Page 6 of Cozy Prisons (Human Pets of Talin: Origins #4)

Nataly

As she expected, it wasn’t long after the cake was finished that several people pulled out their instruments and started playing. The Talins weren’t a species with music, so they never joined in, but did seem to enjoy themselves.

Normally she’d jump in and dance with the others, but the day was catching up with her and fatigue kept her leaning against a wall. Of course, Daxus noticed.

“Would you rather sit down to enjoy the music, or I could walk you home? That would allow you to start your evening rest early,” he offered.

“Singing or dancing wasn’t listed in those choices,” she teased.

“I stand by those options because you don’t sing,” he countered and started walking her to another bench at the edge of the impromptu dance floor. “And I think you don’t have the energy to dance. That leaves only the ones I’ve stated.”

She chuckled and eased down on a bench at the edge of the dance floor.

Daxus sat close enough that their arms were pressed against each other.

Heat radiated off him, and he smelled faintly familiar.

It took a few moments for her to place the scent.

He smelled like the sweet lemon candy her mother made for special occasions.

The smell was as comforting as his warmth and bulk pressed against her.

“They’re very happy,” Daxus commented. She followed his gaze to see Merrick and Grace laughing with Maeve. They were holding hands and dancing together in a little circle.

“It’s not just them. We’re all happy,” Nataly said. “It’s hard to be sad here.”

Daxus made the rumble that sounded like large wheels bumping slowly over cobblestones. It meant he was questioning her or curious about something. “Why would you say that?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” she asked.

He seemed to think about it then sounded the stocking-feet-running of an affirmative rumble. “Yes, I can understand why sadness is unlikely, but not improbable. Even when one has everything they need, negative feelings or thoughts can intrude.”

It was another attempt to get into her head. She almost laughed. She’d been questioned by her grandmother once when she got home late. That woman was far better at interrogation than him, and a little scarier.

Unlike her grandmother, he wasn’t learning anything from her that she didn’t want to share.

She didn’t respond, so they sat in silence, enjoying the music. He wasn’t purring, probably to keep from disturbing her enjoyment. She’d noticed that most of the Talins stopped rumbling or rattling while the music was playing.

People danced or sang to the music. Some of the songs were newer and the players hadn’t quite gotten them down, so there were mistakes. Absolutely no one minded!

As the night went on, Nataly found it harder and harder to keep her eyes open. She didn’t want to leave, but it was becoming difficult to even focus on anyone.

She hadn’t even realized she was leaning against Daxus until he started purring. Damn, she was half-asleep!

Straightening up, she stifled a yawn and gave up on staying until the players were done. “I guess it’s time for your second option.”

Daxus stood up and held out his hand. She stared at it for a moment.

He’d carried her. She’d held his arm. But for some weird reason, tangling her fingers with his seemed more intimate.

This isn’t some Old Earth novel set in ancient times , she chastised herself. Holding hands doesn’t mean anything!

She put her hand in his and watched it disappear. It was hard to forget how much bigger these Talins were than humans. Her hand looked like a child's compared to his.

Using her hold on him, she got to her feet. They were walking to the door when Healer Falkilm rushed in, paused, then walked over to them. “Good, you’re still here.”

Nataly’s heartbeat kicked up. This was probably the only Talin on Arise she didn’t want to see.

“We were leaving,” she said. That sounded brusque and rude, so she softened her tone. “I’m tired and ready to rest.”

“That’s good,” Falkilm said with a loud rumble of agreement. “But I’m afraid I have bad news.”

Nataly’s legs went rubbery. Bad news? What had Falkilm’s tests found? She was always healthy, even when they didn’t have enough heat, food, or anything on Dandilow II. Had her luck run out and she had an incurable disease? How ironic to die now that everything was so good.

“Yes,” Falkilm said, switching his rumble of agreement to a purr.

“My tests found nothing of interest. Your cortisol levels were high, but that could be a reaction to being examined. I’ve noticed some humans find being in the medical building stressful.

Other than that, everything was within normal ranges. ”

He kept talking about hormones, kidneys, liver functions, and electrolytes, but she didn’t take in any of it. Thankfully Daxus asked a few questions, giving her time to recover from her shock.

“Stop,” she ordered, holding up a hand when her mind was fully functioning again.

