Chapter 3 MATING FLUIDS #2
As Xenoth stood on the catwalk overlooking the fields, they began humming, their rear legs rubbing together to create a strange, rhythmic song that grew stronger as the light brightened around them.
It was beautiful. And calming.
Xenoth found himself just staring, his senses hypnotized as he let his thoughts wander, his tired mind tumbling over and over all of the problems currently plaguing his people.
His people. HA!
Xenoth was a far cry from a leader.
The only reason he even had the designation as Zah was because his brother was nearly mate-bound to the current ranking female on the planet.
And his brother couldn’t lead; Urzan’s attentions would, eventually, be taken up by his responsibilities as his female’s Primary.
That was, of course, assuming that Y’arza ever returned from where she was currently voluntarily trapped within the Queen’s palace.
Xenoth sighed heavily.
For a few moments he turned off the coding holding a few strands of his kropek in the intricate knot which indicated his status.
His teal chiton fluttered lightly in the breeze, its loose fabric flowing easily around his muscular legs as his dark green kropek shimmered down over his shoulders to cover them like a cape.
He put his head in his hands, running his fingers up through his loosened locks, touching the strands he kept woven secretly against his scalp softly.
Three of his fathers’ and a piece of his mother’s kropek lay still beneath his touch.
No hint of the buzzing electricity sending him messages from across the stars.
Although bereft of their original hosts, being woven into Xenoth’s scalp had kept enough energy running through the strands to keep the core memories encoded within them alive.
Xenoth was beyond grateful that he had access to the memories, even if they were just figments of light dancing behind his ocular receptors, and not live messages from his family.
While Xenoth certainly had his own memories he could skim through, the ones from his fathers were special.
Hand-picked moments they had chosen to send with him when he left home to accompany Urzan to the Queen’s palace.
Mostly of him as a wikwik running around in the nude and giggling as his fathers chased him with their kropeks.
He smiled, the memories bittersweet.
He did not even know if his home still existed.
That his fathers were dead was certain. Of that, he had no doubt given the lifeless nature of their kropek.
But his mother…
Xenoth’s fingers ran over the still-warm coil of her kropek hidden against his scalp. He sometimes thought he could detect her bio-signature within the programming running deep inside it, but her bio-structure was far beyond his skills to access.
The odds were against him, that his mother was still alive, but he clung to the heat of her coil like a lifeline. If anyone could survive what the terrorists had done to the galaxy, it was his mother.
He didn’t want to hope, given the sad state of the Andromeda Galaxy as a whole, but High Queen Z’adaznik was more powerful than the Queen here on this planet, and Queen Z’illik was merely in a coma.
It was pure chance he and Urzan had been sent to train under Queen Zillik.
If his brother hadn’t imprinted so heavily on the Queen’s daughter, Y’arza, it was likely that the two of them would instead be just as dead as the rest of their people.
Xenoth grimaced at that thought. What a foolish waste. Slaughtering an entire galaxy!
“Sun’s Greetings, Zah Xenoth!”
A voice called up to him from the walkway beneath his perch, startling him out of his dark thoughts. He’d had too many of those these past few suns, so he welcomed the unexpected interruption.
“Sun’s Greetings, Zeh Arzog,” Xenoth returned quietly, not wanting to interrupt the gryllrogi’s continued clurping.
“May I join you?” Arzog asked, holding up a small basket. “I brought breakfast!”
Xenoth nodded, then quickly re-coded his hair up into his kropek knot as Arzog skittered up the side of the scaffold, his copper kropek strands acting like prehensile limbs as they lifted him effortlessly up the structure.
His bare feet touched down and Arzog sighed, smiling happily as he looked out over the purple fields.
He waved a hand in dismissal as he joined Xenoth where the other male stood, still re-coding his Zah’s knot-weave.
“Oh no need for that on my account, Zah Xenoth. We are practically family at this point!”
Xenoth snorted at Arzog’s improprietous suggestion, but left off the topmost portion of his knot. It was easier to re-weave with a reflection or hologram, anyway.
