Knollig: A Terraneu Novel ( Book 2) (5 page)

“Uh, Fortem you can breathe.” Mairi whispered
teasingly.

“What else is there?” Another male yelled out, curse
them! Mairi was about to say that was another class, when Amber beat her to it.

“That is another class. One that Kniam is going to
give you! It is about showing physical affection and knowing when a female
wants you to show it! This class is about respecting a female’s personal
space.”

“So then why is Mairi draped all over Fortem…?”
Mairi jumped, bumping poor Fortem in the chin. Knollig had drawled that
question from the doorway, the other Council members were with him. From his
tone you wouldn’t know that he was upset, it was looking into his eyes you
could see his emotions boiling.

“Kniam!” Amber rushed over to give her mate a hug.

It was Mairi’s turn to tease, “That…gentlemen is a
hug that means physical affection, and an invitation for more.” The Council
members and other males all laughed, since they had been interrupted more times
than they could count by the couples displays of affection. Mairi felt
something brush against her hand, and when she looked down she saw Fortem offer
his hand to her. He leaned in and whispered, “I think there was some problem
you needed help with? You were going to ask me about it after the class. We
might have a few minutes.” He teased.

“Yes I do have something to ask you. If you wouldn’t
mind.” She grabbed his hand in hers. “Amber, can you finish this class without
me? I have to talk with Fortem about something.” Mairi smiled at the males and
with a small wave she weaved her way to get outside.

She had to pause at the door a moment because all of
the Council members were in the way.

“Mairi, I would like a word with you please.”
Knollig was standing in front of her, she craned her neck up to see his face.

“Can you stop by my dome later Knollig, I have to
speak with Fortem about something.” She asked in all innocence. She knew
Knollig wasn’t happy with her holding Fortem’s hand, since he kept glancing
there and scowling. It wasn’t her fault, she had already told him she wasn’t
interested in other males! She wasn’t going to let him intimidate her with his
attitude though. It was his choice to have her be “friendly” with the other
men. Let him stew over what she took that to mean.

“It is really important Mairi…” Knollig started, but
Mairi cut him off.

“What I have to ask Fortem is equally important
Knollig. I will see you later.” She moved around him, dragging Fortem with her.
When they had walked along the pathway enough to find a few benches, Mairi
figured that was a good place to sit.

“Does this work for you?” She asked Fortem waving a
hand at a bench.

“Yes, this is a good place to sit and talk.” Fortem
motioned for her to sit first, then he placed himself next her, careful not to
touch her as he sat. He was sitting on one side of the bench and she was on the
other. Fortem really was an expert on giving females personal space. She had
almost laughed, but didn’t want to hurt his feelings.

“So Fortem, first let me thank you for walking us to
the meeting, and then offering to help me. Without even knowing what the
problem is.” Mairi gave him a big smile.

“I will try to help in any way I can.” Fortem vowed,
“What is the problem, little Earth female?”

Mairi pondered how to state her feelings for Knollig
without offending the other male. She decided to be truthful, “Well I am deeply
attracted to Knollig, and he is honor bound to let me discover if I could have
feelings for other males.”

 
Mairi looked
over at him sitting all proper on the bench, and wondered if he had desire for
her would he be that far away? She decided to ask him, “Fortem, if you felt
desire for me, would you be able to stay away from me? Would you still be
sitting over there on the bench? Or would you throw out the rules of private
space and sit closer?” He seemed confused by the question, then he asked.

“Do you want me to be honest?”

Mairi hesitated, when a male asked if you wanted
honesty it usually went badly, but she answered with a laugh, “Yes, honesty is
usually the best policy.”

