Another picture filled her thoughts. Three little dark bundles of fluff. They weren’t there yet, but they would be there by morning.
“Do you want me to stay with you?”
He rubbed his head against her and shivered a little. She tucked one of the shawls around his naked little shoulders and waited with him.
A bot came in and it displayed a message.
Benliar is delayed, your workshop is complete and your dinner is ready.
She nodded at the bot and it moved to stand next to Spot, tucking the shawl around him and stroking his head.
When she stood and touched the side of the bot, she jumped slightly. Roden was animating the bot.
She didn’t speak, but she gave the bot a long look. It was the same one that had handed her a towel that morning.
Wim headed downstairs and ate her dinner while studying accommodating angles to fit around any body type.
When she finished eating whatever it had been, she followed the second bot to what was now her workroom.
The dressmaker’s dummy was there in the corner, the fabric was in a rack on the wall. A worktable, cutting tools and drafting equipment were laid out neatly and everything was ready for Wim to start working.
She checked in on Spot, and he was snuffling as his black feathers began to sprout and his body shifted shape. He was literally growing up before her eyes.
The bot kept its position next to Spot, stroking his head occasionally and keeping his body covered.
“Call me if anything happens. I will be in here in a moment.” She spoke softly but Spot woke up.
He squeaked at her in a tiny high pitch that she hadn’t heard before.
“What is it, Spot?”
The squeak came again, but this time, she was looking right at his colourless eyes and his beak didn’t move. There was a satisfaction in his expression and his small flight feathers gave him a slightly startled look. He sat up straight and his shawl fell back.
Three tiny little balls of fluff were sitting in front of their parent. One was a deep navy with sky blue eyes, another a crimson so dark there were black highlights, and the last had its parent’s black fluff with eyes the same shade of silver that Wim saw in the mirror.
She fought the urge to pet them and congratulated Spot. “Well done, Spot. They are lovely.”
Spot jerked slightly and backed up a little more. He looked shocked as he investigated the new arrival. Tiny, it was half the size of its siblings and sandy with tiny rainbow eyes.
Wimsah looked to the bot. “Imagine that.”
The bot looked embarrassed.
Wim tucked the shawl back around the family and smiled. “Well done, Spot. Let me know if you need any help.”
She caressed Spot’s head. She got an image of herself playing with the small fluff balls when they were twice their current size.
“I have been told.” Wim laughed and sent him an image of her location.
He replied with an image of him screeching.
“As long as we understand each other. See you soon.”
Wim returned to her workshop and got to work. It was late when Benliar arrived and he stepped up behind her and whistled. “Impressive.”
“I took a course once when I was a teenager and it is all coming back to me. I might not pass this course, but I will have comfortable clothing to wear whenever I want it.”
“It is an interesting design. I have not seen anything like it on Roden.”
“Of course not. Your fashion sense evolved with alien interruption. You went right from wraps to extruded clothing. The class I am taking is technically a historical costuming course.”
She finished pinning the hem of the trousers and got to her feet. “I will finish this in the morning. Did you see the babies?”
“Not yet. I wanted to be with you when we went for a look.”
She sighed and stretched. Benliar came up behind her and rubbed her back. She groaned and rocked against his hand.
“You don’t need to do it all in one week. You can pace yourself.” He rubbed with his knuckles and she worked her hips against him.
“You know what Resicor was like. I had to hide what I was, who I was. Now, I am out to collect as many experiences and skills as I can. It may not be an excellent piece of work, but it will be complete. I am going to chase every type of art, craft and construction style, and after them, I will work into the maths and sciences.”
“No poetry?”
“Poetry will come under art.”
He rubbed her shoulders. “Good. I have a knack for poetry and would love to recite a sonnet or two.”
“What were you up to today?”
“Trade negotiations and sending off a class of volunteers who are leaving for employment in the stars.”
“How often do you do that?”
“The negotiations are every six weeks or so. The volunteers with jobs leave every four months.”
“Will you let me know if I am needed for any of those things?”
“I will. Right now, you are just thought to be my companion. Only the council knows that you are my mate.”
She paused. “The what now?”
“We will have a formal ceremony in a few weeks.”
Wim turned to face him. “What the what now?”
Benliar shrugged. “Roden doesn’t have couples living together. We either maintain separate quarters or we are formally bonded. I think we should have a formal ceremony so that it is declared far and wide what our situation is.”
“Are we bonding-mates material?”
He grinned. “We are. By the standards of my people, we are very compatible.”
She made a face. “Where can I find those standards?”
He chuckled. “I will get you the social outline diagram.”
Wim wrapped her arms around his neck. “Please do. I get the feeling that Roden would make stuff up just to get me to agree to this.”
“He is watching with curiosity, but he is staying back.”
“Is there any kind of ritual offer that a man would make to his woman?”
He blinked and slowly smiled. “There is, but it will be a while before I can make that offer.”
Wary, she leaned back, “Okay. Would you like to see Spot’s babies?”
He nodded. “Please. I have to admit I am curious to see what they look like.”
She took his hand and pulled him into her bedroom, to the nest and the new family.
Spot looked up and he chuckled at her.
She eased the shawl back and smiled at the filled-in feathers. He was nearly a bird now.
Benliar looked in and smiled. “Three and a half. All dark but one.”
She looked over his shoulder. “Did you see the eyes on the little sandy one? He looks like you.”
The tiny, sandy fluff ball sported a tuft of dark fluff on its head. It peeked up at Benliar, and he laughed, getting all of the little ones’ attention.
The peeping was tremendous, and Spot moved down, gathered them in and made them hush while he settled in to sleep.
The bot brought Spot food and set it on the edge of the nest, within easy reach.
“Keep an eye on him, Roden. If he needs anything from me, give me a call.” She patted the bot.
