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  It must be really noticeable when they switch to your violet.

  Apparently. I have gotten much information on Geor’s preferences from Crixox. He has been most forthcoming with his Avatar’s reactions.

  Mentally, Sinder laughed. Geor must love that.

  I don’t believe that Crixox has told him. Even a planet is not stupid enough to mess with a male’s ego.

  Getting out of bed on longer limbs while giggling was not an easy task, but Sinder managed it. There was a shower and a wide tub in the bathing room. She took the shower and looked wistfully at the bath. After her shower, she turned the water on low and swallowed as much cold water as she could manage. Her body was shivering, but she felt better.

  She used the air jets to dry herself before she dared to look in the mirror.

  Her black hair was wild and hung in a fluffed halo around her that did not conceal the new perky points to her ears. She focused and swivelled her left ear back and her right forward. With a little effort, she could move them at will.

  A hairbrush was in the fourth drawer she checked. After half an hour of brushing, she looked into the mirror and scowled. Are you growing my hair while I brush it?

  Yes. It seemed the best time. While you were lying down, I could not tell how long it was.

  Can you stop for today? My arms are getting tired. Her hair was now hanging to mid-thigh. What are you using for protein to build it?

  Um, you will need to eat again soon. Kema’s voice was amused.

  Wearing nothing but her hair, Sinder checked out the bedroom and looked for anything to put on.

  Shrugging when she didn’t find anything, she walked out into what had to be Geor’s rooms. He wasn’t inside, but his wardrobe surrendered a shirt that covered her from shoulders to mid-thigh.

  The guards were standing around his desk once again.

  Geor was on his feet with an astonished expression on his features. “Sinder. What are you—”

  “I needed something to wear, and this was the closest thing I could find. My dress apparently shredded in the transformation.” She could feel her ears swivelling as the men in the room made minute sounds of interest.

  Tiny huffs came from the guards and one took a step forward. Geor made a loud cough and his guards quickly left the room.

  She wasn’t sure, but Geor seemed broader in the shoulder as he came around his desk and pinned her against the door behind her. “Why are you out here in such a state of undress?”

  She looked down at her bare legs and then slowly let her gaze trail up his body, pausing at the erection that pressed against the fabric of his trousers. With a deep swallow, she continued to lift her gaze until she was staring into deep red eyes. “I am dressed by the standards of my species.”

  He gripped her waist and lifted her up. With a few steps, he settled her on the edge of his desk and stepped between her knees. Geor reached down and caressed her left foot, stroking slowly up her ankle, to her calf and the back of her knee.

  A deep shiver ran through her at the light touch on an erogenous zone she had been unaware of. His finger stroked slowly through the crease at the back of the joint, and her breath changed in pitch.

  Her belly clenched and she tried to close her legs to stop the distinct throb that her clit was sending through her sex. She was so swamped by sensation that it took her a moment to process his words.

  “Our species has different sensual points than yours did. Kema has matched your body’s function to that of the High Nalu, and our sensitivities are now yours.” His lips were next to her ear. With a soft breath, he warmed the skin of her ear, and he nipped gently with no warning.

  Fire coursed through her at the minute touch, and her breath left her in a rush as her body came wildly alive. Sinder clutched at his shoulders, digging her nails in as she fought for control over a body that had triggers she had never imagined.

  She tingled, she ached and she wanted him close, and all he had done was stroke her knee and nip her ear.

  He stroked one hand slowly down her arm, and she could hardly wait to find out what nerves were connected to that portion of her anatomy when a knock sounded at the door.

  Chapter Seven

  Geor stood, took his seat behind the desk and watched her struggle into an awkward state of attention facing the door. When she was ready, he pressed a button and the door opened.

  A mature High Nalu woman was standing in the doorway, and she looked both fascinated and irritated to be in the presence of the Avatar.

  “Avatar Sinder, this is Aliaha, the seamstress for the temple. She will help you put on clothing more suitable to your station and your new height.” Geor was amused.

  She resented that he was so easily able to put aside his arousal while her body was still on fire.

  “Pleased to meet you, Madam Aliaha.”

  Sinder flinched at the scathing assessment that the woman gave her. The seamstress’s ears flicked in disapproval as she looked Sinder over. “I can work with it. I will throw in lessons on how to dress appropriately in High Nalu society and a meeting with a hairstylist.”

  Sinder was bustled into Geor’s room, and the door was closed behind them.

  “Avatar Sinder, you are not of our people, and your face shows it, but after I am done with you, you will look like a woman of the High Nalu.” There was grim determination in Aliaha’s voice.

  “I put myself in your hands.”

  The seamstress put her bag down and withdrew a swath of cloth. “Take off that ridiculous shirt, and let’s get a skirt on you.”

  Sinder blushed, but she peeled out of the shirt and did as the seamstress told her. As the hours passed, she received more information on the High Nalu deportment and etiquette than she had imagined existed.

  “There. I think that is all for today. You will pass for a respectable woman now.”

