Asher’s Rescue

Chapter 1

Sometimes trading was the only thing that kept Asher from starvation.

It wasn’t a bad life though. Difficult, sure.

And lonely. Sometimes so incredibly lonely, to be the only Human on a planet where the only other higher-intelligence species was fiercely insular.

Asher was tolerated, in part because he was small but agile and could set b’nnab snares in the tiny crevices of rock that the animals tended to nest. But he wasn’t welcomed.

He’d always be grateful that his family had hidden and disguised him instead of turning him over to the communal kitchens, but sometimes, when life seemed really hard, he wondered what it might be like if things weren’t such a struggle.

If he hadn’t spent his childhood always looking over his shoulder, terrified of the kitchens.

If he wasn’t spending his adulthood now, just trying to make it from season to season.

Not for the first time, Asher cursed himself for daring to befriend Lilliana. Maybe if they hadn’t become friends, Lilliana wouldn’t have approached his moms with intention to court. And with courting leading to marriage, and marriage leading to Lilliana finding out that Asher wasn’t a girl…

It always ended with the kitchens.

He shook his head to banish the thoughts of that well-worn fear and left the snare, clambering out of the divot in the rock and emerging to the lush greenery that covered Journey-5. He took a deep breath of humid air, feeling himself relax slightly simply by being outside in green, growing nature.

Vader-X7 had been a cold and snowy planet, and sometimes just being around Journey-5’s evergreen glades was enough to chase away old nightmares.

Asher climbed down from his perch using the strong vines that crisscrossed the rocks and tried to ignore the ache in his empty stomach. If only Journey-5’s growing season for the Human-safe plants was year-round, like the evergreen glades were. Then maybe winters wouldn’t be quite so hard.

“No profit ever came from wishing,” Asher sighed quietly to himself.

He landed on the ground and had to cling to the vines for a second as his vision swam. The lightheadedness and sick feeling he’d been nursing since last night was returning with a vengeance, because he’d eaten too little for too long.

He didn’t know what he’d do if his last snare was empty. Go farther to forage maybe? The evergreen glades farther from the Almari clan’s territory might have more options, but they’d be more dangerous too, not having been cleared of their poisonous flora.

Asher took his waterpouch off of his pack and drained it, then started to stumble over to where he’d hidden his last snare. Looking up at the new rock he had to climb made him want to cry, but he swallowed hard and reached out for the first vine.

Asher was halfway up the rock, moving more slowly than he usually did as he picked his way to the crevice where he’d set his snare, when a loud rumbling sound reverberated through the evergreen glade, coupled with the ground shaking hard enough that Asher almost lost his grip on his vines.

Breathing hard, he scrambled the rest of the way up the rock, landing roughly on his hands and knees. His vision blurred for far, far too long as he got his breath back.

When he was finally able to raise his head, it was to find that the evergreen glade suddenly had a lot more people in it.

There was an Almari Grandfather, his mushroom hat completely white, and flanking him were two creatures that Asher had never seen before. Both were enormous, far taller and broader than Asher himself, who was admittedly short and slight. They absolutely loomed over the even shorter Grandfather.

The creatures were rather pretty, Asher thought dazedly.

They had deep blue scales that glinted in the light, accented by durable but soft looking clothing in golds and creams. One of the creatures’ cheeks had bright orange spots on them.

The other had gold jewelry glinting from pointed and slightly furred ears.

The Grandfather stomped his tiny foot and then pointed up the rock. At Asher? He didn’t understand. Asher pointed to himself in question, grateful that they probably couldn’t tell his hand was trembling.

The Grandfather stomped his foot again and chirped. “You,” he said, pointing again at Asher. Then he pointed at one of the creatures. “Dresht! You!”

“Dresht,” Asher repeated under his breath. “Okay.” The Grandfather seemed to want Asher to meet the… Dresht, so Asher could do that. Maybe it would endear him to the Grandfather and Asher could try to trade with him for something he could eat.

He was shaking from exhaustion and hunger, but he could climb back down the rock. No problem.

He gripped the vines.

No…problem…

***

“We understand that you wish him to be yours, but… it could be some time before the poor thing is healthy enough for a Season. He’s underweight and malnourished, and his caloric intake and weight will need careful monitoring.

There’s also no telling how long he’s been living with emptiness, and he might have residual trauma from being forced to go without for so long. The facility is happy to care for him—”

“Please, my mate and I knew the moment we saw him that he was meant for us. We are prepared to do anything it takes for him to be ours.”

“Anything. Any treatment, any regimen. And we assure you, credits are no object.”

“It’s… possible that he might have imprinted on you, since you were the ones who rescued him. Let me talk to the board.”

***

Asher swallowed reflexively as he drifted towards awareness.

