “No, I don’t wish to return home. Not yet. Shall we begin?”
She spent the next hour simply talking to me, explaining the differences between the Fires and the Waters, and about the breakthrough she’d had yesterday. She told me how the Waters wanted to mate, wanted to breed, and how we only had to meet them halfway.
We talked at length about how the Waters viewed their world and how we viewed ours. She had keen insights into the Fires. Nothing she said about us surprised me, but I was surprised at how well she’d figured us out in only three months. If her insights into the Waters was as accurate, and I had no reason to believe they weren’t, then I understood what had to be done. I only had to learn how.
“Show me,” I said. “Show me how to touch a Water.”
She smiled, rose, and pulled me to my feet. “It’s all about trust. Until your mate, your Water mate, learns to trust you, make your movements slow and nonthreatening. Like this.”
She reached for my face, a small smile on her lips, her movements slow and graceful, her hand loose with her fingers slightly curled. It was neither a fist nor an open palm, both of which could be used to strike. She brushed her fingers with the softest touch across my face, and it was very pleasurable.
“Now you try.”
I repeated her movements and focused on the task. I wanted to grab her and pull her to me, to overpower her and make her mine, but I resisted the urge and touched her as she touched me.
“Good, but lighter. Touch me so lightly that you can barely feel it.”
“But isn’t the touch supposed to be enjoyable?”
“Yes, but my face is more sensitive than your hand. When you can barely feel it, it will feel perfect to me.”
I nodded in understanding and touched her again, dragging the back of my fingers along her cheek as lightly as I could. She smiled as her eyes closed. I continued to stroke her face and she took my hand and brought it to her lips for a gentle kiss. I’d never been kissed on the hand before, and it was surprisingly pleasing.
She looked at me, her eyes bright. “Very good. How did it feel to you?”
I shrugged. “Fine. I could barely feel your skin. I liked the kiss on the fingers, though.”
She nodded. “Here’s what I want you to think about. The act of mating for the Waters isn’t about taking pleasure, it’s about giving it. You give pleasure, and it is given to you in return. The Fire way is to take pleasure from your mate, as they take it from you. Understand?”
“No,” I admitted. “Isn’t it the same thing?”
She giggled. “In some ways, yes, but in other ways, no. You both give and take pleasure, but it is the attitude that’s different.”
She stroked her fingers lightly along my cheek. I was again surprised at how pleasant such a light touch could be.
“Did that give you pleasure?”
“Yes, very much. It is a much different sensation than I’m used to.”
She nodded. “On Earth, some use feathers, uummm, you have no animal that corresponds to our birds that I know of. But anyway, a feather is very soft, like the Hath fur you make your linens from, but it is very thin and light with a stiff spine.”
I tried to imagine what she was describing, but couldn’t.
“Some pairs use them during mating. They draw the feather along the skin, very lightly.” She suddenly brightened, as if something occurred to her. “It is much like your mating blade when you drew it lightly across my face or neck, only it doesn’t leave behind any sort of mark.”
“Has that been done to you?”
She smiled. “Not during mating, no, but I know what a feather feels like. The skies of Earth are full of birds, and feathers are common and easy to find.”
I looked at her. “These birds, they fly?” I tried to imagine that as well, and couldn’t. I’d never seen an animal that could fly. Earth must be a wondrous place.
She nodded. I reached out and touched her again as she showed me, and I liked the way she tipped her head into my hand and the smile of pleasure that appeared on her lips. It was an odd sensation, the enjoyment I found in giving her pleasure. It wasn’t physical pleasure, like I received while mating with Sereni, my current favorite, but it was pleasure just the same.
“Nice,” she murmured then opened her eyes. “Now, try this.”
She cupped my face in her hands, staring into my eyes as she caressed my face with her thumbs. I repeated the action.
“Lighter. Softer. Slower,” she murmured and I adjusted my touch. “Slower, softer,” she whispered. I adjusted my touch again. “Nice,” she whispered. “I could let you do that all night.”
I released her face. “I think my arms would get tired after a while.”
