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  That was one more thing off her list.

  Steel scowled as she noticed one of the carpenters running with a saw and two hammers. He noticed her and turned to sprint down the lane. Curious, she followed him at a distance of a hundred feet.

  He headed over the hill toward the Oefric colony and scooted to a collection of about fifty people by Steel's count. They were building a house and no one had invited her to help plan it. She felt left out, turning and walking back to the clinic with confusion swirling in her mind.

  With Wyanic on one side of her and Junior on the other, she started reading. "Once upon a time, there was a princess on Terra and she wanted to leave her home to see the stars…"

  * * * *

  Wyanic listened to the pleasing pitch of her tone. Finally, the words sank in. She was telling the story of her trip into the Alliance and all the planets that had refused her a new home.

  He opened his eyes and looked down at the top of her head, the ripple of rich brown hair with golden highlights cascaded over her shoulder and down the sweet curve of her breast.

  "It's a good story." His voice was harsh to his ears. "It needs a better ending."

  He sat up, the tenderness in his side far less than the searing burn that had followed the lizard attack.

  "You are awake." She observed, then bit her lip. "How are you feeling?"

  "Tender but rather hungry. We didn't have lunch. What is the chance that we can have dinner?" He waggled his eyebrows beseechingly.

  She smiled at him in relief. "Neeva is grabbing her meal and as soon as she is back, we will go to the longhouse."

  "Do you normally wait for her?"

  "No. I normally have a babysitter for Junior though. Tonight is different. I had to stay here for you anyway." She grinned and patted him on the hand. "She will be back shortly. The bell rang an hour ago."

  "Will there be food left?"

  "Yes. We use a headcount system. You can always count on a basic meal if you need it, but I am pretty sure that Hska has kept something aside for us."

  He sat up, his head spinning for a moment before it settled. "You know, since discovering that Junior is alive and well, my sickness has almost completely faded."

  "I am glad to hear it." She looked like she was going to say something else when Neeva poked her head through the doorway.

  "You are awake, good. Hska is holding dinner for you and she just fed me because Junior needs a babysitter."

  He boosted himself to the floor and stood still until he stabilized. "Come along, my dear. We need to get some nourishment in me to stop my feeble condition in case there is need to defend your very attractive self again."

  She closed the book and slid it beneath her bed. "Fine. Let's go. I am a little hungry as well."

  Steel sidled up to him and he breathed in her scent of wood, oil, steel and female. It was so right that his knees trembled. Casually, he draped his arm over her slender shoulders and steered her out to the door, pausing so that she could hyperventilate into a lantern, lighting it with her breath.

  He admired the cold, glowing light and the twenty-foot pool it cast. "You are going to have to explain that to me one day."

  "And you are going to have to explain how you have a sister who can send you to other worlds to fetch makeup supplies."

  Chapter Eleven

  The longhouse was full and all eyes turned to them the moment that they entered. Steel led him to her seat and put him in Neeva's spot.

  Hska and those on serving duty began their rounds immediately.

  When the plate landed in front of him, Wyanic looked down with suspicion. "What is it?"

  "Weasel." She sniggered and dug in, starting a ravenous feeding frenzy throughout the hall.

  "Why were they waiting?" He dipped some of the bread in the gravy, raised his eyes and dug into the food with enthusiasm.

  "They waited for me. I have been eating most of the experimental food first since we landed. It went from a self-preservation thing on their parts, to a tradition after a few weeks." Her shrug said it all as far as she was concerned.

  He paused for a moment and nodded, then he looked around, identifying several people who looked away when she turned to see who he was looking at.

  When the meal was no more and she had her tea in front of her, Wyanic stood up. "Excuse me, please, everyone."

  The room fell silent with a happy anticipation.

  "Thank you. Steel, as you know, many of the people here feel they owe you their lives and they have decided to give you something. As of today, a great house is being built for you just on the other side of the hill, making your home the first stop for anyone from our town and giving you a bit of privacy once our daughter is with us."