Fortem looked deeply at her, “I find you a very
beautiful woman, everything about you is appealing. Your hair, your skin, your
laugh…your body.” His gaze roamed over her, “I would be proud if I felt that
you had an attraction to me. That I don’t feel sexual desire for you is a sign
that you are not putting off a sexual pheromone toward me. That is the only way
we can break through the genetic block that the original fathers had done to
us.” Fortem leaned toward her, “When I find my mate, I would like to think that
I will desire her as much as she desires me. That I will break all barriers to
make her mine.” He reached over and gently touched her face, “You little Earth
female are not attracted to me, and I am not your mate.” He dropped his hand
back down. “That doesn’t mean I will not enjoy being your friend, and learning
all I can about Earth females so that I can be the perfect mate.”

Her eyes brimmed with tears. He sounded so genuine,
and his desire to be the perfect mate was so admirable, for a second she wished
she was attracted to him instead of Knollig. Then she thought of her time with
Knollig in the medical bay. His sweet compliments about her character before
the change when she was still sick. The smoking hot kisses they shared, and the
pull she felt for him all reminded her why she did want him and not Fortem.

She smiled weakly and took his hand to hold it.
“When you do find the female you want, I will be sure to put in a good word for
you. Any woman would be lucky to have you!” Mairi though she heard a deep
growl, but when she turned to look to see if there was a Sacath around, there
was nothing. Shrugging her shoulders she went back to finish her chat with
Fortem.

Mairi was going to drive him crazy! He knew that he had asked her to get
to know other males in the community, but he hadn’t meant for her to find one
she might choose for mate in the same day! He had walked into the training for
the males and seen Mairi with Fortem. Did she have to hold his hand and hug
him!?

He had tried to get her to talk with him at the meeting, but she had run
off with Fortem claiming she had something important to speak with him about.
He was honest enough to admit he just wanted to get her away from the other
male. He hadn’t really had anything to say. He would have been too distracted
by her to talk, and would have ended up kissing her sweet mouth again instead.
He was going crazy with the thought of her with another male and he had no one
to blame but himself.

 
He had pushed her to get to know
different males. It was a good thing for her to like Fortem, he kept telling
himself. He was an admirable man, very honorable and well thought of in the
community. After Mairi had left the class, Amber and Kniam had tried to
continue the meeting about respecting personal space. He thought it was more of
training on getting
into
personal space. He had left on the pretense of
heading over to look at how work was advancing in New Haven, but he had found
Mairi and Fortem instead. Sitting on the bench with their hands on each
other…in public!

With a growl of frustration he had turned and hurried in earnest for New
Haven to help with the work there. It was important to have at least a hundred,
if not more housing units available for the families that would live there.
They had about fifty finished, and he knew in the next six months they would
get the rest of the fifty completed. Not that they were expecting one hundred
mated couples right away, but they wanted to be ready for any eventuality.

He worked throughout the night in New Haven. All of the units needed to
be checked for working water and solar. Amber had insisted that Earth females
did not like to get their water and glasses from the bathroom. She said it was
“disturbing” and that the preference would be to get water from a living space
instead. So they had made “great rooms” and in the corner was a rock wall
feature that would provide drinking water. There were also customizable couch
arrangements, a wet bar with tall stools and then the bedrooms and guest
spaces. In all New Haven homes had larger balconies, and extra buffer spacing
between them. Oh, and a lot of sound proofing at the request of all the males
of the community. If Amber and Kniam were any indication, the residence of New
Haven would really appreciate the extra privacy.

Knollig spent the next day avoiding Mairi in New Haven. He did hear that
the females had another successful day of classes. The men were swarming to
them now that there were two women, one of whom was unattached. He was told
that Mairi went on a walk around the square with a new male. Then spent some
time later that day with Fortem.

The next day he escaped to the oasis when the males let it be known that
Mairi was wandering toward New Haven. The water and earth smells made this one
of his favorite places…when Amber and Kniam weren’t there of course. Today he
couldn’t enjoy it like he usually did. All he could think about was Mairi
spread out on the bank with her glorious auburn hair and green eyes shining up
at him. Her sweet mouth begging for his kisses. In frustration he decided he
would go out for a long ride on the Sorrem instead.

