Page 14 of Mates for the Raskarrans #1-6

I head over to where the aliens are building the tents.

The first is almost up, and there is a pack that looks like it has a second in it.

They aren’t enormous, but they’re large enough for several of the girls to sleep in together.

Probably more comfortable than the thin layer of parachute we’ve been using as bedding, and the sides will keep the worst of the sea breeze off.

It’s not cold, generally, but when a chill wind gets into the gaps between your clothing, it can startle you awake.

My guy finishes binding a rope to the side of the tent, then turns, spotting me.

I see the way his eyes light up, and wonder if Khadija sees the same thing.

I can’t help glancing back at her, but her attention is on the other one, who approaches with an interested look in his eyes.

She angles her spear in his direction. He grins, as if this amuses him.

If this little standoff was going to cause any problems, it never gets the chance to, for the grumpy looking one appears again, his skin sweat slicked, his breath coming quick.

He looks like he’s just run a race, but he’s not panicked, and my guy simply turns to him and speaks calmly, a jumble of guttural sounds that are so alien, it amazes me that English words could fall from those lips.

There’s an exchange between the two and my guy looks pleased. The grinning one claps the grouchy one on the shoulder. Then my guy says something else and they both back off, going for the other tents that haven’t been erected yet.

My guy turns his attention back to me, reaching out a hand. I step back.

“We need to talk,” I say, gesturing between us, then use my hand to mime speaking. I put my hands to the side of my face, tilting my head like I’m resting it and close my eyes. Any human would understand I mean ‘sleep’, but does he? I open my eyes again. “Go to sleep and talk?”

I repeat the gestures. Understanding dawns, and he nods, holding open the tent flap and gesturing for me to go inside.

“Liv, you are not going in there alone with him,” Khadija says.

“Yeah, I am,” I say, but I gesture to the rest of his men, then touch Khadija’s shoulder, take my hand away and slap it. “None of you touch any of them.”

I repeat the motion, including the other women in my gesture.

“You don’t touch them,” I say again, “or Khadija will stab you.”

I gesture to Khadija, then mime stabbing someone with the spear.

“Understand?” I say.

My guy’s expression is solemn, and he nods, barking an order to the rest of his men. They all stand straight, acknowledging whatever he said. The grouchy looking one walks up to us, his eyes on Khadija the entire time. When he reaches us, he sinks down to one knee, bending his head in deference.

“I think that means you’re in charge?” I say.

“It better,” Khadija says, not releasing the grip on her spear even a little.

I turn back to my guy and nod, then walk in to the tent, trying to keep my head high. I hear the collective gasp of the other women, and Khadija’s insistent response.

“Don’t worry, she knows what she’s doing.”

I hope for my sake she’s right about that.

My guy steps in to the tent behind me, letting the door fall closed behind him.

It’s not sealed, just the weight of the fabric pulling it into place.

It’s warm inside the little tent, and sheltered, like it’s just the two of us, the sounds of the others outside muffled into obscurity.

The space is big enough for several of the girls, but with him in it, it feels small.

I feel crowded, even though he’s just standing still, not making any sort of move towards me.

“Okay, let’s just get something straight,” I say, trying to fill my voice with command, like I’m in control of this situation, even though I’m absolutely not. “This is just about talking. No touch. Definitely no touching of the fun parts, because I am still freaking out about that.”

He just smiles, stepping towards me, clearly not understanding a word, because he raises his hand to my face, brushes a thumb over my cheek.

“ Ey’ahsak Liv, ” he says, curling heat around my name.

I bat his hand away from me. “No.”

“No,” he repeats. “ Fhu’nashaff ska no.”

He raises his hand towards me again.

“No,” I say.

He stops, lowers it. “No,” he repeats, the syllable clipped by his accent.

Good. We understand each other.

I point to my chest. “Liv.”

I point to him.

“Gregar.”

It almost sounds like a human name, except the emphasis is all wrong. Instead of emphasising the first syllable, he emphasises the last one. Gre-GAR. It’s familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.

“Okay… Gre-gar,” I try to repeat the word, try to say it correctly. I must be close, because he beams at me. “Sleep.”

I repeat the gesture for sleeping, then point to the floor. He steps to my side, but I push him back, pointing to the opposite side of the tent.

“Uh, over there big guy,” I say, sitting myself down in the furthest spot away from him there is.

A flash of hurt in his eyes, but he doesn’t protest. Just heads to the other side of the tent and sits down.

I wriggle myself down into the floor, trying to get comfortable.

There aren’t layers of animal skins in here to pad the floor, but the ground is soft anyway, and the almost muggy heat of the tent has me feeling drowsy quickly.

I glance across to check my alien is following my lead.

He lies sprawled on his back, but his eyes are closed.

I take a deep breath, try to force myself to relax.

I’m expecting it to take a long time, but almost instantly my eyes feel heavy.

I don’t know if that’s a sign of how physically and emotionally drained I am, or just a side effect of my proximity to Gregar, as if our minds want to form that mental connection.

Either way, I’m in the strange dream tent in what feels like seconds.

I’m reclined on the bed again, but my hands aren’t tied. Not that I couldn’t just wish them untied, but I’d done that so instinctively, so convinced of my control of the dream I thought was only mine. Now, I’m not so sure it would work. Fortunately, I don’t have to test my capabilities.

Gregar is sitting across from me. This tent is bigger than the one we’re in in real life, and I’m grateful for that.

Being here is stirring pleasant, but now troubling memories.

The things I let him do to me here. No, the things I wanted him to do to me here.

I can’t pretend that I wasn’t complicit.

I just didn’t know exactly what I was complicit in.

“You can understand me now?” I say as I sit up. I’m wearing next to nothing again, and there’s a trace of heat in his eyes as he looks at me, but he doesn’t move from his corner.

“Yes, we can speak freely here,” he says, a low growl to his voice, twisting the words in to strange shapes. It shouldn’t be so attractive, but it is. I remember him over me, insisting that I belonged to him.

What exactly have I promised him?

“I didn’t know you were real,” I say.

My words seem to land like physical blows, but he just nods.

“Then I am sorry,” he says.

It’s… not what I was expecting? I don’t know what I was expecting. But not an apology.

“You’re apologising?” I say.

Gregar bows his head. “I have behaved dishonourably,” he says. “You did not understand the dreamspace. I should have explained it before claiming you.”

“I wouldn’t have believed you,” I said. “This,” I gesture round at the tent, “this kind of thing doesn’t happen where I come from. I just thought it was a dream.”

“You are not from here,” Gregar says, as if he hadn’t quite believed it until the words came out of my mouth. “You came from the sky. In the egg.”

It takes me a moment to work out what he’s on about.

“You mean the escape pod. The metal thing on the beach? Yeah, we crash landed in that. It’s not where we came from, though.

We came from another planet. Earth. It’s a long way from here.

We were travelling across the stars to… somewhere else.

But our ship ran into trouble. We were put in the escape pod by the crew. To save us.”

“I do not understand so many of your words, my linasha,” he says.

He sounds like he feels awful about it.

“It doesn’t matter,” I say, finding myself wanting to assuage him. I don’t like the kicked puppy look he has. “We’re not from here. We don’t know anything about the dreamspace, and I didn’t know you were real. So this is all... a bit of a shock.”

He looks morose as he nods. “This is why you shy away from me in the waking world. I have frightened you.”

He says it like it’s absolutely the worst thing he could have done. It reassures me more than any promise he could make.