Chapter 11 GETTING PHYSICAL, PHYSICAL!
GETTING PHYSICAL, PHYSICAL!
Xenoth waited more than impatiently for the images from Sally to load. His kropek were fuzzed with irritation at the slow data transfer, every emotion under the suns racing through his coloring.
She wanted to get physical with him.
Or, she was open to the option.
He couldn’t believe his ocular receptors as he re-read the letter. It didn’t seem possible. His eyes paused on the line about her accepting a proposal from one of the other males on the planet and a low growl erupted out of his chest, surprising him.
The first image loaded another fraction.
Xenoth let out an irritated huff and began pacing back and forth across his domicile.
It was true that they’d been speaking for weeks.
The continued conversation had surprised him.
Not so much that they’d had a conversation, but that he’d told her so much about his life and his people with such ease.
After the first few awkward messages, the words had simply flowed comfortably from his fingertips.
He’d have been executed on the spot, had anyone read through their transmissions.
But he couldn’t seem to stop.
Every letter to Z’Sally felt like speaking to a companion he’d been missing his entire life. Someone he could know even closer than his brother, if that were possible.
Someone he wanted to…get physical with.
Xenoth was unfamiliar with the odd itch that flew through his veins whenever he mentioned his brother’s, or any of the other males’ sexual functions in their communications.
Talking about his brother’s tubes had never felt sexual before, but trying to explain what was happening with them to Z’Sally made Xenoth’s ocular sockets twitch.
That itch in his veins felt almost like jealousy, but Xenoth had never been jealous of a female’s attentions before.
Ever.
Certainly not with his brother.
He checked the data loading screen. A third of the way finished for the first photo. That brilliant red hair of hers dominated the screen, her blue eyes gazing at him as defiantly as any Z'arthaxian Queen.
Xenoth swallowed heavily, running a hand absently through his mane, his kropek twitching as he paced.
Z’arth knew, his emotions had been in rampant overload since he’d begun communications with her, but he’d put it down to his nervousness about the heretical nature of their messages. This, though, as he looked at the achingly slow-loading image, was something different.
Maybe it a reaction from the experiments he’d been running.
If so, the spike in aggression and possessiveness was worrisome; females could bond with as many males as they wished in their stables.
In fact, while many chose a Primary for close companionship, it was preferable for them to have several.
It meant no one male was too drained of either energy or fluids, and plenty were there to help raise any resulting offspring.
Although…Xenoth paused in his pacing, a new thought surfacing. One which he immediately shoved down as being impossible, but then looked at all over again as he glanced at the bottle of untested, synthesized pheromones sitting next to his data terminal.
Males did get aggressive and possessive if they were preparing to bond with their Primary female, especially if she hadn’t yet accepted him. And he had been around Sally’s DNA for weeks. It was crazy to suggest, but…
…Was he…was he bonding with a human female?
From a distance?!
Was that even possible??
Xenoth needed to talk to Arzog.
The older male had managed to find a wealth of useful information in the library archives.
Of course, it had taken longer than expected to get to it.
Arzog had needed to hack into the libraries using his female’s old access key; another heretical act they’d both be on the hook for should anyone discover it.
Xenoth was relieved to have some shared responsibility in enacting their desperate attempts to regulate the Z'arthaxians’ needs.
He reached out to Arzog through the allied bond they’d decided to put in place only recently. It ensured their mutual destruction, given the sensitive information they were sharing with one another…and it allowed them to speak as closest family would.
Z’arth knew they were both feeling the disconnect of going from hundreds of relatives to…whatever was left.
That thought put an interesting idea into Xenoth’s mind and he added it to the list of things to speak to Arzog about.
Arzog, have you a moment? He sent through their bond.
Indeed, my Zah, as much as I ever do with this brood of flame-ants for children. What’s on your mind?
Xenoth glanced at the data terminal, its place-holding screen running pictures of his home world as the images continued to load.
In all of your research, have you ever come across a Z'arthaxian whose bond woke with another species?
Arzog was silent for a long moment. Xenoth did not know if it was because of the children, or because his question had shocked the other male.