On the fourth day Mairi called on her communicator that she had an
emergency. There was a bit of a panic and all the Council members scrambled to
help her. They had overridden her door lock and rushed into her living quarters.
When she wasn’t found right away, they all ran into the bathroom. Upon seeing
the Council members hurrying into her bathroom, she had jumped up yelling about
a misunderstanding, she was fine. They needed to get out! He burned at the
memory of Mairi in the shower. Her auburn hair was lying wet against her ivory
skin. The shock on her face was almost laughable if all the other males in the
room weren’t getting a view of her perfect body. Her creamy thighs and full
breasts with rosy nipples had made his mouth water! He had noticed a patch of
fiery red hair at the vee of her legs, and he had run out of the room to the
equipment dome. There were some males willing to train with him, and he spent
all day working unsuccessfully to get the sight of the fiery redhead out of his
mind.

On the fifth day she had taken a Sorrem out for a long ride, then when
everyone went looking for her. She mistook Kniam for him and jumped out of the
bushes naked. Kniam had almost had a heart attack at her sudden appearance.
Then he had nearly fallen off the Sorrem at the realization that Mairi was
standing
naked
in the pathway. He had recovered and hurried to help her
back into her dress.

On the sixth day Mairi went to the wrestling matches and they had to be
cancelled after a few rounds. No one could concentrate with Mairi jumping
around in her mis-tied dress. He had insisted that they make up an excuse for
canceling the matches. He didn’t want Mairi embarrassed. In the end it was
agreed upon to say the men needed to complete some overdue training exercises.

Fortem was a constant at her side, and Knollig was sure that they were
going to announce they were dating any day. The whole week he worked and
trained harder, he passed out every night from exhaustion. When he wasn’t
working or training, he was snapping and snarling at every person he passed.

On the seventh day he was summoned into an emergency Council meeting. He
was surprised to see that Amber was in attendance. Kniam called the meeting to
order and everyone took their seats.

“We are here for what my little female calls an ‘intervention’.” He gave
Amber a huge smile and then he turned to frown at Knollig.

Knollig was getting a bad feeling about this and went to stand up. All of
the occupants in the room yelled “Sit down!” at the same time. He flinched and
sat back down.

Amber started, “Knollig we all care about you.” There was as snort from
Knaleg, which had Amber glaring his way, then turned a loving smile on him, “We
want you to be happy, and this past week has been a trial for everyone.”

“That is an understatement!” Knaleg ground out, “Knollig snap out of it!
You are being irrational!”

“Be nice Knaleg, this process is supposed to be supportive and
understanding! Not accusatory!” Amber broke into Knaleg’s rant.

“Have you done many interventions then?” Ailech asked from across the
room, curiosity in his question.

“Well no. I just know that the people who intervene are doing it from
love, not trying to make the other person feel worse.”

“How is that possible for any of us to feel worse?” Thian, always blunt
jumped into the fray. “We are all being impacted by Knollig’s stubborn refusal
to pursue Mairi!”
 
Thian was waving his
hands around, “If he isn’t snapping and snarling at everyone…that female is
jumping out of the bushes naked at someone.”

“That was not her fault, and she felt horrible about it!” Amber defended
Mairi, “She thought it was Knollig. She was trying to get his attention.”

“Like using the communicator to call an emergency, then ambush him in the
shower?! I must admit that was a pretty sound tactic. If she had only called
Knollig instead of the Council that might have worked.” Asteen chuckled, “I
won’t forget that sight anytime soon. Between Mairi and Amber we are getting a
pretty good education on female anatomy.” This earned him a glare from Amber,
Kniam and Knollig. Asteen just shrugged unaffected by their obvious irritation.

“She was just desperate for him see her.” Amber tried to get the
intervention back on track. These men were impossible to reason with sometimes.