Arzog handed him a freshly baked roll made from the same lavender grain waving merrily before them.
It steamed as Xenoth pulled it apart. Closing his eyes, he breathed in the delicious, nutty aroma deeply.
He took a large bite, savoring the warm, fluffy mouth-feel currently melting against his tongue.
Whoever had baked this batch knew what they were doing. Xenoth was pleased, a wash of pale pink tinging his locks…and then his cheeks as he noticed Arzog watching him with a knowing smile.
“Add some of the jam—it’s my own recipe. I’ve been experimenting with the fruits sent over by the Chirophex colony. I must admit, I am not familiar with several of them, but I think this one came out quite well.”
Xenoth did as he was instructed, biting delicately into the questionable fruitstuffs piled onto his roll.
At first it was sweet and a little tart, the flavor of star berries dancing across his tongue. And then suddenly, a thousand flame-ants from the fire planet of Igneoth attacked the inside of his soft palette with a vengeance.
Xenoth doubled over, retching, his lungs struggling for air, his eyes streaming as he spat out the beyond-spicy mouthful. It sizzled quietly on the decking between them as Arzog looked over in shock.
“Wha…??” Arzog lifted the crock and sniffed delicately before hastily putting it to one side. He taste-tested the other container in the basket before slathering a thick layer of a creamy paste onto another bun, handing it swiftly to Xenoth.
“This will help! I’m so sorry, My Lord! It was the children playing pranks. Z’arth’s sake, I knew I shouldn’t have let them help with breakfast!”
When Xenoth’s functions returned to a more normal baseline, he looked over at Arzog’s long face and just started laughing.
“If that was…an..assassination attempt…*cough cough*…I’d say…it worked!”
Arzog slid down next to where Xenoth had collapsed on the platform. The older male buried his face in his knees, copper kropek hugging tightly around his shoulders.
“I am sorry! They’re driving me crazy!” He looked up at Xenoth with an exasperated face. “I was not made to be a single parent!”
“We can assign you more help, you know,” Xenoth offered, worried as he noted the sudden tension in his friend’s posture.
Arzog shook his head vigorously, his hands fisting as his entire body shivered suddenly. “I can’t, I can’t! I can’t let an unclaimed male near them—if anything were to happen to them…!” He shook his head again, not looking at Xenoth.
Xenoth slowly slid a few of his kropek up to squeeze around Arzog’s shoulder, pulling the other man as close as propriety dared to give him comfort in his grieving. Arzog had lost a great many children in the purge of Andromeda. So many warm coils gone cold.
“Arzog, my friend…” Xenoth’s kropek stroked gently down Arzog’s copper lengths. “…I do not think anyone here would dare harm the children. They are our entire future.”
“Maybe so, but you know as well as I that grief comes unexpectedly and in sometimes violent ways amongst our people. I cannot let anyone near them who has no familial or societal bond with me! The males left here are too disjointed.”
Xenoth sighed, head thunking back against the platform railing as his duties as Zah reared their ugly head once more.
“It was never like this in my fathers’ community,” Xenoth said quietly.
“Everyone would have gladly helped with the children there. I’m sure my fathers would have had some brilliant team-building solution for settling unclaimed males, but I am not my fathers.
I have no idea how to unite what’s left of our people… ”
He looked up at the top of the bio-dome above them, watching the colorful, drifting forms of the mischievous squibbles sliding over its invisible surface.
The wide-eared, tentacled creatures were quite adorable…
and quite deft at sneaking inside to make a meal of the tasty gryllrogi.
Yet another problem on his list; the continued protection of their food sources.
Xenoth turned away from that issue. The bio-dome seemed to be keeping them out for now, thanks to the changes his brother had made to the structure’s programming.
His brother…
“Arzog, when was the last time you had a chance to speak with my brother?”
“With Urzan? I confess it has been some time. A dozen is more brood than I ever dealt with, even at my peak with Queen Z'aliza; I’ve rather fallen off checking in with him. Do you need me to stop by?”
