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  “Well, congratulations.” Kori gave her another hug.

  “Thank you. The entire population is holding their breath. Few brides have ever gotten pregnant. Her arrival will be a very big deal.” Honour had a soft expression on her face.

  “I am sure it will be.” Kori felt a rumble in her stomach. “I think I need to find my escort. I am in need of a meal.”

  “Oh, sorry. I forget that you can’t simply charge up.” Honour laughed at her expression. “Kidding. Come with us. We are up here for two days, so if you would like to take your meals with Acuar and myself, you are welcome to.”

  Acuar inclined his head, content to let Honour do the talking. His name on all the documents helped with identification.

  “I would like that. It is funny, I go six years without seeing another human and then, I meet two in one week.”

  Honour smiled and linked arms with her, hauling her away for her first meal on the station.

  It was quite the first day at work.

  * * * *

  Norod returned home after forty days of negotiations with the trade envoy for shipping rights. His first question was the same one that had been on his mind since that day nearly two lunar cycles earlier. “Nikada, where is Kori?”

  Nikada looked up from the documents she was filing for the Ru family. “She is gone. She was summoned to a new position and left four days after you did.”

  Norod froze from looking around the office. “Where?”

  “Why do you care? She was attractive enough, but she wasn’t anything extraordinary.”

  Norod whirled on his sister and roared loud enough to shake the walls. “She was to me!”

  Nikada sat back and applauded slowly. “It was about time. I have put enough women in your path, and she is by far the best natured.”

  He was extending and retracting his claws in rhythm. “Where did she go?”

  “Yalki. She has been sending me messages and I have been replying, but I didn’t want to go without seeing if you wanted to come with me first. It isn’t every day you run into a mouse with the heart of a lion.”

  Norod paced and gradually calmed himself. His thoughts had been on feverish dreams of Kori and the smooth silk of her skin mingled with her sweet scent. Having her gone wrenched his plans.

  The bots came in with a tray of snacks and tea.

  Nikada pushed back from her desk and waved at him to sit at the desk opposite her. “Sit. Are you sure that she is the one you want?”

  He nodded. “I am sure.”

  “Then you will have to find something for her to do here. She has a fear of not being able to support herself. You have to put something in place for her.”

  Norod blinked. “Are you joking?”

  “No. I have never been more serious about anything in my life. You need to make a place for her so that she can support herself. Giving her credits or setting up beautician accounts for her will not be the answer. She needs to have self-worth and for her, that comes from being occupied. She almost went nuts in Janial. I became her occupation when I arrived.”

  Norod sat and poured for them both, handing his sister a plate of her favourite snacks along with the tea. “This is going to require some thought.”

  “You aren’t kidding. She sent me the purchase price of her hair reconstruction and her Masuo along with interest. She really doesn’t want to owe anyone anything.”

  He groaned and put his head in his hands. “All I have to offer her is financial.”

  “You can offer her a place in our society. In your life. You need to make a plan before you tear out of here and demand her. She is on a six-month contract with the Yalki and I know she will not break it. You have time.”

  Norod looked at her and sighed, “Nikada, will you help me?”

  “To get the one that got away to fall for you? Sure.” Nikada grinned. “But it is going to cost you.”

  He toasted her with his cup. “I expected nothing less.”

  Chapter Five

  Kori watched as Honour opened the gift for tiny Arabella.

  Honour lifted the teeny baby gown and the surrounding women made noises of admiration for the intricate work that had gone into it. There were matching dresses in Yalki style but each had embroidered roses around the neckline. It was enough to last the baby until she was four or so.

  Honour looked at the work and then at Kori. “You did this?”

  “I have to keep my hands busy and I bought the supplies at the station. It was fun.”

  The surrogate looked over at the gown. “It is very pretty.”

  Kori smiled. “Thank you, Liash.”

  One of the other women asked, “Do you take commissions? I would like something like that with a vine around the neckline.”

  Kori shrugged. “Bring me the clothing and I will put on the design. I am a better embroiderer than I am a seamstress.”

  That excited the women and little Arabella began to fuss. Her mother took her for a moment, stroking the downy pale green cheek. Honour’s eyes glowed green while she looked down at her baby, but there was a wistfulness in her expression. Kori felt a lump in her throat as she realised that the mother would outlive the child by centuries. That had to be a hard thing to come to terms with when your child was three days old.

  Liash looked over to Kori and gave her a tired smile.

  Kori got to her feet and went over to her, whispering, “If you would like to go and lie down, I can bring the baby to you if she gets hungry. You have been through a lot over the last few days.”

  “I have been in pain, yes, but for me, it is over. For the Bride, it is just beginning.” Liash patted Kori on the shoulder and left her, reclining on one of the couches on the edge of the room.

  Annabella waved her chubby arms in the air, and her mother smiled and rocked her.

  “She looks just like you and Acuar.”

