Chapter Twelve
Stevan
I sighed in contentment as I felt sleep pulling at me. Catherina had been giving me ‘lessons’ every night for the past week. I’d never enjoyed studying so much.
She was a puzzle, one that I was enjoying solving. She was many women rolled into one. Some nights she was Firaspatciti and our mating was hard and fast. Other nights she was as I imagined the Aquallian were, demanding a fine and delicate touch. And most confusing, sometimes she wanted both.
She had shown me how to cuddle and I found I enjoyed it. If I did the cuddling well, she’d often want to mate again in the same evening. That was another new experience, holding something in reserve during our mating so that we could mate again later.
I had developed a selection of touches that she liked. She seemed to particularly enjoy me nursing at her breast. I felt silly, at first, nursing at her like and infant. I was thirty-three years old, almost sixty-five, using her calendar. But I found listening to her gasps, moans and murmurs were extremely pleasing so I no longer minded and no longer felt silly.
Having her take my penis into her mouth had been a new experience, and an extremely pleasant one. At first I was put off by her actions, but she truly seemed to enjoy doing it and after a few times, I’d relaxed. She kept stressing to me that different Peoples had different customs, and that I had to be open to new ideas. Tonight I had tried pleasing her with my mouth for the first time. I had to force myself at first, and it took a great many suggestions and corrections, but as she wailed out her pleasure, wrapping her hands in my hair as she did, I’d for the first time truly understood her assertion that you could get pleasure from giving it.
“We’re going to introduce the Fires and Waters tomorrow,” she murmured as she kissed me on my chest. She was tucked in tight at my side, an arm and leg thrown over me as if she were claiming me for her own.
I smiled. Her soft strokes and light kisses were extremely enjoyable. I offered my lips and she stretched up for a kiss before falling back to my chest with a sigh.
“Are they ready?”
She smiled. “As ready as I can make them. I’m taking eighty-two Firaspatciti.”
I frowned. “Wasn’t there more than that training?”
She smiled. “Yes, but one bonded with his training partner and no longer wanted to participate, and the others…” she shook her head. “They never could get there and subdue their Firaspatciti ways.”
She must have felt me stiffen in anger.
“It’s okay,” she said, kissing me slowly on my chest. “You can’t expect one hundred percent success.”
I relaxed. She was right. Casualties were always expected in battle.
“And the Waters?”
She rolled to her side and propped on an arm to smile at me. “Nervous, but excited at the prospect of mating and bearing children. They are such a kind and caring people, I think they will make exception mothers.”
I smiled. “You’ve done it, Catherina. I’m ashamed to say I doubted you, but thankfully you’ve proven me wrong.”
“Don’t congratulate me until we have some successful bonding, or merging as the Waters call it.”
“Merging?”
She nodded. “Merging. Two becoming one.”
“Ah. What do you call bonding on your planet?”
She smiled. “Marriage.”
“Do you marriage for life?” I asked, interested in her customs.
“Marriage is what it is, marry is what we do. I know, it’s confusing. Some do, many do not.”
“Have you been married?”
“No.”
“But you’ve mated?”
She giggled. “Yes. Many times.”
I nodded my head. “Why haven’t you bonded… married?”
She smiled, but there was a sadness there. “Never found the right man.”
“You? You must have very high standards. A man would have to be a fool to not want to bond with you.”
She leaned in and kissed me on the lips. “You’re sweet. I just wanted someone who wanted me, someone to be there for me when I needed them.” Her slightly sad smile returned. “It’s not easy finding the right person. I’d found someone once, but…”
“But what?”
“I caught him cheating on me.”
“Cheating? I don’t know this term, at least used like this. He didn’t give you full value? He must be ashamed for his lack of ability.”
She giggled. “Something like that. Cheating is an Earth term to mean that he was mating with another woman while he was mating with me.”
I felt rage bubbling up within me. Had I been there I would have cut his heart out for that. “Did you kill him?”
“No!” She seemed genuinely shocked that I would suggest such a thing.
“A fit punishment. If he wanted to mate with another, he should have stopped mating with you first. On Firaspatciti, such an action would be dishonorable to both you and your mate, and you would be within your right to kill him.”