She giggled, a delightful sound. “I’m sure, but think of these touches like your mating blades. You don’t keep using the same attack, right? You mix it up, trying to penetrate your mate’s defense. This is the same thing. You mix up the touches, trying to get through her emotional defense. You’re drawing her out, creating a desire for her to mate with you. Understand?”
“I think.”
“Okay, let’s find out. Touch me, but make up something new. Don’t touch me in either of the ways I’ve shown you.”
I smiled, then forced it way. I wanted to touch her. I wanted to fling her onto my bed and mate with her until our star rose in the morning. But that was exactly what she was trying to instruct me against. I sat for a moment thinking, then slowly reached for her and drew my finger along her ear. She shivered and I jerked my hand away.
“Did I hurt you?”
She giggled. “No, far from it. That felt amazing. Do it again!” she said with a teasing mischievousness in her voice.
I chuckled and reached for her again, but didn’t get the same reaction. I looked at her in confusion.
She smiled. “To fast and too aggressive. Light touches. Slow movements. Take your time and enjoy the moments.”
I sighed. Now I could see why my people had such difficulty with this. What differenced did it make with the speed I reached for her make? I bit back my annoyance and reached for her more slowly and touched her so lightly I almost couldn’t feel it. She still didn’t shiver and my frustration rose.
“That was nice.”
My confusion compounded. “You didn’t shiver,” I pointed out.
“Because I was expecting it that time. It still felt good though. Remember what I said about mixing up your touches? The surprise of the first time made it much more pleasurable than the third time.”
“So I can’t touch you in the same way but once? How can you possibly keep coming up with new ways of touching? I don’t understand!”
She smiled. “Relax. It’s not that complicated. Remember when you were caressing my cheeks with your thumbs, and I said I could let you do that all night? Not everything has to be a surprise to feel good. And to keep the surprises, don’t do everything every time. For example, assume you have twenty ways of touching your mate that you know she likes. Some, like the caressing my face, you do every time because she enjoys it. Others, like touching my ear, you may only do every third, or fifth time. Maybe you will do it twice in a row, then not do it again for weeks. The point is, each time you mate it is new. Mix things up. Do things sooner, later, or not at all but do other things instead. There’s no formula.” She grinned at me. “You’re a great warrior, leader of all the planets, and in battle you have to adjust your tactics as the fight ebbs and flows, right? You have to adjust what you are doing based what you see and can sense. This is no different.”
“I think I understand, but I am hardly the ruler of the galaxy. Each planet rules themselves.”
She nodded. “I understand, but back on Earth there is a nation, the United States of America. If you think of your Peoples as our Earth, the United State doesn’t rule the Earth, but they lead it. Where they go, many will follow. Not everyone loves, or even likes them, but everyone respects them for what they are capable of doing. You, and the Firaspatciti”—she still had trouble with our words but I appreciated her trying—“are like the United States. Where you lead, many will follow.”
“Is the United States your country?”
She shook her head. “No. And they sometimes do things that make no sense to me. But I still respect them, and what they do influences what my country, the United Kingdom, more specifically, Scotland, does. The Fires are like that. You took the lead on this. You reached out and took the risk of bringing me here. You are trying to mate with another people. None of the others did any of those things. They were content to sit and risk going into the long darkness waiting for someone else to solve the problem. That’s you, Stevan, and the Fires. That’s why it’s so important that we make this work. The Fires can do this. I know they can. Look at you. In just a few hours, I’ve taken the edge off you as far as the Waters are concerned. You need practice, and there is much more to learn, but are you beginning to see where your people need to go? It’s not such a bad place, is it?”
I smiled. Catherina could make me want to lead an army into the long darkness just because she said it was a good idea. Perhaps we could learn much from the Waters. I know I was surprised at how pleasurable simply touching Catherina’s face was. Getting pleasure from giving it? The idea made about as much sense as saying not eating satisfied your hunger, but it seemed to be true.
“No, not a bad place.”
I reached out and drew my finger lightly along her jaw and was rewarded with another small shiver and a smile. No, not a bad place at all.