Page 57 of Romancing Rem'eb

I don’t know how we manage to find Noj’me, given that neither of us is paying much attention to where we’re walking. Somehow we do manage to find her, though. She’s with Devi, who’s questioning her eagerly about life underground. If I had my wits together, I would have guessed that she’d be chatting with Devi, who loves to learn about the ecology of this planet. But since all of my brain cells are currently fixated on how good Rem’eb smells as he stands right next to me, well…I can’t be blamed for nearly walking over Noj’me and Devi both as they sit together on the beach, Devi’s son N’rav playing nearby in the sand.

“Yes, but can you describe them to me in greater detail?” Devi is asking, an animal skin spread on her legs and making notes on it with a charcoal-tipped bone.

Noj’me looks confused at the question. “They are mushrooms.” She shrugs. “Just mushrooms.”

“I need you to detail them for me—the color, the scent, the length of the stipe, if they grow in clusters or separately, if they have gills or flesh. Also the environment they grow best in. As much information as you can, please.”

“In…cave?” Noj’me shoots us a helpless look as we approach. “They are cave mushrooms. Big ones.”

Devi’s writing instrument scratches on the hide. “And how big is big, exactly? Are the textures of the mushrooms different when they’re smaller than they are as they grow larger?”

I clear my throat. “Hey, sorry to interrupt, but we need a translator. Can we borrow Noj’me for a while?”

Both women turn to look at us, hand in hand, distracted and resonating like a symphony. Noj’me smiles politely, her gaze focused on our chests, where the source of the endless humming is coming from. It’s as if she knows exactly what we’re going to ask about.

Devi opens her mouth to protest and then snaps it shut again. “Yes, of course. We’re just talking about some of the aspects of the mushrooms that their people grow. I would love to have a sample to study to see if we could cultivate it up here, but I suppose it’s not warm enough.” Her expression grows wistful. “Though maybe we could artificially make an appropriate environment somehow. I’m still not entirely sure it would work unless there’s some sort of dormant root system we can activate…”

I clear my throat again.

“Right, right, of course. There are far more pressing problems than fungal colonies.” Devi rolls up the skin on her lap. “Thank you for your time, Noj’me. May we talk again soon?” She smiles at all of us as Noj’me gets up to leave. N’rav races to his mother with a shell in his hand, proudly showing it off, and Devi is distracted. “That one is lovely, my boy, but we’ve already recorded that one.”

“Pretty,” N’rav says, holding it out again.

“So it is.” Devi takes it from him, beaming. “I stand corrected. This one is absolutely worth keeping. We shall put it on our shelf of ‘attractive but scientifically superfluous’ discoveries. Good job, N’rav. You’re such a big help.”

He giggles and races off into the sands again, no doubt to look for more shells.

Noj’me approaches us, her expression troubled. “What is su-per…su-per…”

“Superfluous,” I finish. “It means duplicate.”

She blinks at me. “Doo-plick?—”

“Double,” I correct. “A repeat.”

“Aaaah, repeat. Yes.” She nods sagely. “Devi knows a great many of the oracle’s words. She is very wise.” She gestures at the wide open beach. “Where talk?”

The beach isn’t busy today. The weather is nice, the faraway twin suns casting down their faint sunlight with all their might. It means it’s a good day for hunting and going out to do chores that are put off during blustery weather. It shouldn’t feel as if we’re on parade, but with my khui humming and Rem’eb at my side, I feel conspicuous. Like all eyes of the beach village are on both of us, wondering if we’ve fucked yet.

I can’t even blame them. If I was on the other side of this, I’d be watching us, too.

I point at a distant rocky outcropping near the shore. It’s just far enough away that no one will be able to hear our conversations, but not so far that it’ll be a huge hike back to the village. Which is good, because I’m not sure I have the energy to trek far. Every bit of me feels like it’s trembling, all because of resonance and its need to be fulfilled.

We make our way over, and Noj’me perches on the flat part of a broad rock, crossing her legs and then resting all four arms on her knees as she watches us. I sit across from her, my hands clasped in my lap, and watch as Rem’eb sits next to me. Instead of keeping his hands to himself, he slides one to my waist, another on my shoulder, and pulls me close. It makes my khui go haywire, and when I glance up at him, our eyes meet.

And then I’m lost. I want to crawl into his lap and kiss him until we’re both panting and naked. I want to straddle him and guide his dick between my thighs. I’d hold him carefully, rubbing the head of him against the entrance of my body and making both of us wild before I let him slide deep into me. Then I’d ride his dick until it unfurls inside me, filling me with his release?—

Noj’me speaks, jarring me from my filthy thoughts. “So, Tia the Stranger, tell me your words.”

I jerk my gaze away from Rem’eb’s heated one, distracted and flustered. “Right. Of course. My words.”

Now is the time I say everything. It’s just that…I haven’t really thought this all the way through. I keep getting distracted. I turn to Rem’eb, who’s watching me with understanding, worried eyes.

“I need you to make a deal with me,” I tell him, my words feeling weighty.

“Tia the Stranger needs you to make with her.” Noj’me says. “Make resonance, I think.”

“Make a deal,” I clarify, and it takes all of my being not to shout at her. “A bargain. An agreement.”

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