Kor'ven knew it was foolish to buy into the idea that things would be different once he was mated--truly mated. It was foolish, and yet the thought held some merit, or seemed to earlier in the day. After he had carried Adi'sun to her office, he lay with her, holding her small, peaceful form. He spent much of the night stroking her hair and watching her sleep until he too drifted off.

And when he woke again, he instantly noticed the change. Even when he rose to dress, he could still feel her as if she were in his arms. He could still feel her as he moved about the Waystation, and even when he left to take care of the code adjustments so she would not have to handle such a menial task. He had never had that sensation with his first "mate."

It was reassuring. Calming. Kor'ven had worked with an ease he had never felt in his life, and when she awoke and came to find him, it was like the sun rising over the canyon. He'd been unable to contain himself, unable to keep from kissing her, touching her. Had she not stopped him, he might have stolen her away to a dark corner someplace where they might recreate last night.

But the moment she suggested they edit the master code, he'd known the stories elders told, stories of one's life changing completely after mating, were entirely fabricated. Mating did not change the fact that he and Adi'sun were from two different worlds. It did not change the fact that she could not and would not understand why he had taken Drol'gan's side in that room.

And it did nothing to dampen the abject fury he felt coming off of her as he exited into the hallway.

"How could you do that?" she asked, and though her tone was measured, he could sense her turbulent emotions. "We were supposed to approach him as a united front."

Kor'ven's jaw squared and he glanced at the closed door. No doubt Drol'gan could still hear everything.

"I never promised such a thing, only that I would join you in speaking to him."

She gave him an incredulous look, her blue eyes wide with hurt and anger. "You call what you did in there speaking to him? You said all of ten words until the end."

"Adi'sun…" He reached for her, but she took a step back.

"Don't. This may not be a big issue to you, but it's a huge issue to me. You know this is the right thing, Kor'ven," she hissed. "You know it's the right thing, and you're bending to the Pathfinder's decision anyway."

Kor'ven's nostrils flared, his brow ridge coming down close over his eyes. He had been prepared to allow his mate to take out her fury on him, but this was too far.

"I am quite capable of making my own decisions." He threw the words back at her, only noticing afterward that several people had stopped to watch them in the hall. "I will not discuss this here."

Adi'sun looked around, seeing the same thing he did. Her face was flushed, but he could tell it was almost entirely from anger.

"My office, then," she managed, leading the way.

Once they were inside, she pulled down the window coverings and locked the door, granting them as much privacy as was possible in the Waystation. Kor'ven stood near the wall, watching her pace.

"This is dangerous. It's careless. And it's so very, very wrong. How can you not see that?" she asked, finally turning back to him.

Kor'ven considered himself a rather reserved individual. He kept much of his emotion locked behind a heavy blast door. But that door had started to bow and buckle the moment he met Adi'sun, and now he could feel it giving way.

"How can you not see the same is true of altering the master code? It is dangerous. It is careless. And it is very, very wrong."

"I'm not trying to encroach upon your spirituality, but--"

"It has nothing to do with belief!" he roared. "I am not opposed to your idea because that code is sacred, I am opposed to your idea because I have done this before. I have altered code, I have tried to make the Karuvar better, more resilient, and I have seen us get weaker with every adaptation. I have played an active role in bringing about what I believe will be the end of my people."

She knew these things. Perhaps he had not shared this hypothesis with her--that he believed the Karuvar grew weaker with every adaptation they programmed into their implants. But he had shared his greatest failure, his greatest mistake. The decision he was most ashamed of.

And she was throwing it back in his face, chasing her own theory rather than trusting his past experience.

Even now she did not understand. She was looking at him as if he were absolutely mad.

"The Karuvar are… a marvel of bio-engineering. Your people are the strongest species in every known galaxy. You have survived for longer than most species have even existed. How can you possibly claim to be weak?"

Kor'ven's heart ached to hear her speak in such a way. After last night, there was no doubt in his mind that she was his mate. But this was his life's work, the one thing he believed in more than anything else. And she was dismissing it.

Perhaps that pain was why his next words were so utterly careless.

"Yes, we are quite strong. So strong we must now rely on humans to propagate our species."

Adi'sun stepped back from him as if he had struck her, and he felt the full brunt of that betrayal, hers and his alike. It was almost enough to stagger him, but he kept to his feet and tried to think of where he could possibly go from this moment.

"I'm very sorry you have to lower yourself to my level," she said, and he could hear the tears in her voice, "but I assure you, it won't be a problem."

True fear gripped Kor'ven's heart as he considered the implication of her words. "What do you mean?"

"I mean I have no plans to get in the way of your work, or anything else you wish to do. Your genes won't be weakened by having kits with me. What happened between us last night…"

She choked on the words, and Kor'ven moved to comfort her. What else could he possibly do? She was speaking utter nonsense.

Once again, though, she did not allow him to touch her. She swiped at her eyes, then looked up at him.

"What happened last night will not happen again."

It was Kor'ven's turn to simply stare, mouth agape. "That is absurd. You are my mate, and I am yours."

She shook her head and turned away from him. "My work is everything to me, Kor'ven. And I know you feel the same way about yours. And today… today is proof that you and I cannot reconcile that." Sadness overtook him, and he was unsure if it was hers, or his. The smile she gave him suggested the former. "We are both too stubborn. Too driven."

An anguished growl tore through Kor'ven's throat. She was an intelligent woman. She knew so much about his people. How could she not understand this?

Crossing the room to her, his hands went to her face once more. "You are mine," he insisted. "I am yours. I can prove it to you."

He kissed her then, with everything he'd come to feel for her. Every complicated, exhausting feeling that had conspired to break down that door within him. And at first, she responded in kind. Her own kiss was fierce, desperate. She clung to him as if she did not wish to ever let him go.

But she drew back quickly, severing that connection and leaving his soul cold. Her gaze left him, and he followed it to an image of a woman who looked very much like Adi'sun.

"You have no idea how much I wish I could be what you want me to be," she said forlornly.

"You already are."

Adi'sun shook her head. "No. This is what I am." She gestured to the messy office around her. "Sleepless nights. Outdated records. Books organized in a way that only makes sense to me. I'm a scientist, and I won't compromise on that."

Kor'ven had been praised as one of the most intelligent Karuvar in existence, and yet he could not understand what she was saying. He did not want her to be anything other than what she was. Did one scientific disagreement--when they had already had so many--truly make her doubt that?

Evidently so, as before he could even fathom a response, his mate--the woman who now held his heart, his life, his future--walked out of the room and left him behind.