Page 29 of Serpents of the Night

Her smile widened and she nodded. “Mmm. It’s perfect. I wonder what strength would have smelled like. That’s probably what I needed, but I can’t imagine it would have been quite this nice.”

He shook his head as Slengral grunted, his wing tightening around her. “I would rather you be happy than be strong,” he grumbled. “You have us where strength is needed.”

Daskh hummed in agreement. “I am not useful for much, but strength I exceed at.”

Lori frowned as she turned to peer over at her larger mate. “Don’t say that. There are many wonderful qualities about you, and your strength—while impressive—doesn’t even come close to what I would consider my favorite things about you.”

Ears tipping back in embarrassment, he smiled and hugged a squirming Hashal to him, the little male playing with his own sachet sewn into the shape of a kind of reptile that she had never seen before.

“We can lean on each other,” Kehtal amended cheerfully as he gently wing-bumped her. “You are our happiness, so we are pleased to be your strength or anything else that you need. You are everything.”

“You are everything, indeed,” Slengral murmured, his red eyes warming with love as he looked down at her. “Kehtal is right.”

She nodded in agreement as warmth filled and settled deep within her. Pressing the sachet to her body, she smiled as she continued down the road but startled when a loud shout of laughter rose suddenly from her left. Side-stepping in surprise, Lori spun around to find her mate’s wings fanning protectively around her for a moment before dropping away with relieved grunts from the males as a group of smaller females lunged past, their shrieks of merriment proceeding them as they through globs of powder at each other.

“Is that...?”

Daskh chuffed and inclined his head, his gavo snapping. “Dishana dust. From the last harvest. The value of the dishana is in the stamen, so the vendors will grind up the petals for its dust. Our people enjoy the good fortune it brings to be painted with it during The Blooming, so it is sold in small bags for celebrating.”

Lori laughed in delight, her eyes eagerly following the females who, judging by their size, couldn’t be older than juveniles themselves. They darted around each other, slinging handfuls of the glittery powder as they raced down the street. Lori’s smile faded as she watched them depart as another group of young males soared overhead, drawing her gaze momentarily upward at their passage. As much as she enjoyed seeing them so carefree, the contrast between their merriment and the work demanded of the juvenile males was stark. Her mates didn’t say anything, as they too craned their heads to watch, but she could feel the weight of their emotions in the air between them.

Slengral finally shook his head and sighed before turning an indulgent look on her. “Shall we continue?”

Not wanting the night to end yet, she nodded and continued down the street, her happiness slipping away a little more as a small group of females stared at them with hard, angry expressions on their faces as they passed.

“Ignore them,” Daskh rumbled, and she wasn’t entirely sure if that was for her benefit or for her other two mates.

Slengral merely grunted, but he pulled her over to a stall with some sort of round fruit candied with golden syrup on a stick and offerings of skewered meat. Once their hands were laden with food, they headed toward a raised platform set up along the broader edge of the street that seemed to be designed for it. It wasn’t the only such performance that seemed to be going on, though many were done in the midst of the crowds.

Surprisingly, many of the performance types were similar to ones that she was familiar with from the designated parts of the cities on Earth that were districts devoted to pleasures. There were gracefully undulating bodies of dancers that wove complicated moves upon their tails, their wings moving in fluid positions, fanning around them artfully. There were those that played with fire, jugglers, musicians. Outside of the musicians, which drew sizeable crowds, most of the performers were surprisingly comprised largely of male members. She spotted a few females among them working with their mates, but the largest number of them appeared to be juvenile males just like the dishana gatherers. It was a stark difference from the shops filled with female staff, and female operated stalls which had the occasional male attendant to help distribute wares.

A stall filled with small luminous stones carved into intricate designs caught her eye, and her steps slowed with interest. They glowed softly in a rainbow of hues, but one in particular drew Lori in closer, the purple glow of the stone accentuating the detailed lines of the stylized teardrop flower pendant into which it was carved. It was no bigger than the length between the tip of her pink to her first knuckle and nearly translucent with the delicate workmanship. Slengral reached past her, his powerful arm blocking her view of the rest of the stall. She immediately protested when his fingers closed around it.

“That’s okay, you guys already got me something I don’t need...” she began, but her mate chuffed in amusement, his red eyes sliding over to her.

“You do not like the dark. I can sing to charge it and you will never be left in the dark no matter where you are,” he rasped.

“I suppose that makes sense. Though I’m not going to argue too hard about you wanting to buy me something so pretty,” she added with a laugh. “But after this, no more.”

Daskh snorted softly. “Do I not get to give you a gift?”

Lori peered over at her mate, suddenly disconcerted. “I didn’t realize that we were gift-giving. I don’t have any way to get something for you guys.”

Her mates chuckled and Daskh shook his head in amusement. “Let us spoil our mate as good males do. You have given us everything that we have always wanted. But my gift next.”

“What do you have in mind?” she asked, suddenly curious.

A secretive smile crossed his face. “Wait and see.”

Chapter 24

Excitement rose within Daskh as he scanned the shops. Lori did not understand Seshanamitesh customs, especially for The Blooming. He had faded memories from long ago of his father bringing home gifts to his mother during the festival, eager to shower his adoration on his female. And for this special occasion, he wanted his mate to have a coveted dishana flower. Not one of the fresh blooms which would be in the processing stage still, but one of the blooms with the stamen removed and gilded in golden mithrax drawn from deep within the mountains from a previous season. It was customary for males to gift their mates with the precious flowers in their first Blooming together, to which others would be added at key intervals throughout their revolutions together.

His mother had three flowers collected before his father descended into the next world. One from their first Blooming, one after his birth, and a third at their tenth revolution together as a mated pair. She kept them displayed together in the nest as mementos of their love. Daskh had dreamed of having that and excitement rushed through him at the prospect of being the one among them to gift Lori with her first dishana flower. Normally he would have flown to the temple to collect it himself and return with the bloom from the holy mothers, but he could not wait any longer. He would fly Lori up to the temple spire that rose above the shinara where she could select the one that she favored the most.

Despite his eagerness, he did not spring to action immediately, however. Instead, he waited patiently as he enjoyed the festival through his mate’s simple pleasures. The tight confines of the crowd did not appeal to him as a mature Seshanamitesh male, but watching the expressions flit across his mate’s face calmed him and had him looking forward to every new experience and discovery she made as they made their way through the market, pausing frequently to watch the performers. More than once he had to pause in discovery of a moment of sheer appreciation of just how different the world of the shinara was from the upper caverns—in a multitude of little ways that he had forgotten as time passed.

His wings twitched eagerly as Lori pressed her hand to her mouth to cover her yawn, and Kehtal glanced over at him in open curiosity. The male was already twitchy, but Daskh did not blame him. Only Slengral gave the appearance of completely cool composure as he scanned the crowd. His wings were slightly unfurled so that they could snap open at a moment’s notice to push away anyone who got too close to their mate as he carved the path out ahead of them, leaving Daskh guarding the rear.

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