  She blinked in surprise. "A house? I have a house."

  "You have turned it into a workshop and you know it."

  Vin and Aton stood. "Accept it, Steel, and be quiet. You have managed to be at our beck and call these last months, it is only fair we put our appreciation into action. Be gracious and simply accept it for a change."

  Steel opened and closed her mouth several times before simply nodding. "Thank you."

  The applause that erupted startled the few babies and surprised some who were dozing at their tables.

  When the room was quiet and conversations began to ebb and flow, she looked over at Wyanic. "You started them down this path."

  "Yes. You and your daughter need a place to live. With me. We need a home and they owe you more than a simple domicile."

  "They owe me nothing. I did this because I wanted to. I have Junior because Hska insisted on it and because Neeva could do it. I owe them."

  Hska stood behind her. "We are friends. We don't owe each other, we go forward."

  Wyanic nodded. "Excellent point. And excellent food by the way."

  "Thank you. I do try to make something palatable every day." She moved her pregnant belly slowly, settling into her seat with a heavy exhalation.

  "Hska, are you sure that your timing was right? You seem to be even larger than you were yesterday."

  "Well, I may have been pregnant already when they bred me the last time. It is hard for my race to tell until the child gains enough size." She shifted uncomfortably. "I will have Neeva check me."

  Under Steel's amazed gaze, the top of the bulge split and Hska keened as the baby simply crawled upward. Pishin were dexterous at birth. "Someone grab some meat."

  Vin and Aton came to her rescue as the baby crawled up to Hska's collarbone. They handed her a sliver of raw meat and watched as she teased the little one into snapping at the slice. "More. Come on, short stuff."

  She lured the baby off Hska and onto her, keeping her fingers out of reach as the little one snapped with hard gums and needle teeth. Wyanic was helping Hska and someone had sent for Neeva.

  The baby had a dark red crest of hair starting at its forehead and running down its spine. "Hello, Hskeel. Welcome to the world." The child looked at the noise she made with large lavender eyes. She fed it more strips of meat until it refused to take more.

  Neeva came through the doors at a run. She skidded through the crowd and knelt at Hska's side. "There you are. Everything is fine. You just weren't expecting it, so it shocked you." Her voice was low and murmuring. "Wyanic, can you carry her to the clinic?"

  "Of course."

  "Steel, follow with the baby."

  "Will do."

  She rocked Hskeel and held the child close. Now that it was out of the pouch, it would suffer hypothermia if it didn't get back into Hska's pouch.

  They walked under guard, thirty villagers alternately carrying lights and weapons in case the smell of the birth brought a predator. Hska was ensconced in the warmest room of the clinic and Neeva took care of her pouch, clearing out all of the birthing residue to make a new, safe home for Hskeel.

  "Come here, Wyanic." With her mate next to her, she pressed the baby lightly between them, sharing their body heat until Neeva pronounced Hska ready.

&
nbsp; Her friend was finally coming out of her birthing shock. "Where is it? Is it healthy?"

  "It's had its first meal and was waiting until you were ready. Do you want it?"

  Hska stretched out her scaled arms. Steel took the hint and gave her friend the small, scaly child. "Ah, little girl."

  Steel didn't know how she could tell, but she supposed it was a Pishin thing. "And a wonderful crest."

  "Hskeel, come on, little one."

  With a move that was so fast it made her blink, the new mother tucked the child back into its pouch.

  "I guess the ladies are on breakfast duty."

  Hska giggled. "Actually, Vin and Aton have the first round. I will be there to help them, I hope."

  Neeva smiled. "Congratulations. You and the babe are both healthy and it has already had its first meal so it should be sound asleep for ten hours or so. It's a good thing you taught Estelle about Pishin birthing."

  "I didn't."

  Everyone turned to look at Steel and she blushed. "It seemed like the thing to do. My stupid talent flaring its head."

  She nodded at Junior's room and smiled. "Wyanic, you are welcome to stay the night and if you need anything, Hska, just call."