Xenoth grunted. “His cycle has shortened again.”
Arzog’s head swung sharply in Xenoth’s direction. “Again??”
Xenoth nodded.
“That’s…concerning.” Arzog frowned. “Well I’m happy to drain him as needed. Z’arth knows the children are keeping me drained well enough, I wouldn’t mind a break from being sucked dry.”
“Don’t overextend yourself, Arzog,” Xenoth admonished. “Feel free to use the reserves anytime you need. We can’t have you falling ill.”
“I’m fine, Xenoth. The other males need those reserves more than I do, with no females in residence.”
“Arzog…I tell you this in confidence…Urzan has produced enough lichter fluid to feed three colonies the same size as ours, for at least a year.”
“Holy Light of Z’arth!” The other male’s face went pale. He turned fully to face Xenoth. “Zah, you need to get Ascending Y’arza back here for him as soon as you can! That much fluid production can only mean he is on the edge of transition.”
“You think I don’t know this?? I have no way to contact her!
I only know she is alive and still behind the palace shielding with your Y’asha.
How do you propose we set about getting them back here when we cannot even approach the palace without being fired upon?
Have you been able to reach Y’asha through your bond? ”
Arzog shook his head slowly, frowning.
“No, but maybe…something you said earlier about community. There might be a way. I need to check the archives.” His gaze sharp. “I don’t suppose you’d be willing to watch the children for a few hours?”
Xenoth’s mouth twitched, eyebrows jumping nearly to his kropek line.
“I suppose so—if you promise to keep them away from the fire honey. Where are they now, anyway?”
Arzog flushed heavily, his kropek mane lighting up momentarily in a rush of embarrassment.
“I, ah, gave them a sedative at breakfast and locked them in the nursery.”
“ZEH!”
Arzog cringed at the use of his title. “It’s the only hour I get to myself!”
“This is why there should be more males helping in the nursery!” Xenoth snapped, then sighed, rubbing his face anxiously. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to snap at you; I am also to blame for not keeping a closer eye on your needs.”
“Xenoth, I think we’re all doing the best we can, you especially.
Your fathers would be proud, you know.” Xenoth did not quite meet Arzog’s gaze.
Arzog continued in a lighter tone, “I know I’m the oldest in the colony, but even I can say I’ve never been through an apocalypse before!
Let’s just agree to be nicer to ourselves going forward, hm? ”
Xenoth was quiet for a moment before asking curiously, “Are you?”
“Hm?”
“The oldest in the colony?”
“I pre-date High Queen Z’adaznik, if you can believe that.”
“You do not!”
“I do!”
Xenoth grinned, “Well if you’re older than my mother, now I know why Ascending Y’arza’s always calling you ‘old man’!”
Arzog laughed lightly. “I forgot you were Z’adaznik’s brood!” He made a suggestive mmm noise. “Now there was a Queen! I wouldn’t have minded being pinned down to bear for her a time or two.”
Xenoth made a disgusted face. “Ugh! Please! That’s my mother! I do not need to envision the two of you exchanging tubes, thank you very much! Assisting my brother with his nightly wank sessions is already bad enough!”
Arzog laughed again as they gathered up their picnic. His laugh turned suggestive and he added, “Well, I rather like your brother’s tubes, so I’m happy to trade you my children for his tubes any time you wish!”
“Arzog.”
“Yes?”
“Don’t make me get out the fire honey!”
Arzog laughed loud enough that the gryllrogi’s clurping paused momentarily. He slung a kropek around Xenoth’s shoulders companionably.
“Some day, young Zah, I will tell you about the time Queen Z'aliza and I got very creative with fire honey. Did you know just the right amount smeared around your tubes can be quite delicious if you’re into edging play?”
“A fascinating story for me to go and tell your children about later! I wonder what sort of new ideas that will give them…”
Arzog’s horrified gasp could be heard halfway around the planet.
***