Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 75650 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75650 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
She watches me closely, my son nestled in her arms. “I don’t mean to,” she says after a moment. “I think I just resent the changes.”
“I do as well.”
“I know, and I keep forgetting that part.” She makes a small grimace. “It’s unfair of me. Forgive me?”
“There is nothing to forgive. It is a big change for both of us. We are both learning.”
“I have been so wrapped up in myself,” she confesses, her voice soft, “that I forget that you have woken up to find that you have a strange alien mate and a child. I imagine that is not easy, either.”
“That is no difficulty,” I say, turning the bone in my hand as I work. I keep my gaze on it, because I do not want to scare her with the intensity of my feelings. “I consider myself lucky. I wake up and all of my dreams have come true.”
She sucks in a breath.
I look up. Her eyes are shining with emotion, and as I watch, she blinks rapidly. “I do not mean to make you weep, Stay-see.”
“It’s all right,” she whispers. “I’m just a blubbery nightmare lately. I…did you mean that? About me and Pacy?”
I frown. “Why would I say something I do not mean?”
“To be nice?”
“Is this how you remember me? As a male that spits false words to be polite?” I am distressed by the thought.
“Not at all.” She hugs our son closer, ignoring the fact that he is yanking happily on her brown braid. “I just…I can’t imagine what it would be like to wake up and hear that you are tied to a stranger. One who doesn’t even look like you.” Her smile of acknowledgment is small, unsure.
“I did think your face was strange at first,” I admit, moving the stone carefully around the edges of the pelvic bone. “Very flat, and your features are small. But I do not think it is strange any longer. I enjoy the differences…though I am not quite used to the fact that you have no tail.” The horns I do not notice so much, but the lack of tail is noticeable and strange to me.
Stay-see goes still.
I worry I have offended her. “I am sure it does not affect your balance or your ability to sit,” I tell her. “I did not mean it to be—”
“It’s fine,” she says softly, interrupting me. “I just…you sounded like yourself for a minute there.” She waves a hand in the air. “Listen to me. Of course you sound like yourself. I only meant…that was one of the things we always joked about,” Stay-see says. “Me not having a tail. Do you remember that?”
I shake my head. “I wish I did.”
She looks sad, but manages a brave smile. Her eyes are shiny again, and I hate that I have disappointed her. I must think of some way to make her happy again. I work furiously on the plate, sending bone dust and chips into the air. Silence falls between us, and I want to hear her speak more. I want her smiles.
So I ask, “Will you tell me what it was like when we resonated?”
Stay-see looks surprised at my request. “You want me to tell you what it was like?”
I nod. “Perhaps it will help me remember to hear about it.” I press my hand to my chest, feeling the low thrum of my khui as it sings to her nearness. “This remembers you, even if I do not.”
“All right,” she murmurs. “I’m not much of a storyteller, though. I’m better at cooking.”
“You can cook for me,” I say eagerly. “I would love to eat what you make.”
Her smile broadens. “Maybe tomorrow. I need dishes first.” She gently retrieves her braid from Pacy’s grasping hands and tilts her head, thinking. “Our resonance. All right. What do you want to know?”
“Everything,” I tell her. “Spare no detail.” I want to experience it through her words since I cannot remember it.
“All right.” Stay-see presses her fingers to her mouth, thinking. “Well, I think it happened when I woke up out of the tube.”
“Tube?”
She absently pulls a tuft of fur from Pacy’s hand and hands him a bone. He immediately begins to gnaw on it. Her smile widens, and she looks over at me. “I should explain. When we first arrived, some of the girls were awake, and some of us were asleep in the wall of the ship. In stasis. It was like we were asleep, but unable to wake. The aliens were keeping us stored like…” She gestures at the bone Pacy is drooling on. “Like you keep the bones here. Waiting to be useful.”
People were being treated like this? I frown to myself. “Go on.”
“When Georgie and the others were rescued, they freed us from our sleep. One by one, we were pulled free from the wall and woken up. We didn’t have much to wear, so each person was given a fur cloak to wrap around them. I don’t remember who I saw when I first woke up, but I know it wasn’t you.” Her smile is indulgent.