Finally, Arzog replied, Have you ever read the Z'arthaxian creation myth?
I have not.
Allow me to tell you the story? I shall keep it brief.
Xenoth indicated that he was listening and his pacing slowed to a distracted wandering as he listened.
In ages past, when the mighty Goddess Z’arthax first wandered the cosmos, she came across a creature made of dazzling rainbows of light.
Fascinated, she followed it, chasing it across the empty night sky.
In its panic, not knowing Z’arthax meant it no harm, the creature began shaking out its mane, dropping little pieces of itself as a distraction as it fled.
Thus, the first stars were born.
Fascinated by the tiny light-bringers, Z’arthax raised her hand to each one as she passed it, her chase slowing significantly. With each star she touched, Life bloomed.
The birth of the universe.
Z’arthax was fascinated by the many new creatures that appeared, and for millennia spent time watching and learning about them. She forgot about her chase entirely, until one day, the rainbow creature returned.
Some say it had continued running around the vast edges of the universe until it returned to where it began. Some say it was lonely and went back to find the one creature which had given it any attention. Regardless, it was back, and Z’arthax was fascinated once again.
She gave chase, but more carefully this time, slowing her approach in the way of the most patient of hunters. She watched from afar and saw the creature’s trajectory amongst the stars. She set a trap.
It worked.
Approaching the mired creature, she tried her best to calm it, to no avail.
It thrashed in the net until it managed to break free, but it left a piece of itself behind—one of the long strands that made up its body.
As Z’arthax picked up the strand, it began to go dim.
She realized it could not survive away from the creature.
In her panic, trying to save it, she grafted it to her own body.
The moment it connected with her, the beast stopped running.
The strand had opened a doorway between them, and now they understood one another.
Z’arthax was delighted, but took things slowly, knowing the creature had been terrified of her for so long. She offered it a piece of herself in return for the glowing strand: the fluid flowing through her veins. The creature accepted and their understanding of one another grew, tenfold.
Now, their chase became a dance, with each taking turns as hunter and prey. When caught, they would make love—or fight in the way of bored friends keeping one another sharp. All of the cosmos would shake when they came together.
One day, the rainbow creature informed Z’arthax that it was dying.
“I am no longer made of light,” it said to her. “I have become too much like you to sustain my current form.”
“What can I do?” Z’arthax asked, panic forming at the thought of losing her dearest companion.
The creature thought quietly before saying, “Perhaps if you were to take some of yourself back, my light might return and I may thrive again.”
Z’arthax wept bitterly, for she knew she could not return the fluid to her veins, for they were already full, having refilled the moment the fluid left her.
The creature looked at her, noting that the strand she had taken so long ago had thrived upon her, multiplying until she almost outshone it.
“Perhaps there is another way,” it said. “Give me back some of my strands so that I might have more of myself and less of you.”
Z’arthax handed them over instantly and the creature sighed, feeling its balance restored as the strands joined with it.
Arzog paused in his recitation before saying, There is more to the story going into the birth of our people, but I think that is the most relevant piece.
Xenoth took a breath, going back over the words his friend had just sent him. The implication of it was…startling. Taken literally, it meant that the Z'arthaxian people were born of two separate species. That the first bond had been with a non-Z'arthaxian.
Well that…certainly puts things in a new perspective. Why have I never heard this version before? Xenoth asked, staring through the domicile’s window, out into space, his thoughts whirling.
It is an old version, kept buried in the High Queens’ archives, Arzog said carefully.
Xenoth’s eyes narrowed. Access to the High Queens’ archive was forbidden to all but a few.
And how do YOU know of it? He asked sharply.
Oh, did I not mention? Arzog replied casually. I was High Queen Z’aliza’s head librarian until my Y’asha was exiled from court.
Xenoth put a hand to his head. Of course you were! Any other surprises I should know about?
Perhaps.
Anything that would be helpfully relevant to this particular conversation?
Not as yet. I am still trying to access the schematics for the Queens’ kropeknik, though. I suspect it may be the key we are missing to regulate and stabilize a male’s transition.