“Yes?” Falkilm said. He and Daxus gave her their full attention, purring loudly.

“Don’t ever,” she started, then sucked in a breath and started again. “Don’t ever tell a human that you have bad news after you’ve examined them if there is nothing wrong with them!”

“But it was bad news because I don’t have any diagnosis,” Falkilm insisted. “That’s—”

Nataly cut her hand diagonally with a sharp motion. “No! Someone might think your bad news is about their health. Don’t ever do that again.”

Falkilm jerked back. “I didn’t realize.” He sounded a loud rumble of worry. “Did I cause you fear?”

Nataly ignored the question. “Your results aren’t surprising. I told you there wasn’t anything wrong with me.”

Falkilm sounded a negative rumble. “Something caused you to faint, and it’s imperative I figure it out. I’d like you to visit me tomorrow after first meal. If you have any duties, I can talk to Palathum about having someone else take your place.”

To her surprise, Daxus spoke up. “When Nataly is ready, she’ll visit you again. Right now she needs rest, not badgering.”

Nataly blinked. Had Daxus really said that? No one was going to force her to spend more time in the medical building if she didn’t want to? This was a miracle!

They were still holding hands, so she squeezed and he squeezed back.

“Falkilm, you came!” Kamie said, skipping over from where she’d been playing. Despite being an adult, Kamie refused to walk anywhere. She usually skipped or danced from one place to another.

Looking over, Nataly noticed everyone was sitting or standing next to their instruments talking and drinking. Nothing was being packed up so they were probably on a break, not finished for the night.

“I hadn’t planned to, but I needed to speak to Nataly,” Falkilm said, edging away from Kamie. Nataly watched with fascination as Kiran put himself right behind Falkilm so the healer bumped into him. “Oh, Kiran! I didn’t know you were there. I’m sorry.”

Kamie and Kiran flanked Falkilm. Nataly stifled a laugh at the way Falkilm looked like he was being stalked by the two humans.

“We hoped you were here to see us,” Kiran said.

“You spend all your time in the medical building,” Kamie said. “That can’t be good for you. We found a small pond with a bright green-and-gold fish in it. You should let us show you.”

“I, uh, that sounds, um interesting?” Falkilm said, his gaze jumping back and forth between Kamie and Kiran.

“Very interesting,” Kiran agreed. “We could hike out to the pond with lunch and a blanket. We could all lie on the blanket together, shoulder to shoulder.”

“If we got cold, we could snuggle against you,” Kamie said, reaching out to touch Falkilm’s upper arm. “Talins radiate heat. You could keep us warm.”

Falkilm’s eyes were wide and his mouth was open, but no sound came out. He looked down at where Kamie’s hand was resting on his bicep. Nataly thought the healer looked like he was torn between panic and desire.

It appeared the panic won.

“I have an appointment to speak to Palathum,” he said abruptly, then turned and almost ran out of the building.

Far from looking upset, Kamie and Kiran linked arms and smirked.

“You guys are a little evil,” Nataly said.

“Not evil,” Kamie argued. “Determined.”

Kiran nodded his head. “We tried to be subtle at first, but Talins don’t get subtle. So now Falkilm gets our flirting on full blast.”

“Was that flirting?” Nataly asked. “Because it looked more like a kind of hunting.”

Kamie pouted. “You make that sound like a bad thing.”

Daxus sounded a rumble of amusement. It was the first sound he’d made since the two had shown up.

“I look forward to watching this play out,” he announced.

“Don’t we all,” Kiran drawled, eyeing where Nataly’s hand was still joined with Daxus’s. “Were you two leaving?”

He took Kiran’s question literally despite the high amount of smirk in the human’s tone. “I’m escorting Nataly to her domicile.”

“Have a nice night,” Kamie said. “Please make sure to do all the things we’d do.”

Nataly rolled her eyes. “I’m not flexible enough for the games you guys like to play.”

Kiran gave her a cheeky grin. “Most aren’t.”

The couple walked away, whispering intensely. They were probably plotting on how to get Falkilm alone.

“They are bold,” Daxus observed as he guided her to the door.

“Very,” she agreed. The cool night air felt good after being in the overly warm communal building. She looked up, but there were too many lights in their little village to see many stars. It was a shame; she’d gotten used to staring out at the stars on the journey to Arise.