  “Thank you for the praise, Ali.” Sinder moved carefully, mostly because of the metal bands that confined two locks of her hair. They swung every time she took a step, but when she made it to a mirror, she could see that Aliaha was correct. She could pass for a High Nalu woman now from a distance.

  It had been an arduous morning, but at the two-hour mark, Geor had a meal brought to them. Over the meal, they spoke to each other, and to Sinder’s surprise, she learned a lot about the guards and their reasons for being at the temple.

  Aliaha was Alif’s grandmother. She became the seamstress of the temple to keep track of her grandson. Once a male joined the temple, they handed over part of their thoughts to Crixox. No member of the temple was a Purist, and few if any, ever had thoughts of family before they entered into service.

  Alif was one who had seen his childhood sweetheart mate someone else, and since there were no other women who even entered his consciousness, he decided to join the temple.

  Aliaha just wanted to make sure that he was happy where he was and service to Crixox and Geor was not arduous unless it involved the Purists.

  Once Sinder had assured her that with Kema firmly lodged in her mind she would not be leaving Crixox anytime in the foreseeable future, they got along much better. As they ate, Sinder answered questions about her job and the assignments and places she had been.

  They actually had a tentative friendship by the time Sinder was wearing a pair of gilded sandals, a wrap skirt that allowed her sufficient movement, a wrap shirt in a glowing green with bronze embroidery that matched her eyes and the hair bands that marked her as a woman of high rank.

  “You look much different than I thought you would.” Aliaha looked at her carefully.

  “What did you think I would look like?”

  “I don’t know. Kema was insisting on different, so perhaps a lime green alien with nine breasts?” Aliaha smiled.

  Sinder smiled at the woman made of tans and browns. Her hair was tied in one column down her back with even banding. It was a high-working class marker.

  The two locks that were bound in front of Sinder’s shoulders indicated tha
t she was not working class, and the long hair down her back indicated her unmated status.

  There were subtleties to their society that were going to trip her up, but she had been warned about the biggest problems that she would bump into in the next few days.

  “Are you ready to face your harshest critic?” Aliaha smiled, showing white teeth and flicking her ears forward.

  “I am. Let’s go kill my ego.” She straightened and let Aliaha lead the way to the door to Geor’s office.

  Aliaha swept through the door and continued out into the temple hall, leaving Sinder framed in the doorway.

  All erogenous zones were covered with the exception of her ears, and as she moved them, small gold bells chimed with every flick. Her Terran piercings had survived the change, so Aliaha had put on a pair of High Nalu earrings.

  She stood in the doorway until Geor looked up and smiled with a dawning appreciation for the view.

  “That is more appropriate but far less fun than your earlier garb. Is she preparing more?” Geor got up from his desk and held his hand out for her. He walked around her slowly, taking in the details.

  “Perfect in every detail. You look wonderful. Now, are you hungry?”

  She grunted. “You know I am. Kema is still convinced that for true beauty, my hair must reach my ankles. It seems like her personal preference because Aliaha didn’t mention it.”

  Geor choked on laughter, “Um, it is one of my preferences. Since few women could ever achieve it, it narrowed the women I had to consider as candidates for mate down to almost nothing. The other requirements listed to the populace were as unachievable as I could manage, but they still caused enough women to attempt to woo my attention that I had to get more and more exotic with my requests. Kema assisted by adding her requirements to the list, and then, here you are. I have to admit that I never thought the guard would be able find a woman like you and part of me hoped they never would.”

  As she stepped beside him down the hall toward the dining area, a few of the guards took double takes as she passed. “Why did you hope that they never would?”

  “My life has not always been as useful as it is now. I worried that a woman who was brought to me would be superficially what I thought I wanted and that she would be missing her own soul.”

  Sinder chuckled. “I don’t believe that it is an issue. You are not everything I want in a man, but rather, you are growing on me. The reason is that I never knew someone like you existed. How can I have a preference on a man that I didn’t know was possible?”

  He blinked. “I am not your ideal?”

  She smiled and went for honesty. “You are handsome, witty and have self-control that will probably end up driving me insane, but it will be a fun trip. If Kema demands a mate, she could do worse than you and Crixox.”

  They walked up the aisle to the table at the head of the dining hall, and they waited for their meal.

  Geor held her hand the whole way, and when they settled in their seats, he raised her hand to his lips, turned it over and nipped three inches down the interior of her wrist.

  Her blood pounded in her veins, and her belly clenched with just that small nip.

  His grin was wicked and promised that he knew all the spots on her new body to drive her insane. “Yes, you could.”

  Chapter Eight

  The clothing that Aliaha had fitted to her helped to make her feel less abnormal, but it rubbed her in all the strangest places. At no time in Sinder’s life did she ever imagine that the inner crease of her elbow would send her heart pounding when she bent her arm, but every joint on her body was aware of the touch and slide of her clothing.

  Kema was engaging in efforts to keep her calm by singing in her mind.

  Dinner was pure torture. Geor used every opportunity to touch her in what she would consider to be a casual manner, but when he made contact, it was something else entirely. Her skin was crackling with energy, her eyes were watering and she had her thighs pressed so tightly together that a secondary career as a mermaid was a definite possibility.