Roden sent her an affirmative response.
Wimsah grabbed Benliar and pulled him from her room. She pressed him against the wall. “Have you eaten?”
He nodded, bemused. “Yes, why?”
“Good. I thought of another way to relax my muscles. I need your help for it.” she smiled.
“You are in a good mood.”
“Of course I am. I learned stuff today. Spoke to some strangers and became a defacto grandmother. I have to say, it has been a good day all around.”
He wrapped his hands over her hips. “When is your next class?”
“Not until next week. If I finish these projects, I will be caught up and have a little more time on my hands. I thought you could help me fill them, it. I mean it. I mean the time.”
He was laughing delightedly. He pulled her against him and he nuzzled her neck. “You will be subjected to history lessons, sociology briefings and a law course, all here at home.”
“You really know how to sweet talk a girl.”
“You are no girl, you are a woman.” He used his grip on her backside to lift her against him, and he walked to his room.
He explained the intimate practices of the Roden, and their skin glowed while he did it. Roden was watching but not taking control, and Wimsah appreciated it. Some things were between a man and a woman without the planet that supported them both horning in.
Six weeks later, Wimsah was standing next to her mate in a public ceremony, wearing the gown assembled by her costuming class and holding some of the rarest flowers that Roden could produce.
Spot was standing proudly on her shoulder, the basket with his young were at her feet. The whole family was there for the formal union of an active Avatar and his bondmate.
Vid recorders watched the ceremony that involved them sipping from the same cup, binding their hands together and sharing a kiss while the highest official in the land, that wasn’t one of them, filled out the registry that linked them legally together.
Wimsah’s lips were curled in amusement as Spot moved his neck and spread his wings for the recordings.
The moment that they finished the ceremony, the local press surged forward to ask their questions.
Benliar kept his arm around Wimsah’s waist, and with the basket of Yaluthu at their feet, they had their press conference.
“Avatar, why have you chosen a mate?”
Benliar raised his eyebrows. “Because I wanted one.”
A female reporter raised her hand, “Why not chose a Roden woman? Why an alien?”
Benliar chuckled. “I am sure you are aware of the coastline of Rkiat and the locals holding the cliff in place until all the citizens were safe? That was Wimsah. She has her own power and has since birth. She is a match for me and for Roden.”
“How did you find out about her?”
“I was contacted by Citadel Balen, weighed the options and left to bring her back home with me.”
“Wimsah, why did you choose to bond with our Avatar?” The female interviewer asked.
“It was a concentrated effort with both Roden and Benliar wooing me to gain my agreement.”
“They pursued you?” The woman sounded as if she couldn’t believe it.
“They did.” Wimsah smiled pleasantly.
“Why?”
Wimsah felt Roden take Benliar over.
“Because I chose her, she is incredible and I want her in our lives.”
The reporters blinked as power washed through the room.
The woman was determined, “Lord Roden, why an alien woman? Why not choose a woman of your own kind as your mate?”
“Because Benliar did not fall in love with a woman of his own species, he fell in love with a woman of Resicor and she with him. I also fell in love with her strength, determination and focus. She has the potential to teach our people much about survival. We have too long focused on education and working for our own people’s benefit. It is time to want to survive and step forward as a species, and Wimsah will set that example.”
“How?”
“She has already accepted Roden as her home, she has sought the means to learn our ways and she has a productive place in our safety. The safety and wellbeing of a people not her own is already one of her primary concerns.”
The occupants of the room shifted as they frantically recorded what they had just heard.
One younger woman raised her hand, “Lady Wimsah, what is the creature you are always seen with?”
“He is my bonded companion. His name is Spot and he chose me while I was on Balen.”
“You said
he
, are those the children that he and his mate had?”
“No, they are his children and the details can be found from Citadel Balen. I am not really sure how he works.” She smiled.
She waited and the questions seemed to quiet down.
Benliar lifted her hand and kissed the back of it before turning it over and pressing his lips to her palm.
He answered a few more questions directed at him and not at Roden, and then, they were on their way to the reception where council heads mingled with her friends from her classes.
Drumming met them, and they did a slow circuit of the room, their little family was finally a blended unit as far as Roden was concerned.
They settled at their table and the party began in earnest. No Avatar had ever been bonded while on active duty before, and it was a matter of curiosity that made Roden’s entire world watch.
Vid monitors swirled around them and focused in on Spot and the babies right up until he started feeding them. Apparently, that was too much for the audience.
They ate, drank and danced the night away.
Roden dancing was not formal; it was an exercise in how much of your body could be kept in contact with your partner while you moved to the beat. Benliar was exceedingly good at dancing and Wim enjoyed every attempt to keep up with him.
When time came for them to leave, the crowd cheered them on as they gathered the basket, put Spot back on her shoulder and left the hall.
“I am very happy that you went through with it, Wimsah.” He cradled her in his arms and he slowly lifted off the surface before he glided through the sky.
Two vid recorders followed them across the city for a few minutes until Benliar waved them back. There was power in his casual gesture, and the rest of their way home was unwitnessed and full of quiet snuggling.
The grounds of the Avatar’s home were alive with softly glowing lights from the nearby flowers.
Wimsah smiled and Spot took off, examining his home now that it was being overhauled to accommodate a family.
Her construction course was coming along well. She had drafted the design for a small office and studio, and it was being built with a huge garden attached, growing what Resicoran fruits and grains that could thrive on Roden. The seeds and cuttings were currently in a locked-down greenhouse, going through quarantine and being checked for crossbreeding with local flora.
“Does it feel like home yet?” Benliar set her on her feet.
“It is getting there.” She took the basket of babies into her bedroom, scooped them out and put them in their nest. Spot screeched in and settled with the four little fluff balls, tucking them under him and settling down for the night.