Chapter 16
Peony
“Oh, my god...”
“Shut up!”
“Stop giggling.”
“She's naked.”
“Guys, sh!”
The hissing whispers of the four familiar female voices brought Peony out of the most luxurious sleep she had enjoyed in a long time, even before being abducted. She opened her bleary eyes, to see four faces with varying expressions all looking down on her.
Scarlet was grinning knowingly. Hattie snickered, her face bright red. Holly appeared trapped somewhere between concern and dismay. Alanna looked like she had wandered into the wrong room by accident and just hadn't wondered out again yet.
Peony sat up, pulling the blanket with her. Unsurprised to find herself still naked.
“Why are you all in here?” She asked, looking at her friends, disappointed that they weren't Atem. Was cuddling not a thing with his people?
“Brought you a new shirt,” Scarlet said, tossing the plain, gray fabric at her.
“And food,” Hattie added, lifting a bowl of what appeared to be oatmeal but smelled like sardines and pizza. “It tastes better than it smells.”
Peony pulled the dress on with the blanket still in place and only once she had it pulled down did she sit on the side of the bed.
She took the food with a small thanks as Holly sat next to her.
Hattie plopped onto the ground while Scarlet sat at the desk.
Alanna just stood there, smiling at her in a way that would have been weird if she wasn't used to her.
“Did you have sex with Atem?” Holly asked immediately.
Peony drank the thick, sardine-pizza-oatmeal, confused when it tasted like savory lemon chicken, before offering her an answer. “I mean, yes. But, you know, don’t make a big deal of it.”
Holly frowned. “And you're... okay?”
A smile pulled at her lips. “Better than okay. It was amazing.”
“Do not need to know,” Scarlet assured her, holding up a hand.
“I think it's sweet,” Alanna said, touching her shoulder. “Your aura has never looked clearer.”
“Thanks, but that might also be from sleeping in a proper bed and not being in a cell.” Peony laughed, but not at Alanna. She was accustomed to her weird thoughts by now.
“He didn't hurt you or... anything?” Holly asked nervously, pressing the topic with her typical anxious tremor. She was a worrier. A trait the abduction definitely did not help.
Peony smiled, covering her hand with her own. “I'm fine. It was my choice. He made sure I was all right with it. If I needed help or was being forced, I promise, I would tell you.”
Holly hesitated only a moment before nodding, some of the tension leaving her.
“What was it like?” Hattie asked, leaning forward, interested. “Was he... normal? Like, down there?”
Peony's face was burning, but she was smiling. “No. He, er, had... ridges?”
“Ridges?” Holly repeated, like she had said his dick had horns.
“And, like, this bulge. At the base.” Peony used her free hand to demonstrate, making a general shape in the air. “And he was huge.”
Hattie squealed, burying her face in her hands. “No way! He had a knot?! That's so... bestial!”
“Why do you sound so excited?” Scarlet asked, grinning at her indulgently.
“Seriously,” Holly added with a frown, as though Scarlet had a genuine critique.
“I’m happy for you two,” Alanna declared, folding her hands together. “I saw him earlier. His aura was particularly radiant. He’s definitely happy.”
“You really think so?” Peony asked, trying not to sound over eager. She couldn't exactly talk to him about plans or what this might have meant to him. She wasn't someone who believed in auras or anything like that, but the idea of him being pleased with her made butterflies dance in her belly.
Alanna nodded slowly. “Certain of it.”
“Wait, how, er, you know… big are we talking here?” Hattie interjected, seeming really interested.
Before Peony could answer, however, Scarlet stopped her. “If it's all the same to you guys, I'd prefer chatty girl talk like this to take place only when I'm slightly drunk.”
Holly grimaced. “I'd rather not talk about it at all. He's an alien, for crying out loud!”
“Oh, come on, Holly,” Hattie smacked her knee playfully. “Don't tell me you're species-ist.”
“That's not a thing!”
“It is when there's more than one species and you're being prejudiced against the other one,” Peony argued with a grin. “But okay, to spare you and Scarlet the sordid, sexy details-”
“Aw, but why?” Hattie moaned, despondent.
“-we can change the subject. Did Scarlet tell you about the communication thing we're working on?”
While Peony was eating, they talked about Turv and if it was actually a place. And if it was a place, what they were going to do when they got there. Atem seemed confident about where they were going, but that didn't necessarily mean anything for them.
Whatever happened, though, they agreed that they were staying together. If that meant physically holding hands as they traveled, then so be it. The only question was if Atem was going to be there and in what capacity if he was.
Peony finished her food, and, like a gaggle of geese, they migrated to the galley so she could return the bowl to the cool food dispenser thing.
It was amazing how much more vibrant and happier they all seemed just because they could move about freely.
They weren't under threat. They were fully fed.
It was such a turnaround from yesterday that it still didn't seem real.
But then, from an intercom overhead, she heard Atem's voice. He said something complicated in his growly language that they didn't understand. But then he finished it with-
“Turv. Vas? Turv.”
“I think that means we're here.” Peony started towards the open door.
She was at the head of the group walking down the hall. She tried not to think of how eager she was to see Atem again. She had been hoping to wake up in his arms, but apparently flying the spaceship required more attention than he could spare for post-coital cuddling.
When she stepped onto the bridge – the doors once again held open – he immediately turned.
He was red again, as he was sitting on the captain's chair.
His appearance startled Hattie and Holly since they hadn't seen him since yesterday.
Scarlet was explaining his camouflage thing to them as Peony approached, a cautious smile on her face.
His expression warmed for her, and he held out his hand. She happily took it, making him smile, before standing at his side as he continued to tap at the console with his other hand.
“Turv,” he said, pointing to something on the small screen she didn't recognize.
“How much longer?”
He couldn't understand her question, but he continued, pointing at more things on the screen.
With a few swipes of his finger, the big screen at the front of the room flickered from the weird graph and unknown symbols to, what her brain quickly identified must be, the planet Turv.
It took her a moment to realize that it was a planet because she was only used to seeing the eight recognizable planets of her own solar system.
This new planet was predominately green and purple, making the completely ordinary white clouds dotting the surface somehow surprising.
As they got closer and it filled the screen, she could see that the green – a light almost mint green – was from the ocean that took up the majority of the surface.
The land portion, a combination of the colors purple and brown and black, was one, mostly solid, landmass.
Like they had never passed the Pangaea stage of continental evolution.
There were a few cracks in the large, oblong mass, creating large inland seas at random points, reaching inward from the uneven shores.
“The water is green,” Hattie breathed, surprised.
“It's really a whole other planet,” Holly whined softly, as though some part of her was still hoping that Earth was at the other end of this journey.
Peony looked down to see Atem staring up at her. She licked her lips before pointing with a slightly shaky hand-
“Turv?”
“Vas,” he agreed softly.