  Honour grinned. “Yeah, and a little bit of Yalki as well. The forest has made its mark on her.” Honour scooted the baby’s shirt up and showed a rose bud on a small vine on the baby’s belly.

  “What is that?”

  “It is the same mark that the forest put on me. She is wearing a different colour though. I expect that there will be a crop of blue roses spreading across the countryside soon.” Honour lifted her daughter to her shoulder and stroked her back.

  The silky black hair curled all over the small head, just like her mother’s.

  “If the forest can change your body, can’t it help you lactate?”

  Honour whispered. “I didn’t want to stress out Liash by taking Annabella that soon.”

  “Oh. Gotcha.”

  “I will talk with her and ask her when she feels she will be ready to give her over to me. She has been carrying her for six months. I don’t want her stressed any more than I want Annabella freaked out.”

  “It is sound thinking.”

  “Plus, there are still some negotiations to work out and lactating all over the boardroom is not a good look.” Honour smiled.

  Kori snickered and the food arrived. Everyone gathered around the buffet and took turns holding the baby. When it was Kori’s turn, she looked down into the sweet features and imagined them with a feline cast.

  Realising where her mind was, she looked around for someone to hand the baby over to, but everyone had a plate and were in conversational groups.

  She sat down and rocked Annabella, humming softly to her like she had to her nieces and nephews back home. This was the most homesick she had been in her life.

  Honour sat next to her and looked down at the baby. “She looks happy with you.”

  “She is a minute away from a demand cry. She’s hungry, but she is trying to figure out if a breast is going to spontaneously appear. Once she figures out that it isn’t happening, she is going to scream.”

  “I am guessing there are a few babies in your family.”

  “Nineteen at last count or when I left, which
ever. I was the only one who didn’t have the nesting urge until I was away from home. Too much disappointing sex, I suppose.”

  Honour laughed.

  On cue, Annabella let out her cry and Liash appeared, reaching for the child. “Time for me, I think.”

  Kori surrendered the baby and sat back, “Whew. That takes me back.”

  “It has been a while for me as well. I frankly didn’t give a thought to that clause in the Volunteer contract. Mind you, being out in Nyal space, I wasn’t thinking that I would ever be called upon to make good on my agreement.”

  Over the month and a bit that Kori had been at the station, she had learned Honour’s story. A researcher who had been taken by Raiders and sold to the Yalki, she had ended up catching and keeping Acuar’s affections and those of the forest as well. It was a three-way that Kori didn’t like to think about too much.

  “How long will you stay down here?”

  Kori sighed, “I have to get back up tonight. The Muskari want a proposal outlined so that they feel more in control of your negotiations.”

  “Aw, I was hoping that you could spend more time down here with me.”

  She chuckled. “Sorry, Honour, you are meant for Yalki, I am meant for the station. It saves on the amount of people you have to put on rotation up there. It isn’t healthy for them and we both know it.”

  Honour sighed, “Yes, but having aliens looking out after our interests is difficult. We can’t ensure loyalty or defense of our station without having locals there.”

  “Then you might want to put more funding into a better atmospheric system for them. They need more humidity than is being offered. I think it would help.”

  “I will look into it.”

  Kori grinned. “Please do. I can always give you an itemized list.”

  “I will take those under advisement.”

  Kori’s wristband chirped and her day with gravity pulling steadily on her was over.

  It was time to return to her home away from home after celebrating the baby shower for the first Halfling human born on Yalki.

  She was still smiling when she exited the shuttle to return to the station. Kori headed out and went through customs once again, but now that she was settled on the station, it was more like a simple punch card.

  Kori headed back to her room and the Masuo shifted into some lightweight pajamas. She had ten hours until she had to work up the proposal with the client, but she was going to get some heavy sleep in the meantime.

  She checked in with the emissary and let him know that she was back but asleep and passed out.

  Her day resumed its routine the moment that she woke. It was a dull routine, but it was hers. The embroidery was the only outlet for that boredom, so she had a lot of items around her room that had been customized. She hadn’t been allowed a needle and thread in Janial, but here, there were no such restrictions.

  It was fun and something that she could take with her to do on breaks to help her hands flex a little.

  When there was nothing else to do, at least she could keep her hands busy. Her thoughts had their own issues with replaying her one night with Norod. Those thoughts not only kept her occupied but increased her body heat every moment that she remembered.

  Who knew that a one-night stand would burn itself in her thoughts?

  The months of her contract passed and to her surprise, Nikada never came to visit. She had family business to attend do, which didn’t seem at all like the Nikada that Kori had come to know.

  Five days before the end of her contract, Kori got a message. “Greetings, Kori I have finally been able to put some time away, and if you are still amenable to a visit, I can be there in thirty-six hours.”

  Kori replied. “I am only here for another five days, so if you are going to see me, now is the time.”

  “I am on my way.” Nikada winked. She cut off the connection, leaving Kori sitting and staring at her terminal.

