For One Nen (36 page)

Tala gave a short laugh.

“What is it?” Deni smiled.

“You smell of tomatoes and Hrilla flowers and dirt,” she said with another laugh. She leaned down and pressed her open mouth against Deni’s lips as she drew her even closer.

It was Deni’s turn to chuckle, “I take it that’s a good scent?”

“Mmmm,” Tala said with a nod of her head as her dimples deepened. Her smile grew even wider, “Yes, a very good scent,” she said as she kissed her again.

Stepping away from Deni, Tala pulled her by her hand into the library and closed the door. Deni was busy looking around when she heard a latch. She spun around and saw that Tala had just locked the front door.

“Oh?” Deni said with a tilt of her head.

“Intrigued are we?” Tala said with her bright eyes shining.

“Curious, for sure,” Deni answered.

Tala pulled Deni’s arm through hers and led her down a row of books and into a back section where the oldest of the stacks were shelved. There, on the shiny floor lay several soft blankets made into a soft bed. Beside the blankets were two bowls, one with large red tomatoes and colorful fruits. The other bowl held three different kinds of berries.

“You’ve been into my gardens,” Deni said with a sweet but sassy tone.

Still clutching Deni’s arm with her own she said, “It seems I’ve been into a good many things of yours lately.”

Deni pressed her face against Tala’s arm and without looking up she whispered softly, “I love that you’re just a little bit naughty.”

“Come, sit here,” Tala said as she led Deni to the blankets, but after Deni sat down, Tala raced away and wheeled a small shelved cart back to the place she had set up for them.

From the cart
, Tala took several bouquets of flowers and placed them around the little bed of blankets. She set some bouquets on the bookshelves where she had made room especially for them.

“So this is how my flowers disappeared,” Deni said with a tease.

Tala dashed away again and came back dragging two of the tall sugarcane plants. Setting them on each side of the bed, she looked around at her little creation.

“It’s us, don’t you think?” Tala asked with a pleased smile.

“Yes,” Deni said lying on the bed. She wrapped her legs around Tala’s ankles and pulled hard enough to make her tumble down on the bed beside her.

Tala gave a squeal until she hit the bed and then laughed.

Deni rolled over and looked down into her blue eyes and grew serious. She knew that if she lived a thousand lifetimes she would want this moment to be re-lived in each one of them. Deni’s tight curls brushed against Tala’s bare shoulders as Tala ran her fingers up the back of Deni’s head and pulled her into her parted lips. Deni slid away momentarily as Tala slipped from her clothes. Deni fell bare her top. In one fluid swoop of her arms her button-up top was flung from her body. She was about to tug at her boots but she caught sight of her love, lying naked on a bed of blankets Tala had lovingly prepared for them.

Deni’s golden eyes grew glassy
, realizing that the one she loved the most desired to be with her in her last hours of life.

Without taking her eyes from Tala, Deni pulled the knife from her boot and flung it aside. She tore the boots from her feet and ripped off her clothing until she was bare-assed. All the while Tala lay smiling; waiting, wanting.

For a moment something distracted Deni.

“What is it, love?” asked Tala.

“Oh, nothing. It’s just…I’m not sneezing,” Deni said with a surprised smile.

“I cleaned this place from top to bottom,” Tala said with pride. “That’s why I was late to the videos earlier today. I found Chris’ entry on the central computers right away
, but it was a great excuse for me to have time to clean this place.”

Tala then rose slowly to her knees and ran her hands up Deni’s hips.

Reaching the small of her back, Deni gently pulled her down with one long continuous kiss. “Do you know how often I’ve dreamed of you at night?” Deni asked in a whisper between moments when their lips parted only a hair’s width.

Deni felt her body growing warmer as she pressed in next to Tala. Her brown hand ran lightly down Tala’s pale body until Tala took her hands and pushed them above Deni’s head as she rolled on top of her.

Tala only smiled and pressed her face between Deni’s breasts. She softly kissed her continuously from her cleavage to her neck before looking down into her golden eyes.

“How often?” Tala answered with her enjoyment undeterred.

Deni pressed her hands on each side of Tala’s face and looked into her soul, “At least three times a week since we met,” Deni said.

“Just three times a week?” Tala laughed before blanketing Deni’s body with her own.

“Every time I close my eyes I see you,” Tala confessed. “Awake or asleep; it’s only you that I see.”

Their ecstasy rose and fell like waves crashing against the shore only to be drawn back and repeated
again and again.

When these waves of delight became like ripples and the ripples had turned to suspension of time and space
, Deni and Tala lay in each other’s arms exhausted.

Their still bodies pressed so closely they co
uld taste each other’s breath.

Tala gazed into the golden eyes of her love and saw tears trickling down her temples into the tight re
d curls that framed her face.

“Wha
t is it, Love?” Tala whispered.

Deni didn’t speak right away. She rolled her back to Tala as she pul
led a pale arm across her body.

Tala asked again, “What is it, love?” Tala cradled Deni’s head and spooned her body int
o her own.

Deni spoke
, but her voice broke like continuous shattered glass.

“I want to run away,” she said. Then in a full outburst of tears
, she sat up and hugged her knees under her chin.

“I want to grab you up and just run away,” she said as she wiped the constant stream of wetness from her brown face. “Just outrun that damn particle wave.” She grabbed Tala’s hands with her own tear drenched fingers and said with fright, “I hear death coming and I just want to run.” With her otherwise beautiful
, golden eyes turning terror-filled, she gasped, “But there’s no place to hide.”

Tala wrapped her entire body
around her partner and held her.

