Chapter 6
T’raat
Leigh’s lips were just as soft as I envisioned. Her whole body was soft, even the firm curve of her buttocks beneath my hand as I applied the vritz . Xalanite women were not soft like this. This was an entirely new sensory experience.
I quite enjoyed it.
Unfortunately, I learned from Leigh that human women had a “three date rule” that must be followed prior to mating, and these dates must be on different solar days.
Three days until I could mate with her. Until I could sate my desires.
I could last three days. My poor n’ril , however, needed immediate relief. As soon as Leigh left after bringing me some dinner, I retired to my loft bed and stripped my clothing. My n’ril had been hard to the point of pain ever since I’d learned that Leigh was not rejecting me, and only one thing would relieve that pain:
Climax.
I did not know how it was for human males, but for us Xalanites, continued arousal without release was a most uncomfortable experience. The pain could be debilitating.
Lying down on the soft blankets Leigh had provided, I stretched out and took my lower n’ril in my hand. My hand was not as soft as Leigh’s, but I could envision what it might be like with her delicate fingers wrapped around me. With those soft lips wrapped around me, with her pink human tongue lapping circles around my head.
It was well known on Xalan that human women enjoyed providing stimulation through oral means. Xalanite women did not do this, but the human mating programs that we imported from Earth gave many examples of this type of act. The thought of Leigh kneeling in front of me, her blue eyes gazing up at me as she pleasured me … My n’ril twitched in my hand, and I let out a small groan.
Visions of Leigh in various states of dress, in various positions on and around me, flooded my mind as I stroked myself. Since I had not yet seen her naked, I had to fill in some of my visions with images of human women from the mating programs. Sadly, it was not the same, as I knew that those women were performers. I wanted reality.
I wanted Leigh. Only Leigh.
Just as I realized this, my n’ril deflated. I could no longer maintain the arousal needed for release. Not only was it unfair to Leigh, who deserved all my focus on her, but it was … dishonest to myself. I knew I would never be with the performers. Leigh was who my hearts and my n’ril wanted. The performers were not.
Frustrated, I slipped on some lower coverings and stepped into my boots. I needed Leigh.
I made my way across the farm until I reached the house where Leigh and Harrison resided. I knew the sleeping rooms to be on the upper floor, though I did not know from the outside which room was Leigh’s. I climbed the trellis where her mother’s rosebushes grew and peered inside the first window, but sadly that room, it seemed, belonged to Harrison. The man slept in the nude, as evidenced by the lack of blankets covering him. I shuddered and backed away from the window before he could wake and catch me. I did not want an angry Harrison in any state of dress after me.
The second window I came to revealed my tyr’il , though to my dismay she wore a thick material covering her entire body. I tested the window and found it unlocked, so I quietly opened it and slipped inside.
Leigh’s clothing was soft beneath my fingers as I stroked her shoulder gently, afraid to wake her with too heavy a touch. I crouched at her bedside and stared at her sleeping face, marveling at her beauty. Her lips parted slightly, and her soft breath smelled tangy. I remembered her telling me of her people’s custom to rub their teeth and gums with mint paste in the evenings to cleanse them. The smell was pleasant, though I longed to taste it as well—if only to have my lips once again on hers.
I spent many time units staring at her as she slumbered, my fingers trailing through her golden hair. It was not the level of contact I desired, but I found the act soothing.
After some time, Leigh stirred and stretched. My jaw gaped as I watched her back arch, emphasizing the swell of her teats beneath the checkered fabric. I licked my lips, wishing I could touch those teats, but I knew for humans that was inappropriate without explicit permission.
“T’raat?” she murmured, her voice husky. “What are you doing in my bedroom?”
I stroked her hair once more, tucking a loose strand behind her ear. “I missed you. I wished to see you.”
Leigh sat up with a yawn. “You couldn’t wait until the morning?”
“My n’ril ached without you. I needed to see you.”
“Your what?” She shook her head. “Never mind. Come on. Have a seat.” Leigh patted the bed next to her, and I sank into the mattress at her side. She leaned against my chest and wrapped her slender arms around my waist. I longed for her to touch other things, but I did not mention this.
“It’s sweet of you to come see me, but Dad will murder you if he finds you in here, especially in the middle of the night. From now on, you’ve gotta stay in the barn at night. Don’t come out here. He’ll be furious.”