“We are
desperate
for her to stop her antics! She almost caused a
riot in the wrestling dome.” Ailech paused then hurried to add, “Though I don’t
think that time was on purpose. Someone really needs to show that woman how to
tie her dresses.”

“I think she looks fabulous in them!” Amber stated. “I don’t think she
should change a thing!”

“She does look good in them.” Knaleg offered, “I wouldn’t change a thing
either, especially the way she does the top.”

Knollig glared at his brother, why was he looking at the top of Mairi’s
dresses?

Amber shot Knaleg another glare, “Stop trying to get in a fight. This is
about Knollig and Mairi.”

“Well from where I am sitting there really isn’t a Knollig and Mairi now
is there.” Asteen broke in, “Not unless they claim themselves a couple. With
Knollig avoiding her he is giving the others reason to keep hoping she is
available.”

Amber defended him this time, “Knollig is being very noble and letting
Mairi have time to get to know she has other choices.”

Knollig’s head was spinning. He wanted to be with Mairi, but he had sworn
to give her time to meet other men. He knew it had been wrong to avoid her. It
had only put him on edge all week, and ended up hurting everyone in the
process.

“Enough!” Kniam had heard all he wanted to hear, “A decision has been
made, a vote will be taken and then this matter will be behind us. One way or
the other.” Kniam looked at him, “Knollig, we all know you are attracted to and
care greatly for Mairi. You wouldn’t have fought your feelings this long if you
didn’t. You have lasted longer than I did with Amber, and I don’t know how you
have managed it.” Kniam gave him a wry smile.

 
“The time has come for this
uncertainty to end. Mairi has put a great effort into meeting the men of the
community. She has not shown one second of interest in dating any of them. In
fact she has gone out of her way to make sure they know she is only interested
in friendship. The only person she has spent any amount of time with that may
be boyfriend material is Fortem. She may or may not have initiated a sexual
relationship with him, neither of them are saying.”

Had Mairi chosen to initiate sex with Fortem? Knollig frowned at the
thought of Mairi’s sweet mouth kissing on Fortem’s…or any other part of his
body for that matter. Damn Kniam for giving him hints about female and male
sexual interaction. Now it was burning in his brain what Mairi could be doing.

 
“That frown you are throwing
around the room is the very reason we must have some closure to this
situation.” Kniam stood and hit the table with the hammer, he got a
concentrated look on his face. Before Knollig could ask what he was doing,
Kniam sent out to all the men,
 
“
We
are hereby taking a vote of the men of the community that feel Knollig has
given them ample time to win the attention of the Earth female Mairi.”

He got a resolute look on his face, “All in favor of Knollig being
released from his vow and being free to engage in a relationship with Mairi,
say AYE.” There was a resounding roar of “AYE” in their heads. Some of the
males even went so far as to beg him to just date the Earth female if it would
make him less grumpy. Others would do extra work duty. There were any number of
things offered if Knollig would please…PLEASE…just forget the vow he made
.

All opposed to Knollig being released from his vow, say NAY.
There
was an absolute void of sound.

“
The vote has been recorded as “unanimous” Knollig is free from his
vow of honor and may proceed in a relationship with the Earth female
.
If
he so chooses
.” Kniam hit his hammer on the table again.

Kniam moved around the table to take a hold of
Amber, “Though I do recall something about Fortem visiting her domicile these
past nights, so she may not want to be in a relationship, sexual or otherwise
with Knollig.” Kniam was leaning into Amber when he said the last part, but out
of his peripheral vision he saw Knollig stiffen at his statement.

Knollig stood up and stormed out of the meeting upon hearing that Mairi
had been visiting these past nights with Fortem! He hadn’t heard that. If he
had known…what? His conscious hit back, what would he have done?

 
Well it was too late to answer
that now. He rushed along the path, the knowing smiles of males following him.
The rain clouds were rolling in, and he felt the first drop of water hit his
face just as he reached Mairi’s dome.