  Blinking, she resumed her notes on the trade agreements and finished producing the pre-trade proposals for the Kresinar. So, she was getting her visit and the archive had produced a long-term assignment for her. She didn’t have a location yet, but it had been gained on the strength of the Yalki recommendation. She owed Honour and Acuar a lot.

  When she finished verifying that all the seeds and plants were listed, she filed the document with the surface. It cut down on the negotiation time that the Host and Bride had to spend on the station. They were physically tied to the world and time away from it caused a lot of strain. Not to mention time away from little Annabella. That was a strain of a different type.

  Acuar was taking to being a father. Annabella had transferred custody and was now living with the Host and Bride. She was the first child of the three to be raised with them, all others had remained with the surrogate family, but Honour wanted her child with her.

  Annabella’s growth was the main reason to put her with her parents. She was growing at an alarming rate and already looked like a four-year-old. Kori had embroidered another series of gowns that would last until Annabella was at least a year old, by which time, she would look like a twelve-year-old, by current patterns.

  Kori finished up her work and turned off her terminal before leaving the small office she had been assigned. Her watchers had only been with her for the first week; now that she had a grip on the layout and people of the station, it was easy to get around.

  She walked through the market set aside for station staff and made a few selections for dinner before returning to her quarters. Her living space had actually been part of the area on which the candidates for the position of bride had lived. The grass in her room had taken getting used to, but the wall of roses was her favourite feature.

  There were no other living beings on her level, so she could run through the rest of the gardens as she willed. It was a strange place to live, but for the next five days, it was home.

  Kori hummed to herself and chopped up her ingredients, spiced it and stuck it in the heater. With dinner in the oven, she went for a walk.

  It was odd how she had managed to consider the Yalki Station home. Of course, she was living in the highest oxygen area and the only one dedicated to Terrans, but it was still odd to have an entire level of a space station as an oxygen farm covered with plants and grasses.

  The Yalki had this space dedicated to the candidates for bride, but Honour authorized some walls to be parked on the green space to allow Kori plenty of oxygen and humidity. The Freyalki were invited to use the space as they wished, but they chose not to use it, even though the humidity and oxygen would probably ease their withdrawal from the planet’s surface.

  She walked through her private space and acknowledged that this would be the last time she had a space like this at her disposal. The silence was also something that got to her. Kori wasn’t used to silence. It was why she had taken to humming. When the timer chimed, she could hear it from half a kilometer away.

  Sighing, she returned home for dinner and a night of watching vids on races of the Nyal Imperium.

  Chapter Six

  Two days later, Kori got a ping on her com unit. “Yes?”

  “You have guests arriving at the station.”

  “I am on my way.” She was out of bed, through the solar shower and her Masuo was in a leopard and stone-print bodysuit as she sprinted to the lift to meet with her friend.

  Wait, did he say guests?

  Shrugging, she made her way to the shuttle bay and waited on the other side of the customs registration.

  Nikada was waving violently with a grin on her face; the expression on Norod’s face was much harder to read. Oh, goody.

  Dealing with what had to be a casual night on his part made Kori all confused. She wanted to be cool and calculating but that was not in her nature. This was going to be difficult.

  She waited, and when Nikada and her bags made it through the security scans, she hugged her friend and laughed when Nikada
started sniffing her.

  “You smell different. More like soil and plants.”

  “This is Yalki Station, it is all about soil and plants.” Kori hugged her again.

  Norod stepped up and inclined his head. “You look well.”

  She extended her hands, palm down. He followed with extending his own hands palm up and fitted them to her much smaller appendages. “I am well. I have friends, a job, a vid screen and a hobby. All the things I need to get from one day to the next.”

  His eyes glowed down at her and there was a world of meaning in that look. “It seems you have all you need to survive.”

  She smiled up at him, her hands warm in his grip. “Survival is not living.”

  He blinked and smiled slowly. “So, there is room for improvement?”

  “There is always room for improvement.”

  Nikada looked from one of them to the other. “Are we just going to stand here while you two play at being cryptic, or shall we get to our accommodations?”

  Norod released her hands slowly, and Kori backed away.

  She blushed and nodded. “Of course. Sorry, Nikada. Please come this way. I have reserved you the best rooms at the diplomatic hotel.”

  Norod asked, “We are not staying in your quarters?”

  “I have a bed designed for one woman and no room for guests. It was not designed for me to have visitors.”

  He looked a little disappointed.

  “Also, the Yalki have much different rules of hospitality than your people do. They believe in providing food and entertainment, and that is all.” Kori was smiling.

  “Pity.” Nikada sighed.

  Norod chuckled. “Then we shall be content with whatever the station can provide.”

  The people of the station smiled and waved at her as she led her small party through the halls. There was nothing like being friends with the Host and the Bride to make the Freyalki relax in her presence.

  The hotel was marked clearly and as Kori entered, the staff came to attention. “May I introduce you to Nikada and Norod of Wyencar Prime. They are my guests.”