  Neeva grinned. "Do I even live here anymore?"

  "Yes, but only until Davol moves in and sweeps you off your feet. And we both know it." She breezed into Junior's room and knelt next to her child.

  The door closed and she looked up to see Wyanic. "I was wrong. She isn't a chain. She's merely a link. Just like Hskeel's birth is a link, the lizard is a link, sharing dinner is a link. We are bound by more and more as each day passes."

  He grinned down at her and lifted her to her feet, hugging her tight. "We are linked. We have been since that moment and will continue to be as the future stretches out before us."

  "A future. Together. That sounds kind of nice." Happiness bloomed inside her and as they tangled on the cot and their clothing fell to the side, she contemplated the links that were still to come and welcomed each possibility.

  Chapter Twelve

  Six months later…

  The beeper started flashing and Steel yelped with excitement. "Wyan! It's time."

  He dropped the table that he had been moving into their new home and she clambered over it after she had grabbed her baby bag.

  They sprinted together to the clinic, their new house fading behind them and the village gleaming ahead. Their headlong run into her facility shocked Neeva who looked at the flashing beeper in surprise. "Now?"

  "Now."

  "But it's Survivor Day, our anniversary here."

  "And Junior wants to be here for it." With her bag at the ready, she went into Junior's room and Wyan lifted the lid of the unit and set it aside.

  Neeva wheeled in a gurney and set out her instruments on a small tray. She nodded sternly but with a hint of excitement in her manner.

  Using the sterilizing solution, Steel scrubbed her arms to the elbow. "Is everybody ready for this?"

  The baby in the tank kicked impatiently.

  Steel plunged her hands in to the elbow, lifting the slick sack out of the liquid and placing it on the table.

  Neeva moved quickly and slit the sack so that Junior's face was exposed to her parents for the first time.

  Her umbilical cord was clamped and she was lifted free of the sack that had been crafted from her mother's body. Wyanic rubbed her down with a drying towel and then handed her to Steel.

  Her baby. The tiny little rosebud of a mouth opened and a startling purr rang in the room.

  "I think she's hungry." Neeva laughed and Wyanic was smiling foolishly. Steel had the feeling that she had the same expression on her own face.

  Her breasts ached and she unlaced the front of her shirt to allow the noisy little mouth to find her breast. Four weeks of drinking a tea made of weeds that spurred lactation were finally worth it. If Junior didn't like it, there was always goat milk.

  She seemed to enjoy it just fine, so Steel walked into the front office to sit on one of the chairs. That was much better.

  When the tugging pull ceased, she lifted the naked darling and burped her. Grinning up at Wyanic, she extended their baby. "Here you go. I will get the diaper ready as well as the little booties and everything else S'sran thinks she might need."

  They had made it through the first four-month winter with only two deaths. Men who had gotten drunk and passed out next to the brewery on the coldest night of the year. Their wives were now wed to some very cheerful Oefric.

  S'sran was instrumental in everyone's survival. She had woven enough blankets out of the wonderfully insulating wool to cover the whole village. After that, finer cloth had followed.

  Those blankets were part of their winter garb, several folks turning them into voluminous cloaks.

  When S'sran realized that Junior was imminent, she had provided Steel with a baby pack. Blankets, diapers, booties, hats, dresses and tiny mittens were all ready for the tiny one.

  Wyanic followed her into the delivery room and he walked softly. "She is so small."

  "They are small. And helpless. And teeny. Now come over here. We need to wrap that tush before it goes off." Steel laughed at his now-wary expression and took their daughter back to get her dressed in her festival-day finery.

  A sling was in the pile of soft stuff and with a few errors that had Junior's dark blue eyes glaring at her, she got the baby settled against her breast and she threw the leather pack with the rest of the clothes over her shoulder.

  "Neeva, this is Junior. I mean, Estelle Liaka."

  "Pleased to meet you, Liaka." Neeva reached into the snuggie with her hand and touched the tiny hand.