I kissed the top of her head. “I could not sleep. I needed you.”
Leigh sighed. “And again, that’s really sweet. Don’t get me wrong; this is a pleasant surprise. I just don’t want Dad to shoot you or something because he found you in my bedroom.”
“How will we mate if I cannot be in here? Humans prefer to mate in a bed, correct?”
“Well, yeah, but … Look, it’s complicated. We’ve got to earn Dad’s trust to be able to spend the night together, and that’s not going to happen in a couple of days. We’ll be lucky if he lets us stay together after our third date. You do remember the three date rule, right?”
I lowered my head. “Yes. I remember. It was not my intent to break the rule tonight. I did not come here to mate. I just wanted to see you.”
“What’s so important that you had to see me now? Why not wait until the morning?”
I paused to collect my words. “I … My imagination? Yes, that is the word. My imagination is … insufficient. I cannot picture you as I would like, and it bothers me. I wish to picture you correctly. I cannot in good conscience supplement my imaginings with other women. I need to imagine you .”
Leigh sat back and stared at me, her slender brows drawn together. “What do you mean by imagining me?”
I blinked at her. “For self-stimulation. I tried to relieve my ache, but I cannot without you.”
She groaned and pinched the straight of her nose with two fingers. “You were jacking off, and … what? You got hit with a sudden burst of conscience because you couldn’t picture me naked?”
The translation took a moment. I was not familiar with the human phrase “jacking off.” Once I understood, I beamed at her. “Yes! I was jacking off, but since I have not seen you naked, I could not picture you properly. I tried to picture other women in your place, human performers from the mating programs, but that felt dishonest.” I cocked my head at her. “Could I see you without your clothes? I believe if I knew what you looked like without them, I could better relieve my n’ril while remaining faithful to you.”
Leigh flopped back onto the bed with her hands over her face. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
“Is that a good thing?” I asked.
“Not really.” She scrubbed her face with her hands. “Jesus, T’raat, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at this. It’s a little ridiculous, but it’s also almost romantic. In a weird, perverted way.”
Perverted … This was not a positive word. I stood and headed for the window to make my exit. “I have offended you. Apologies. I will return to the loft, and I will not imagine you until we have had our third date. Until we can mate, and I can see you naked.”
“T’raat, wait! Don’t go.”
I paused. “I am confused. You say I am perverted, yet you wish me to stay?”
“Of course I want you to stay. I like you, T’raat. I just think it’s really inappropriate to get naked for you just so you can jerk off with a clean conscience.”
Her words said she liked me, but her tone seemed irritated. I did not understand. I froze halfway between the bed and the window, uncertain how to proceed.
“Look, T’raat, you have to be patient. We’ll mate soon enough. A few days isn’t so bad.”
“Tell that to my n’ril ,” I grumbled. “The ache is unbearable.”
“Ache?”
I turned back to her and nodded. “Yes. Without relief, my n’ril have been in pain today. I was … jerking off to relieve it. To ease it.”
Leigh’s eye narrowed, and she pressed her lips into a thin line as she crossed her arms over her chest. “You’ve got blue balls.”
I blinked. “Spheres?”
She pointed at my n’ril . “I haven’t seen you naked either, but I’m assuming you have balls like human men? Y’know, little sacs where your sperm is stored. On human men, they hang under the, uh, n’ril .”
“Oh! My gaak . They are not blue. They are purple, like the rest of me.”
Once again, Leigh pinched her nose. “It’s an expression. When human men, erm, don’t get ‘relief,’ they claim they have blue balls. They say it’s painful, but it’s not. It’s just a way for the men to try to manipulate women into having sex with them.”
I frowned. I did not like the implication that I was being untruthful or manipulative. “I do not know about human men, but for Xalanites, arousal without release is indeed quite uncomfortable. Often to the point of true pain, and though we can self-release to relieve it, I did not wish to do so while picturing other women.” My body shook with anger and some new emotion, a kind of pain but in my hearts, and I wiped a sudden outpouring of tears from my cheeks. “I will leave. I have upset you with my words.”
I jumped out the window, not bothering with the trellis to climb down. Landing on my feet, I broke into a run. I needed to think.