Page 8 of Flower of Seshana (Tales from the Darvel Exploratory Systems #1)

Chapter

Eight

K ethan smiled eagerly, his gavo flaring with his pleasure as he watched Alexandra trail her fingers over the delicate blooms of the mother balm. She did not even seem to notice that she did so as she listened intently to his mother’s description of the plant’s usage. She certainly had a deep interest in the plants growing on the Zir, and more specifically their application within the nara. He would have thought her a healer but when he had suggested it, she had laughed and corrected him that she only studied the plants—she did not do practical application.

Regardless, even if she was not a healer, his mother certainly was delighted at having a captivated audience. She had hoped to train him despite his inability to form all the proper vocalizations, but like most males of the nara, he was needed as a hunter. And his mother had long given up on him finding a mate with a proclivity for working with the plants or the talents of a healer to whom she could pass on her knowledge and skills aside from the bits he had learned in his youth.

Seeing them together—his mother with her obvious delight and Alexandra’s clear fascination about the healing techniques and plants used among the Vahel—did something to his heart. If he had not already desired to claim Alexandra before, due to the call of her pheromones, seeing her open acceptance and willingness to embrace the ways of the Vahel was making him absolutely obsessed with her. And he would have to be blind to not notice that he was not the only one being affected.

It had been two full days and Quillen had not yet slipped off to escape into Zir’s forests. Not only did he attentively recline a short distance away from where she happened to be occupied but he had also led them to some of the harder to find plants, which he never did for anyone. He always returned to the nara with his harvests, but Kethan could not recall a single time that the male brought anyone into the woods with him. More than that, he was attentive, and when he wasn’t lying nearby in order to readily be at hand, he was bringing her water and even bits of fruit the moment he noticed that her needs were different and more frequent than their own.

Kethan should have noticed that. He seemed hyperaware of everything she did, and yet other than observing the fact that she tended to eat and drink more, he had failed to make the connection that she required it more frequently than the Vahel did. Instead of being truly observant, he had watched her like a lovesick juvenile pining after the first attractive female he laid eyes on. He would need to do better if he wanted to convince Alexandra to remain. She needed to have confidence that he could take care of her. He just was not entirely sure how to accomplish that. He was younger among those unmated males dwelling within their nara and so lacked experience in such things. He could possibly ask one of the mated males, but then there was a good chance that word would spread among the females back to his mother, making the situation even more difficult for him.

His wings twitched disconcertedly and Quillen glanced over at him with a knowing grin as he dropped from the tree and glided over to settle at his side.

“Beautiful, is it not?” the male trilled.

“You have chosen a suitable location. Alexandra seems to enjoy it,” Kethan replied begrudgingly as he glanced around with approval.

It was the perfect spot to bring Alexandra. The dense greenery of the forest was broken up a sheer rockface and a small clearing was created by a waterfall partially shrouded in its own spray and the fog that clung to the mountain. Not only was the waterfall a vivid hue of blue, but the clearing was filled with lush, low-lying bushes and vines flowering with large blooms possessing the most captivating mesh of fragrances. The entire area was a feast for the senses. Every beautiful flower accentuated the scenery, and the sunlight caught the droplets of water spraying up from the waterfall, making them shimmer around Alexandra as she stood a short distance from it.

His head jerked around toward his nest brother when the male made a distinct sound of disgust in his throat.

“You are hopeless,” the male pointed out with a huff. “How can you be of any assistance to me in courting her when you have no idea which way your tail curls?”

Kethan’s gavo twitched in annoyance as he peered at the other male. “What are you implying? Are you suggesting that I am lacking?” Quillen only smirked in reply, but Kethan’s gavo flared fully as the rest of the male’s question sank in. “And what do you mean by helping you? You stay out of this,” he hissed. “I saw her first. I brought her to the Zir. I did not bring her here for you to attempt to steal her from beneath my wing!”

Quillen chuffed in amusement. “Listen to you. You sound like a nestling. I did not say I was going to steal her from you. In case it has escaped your notice, she responds to both of us.”

Kethan’s eyes narrowed on the male suspiciously. “What do you mean?”

“Have you not smelled her alluring fragrance in the morning?” Quillen asked, his gavo rising slightly with his question as he peered at Kethan expectantly. At the fanning of his ears, Quillen drew back with a satisfied smile. “That is what I mean. You are young so you probably did not understand what you were scenting?—”

“You are exactly two lunar cycles older than me,” Kethan interrupted as he folded his arms over his chest.

Although he disliked admitting that he did not realize the significance of her delicious scent, he did know how it made him feel. He rose with his sant filled with his engorged primary cock and an overpowering adoration for her. If anyone had dared to try and separate them at that moment, he was uncertain of whether he would go mad or just curl up and die in despair. The extremes of his emotions were frightening but also elating because he knew the expected signs of bonding with one’s potential mate.

Quillen huffed with acknowledgment. “Do you want to know what it means or not?”

“Continue,” Kethan hissed in response.

The other male grinned and leaned in closer. “Desire. More than that, both of our scents have begun to merge with hers, which is the first sign for bonding and acceptance. She is not interested in just mating with only one of us.” Kethan’s eyes widened in shock, but Quillen withdrew with reluctant sigh. “Unfortunately, it does not mean anything in terms of successfully mating. Many males have gotten to this point only to fail when a female decides to reject them.”

