Chapter Seven
Catherina
I woke stretching and yawning. I hadn’t slept well last night. Between watching Kergah and Getther make love and the thing with the mating blade, I had been unable to shut off my mind. Even Quathaul’s soft breathing hadn’t been able to lull me into sleep.
If that was how the Fire men were mating with the Water women, no wonder Quathaul was upset. What I’d seen last night, even discounting the mating blades thing, would have been called rape back on Earth. The only thing was, I wasn’t sure who was raping who.
I crawled across the huge bed to touch Quathaul gently on the shoulder. She had already been in the bed when I returned last night, and I hadn’t woken her. Now I understood why the Fire’s had such large beds. They needed the room for their fighting and rolling, tumbling, love making.
“Yes, Catherina?” she murmured as she looked at me with her enormous eyes, sitting up and yawning herself awake.
Her eyes were at least twenty-five percent larger than mine, and their color and depth still took my breath every time I gazed into them.
“When you were mating with the Fire men, did they use their blades on you?”
“Their mating blades?”
“Yes.”
She smiled. “Once I allowed it, though I couldn’t use my blade in return. The thought of using the blade, even one that gave pleasure, disgusted me.”
“The blade, did you enjoy it?”
She looked at me for a moment. “Physically, yes, it was very pleasurable. But the thought of a male using the blade on me was upsetting. So, no, I didn’t enjoy it, and wouldn’t allow it again.”
I licked my lips as I nodded. “And the mating?”
Quathaul looked down. “They are beasts and brutes.”
“Why are you here?”
“I told you once before. We are giving the Fire men our bodies in the hopes of conceiving.”
I shook my head. “No, I mean why are you here? Here on the Fire planet. Why didn’t the Fire’s go to Water?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“Would you like to return home?”
“Very much.”
“Would you feel safer there?”
“Yes, much safer.”
I smiled. “Return to your room and begin to pack your things. Have the other Waters do the same. You’re going home.”
“But what of attempts to conceive? Is there no hope for us?”
I smiled. “Oh, there’s hope, but I’m about to change the rules. Now go.”
-oOo-
“My Lord,” I said as I stepped into Stevan’s office and took a knee. He’d kept me waiting for hours as he attended some other state function, but I had twenty minutes where I could pitch my idea.
“Rise and approach. We don’t have much time, so speak quickly.”
“I think I know what the problem is, and how to fix it.”
His eyes widened with the news. “Already?”
“Yes. A start anyway. I want to move the Waters back to their planet. You said it was a hormonal problem, right? I think these women need to feel safe and protected in order to conceive. The combination of being here, away from their surroundings, and the way the Fires approach mating, is preventing that. Getting them someplace where they feel safe is the first step in that.”
“They’re safe here! Safer here, in the palace, than anywhere on their world!”
“Maybe so, but they don’t feel that way, and that’s the important part. My Lord, I believe Quathaul is trying, and I assume the other women are as well. She admitted to me she is deriving no pleasure from her mating, but she is still giving her body in the hopes of making this work. I think it’s time the Fire’s to try to give something back.”
Stevan stared at me for a long moment. “You really think it will make a difference?”
I shrugged. “It can’t hurt. You’re getting nowhere now.”
He growled. “I can’t deal with this now. Go, return to your room. I will send Kergah to you. Tell him what you want and he will see that it is done. We’ll discuss this more, later. Leave me.”
I pursed my lips. I knew it was nothing personal, and Stevan was clearly under a lot of stress at the moment, but I didn’t enjoy being dismissed like a child. I gave him the curt nod of respect before I turned and stomped out of the room.
The palace was huge and I could easily get lost except for my trusty escort, Sereni. She had become almost as much a constant in my life as Quathaul. By the time I reached my room, Kergah was waiting. He could travel across the galaxy faster than I can walk down the damn hall.
“Our Lord said you wanted to see me?”
I grinned at the ‘our Lord’ thing. It reminded me of church. I jerked my head at my door and he followed me into the room.
“I want to move the Water’s back to Water.”
His eyes narrowed. “Why?”
“Because I don’t think you’ll ever have a successful breeding pair here on Fire. I want to try something different.”
“What?”
I sighed. “The first rule of bonding is finding a companion and then a mate that you’re comfortable with. Would you agree?”
“Yes,” he said slowly.
“These women that volunteered are not comfortable here. They need—”
“Their every desire has been met!” he interrupted.
“Not every one. They need to feel save, and secure and wanted and loved, and I don’t think they feel any of these things. Since Quathaul has become my companion, my friend, she’s changed. She’s still kind and gentle, but she no longer seems afraid. I think that’s the key. They can’t conceive unless they… feel safe and secure… for the lack of a better way of putting it.”