“Shh,” Tala whispered into her ear. “We’re going to be just fine. You’ll see. We’ll have so many days together that y
ou’re bound to tire of me.”

Deni clung to Tala and wept.

“Shh,” Tala continued. “You just wait and see. You’ll tire of my books and stories and dancing and…well…not staffing. I don’t imagine we’ll ever tire of staffing.”

Deni wiped her face and giggled. She had never heard her elegant and refined Tala ever use such a crude
, juvenile word.

“No,” Deni agreed as she chuckled through her tears. “I don’t think we ever will.” She gave Tala a quick kiss and stood to her feet. She reached for Tala’s light flowing garment and draped it around herself. As she tied it at the neck
, she asked playfully, “How does it look?”

With her bare legs out-stretched Tala leaned back on her h
ands and gave Deni a long look.

“You’re missing something,” Tala said. She took the tiny silver necklace from her own neck
and placed it on Deni. Standing back, she gazed on her beauty.

Sliding a hand down the side of Deni’s face she smiled and g
ave a sound of approval, “Hmm.”

Tala then picked up Deni’s discarded brown pants and pulled them on. They both laughed as they saw how t
hey came halfway to her knees.

“What? I think their nice,” Tala s
aid as they both laughed again.

She pulled on Deni’s shirt and buttoned it. Running her hands down her front she looked around. She found one bo
ot by the bed and pulled it on.

“A little tight but I can get them on,”
she said. “Where’s the other?”

Deni took a few steps away and retrieved it from a s
helf where it lay on its side.

When she had put on Deni’s
boots Tala looked around again.

“Ah! There it is,” she said. Crossing the room she picked up Deni’s knife and very carefully slid it into her boot as she
had seen Deni do so many times.

“Ooo, it’s cold,” Tala said. Straightening herself she asked, “Well?”

“Ha,” Deni laughed. “I think you look better in this,” she said as she began to untie Tala’s garment she was wearing.

“No,” Tala said quickly and retied the strings at Deni’s neck. “I like this on you. But I think if I take it up here,” she said as she drew up the bottom hem.

With awkward motion, she pulled the knife from her boot and sliced off the portion of material that hung on the floor.

“What are you doing?” asked Deni with surprise.

Tala tossed aside the strip of garment and it floated to the ground beside them.

“There,” she said standing back to view her alteration.

She smiled with pleasure and then delicately replaced the knife into her boot.

Tala went to the shelving cart and picked up two lights and placed one on the floor at the end of a long shelf of books. She took the other and passed the bed. She set it on the floor next to the line of book shelves.

“Now,” Tala explained, “if the power goes out we can just follow the shelves to find our light.”

“And there’s a small light in my pocket…I mean your pocket,” Deni gave a laugh that ended abruptly.

Tala saw Deni’s smile fading and she knew her fear had returned.

“Come,” Tala softly invited.

Tala pulled a book from the shelf where she had specifically placed it when she had cleaned.

“I found a story that I think we would like. I know you’ve heard about Hrilla, but I have one of Chris’ books about how Hrilla saved her people. I’ve only read a few pages so far. I found it today. It was sitting high on the back shelf over there. It had an inch of dust like it had never been touched.” She held it a moment and added, “Made me feel like…me…before you came.”

Deni gave Tala a gentle shove and said, “Silly girl. Don’t be so dramatic.”

She dropped to the bed and waited for the story.

2,300 BE

Far below the surface of the planet REEN

Hrilla was the beautiful daughter of Cyril the planter. She was a happy girl and loved listening to the stories her father had told by the light of the family stone. Now she told the stories to her younger brothers and sisters and delighted in their glee of hearing them. Her family lived far from the lake, past the place of gathering, down the road that curved past the palace of Tapsin, even past the fields where her family and
the other Anthro planted.

297 AE

Aboard the EGRESS

“Wait,” Deni interrupted Tala. “I’ve always heard that Hrilla was a beautiful Goweli.”

“I have too,” Tala agreed. “That’s strange. I wonder which one is correct?”

“I’ve always pictured her like you,” Deni smiled. “A beautiful Goweli.”

“Funny,” Tala said. “I always pictured more like you.”

“Me? But I’m not Goweli,” Deni said with a slight laugh.

“No,” Tala said softly with a tilt of her head, “but you plant, you’re strong, and you’re so very beautiful.”

Slidding her hand over Deni’s inner thigh, Tala pulled Deni’s body close enough to wrap her own long legs around her partner.

After a long moment
of enjoyment Tala whispered, “I’ve always loved the stories. I even love hearing the new ones. But my favorite story is when you came into my life to stay. You’re my favorite part of my life’s story.”

Deni was out of words. However, she still had love to give.

It was several minutes before the couple returned to their story of Hrilla.

2,300 BE

Far below the surface of the planet REEN

Their underground empire was vast, and included fields of grain, scurrying animals, a large meeting room, and a very large underground lake.

Hrilla was at the age to start her own family. Mollath had proven to be the best candidate. He was kind and had just been given the job of palace server; a kind of butler position. Hrilla’s parents were pleased that their daughter’s path had been secured. Mollath had all but asked her to join him on his path
, but lately Hrilla’s heart had been drawn away.

Hrilla had been many times, in secret, to the cave of the drops. She took some of the seeds from her father’s planting barrels. She took her own planting staff made from phralim, which the Tsila forged into tools. The Tsila made farming tools and cooking pans and even the tools used for cutting the stones of light. But Hrilla had a secret place in the cave of the drops where tiny drops of water came slowly
through a portion of moist rock and fell to the stone floor below. There were giant grooves that had worn away with what appeared to be thousands of years of dripping.