Page 30 of Culture and Curiosities (Blue Ridge Charm #1)

Toman

Yes, his eyes were a bit too wide, but he was breathing and had allowed me to move him to the side fairly quickly.

So he was fine?

Blinking…that was good.

The bond was still there…that was good too.

But his mind was startlingly blank…that was not good.

My Wren’s brain was never quiet.

As worry was setting in, though, I saw the same expression on everyone who came through the portal after us. They had the ability to move and breath, and surprisingly even followed the direction to move away from the portal, but thinking was not happening.

Even Agent Murphy’s mouth dropped open for several seconds until Klynn nudged him with his shoulder to remind the agent that he preferred to look stern. That fixed the problem in our human agent and in Wren.

He found it funny, which was not appropriate but did push his brain into motion.

“I’m on another planet, Daddy.”

The marvel in his voice had me squeezing his hand and sending warmth through the bond.

“Remember you are visiting my home and going on a working vacation, my mate, this is not overwhelming.”

His first thoughts weren’t stressful, but I wanted to prevent him from shutting down again. Downplaying the abrupt change in planets seemed to be best.

Nodding along slowly, Wren straightened and looked to be “trying to function” as he put it. “Yes, a working vacation and being some kind of ambassador.”

That was a word I understood, but my Wren sent pictures and additional information without it being a conscious decision.

“Thank you, my mate.”

Kissing his head, I let everyone else breathe and find their thoughts again before I attempted to make them do anything. It seemed like our greeting party was thinking the same thing, but their quiet may have been shock as well.

So they may have needed time and space too.

Wren first took in the desert around us, his mind gathering data and noting rock formations. It took me several moments to realize it was his Earth job influencing how he saw the environment, but it was not something I’d ever seen in his mind.

My Wren was usually relaxed and cheerful, but his inner predator came out as he saw the rock formations as a challenge to be conquered.

“I should’ve brought more climbing equipment.”

The soft words coming through the bond had me reminding myself that he was a strong dragon who could fly. Some of that must’ve come through the bond based on his chuckle and the smile in his mind, but I didn’t feel bad about that.

My mate preferred to live dangerously.

“I’ll be safe, Daddy.”

“It’ll be interesting to see how climbing here is different, but we may not have time for something like that.” His mental tone, which felt mischievous and almost little, was just for me because his outside tone was more like Pierce than himself.

“Eww, Daddy.”

He was going to make it very difficult not to laugh and accidentally appear more human.

Giggles said he wasn’t worried about bad habits I may have picked up.

“We’re contagious.”

I had to agree…which just earned me more giggles from my mate.

“Welcome to our home.” Surprisingly it was Klynn focusing on Agent Murphy who spoke next, sounding less moody than he had before. “Once everyone gets over their surprise at seeing aliens walk through the gate, I’m sure hospitality will be offered.”

Something about him speaking or just our discussion in general had the others from my world standing straighter and coming back to life.

The low hum of our native language as they commented randomly on our visitors caught the attention from the people of Earth and they all shifted their focus to listen closely.

“I can pick out one in about ten words but that’s about it.” The dragon from Montana, who seemed to be one of the most Team Boring individuals I had met on Earth frowned like he did not appreciate his lack of language skills.

The wide-eyed friend he seemed to have made with a mage from Florida shifted uncomfortably. “Um, is it bad it all sounds like Klingon?”

What land on Earth was that?

Country.

Wren giggled in my head, explaining it was fictional.

“I couldn’t learn Spanish in school.” A worrier I had only spoken to a few times seemed to get even more anxious. “We’re getting that mind meld thing with the language, right?”

I still had no idea why he had volunteered to come to another world.

“Don’t you guys remember anything?” The Team Boring member was not getting happier with the situation.

“He needs to feel like he’s got a bit more control and he needs more information.”

I agreed with Wren but they started arguing before I could point it out.

“No. I walked onto an alien planet, asshole, of course I’m not remembering anything.” It seemed our worrier had a predator in him as well.

“What the fuck?” That unexpected curse came from the most unlikely place…an older woman from Canada who had come through with her mate. “They’re fucking Elves.”

Someone needed to explain that her language was not appropriate for submissive people of Earth.

“For fuck’s sake.” The frustrated Montana man rolled his eyes. “Of course they’re Elves.”

Elves?

My only frame of reference was a movie with glowing people but the image was not correct. We did not glow and were not ancient beings who did not age. We were also not that tall.

“My mate?” I made the Earth expression of being confused so they could follow.

“Um, it’s the ears and something about their facial features.” Wren was able to explain the specifics which had the people of Earth nodding. “It’s not as obvious as the movie reference.”

Interesting.

“Our ears and imitating the softer features that appear on Earth were the only things we needed to change.” I thought it was fairly subtle differences, but the people of Earth didn’t seem to think so.

“Why didn’t we think to ask about how they looked?” Hugh, the frustrated Team Boring member from Montana, glared at everyone in their group like someone was at fault.

“We were a bit focused on going through the portal.” Beatrice, the older woman who always giggled and said to call her Betty, didn’t curse that time but her mate rolled his eyes again.

Her thoughts must’ve been more interesting than she said out loud.

“And all the mates popping up and how difficult those meetings were and our history.”

When she’d made her point, she smiled sweetly like Hugh wasn’t trying to decide if strangling her would cause what they kept calling an interstellar incident.

