Page 26 of Solomon's Ransom
“That’s—okay.” Sol had so many questions he didn’t know where to start. “So what happens when males are born? Do you just swim to the shore and take care of yourselves from the start?”
“Oh, well.” Remma flopped down beside Sol and folded his arms beneath his head, the universal body language of settling in for a story. “No, we’re the same as females at birth. We go through a change later on. I guess the human equivalent would be puberty. And at that point we leave the water and join the other males on land.” He paused for a moment. “It’s hard for us. Leaving. We have to leave our mothers and aunts behind, and all the children. Everything’s different on the land.”
“Can’t you go back and visit them?”
“We can’t speak to them anymore. We aren’t able to make the sounds. There’s technology now that lets us communicate with them, but for most of our past, there wasn’t any way. You said goodbye to your mother and that was the last time you ever spoke to her.”
“Oh.” Sol turned his head to look at Remma’s face in profile, somber as he stared up at the ceiling. “That sounds really—sad.”
“It was. There’s a lot of literature about it. Songs, poems. You can imagine. Even now it’s hard. They spend most of the year roaming the oceans and you’re never sure where they are. Leaving the water means leaving that life for good.”
“No offense, but this sounds like a really strange way to run a society.”
Remma laughed. “No stranger than how humans operate. At least we don’teatour mothers the way the !Kerlic do.”
“I guess that’s true.” Sol lay there beside him, thinking about what it would have been like to leave Loden behind at puberty and never speak to her again. “How does your, like—how does your society work when half the population lives in the ocean all the time? Sorry, I’m just trying to wrap my head around what that’s like.”
“It’s really two societies, I suppose. Mothers with aunts and daughters in the seas, and uncles and brothers on land. We don’t interact much. The males try to avoid doing anything that will hurt or upset the females, and they don’t seem displeased with us. But we don’t really consult with them about what we do.”
“You don’t know who your fathers are?”
“Rarely. When a female wants a baby, she comes near the shore and waits for willing males to wade in and fertilize her. They don’t have much use for us otherwise.”
“Is that why your cock is so big?” Sol asked, realizing. “So it will fit.”
Remma turned his head to smirk at Sol. “Yes. Although I think mine specifically is so big to make you wail.”
“I don’twail,” Sol said, which only made Remma smirk harder. “Not lately! You still haven’t found any lube?—”
“I’ve been looking! I guess I could try the medical supplies, although that would be embarrassing to explain if anyone caught me.”
“Oh no, embarrassment. What could be worse,” Sol said dryly. “Although I suppose you don’t want to advertise that you’re fucking the prisoner.”
“Exactly.” Remma’s smirk had faded. He was just looking at Sol now, serious and searching. “Sol—I’ll talk to Denna. I’ll do everything I can to get you home.”
“I know you will. Let’s not talk about it anymore.” Sol pushed up onto one elbow and looked down at Remma’s strange, familiar face. “I don’t want to worry about anything.”
“Sorry.” Remma reached up to touch Sol’s cheek. “Tell me more about how you don’t wail.”
Sol ignored him. He pulled at Remma’s shirt, tugging the hem upward to expose his belly. Only the very top of his slit was visible above the waistband of his pants. Sol touched it, carefully with just his fingertips because he wasn’t sure how sensitive it was. He had seen it before, but Remma was always a little cagey about it, and he’d never touched it except incidentally.
Remma watched him in silence as Sol untied the drawstring of his pants and pushed the waistband down, further baring his slit. It was darker than the surrounding skin and the rim was frilled and slightly raised. The skin looked tender to the touch. Sol stroked along it, trying to be gentle, but Remma hissed anyway.
Sol snatched his hand back. “Sorry.”
“It’s fine. It doesn’t hurt. Just sensitive.” Remma was still watching him in that heavy, thoughtful way. “You know that’s an erogenous zone, right?”
“Erogenous zone.Listen to you. I mean, I figured it probably was. Seeing as how your dick comes out of it. Is it tucked away so it doesn’t get nibbled off by a fish?”
Remma laughed. “Probably. Just seems more practical. I’ve never understood how humans feel okay walking around with all the sensitive bits just dangling there. Aren’t you worried you’ll sit on it?”
“I’ve sat on it a few times,” Sol admitted. “Never fun.”
“See? Just makes a lot more sense to keep everything safely hidden.” Remma reached down, not knocking Sol’s hand away but directing it, moving his fingers in a slow stroke along the full length of the slit, firmer than Sol might have expected. “Like that. Or whatever you want to do. You can’t hurt it.”
Sol stroked gently, watching Remma’s face for his reaction. The ruffled skin around the slit felt plump and silky. Remma flexed his hips upward into Sol’s touch, just the barest bit but an unmistakable lifting beneath Sol’s hand. That was good, then, right? Sol touched him again in the same way and Remma sighed a little.
Sol was more curious than aroused, but Remma was obviously enjoying it, and that started getting Sol going, too. He liked watching Remma’s face slack with pleasure, and feeling Remma shift beneath his hand.