  “Sinder? Are you finished eating?” Geor was vastly amused, and it showed.

  She pushed her plate away and the guards below sighed in relief, leaving for their duties or their time off.

  “They were waiting for me?”

  He chuckled and stood. “They were. When you push your plate away, they will be free to leave. Just for future reference.”

  He held his hand out for her to take. Reluctantly, she placed her fingers in his, wincing at the heat that rampaged up her arm.

  “Where would you like to go?”

  “I think a walk would be a good idea. I need to get used to the new centre of balance in my body.” She concentrated on keeping her balance without lunging into him.

  “You are walking a little like a newborn calf.” He chuckled.

  She gradually steadied and stood tall in the halo of their guards. “Why do we go everywhere with guards, Geor?”

  “The High Nalu always have their leaders under guards sworn to their offices. In our history, assassination is far more common than we liked.”

  They made it onto the walkway outside, and the light of the sunset was a lovely glow. “How long have your people been here?”

  “Nine hundred eighty-three years. Our landing-day celebration occurs on the seventeenth day of winter. We have a large festival that includes all of the families who landed here. I was in the first generation born to the settlers, and Crixox called me to service when I made the decision that a regular family life was not for me.”

  She smiled. He was telling her all on his own. “Ah, the same reason I left the earth to join the Terran Volunteers.”

  His red eyes widened. “I am not sure that our reasons were the same.”

  She snickered. “I am sure that your motivation had nothing do to with the urge to try something new.”

  He laughed. “Perhaps. It was something similar. I was tired of the life I had been living and wanted to begin something more constructive. Bonding to Crixox was definitely a good option.”

  “So, you were here when Kema crashed?”

  “Yes. The disruption in the atmosphere got my attention and most of the population watched the meteor arc above us before it struck the side of the crater and rolled into a solid position. Crixox began to speak with her, and soon, it was put about that the meteor was the last fragment of a dead world. Women would walk up to the meteor and touch the cool rock, each was doomed to disappointment.”

  “Why do you think that the women went insane?”

  He gave it some thought. “I think that Kema’s energy was not nor has ever been compatible with my species. Each race has a different frequency that it can adapt to, and Kema is out of the High Nalu range.”

  He paused and started a tour. “This is a small bakery which provides some of the bread and pastries to the temple. Beyond are the butcher shop, a teashop and Aliaha’s dress shop. There are jewellery stores on the upper level.”

  She blinked as she realised that she was walking next to an outdoor mall. “Nice. Where do the farmers live?”

  He paused and pointed. “The green slopes that surround us on all sides are farms. Plants, animals, textiles, they are all grown around Sissithan.”

  She smiled at the name of the city. Back on earth the inhabitants would be called Sissies. “Is it a stable food source?”

  “Yes, we have enough to export and offer to local transports on our station.”

  She blinked. “We have a space station?”

  He chuckled. “Yes. We have a space station and a small shuttle port on the edge of the city. It is how the guards got you here.”

  “Nice. What am I supposed to do now, by the way? I am guessing that you don’t want me taking off and whirling through the universe in one of those aforementioned shuttles.”

  Geor froze in place. “I had not thought that far ahead. Would you consider taking some time away to learn about the people of Crixox before settling on a new
job?”

  She shrugged. “I suppose so. Aliaha was willing to take me out to visit her family.”

  “It is a good start, but remember that you have to be with no less than three guards at all times.”

  “I don’t think that I am still in danger. Kema seems willing to fix anything that goes wrong with me as it comes up.” Sinder was prodding at him just to see his reaction.

  Crixox took over. “You are pushing buttons, to use your vernacular. He is seething. Was that your intent?”

  She winced. “Not really. I am just not used to being confined or having to answer to anyone. When did you learn Terran phrasing?”

  He chuckled, his eyes bright. “You are not the first Terran Avatar, nor will you be the last if the planets have any say in the matter. Your minds have so much space for us that it makes sharing the body very easy for both parties.”

  Kema was humming happily in the background, proving Crixox’s point.

  Sinder sighed. “Tell Geor that I was not trying to rile him up.”

  The blue eyes faded and red surged back to the fore. Geor dragged in a controlled breath. “I accept that you didn’t know I am sensitive to thoughts of my female going elsewhere.”

  She held her breath at the irritation that flared through her at his assertion that she was his. She blasted air out through her nose in a snort and felt her ears go back. “You may want to watch the possessive pronouns, or I might just baffle you again.”

  They were still walking slowly through the paved pathways of the city. Their confrontation had occurred on the move.

  “Baffle?”

  “Strike you with confusion. I am still able to do that even though Kema is living in my body. In fact, I have more control and power now than I did before.”

  He nodded with a jerk. “Neutral topic. What does your name mean?”

  She snickered. “Not that neutral. My mother was a fan of fairy tales, and she named me after her favourite character with a change to the spelling, so it would not be that obvious.”