He was comfortable in a way he really hadn’t been in the last three years, lying on something soft and dry, but his mouth felt funny, like he couldn’t close it all the way.

Not enough to hurt or make his jaw ache, but enough to be noticeable.

He poked his tongue forward and was met with… resistance.

What?

As his tongue tried to puzzle out whatever was in his mouth, Asher’s brain started coming back online.

He realized that he wasn’t hearing the now familiar insects and wind and rushing water from the evergreen glades on Journey-5.

Instead, there were low growling and hissing sounds… coming from either side of him?

“Vitals say he’s starting to wake. I can’t wait to meet him properly. I want him to know that he’s finally safe, and that we’re going to do everything to make him happy and healthy.”

Something started sifting through Asher’s hair, playing with the long strands.

Fingers…? But… no one had played with his hair in three years.

Not since he’d left his homeworld and his family.

He tried to lift his hand to touch whatever was in his hair, but—his hand felt too heavy to raise from where it was lying at his side.

Why…?

More growling sounds, though these weren’t quite as deep. “We’re going to take such good care of you, precious one.” Something large and cool stroked his cheek. It was pleasant, but confusing. What was touching him? “We’ll bring you so much pleasure, our sweet yshain.”

Asher finally managed to pry his eyes open.

The two creatures—the two Dresht from the evergreen glades of Journey-5 were both looking down at him. Huge and blue and beautiful and way too close.

Both of them smiled at him as he stared up into their golden gazes, terrified as to what they wanted. Maybe they weren’t smiling, maybe they were baring their teeth.

Were they angry? Was he going to get eaten?

The one with the gold jewelry began to growl again, the sound deep and rolling. “Hello there, little love.” One large, claw-tipped hand reached out. Asher flinched back, but the only thing that happened was that some of his long hair was brushed out of his eyes.

What was going on? He opened his mouth to ask, but—but he couldn’t. He… the thing in his mouth was a gag.

Desperately, Asher once again tried to lift his hands to take the gag off, but they were so heavy he couldn’t move them. He started to sit up to try to see why, but that meant, for the first time, he fully realized that the two Dresht—and Asher himself—

They were all naked.

He emitted a muffled shriek and twisted, trying to run, trying to do anything, but the Dresht with the orange spots caught him, pulling Asher into his lap like he weighed nothing. “Shhh, dear heart. You’re safe. We’re here now. We’ll take care of you.”

Asher’s chest heaved as he was held immobile. He knew they had to be talking to him, that that had to be the growling and hissing noises, but his translation implant was clearly not keyed to the Dresht language. He didn’t know what they wanted.

He didn’t know what they were going to do to him.

“The Almari said your name was Asher,” the one with gold jewelry growled, lips still pulled back in either a smile or a snarl.

Asher stared at him. He recognized ‘Almari,’ and…

that sounded like his name, albeit from a much deeper voice than Asher had ever heard before.

If they had bothered to get his name from the Almari, that—that could be a positive, right?

Asher knew boys on Vader-X7 were sent to the kitchens before they were named, because it was harder to harm something once you’d named it.

If they were using his name, maybe they weren’t planning on hurting him?

Then the Dresht continued, gesturing to himself. “I’m Trenet.” He put specific emphasis on the second word. That seemed like an introduction if Asher knew anything at all.

Trenet, Asher repeated in his head. He wished the gag wasn’t in so that he could try replicating the sound out loud.

Of course, he also wished the gag wasn’t in at all!

Trenet growled again and gestured to the other Dresht on the bed, the one holding Asher sideways in his large lap. “And this is Vrayl.” Once again, specific emphasis was placed on the final word.

Vrayl, Asher repeated, if only to himself. Trenet and Vrayl, the Dresht. Okay.

He peered up at them, heart beating fast. Now what?

Vrayl leaned down, golden gaze focused. Asher flinched back—

But Vrayl only nuzzled at his hair. “We’ve been waiting for you for so many cycles, Asher. We’re so happy that you’re ours.”

“Speaking of, my mate,” Trenet said, reaching for something on a side table.

Asher whipped his head around trying to track Trenet’s movements as the enormous Dresht moved closer.

“Now that our beautiful yshain is awake, he deserves to be filled, don’t you think?

The missive said he might have trouble eating without something inside him… ”

Asher let out a thin, muffled noise as Trenet parted his legs. What did they want? What was Trenet doing? He wanted to kick out as Trenet positioned himself between Asher’s legs, but he also didn’t want to incite their anger if he didn’t have to.

“Shhh,” Vrayl’s voice was a low hiss, almost hushed as careful claw tips began to card through Asher’s hair. “We know you’ve been empty for far too long, sweetling. But don’t worry, now that you have us, you’ll never go without again.”