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11

OAKEN

Ihad not lied about the fact that I had many chores to catch up on. But, really, my most pressing need was relieving the frantic pounding in my cock before it exploded without invitation into my trousers.

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d ejaculated without meaning to in the daylight. Sometimes it happened when I was asleep, when I dreamed of silken human hands touching me, human lips smiling at me, human arms holding me. I’d wake and find the bedding a mess.

It was never like this.

But then again, I’d never been around someone like Jaya.

My wife.

A thrill went through me, culminating in my heated shaft. I shivered, and barely had time to wrench my trousers down behind a tree before I was spewing vigorously.

I didn’t even need to touch myself.

The next fourteen days might be a little more challenging than I’d expected.

But I was not daunted as I took my sensitive cock into my hand, stroking the last shivers of pleasure from the organ. Even now, I already wanted to get back to her. To talk to her. To hear her laugh again, even if it was at my expense.

Alas, I really did have things to do. I hadn’t checked on my herd in too long, nor had I done my afternoon round of inspecting my property’s fences. Regretfully, I tucked myself back into my trousers and got to work.

12

JAYA

Magnolia was an excellent and most enthusiastic tour guide. She lent me a hat like hers and showed me around both her property and Oaken’s. As we walked through grass and gates, she pointed out the massive herd animals with antlers called bracku; the four-legged, short-tailed riding mounts called shuldu; and one very cute pink thing that looked like an Old-Earth baby goat.

“That’s Nali,” Magnolia said, rising up on her toes to peer over the fence of the pink creature’s enclosure. “She’s a gortu.”

“She’s the only one?” I asked, surprised to see that she was all alone in her little area. Oaken and Garrek had multiples of their other animals.

“She’s an orphan,” Magnolia said, resting her chin on the fence. “Oaken found her alone in the mountains. Her mom didn’t make it.”

“Does Oaken take home every stray he finds out there in the mountains?” I asked no one in particular, shaking my head. “First Nali. Now me.”

Magnolia laughed.

“Well, hopefully you won’t require as much work as this one did,” she said. “Oaken had to bottle-feed her around the clock for weeks. He’s the one who dragged all these boulders into her enclosure, too. To encourage her to climb and jump like a mountain gortu is supposed to.”

“He dragged these back here?” I asked, my eyes practically bugging out of my head. Some of the rocks in here were absolutely gigantic!

“Dragged is the wrong word,” Magnolia said. “He actually carried them on his back.”

“Didn’t he, like, just break his foot?” I asked, unhappy about the thought of Oaken limping around under five-hundred-pounds of Zabrian Prinar One rock with an injured ankle. Over lunch, Magnolia had filled me in on her time here, which included the story about how Oaken’s injury had prevented him from coming to marry her when she’d first arrived.

“It’s been a few months since then,” she said. “But I think it’s still causing him some pain. He was out in the mountains when it first broke, and I think he probably did more damage to it trying to get back here before he could properly heal.”

I frowned. Unfortunately, I only had a WoundKnit 8300, not the larger and more expensive BoneKnit 8500. And since it had been a while since the initial injury, I wasn’t sure that a BoneKnit 8500 would do Oaken any good now anyway.

“Well, he needs to stop carrying boulders around, then,” I muttered.

“I know,” Magnolia said. She reached down over the fence, and Nali excitedly bumped her head against her fingers. “I’ve given him some exercises that might be helpful, and they certainly didn’t include any boulder redecorating. But I just don’t think he can help it. It’s simply in his nature to put others before himself. He’s got more heart than sense, that one.”

Magnolia pulled her hand from Nali’s enclosure.

“And don’t think I’m insulting his intelligence, either,” she added quickly. “He’s a bright guy. He loves to read.”