The fact that they expected their behavior to be questionable was concerning.

“My apologies.” Hugh seemed to realize he’d been too difficult because his behavior modified and he no longer looked ready to strike out. “You’re right. This has been interesting.”

“That’s one word for it.”

Wren’s thoughts made me realize we had not discussed my looks.

His giggle said he wasn’t worried.

“We’re mates. That didn’t matter but I figured worst-case scenario we could just have you pretend to look human when it really mattered.”

Ancestors above.

“I do not have tentacles. Stop that.”

I was attractive and not…that.

His mental giggles and mischievous expression had many of the other Earth people smiling or shaking their heads, but it seemed to be what prompted the others of my planet to come closer.

“What are they doing?”

The confusion over what Professor Zorin was saying had the people of Earth going very still and completely silent again.

We were going to have to give him English first because he was going to have lots of questions. For the time being, I shifted my focus to him and did my best to mentally shift back to what Wren called my native language.

“I will need a more detailed question. They are doing a lot.”

Yes, part of my response was what Wren called sarcasm, but it had been a ridiculously vague question. The diner men would’ve been more specific.

Wren was following along through our bond, and did an admirable job of keeping his delight to himself. His expression was pleasant but mostly blank as well which seemed to put Professor Zorin more at ease.

“Yes .”

Pausing for a moment, he gathered his thoughts as he watched the newcomers.

“Why are their faces so…so full of expressions?”

We really didn’t have the same vocabulary.

“They would call it being animated . The native people of Earth use fascial expressions to communicate more effectively. It is unfamiliar at first, but our people there became used to it living so closely with them.”

We didn’t have a similar word, so I did my best to give him the English word for animated and explain it. Wren sent approval through or bond but provided the actual definition if it was needed.

“It is integral to their communication, but they do understand we are not used to behaving in that way.”

“Is there someone who can translate that more effectively? There aren’t enough words that I recognize to follow it.” Hugh’s words were delivered politely and much more quietly, which had everyone else relaxing as well.

“I’ll help.” Wren straightened his shoulders and somehow made himself appear more like Pierce again. In his head, he was finding it exceedingly funny and almost like a game of acting. “The bond is giving me some information and Toman is doing a lot of mental translating automatically.”

Oh.

Yes.

“I wasn’t thinking about it but yes I realize it now.” The bond may have been influencing it but it also may have had something to do with the original language spell.

“Basically this is Professor Zorin and he’s confused about why we use so many fascial expressions when we talk and communicate.

” Wren smiled as many of the people from Earth tilted their heads in their confused and processing expression.

“He’s not being a dick but he’s confused.

We need to remember that we know a lot more about them from Toman and Klynn than they do about us. ”

Subtle signs indicated my people’s confusion but it was not the same.

“How completely did they integrate themselves into Earth society?”

The professor’s question was not unexpected considering the previous debates, but I didn’t know what side he’d originally fallen on. He had always been very quiet and thoughtful as different options were given.

“Completely.”

His lack of reaction was frustrating after being with the people of Earth for so long.

“I told you. You’re almost a local.”

My mate’s bouncy and mischievous tone said his goal was attention and distraction.

“I think correcting your behavior later is something I need to think about.”

Sending him an image of his own pink bottom had him fighting the urge to laugh. On Earth the other dragons and mages would’ve assumed we had been talking as mates, but here it would confuse everyone.

“That is interesting.”

It was only going to get more interesting…a thought which Wren agreed with completely.

“Oh yeah.”

“I have learned the native language of the people that live closest to the gate, but their world is very fractured and there are countless additional languages on their planet.”

As Wren slowly explained what was going on, I stayed primarily focused on my people.

“The spell works but it takes time for the words to be fully assimilated and it must be done with someone who has a complete knowledge of the local language. Our first choice for the spell did not work out as expected. Her knowledge was very limited due to living in isolation and I was not fully able to follow other locals until I bonded with my mate. At that point the spell or possibly the mate bond worked much better.”

As expected, that made everyone shocked and their eyes even widened, a sight that had Wren laughing in my head as he translated to the others.

“He told them we’re bonded.”

The people of Earth had much stronger visual reactions but my people stayed on what they considered a very important point.

The bond.

“You bonded? With one of our people from Earth?”

Wren seemed pleased that general confusion was the only reaction we were getting. His fears of us not being accepted were turning out to be unfounded so far.

“Yes. It was unexpected but they are able to make strong bonds and did not lose that knowledge. Understand that a lot of other information, both cultural and magical, was not passed down for a variety of reasons.”

I knew he’d come back to that point later, but for the time being he stayed on track.

“I know our people will be glad that they did not lose the ability to bond.”

His words were careful but his eyes kept darting between the humans and I knew he was ready to ask countless questions.

“I and the others are looking forward to getting their language so we can speak to them more easily.”

That brought us to another issue.

“The spell gives a full accounting of the language…including what we would see as…mate-related topics. It has been discussed and they decided that the language should not be given by a spell to someone considered too young to understand the physical aspects of bonding.”

And eyes went wide again.

Hmm.

Some were clearly shocked and others seemed intrigued.

“I think some of your friends here are going to end up being friends with the diner men, Daddy.”

I wasn’t sure how I felt about the possibility of him being correct.