“Do they really want Falkilm or are they playing with him?” Daxus asked.

“They want him,” she assured him. “Kamie and Kiran had a third and lost him a few years ago. They haven’t been interested in anyone else until now.”

Daxus let out a breath. “That’s good. Falkilm suffered badly in his past too. It’s not my place to talk about it, but I wouldn’t want him to be used and discarded for someone's amusement.”

“They’d never do that,” she said, remembering how deeply Kamie and Kiran had mourned when they lost Denel. “I promise, if they’re interested in Falkilm, it’s for something serious and long-term.”

Even though they were walking slowly, it didn’t take long to reach her domicile.

The entire village wasn’t large yet, but there was plenty of space to expand as more people arrived.

Palathum planned to add more rings of domiciles as needed.

Nataly could already picture a large, thriving community of humans, Talins, and children.

It was something she couldn’t wait to see. An intense sense of pride filled her when she thought of it because she got to be part of it from the very beginning.

When they reached her domicile door, she wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Daxus yet. She didn’t let go of his hand as the door slid open.

“I have some sopa, would you like some?” she asked as she led him into her domicile.

“I’ve never been inside here,” he murmured, looking around. “It’s far more bare than the other humans’ homes.”

It was true that her home didn’t have any colorful blankets, wall hangings, or any little decorations that her friends seemed to collect without effort.

All the smaller domiciles were built the same, one large, round room with a flat roof. There was a small food preparation area on the wall opposite the door.

As you walked in, a small elimination and cleansing unit was to the right, so most people put their beds to the left.

She’d done that, but instead of filling the rest of the area with couches, tables, and chairs, she had one long worktable with a powerful inset display unit and several ports for plugging in troublesome data crystals or cubed computing matrixes.

The rest of her floor space was taken up with small bots and parts and pieces from other bots and machinery.

When something started acting oddly, it was immediately brought to her. She had limited ability to do mechanical work, but she loved coding. Between Riff’s mechanical skills and her programming and electrical work, they were able to repair the bots and send them back out.

Early in the settlement, there was no place to work on them except her domicile. Even after several buildings were available for her to use as a workspace, she’d turned them down. That was about the same time she started having a hard time going anywhere alone.

So far the ruse had helped to keep her struggles a secret.

Moving her gaze around, she saw it in a new light. The place looked like a shop with a bed, not a domicile at all.

“I’m sorry, I guess I let my work take over,” she said, pulling her hand free of Daxus. “Do you want some sopa?”

“My observation wasn’t an insult to your domicile,” Daxus said quickly, his purring getting louder.

“I’m not insulted,” she said, pulling out a canister of the lightly flavored juice drink all Talins seemed to enjoy. She liked it, but only occasionally. She turned to face him, holding the canister tightly with both hands. Neither of them moved.

“You might not be insulted, but my words made you uncomfortable,” Daxus insisted, remaining where he was near the door. “I didn’t mean to do that. I was only noticing that you like to fill your personal space with work projects instead of pretty, but useless items.”

“I guess,” she said, processing what Daxus was saying. Did he like it or was he saying she wasn’t acting human enough?

“You should see my domicile," he said, focusing his gaze on her worktable. “It doesn’t look like anyone inhabits it. This place looks busy and productive. I like it.”

She relaxed at his words. “Thanks.”

They stood there in awkward silence until Daxus’s Ident chimed. He unclipped it to read the notification.

“Palathum is requesting my presence,” he explained, reclipping his Ident to his belt.

“If you have any issues during the night, please contact me. You seemed to enjoy looking up at the night sky as we walked here. I could take you for another walk further from the community so you could see more stars if you like.”

Daxus’s powers of observation were startling. She needed to be careful around him because he saw everything. “I don’t think I’ll have a problem sleeping, but thank you.”

“You can ask me for anything,” he insisted. “A walk, talk, or even my quiet presence. I can do any of that for you.”

She was already tempted to ask him to come back after he finished talking to Palathum, but that probably wasn’t a good idea. She shouldn't be leaning on anyone.

“Thanks,” she said.

Without another word, he turned and left. The door slid shut, cutting off his purring, but the sweet lemon scent lingered in the air.

That was going to need to be enough.