His nest brother’s words were a revelation but also equally worrisome. “If that is the case, it is hopeless. Females have always selected a single male and made their acceptance clear to him upon successful completion of a courtship. How would we even proceed if she does not know which of us she favors?”

Quillen’s wings shrugged before extending fully for a powerful snap that lifted him back up into a nearby tree. “Why does it matter?” he countered. “We are not like most males of the nara, nor even on the Zir. We nest together by choice rather than carving out our own territories within the nara. Why should a mate change anything when we have always shared everything between us? We should see this as a fortuitous opportunity—or destiny.”

Kethan gaped at him. “You mean share a mate? No male shares his mate with another! It is unheard of. We would be lucky to merely be scorned. We could be cast out for joining in an unnatural nest.”

Quillen peered at him, surprisingly unruffled by the possibility—but then little ever seemed to bother the male when it came to the opinion of the nara. He often disappeared for days or weeks at a time before Alexandra arrived. Although Kethan was not an especially valued hunter as he did not possess the strength or talent for it that many other males of the Vahel enjoyed, he was not as set apart as Quillen was. Discovering his mother hanging lifelessly from the tree had marked him more than the scars he bore internally. Many speculated that the gorshiga of his mother was attached to him because of that. He likely would have died as a nestling if Kethan’s mother had not taken him in. It was only because she was a healer that no lasting stigma had attached to her. It didn’t seem to extend to Kethan either, although there were times when he wondered whether he would have been viewed as a more desirable male if not for the closeness between him and Quillen. Many of the elder females often teased them about already being mated to each other and having no room for females.

Could he even share a mate? He tipped his head as he considered it. Quillen did have a point that they were close and shared everything else to a degree that was seen as unusual among the Vahel. Other than not wanting to lose her, he acknowledged that it did not truly bother him having Quillen in the nest after returning with Alexandra, or even at night when all three of them were coiled together. And then there was the fact that Alexandra was not only beginning to bond with both of them and responding to their pheromones, but she was also far smaller and more vulnerable than females of the Vahel. She felt safer and more comfortable when they were both nearby, that much was evident. Perhaps the Vahel would be more accepting of their unique situation than he believed.

“What would you suggest?” he asked, peering up at the male.

A pleased smile stretched across Quillen’s face. “Just do what you do naturally—entice her to forget whatever is holding her back, but do so cooperatively with me so that you are not distracted by attempting to guard against me. If she sees that she does not have to choose and sees what life will be like in a harmonious nest with both of us devoted to her, it may diminish her natural reluctance to be parted from the protection of her own species.”

That made an odd sort of sense. He had to admit that he often overlooked little things because he was often too focused on what Quillen was doing. It was time to take matters into his own hands.

Turning, he clipped a large bloom of the most vivid hue of red from its bush. He smiled down at it, delighting in the perfect fan shape of each petal. It was as lovely as their female.

Theirs… That sounded right.

He turned to hurry to Alexandra’s side but paused to glance back over his shoulder at his nest brother. “How do you know so much about courting anyway?”

The male grinned down at him mischievously. “There is often much to see that one should not see when exploring the forests of Zir.”

Kethan shuddered in distaste, his tongue lolling out as he gagged. The thought of accidentally coming across a courting couple—or worse, a couple in the process of mating—turned his stomach. Perhaps he was as shy and laughably easily embarrassed as Quillen liked to tease him. Even so, he was eager to bring his female pleasure and demonstrate his depth of feeling and devotion to her in every way that he could.

It was the way of the Vahel. The pheromones created the bond for males even quicker than it did with the females so that they devoted every bit of their being to their pursuit—even as much as their hearts. At that point it was impossible for a male to turn back unless the female rejected him, and distance allowed the beginnings of the bond to fade if he managed to survive it. Kethan was already at that point. Every bit of him belonged to Alexandra.

And now it was time to show her that she was the only ashlava he would ever want for his nest.

Cupping the flower in his hand, he headed over to his female’s side, returning his mother’s smile as her gaze lit on the flower. She clearly understood his intention because she touched Alexandra’s arm lightly before departing with an excuse that she needed to return to her nest, leaving Kethan alone with his female. His gavo snapped anxiously when his ashlava turned toward him, and he felt his hearts stutter when a smile bloomed on her face.

“Kethan, how lovely! Is that for me?”

He nodded, his tongues suddenly no longer working properly as they adhered themselves to the roof of his mouth.

“It… it is… not… medicinal,” he managed and immediately cursed inwardly at how stupid that sounded.

That was nothing like what he intended to say. He wanted to say something of his admiration of her intelligence and beauty, simple words of deep affection. And yet that was what came out.

Her brow furrowed slightly for only a moment, but then her smile widened and relief swept him at the soft sound of her laughter.

“Well, I like pretty flowers too,” she assured him as a deep pink hue stained her cheeks.

He liked that. She nearly reminded him of the flower, and he said as such when he handed her the bloom, making her eyes sparkle and dance with pleasure even as her color deepened to perfectly match the petals.

She was more than his ashlava. She was the most perfect bloom on the Zir.