  "Estelle Liaka, this is your Aunty Neeva. You will meet a lot of aunts, uncles and cousins today, but this one is one of the two most important. Without her, you wouldn't be here."

  Noon was rapidly approaching, so they drifted toward the town square outside the longhouse. A stage had been erected and a dance floor was in place. Today was a day to party.

  A few folks stopped her on her way to the longhouse, but Wyanic said that the baby had to obey protocol and they let them pass with grins.

  The longhouse was firmly back under Hska's control. There had been a few very exciting dinners until she was back on duty. A light illuminated her, casting her in the halo of a scaled angel. "Hska, Hskeel, there is someone you need to meet."

  As she turned around, her daughter clung to her chest and a light of surprise came to her eyes, followed by laughter. "She picked today?"

  "She picked today." Steel fished Junior out of the sling and showed her to Hska and Hskeel.

  The six-month-old Pishin reached out to touch before withdrawing her hand with a giggle. "Soft."

  "Very good, Keelie. This is Estelle Liaka. Estelle Liaka, this is Aunty Hska and cousin Hskeel."

  "Welcome to the world, Junior." Hska winked at Wyanic. Her lizard hands took the baby for a moment before returning her to her mother. "She doesn't weigh much for all that waiting."

  "She is heavy enough. Keelie will be hunting before Junior is even walking." She tucked her back into the sling and wrapped her arm around Wyanic. "I think we need to change for the festivities, or S'sran will injure me."

  He wrapped her in his arms. "We will do whatever you wish. Today is the day our family became complete."

  They walked back to their house, the new member of their family waking periodically to look at the world through deep blue eyes.

  A diaper change and a slow rock in the cradle later and Steel rushed to Wyanic in an excess of emotion.

  They left the room and she chuckled at the dizzy release of endorphins. With a rush of enthusiasm, she pressed him to the floor and with only a few strokes of her hand, had him hard enough to put inside her.

  He rolled her to her back and stroked deeply into her, bracing his hands on her shoulders so that he did not shove her down the hall. He cried out softly and she joined him, muffling her shriek with her hand.
/>   Panting, still inside her, he asked, "What was that about?"

  "Our family isn't quite complete yet."

  "What?"

  "In seven months, I am going to present Junior with a little brother or sister."

  His stupefied grin snapped something inside her. She couldn't contain any more happiness and she started to laugh and cry at the same time.

  "Dearling, we need to get to the festival. That means I can't spend any more time inside you. Well, this afternoon anyway." His grin stopped her bubbling laughter and she stopped with a hiccup.

  The baby started to wail and he sighed. "I will get her, you get dressed. I won't be able to contain myself if I watch you disrobe."

  He lifted off her and helped her to her feet, the trousers she was wearing had to be tugged up over her hips and she went to the master bedroom, quickly tidying up before putting on the brilliant violet wool outfit that S'sran had prepared.

  Her hair was partially up in a loose coronet and she looked at herself in the mirror. She looked damned good.

  Wyanic whistled in appreciation when she walked into the hall and turned so he could admire S'sran's handiwork.

  "Your turn."

  She took their long-awaited prize in her arms and sang a soft song with no real words. Her voice must have been familiar to Junior, her little eyes widened and she sucked her fist while she was rocked in her mother's arms.

  When Wyanic was ready, she put on the sling again and tucked Junior into it. "Did you want to carry her?"

  "Not yet. When she is a little bigger." He looked a little uncomfortable.

  "Will you move the cradle into our room tonight?"

  "Of course."

  A crowd was gathering and they stopped and showed the tiny pink face to anyone who wanted to see her. Davol clapped Wyanic on the shoulder as if he had done something amazing and Steel had to admit, Junior was indeed amazing.

  Steel was supposed to make the opening speech to the festival and she realized that Junior might not like it. Ah well, she would find out.

  Vullo lifted her onto the stage, careful not to squash the baby. With three hundred faces that she had known for over a year and a hundred faces she had known for six months, she was surprisingly calm. The Oefric were mixed into the crowd and that spoke volumes.