Page 27
On our first date. And they’d remembered.
Tylan’s waffles were better than the diner’s. Once we were sated in all ways, we sat in the living room, cuddled up with one another. My purple and blue aliens surrounded me with their warmth.
“When will we go to your planet?” I asked.
“Eager, are you?” Tylan nuzzled my neck.
“Very. I’m ready to begin our life together.”
“It already has, mate.” Farsel scooted closer.
Epilogue
Farsel
It was time to go home. Our mate had been so positive on the subject, we had no qualms. If she had said no, we’d have ignored the message from our world and done what was necessary to go underground and never be found. It was a plan we’d discussed between the two of us when we’d realized that our mate was human. Perhaps go to that place where they filmed Amaris’ favorite movies.
But her response to the message had been so positive, she’d caught us both off guard. We were not going to have to give up home to be with our mate and for the past several days, she’d been frantically packing and unpacking, wanting to take only what was most important, what she might miss the most.
The waffle iron was going. It would take some reengineering, but I was confident that we’d be able to get it working or, worst case, have a new one made that would do the same job. In fact, I had an idea for patenting a device that should be very popular among our people.
We had a limited amount of baggage permitted per passenger, and that meant, our mate had to figure out how to fit everything she wanted to remind her of Earth into a relatively small space. She didn’t need a lot of clothing, since we’d be able to provide her with all of that, so she’d filled her allotted space with things like digitized photos of her friends and their babies, her late parents, all sorts of locations that had been special to her. Coffee because we didn’t have that and while it would eventually be gone, it would give her a cushion to get used to our drinks. She had a little bag of dirt from her yard. A rock. Miscellaneous things that had little financial value here or there but would remind her of Earth. A watercolor of a dragonfly she hoped to use as inspiration for a tattoo that glowed like ours. I hoped she wouldn’t get too many.
“We will never be able to come back?” she asked as we stood next to our car in the middle of the wilderness. We’d driven nearly all day to get here, and she was probably tired. I knew I was. “Ever?”
“If we can come up with a research project that the government will back. We’ll do our best, but can’t promise.” I hugged her, kissing the top of her head. Since the first time we made love, I had felt better and better. Now, I not only had shed the mating sickness but had a sense of well-being beyond anything I’d ever experienced. “Changed your mind? We can hop in the car and head off to a new life. We still have plenty of money from the funds we came here with to keep us for life.”
Tylan joined our embrace, holding our mate between us. “Up to you, sweetheart.”
She was quiet for a moment then lifted her face to me, eyes bright with excitement. “And miss the adventure of a lifetime? No way, alien boys. When is that ship coming anyway?”
“You’re our brave mate, and we’ll make sure you never regret your decision.” I turned her to face the distant mountains. “Watch for it.”
And as the two of us stood, with Amaris between us, our arms around her waist, the elegant ship appeared in the distance. “It looks so faint,” she said. “Almost like a cloud.”
“Disguised.” Tylan smiled. “But it looks like a cloud from home.”
If she’d waited much longer to accept us, I might have died. Or the ship might have come to find me in the throes of mating sickness and ruined my whole family. It was an unfair prejudice, to treat people that way for something they had no way of preventing, and I wasn’t sure how, but I would find a way to prove that those with the sickness were just as good as anyone else. My degree was in cellular biology, and I had the samples in my bag from our travels to work with once I got home. Maybe there was a way I could use my skills to help all the families who feared being found out. Or those who already had been.
But for now, I was ready to board ship with my mate and my bond mate, to go home and start our new life together. Our families would welcome their new daughter, and if the Goddess or Fate was kind, we might bring a new kind of person to the universe. With the best of both of our people.
“Oh, look.” The ship had landed very close to us. It wasn’t big, just a landing craft, and Amaris would soon see what we used to travel between galaxies. She was going to love it!
Tylan’s waffles were better than the diner’s. Once we were sated in all ways, we sat in the living room, cuddled up with one another. My purple and blue aliens surrounded me with their warmth.
“When will we go to your planet?” I asked.
“Eager, are you?” Tylan nuzzled my neck.
“Very. I’m ready to begin our life together.”
“It already has, mate.” Farsel scooted closer.
Epilogue
Farsel
It was time to go home. Our mate had been so positive on the subject, we had no qualms. If she had said no, we’d have ignored the message from our world and done what was necessary to go underground and never be found. It was a plan we’d discussed between the two of us when we’d realized that our mate was human. Perhaps go to that place where they filmed Amaris’ favorite movies.
But her response to the message had been so positive, she’d caught us both off guard. We were not going to have to give up home to be with our mate and for the past several days, she’d been frantically packing and unpacking, wanting to take only what was most important, what she might miss the most.
The waffle iron was going. It would take some reengineering, but I was confident that we’d be able to get it working or, worst case, have a new one made that would do the same job. In fact, I had an idea for patenting a device that should be very popular among our people.
We had a limited amount of baggage permitted per passenger, and that meant, our mate had to figure out how to fit everything she wanted to remind her of Earth into a relatively small space. She didn’t need a lot of clothing, since we’d be able to provide her with all of that, so she’d filled her allotted space with things like digitized photos of her friends and their babies, her late parents, all sorts of locations that had been special to her. Coffee because we didn’t have that and while it would eventually be gone, it would give her a cushion to get used to our drinks. She had a little bag of dirt from her yard. A rock. Miscellaneous things that had little financial value here or there but would remind her of Earth. A watercolor of a dragonfly she hoped to use as inspiration for a tattoo that glowed like ours. I hoped she wouldn’t get too many.
“We will never be able to come back?” she asked as we stood next to our car in the middle of the wilderness. We’d driven nearly all day to get here, and she was probably tired. I knew I was. “Ever?”
“If we can come up with a research project that the government will back. We’ll do our best, but can’t promise.” I hugged her, kissing the top of her head. Since the first time we made love, I had felt better and better. Now, I not only had shed the mating sickness but had a sense of well-being beyond anything I’d ever experienced. “Changed your mind? We can hop in the car and head off to a new life. We still have plenty of money from the funds we came here with to keep us for life.”
Tylan joined our embrace, holding our mate between us. “Up to you, sweetheart.”
She was quiet for a moment then lifted her face to me, eyes bright with excitement. “And miss the adventure of a lifetime? No way, alien boys. When is that ship coming anyway?”
“You’re our brave mate, and we’ll make sure you never regret your decision.” I turned her to face the distant mountains. “Watch for it.”
And as the two of us stood, with Amaris between us, our arms around her waist, the elegant ship appeared in the distance. “It looks so faint,” she said. “Almost like a cloud.”
“Disguised.” Tylan smiled. “But it looks like a cloud from home.”
If she’d waited much longer to accept us, I might have died. Or the ship might have come to find me in the throes of mating sickness and ruined my whole family. It was an unfair prejudice, to treat people that way for something they had no way of preventing, and I wasn’t sure how, but I would find a way to prove that those with the sickness were just as good as anyone else. My degree was in cellular biology, and I had the samples in my bag from our travels to work with once I got home. Maybe there was a way I could use my skills to help all the families who feared being found out. Or those who already had been.
But for now, I was ready to board ship with my mate and my bond mate, to go home and start our new life together. Our families would welcome their new daughter, and if the Goddess or Fate was kind, we might bring a new kind of person to the universe. With the best of both of our people.
“Oh, look.” The ship had landed very close to us. It wasn’t big, just a landing craft, and Amaris would soon see what we used to travel between galaxies. She was going to love it!