She stared at me a moment. “We’ll, I felt like killing him, but on Earth, that’s not allow. I’d be punished for doing it.”
“Punished how?”
“I could have been imprisoned.”
“Prison? As held, like a captured enemy?”
“Something like that. I would have been placed in a small cell and lost my freedom.”
I snorted. “You are a strange people.”
The Firaspatciti didn’t imprison people. Depending on the offense, the two punishments were banning or death. If someone was banned, they were sent off world and could never return to Firaspatciti again. To be caught doing so would mean death.
I smiled at her, wanting to talk about something more pleasant. “I have something for you… something to celebrate your introduction of the Firaspatciti to the Aquallians.” I moved to my bed side and retrieved the gift I’d hidden there. I presented her with the box. “For you, Catherina.”
She took the box from me and held it. “Thank you, Stevan. I hope you’re not putting too much faith in me.”
“That would be difficult to do. Open it.”
She opened the box, her eyes flicking to mine. Inside was an exquisite mating blade. I’d asked Sereni to obtain one for me, and she’d done her job well. The blade was unassuming, with a simple polished wooden handle, but the craftsmanship was beyond reproach. Unlike many blades that were overwrought and gaudy, this one had a simple elegance that matched Catherina perfectly. The blade had been expensive, but it would have been a bargain at twice the price.
“It’s beautiful,” she breathed. “Is it…?”
I smiled. “It is. Tradition states that your mother should give you this blade when you are ready to mate, but as you have no mother, at least on Firaspatciti…” I smiled.
Her eyes sparkled as she teared. I’d learned that Human women cried when they were both sad and happy. They were a very confusing people. The blade was off, waiting for her activation.
“Pick it up.” She did as she was told. “Now, press the bottom of the hilt in.” When she did, the blade sprang into existence. “The blade is now yours, and yours alone. Only your hand will activate it.”
She ran her finger along the blade. “It’s not a real blade? I can feel it.”
I smiled. “Not a real blade. You only think you can feel it. It’s the nanite that stimulate the nerves.” She brought the blade down and it passed through the bed.
“But when it touches another blade, I can hear it. I heard Kregah and Getther’s blades as they mated.”
I smiled. “Simply trickery. The handles control the blades. When they sense another blade they interact with each other with feedback and sound.”
She twisted the handle, watching the blade move. “Amazing.” She turned her blade toward me, intending to draw it across my skin, but I grabbed her wrist and stayed her hand.
“No,” I said softly then released her.
“I’m sorry. I thought—”
I smiled. “The blades are sacred. To use them on another during mating bonds you.”
“Oh! But…”
“Yes, I know. Perhaps I shouldn’t have touched you with my blade, but we weren’t mating and I wanted to put your mind at ease.” I shook my head, my lips tightening anger and disgust. “There are those that use their blades as toys, using them on any partner they mate with. But I respect the blades and what they represent. I would never use my blade in such a way, or allow one to be used on me.”
“So, if we were to use the blades on each other…?”
I nodded. “We would be bonded. Married in your terms. The bonded pair simply acknowledge the bond in front of an official, and it’s done.”
“Can the bond be broken?”
I nodded slowly. “It can, but to break a bond is dishonorable, a shame that will follow you for the rest of your life. To break the bond, one of the bonded pair states they are breaking the bond. The other acknowledges the bond is broken, and it’s done.”
“And if the one refuses to allow the bond to be broken?”
“Then they fight to the death or until one surrenders. Depending on the victor, the bond is broken or remains in place. But that hasn’t happened in hundreds of years. No dishonor follows the mate to didn’t ask for the bond to be broken. Who wants to be bonded to someone that didn’t want to be bonded to them?”
She nodded. “I sorry. I didn’t understand,” she said as she slid the blade into the matching, highly polished, wooden scabbard. She smiled at me as she returned the blade to the box.
“No harm. You are still learning our customs.”
“I can’t thank you enough, Stevan.”
“You’ve earned more of my gratitude than I can ever repay.”
She crawled across the bed and I watched the way her bottom moved. It was a very attractive sight. She sat her blade on the floor then turned to me and smiled in a way that made my blood run hot and fast while curling her first finger at me.
“Are you ready for another lesson?” she purred.
I smiled as I prepared to be instructed.