“The men that have volunteered have agreed—”
I waved my hand, cutting him off. “I know all about it. Stevan told me. That’s part of the problem. This isn’t a contract or an agreement. There has to be something more. Trust me. I was brought here to help you. Let me help.”
He stared at me. “You’re not safe there.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just what I said. Word is spreading that your Human. Someone talked and the rumors are spreading. Stevan risked everything for you, up to and including war. If this goes badly, we will be unable to fully protect you on Water.”
“If we don’t get over this problem of not having children solved, any war that may start won’t matter.”
He lowered his head in acknowledgement. “Tell me what you need.”
“I want to reset the clock back to zero and start over. I want a fresh batch of men and women, and I want Quathaul to help me. She understands her planet like none of us ever will. Let’s use her.”
“How?”
“I want her to recruit new women. I will recruit new men.”
“How will that help?” I could tell from his tone he thought I was wasting time.
“When you recruited the men, how did you go about it? Did you ask for volunteers to help save the Fire’s? Did you make it into a great honor that they would be sleeping with these weak, repulsive women for the good of the people?”
His silence was all the answer I needed and I nodded.
“On this entire planet, you don’t think there are twenty males that might want to mate with a Water? These women are not as weak as you think. They have a strength you haven’t seen, that I didn’t see until I spent time with one of them. Once people see them for who they truly are, not who you think they are, others may realize there is something there. Then we won’t have to recruit or ask for volunteers. Males will come forward, wanting to mate. The same for the women. There is a lot to admire in the Fires. Let’s show them your good points, show them who you really are, not who they think you are.”
He stared at me for a long time. “Be ready to move in two hours.”
I smiled. “You’re a good man, Kergah. Stevan is lucky to have you as his aide.”
He smiled and lowered his head again. “He and I have fought many battles together, but none more difficult than this one. I would give my life for him.”
I gave him a half grin. “Fortunately, this isn’t about death, it’s about life and living.”
He gave a brief chuckle. “You are wise beyond your years, Catherina. I was against the idea of bringing a Human here, but perhaps Stevan was right after all.”
I gave him a wink and a smile. “This is what I do, Kergah. This’ll work. You’ll see.”
-oOo-
Quathaul, Sereni, and I stepped through the portal into Quathaul’s home. It was lovely, the walls flowing elegantly into the ceiling and floors. Where the Fires built in stone, the Waters seemed to use some kind of wood. Where the Fire buildings, while elegant, were massive and imposing, Quathaul’s home was cozy, soft and inviting.
I would love to see more of the Water’s world, I couldn’t stay long. Kergah had order five hundred guardsmen to escort me, but I had forbidden it. The Waters would think they were being invaded and the game would have been up before it even started.
Neither of us would budge from our position and Stevan had finally resolved the dispute when I’d agreed to one guard at my side, and that I would return in ten minutes. Stevan had approved it over Kergah’s objection, but with the warning that if I was even one second late returning, a thousand guardsmen would pour through the portal to assure my safety.
“You’ll do it?” I asked Quathaul, continuing the conversation we’d started six hundred light years away.
“Do you think you can really find men such as these?”
I smiled. Time to be confident. “If they exist, I’ll find them.”
Quathaul smiled. “Yes, I believe you will. Yes, I will try to find twenty women that would like to meet these men. I know of one already.”
“That’s great! Who?”
“Myself,” Quathaul said softly.
“No, not you. I need you.”
She smiled and touched my face, like a mother comforting her child. “I want to, Catherina. I must. I must be the first before others will follow. I will still be able to advise you.”
“But can you forget, or at least forgive, the Fires for how they treated you?”
She smiled again. “They are not a cruel people. They didn’t intend to hurt us. Yes, if you can find men as you described, I think I can find it in my heart to forgive them.” Her large eyes filled with tears. “I would very much like to have a child before I’m too old conceive. I’m willing to risk much for that chance.”
I felt my own eyes flood with tears. “Then I wouldn’t dare disappoint you.”
Quathaul smiled. “You have a kind heart, Catherina Hume. You would make a fine Aquallian.”
“It’s time, Catherina,” Sereni said softly.
I nodded, trying not to cry, feeling that I’d been paid the highest compliment. Even Sereni’s eyes seemed brighter than usual as I wiped at my eyes.
I gave Quathaul a hug. “I have to go, but I’ll contact you every day for news. Together, we can make this work. I can feel it.”
Quathaul nodded as a single light blue tear rolled down her cheek. “Yes. I can too.”