Page 13 of Purring, Presents, and Parties

Rossimun sounded a rattle of surprise and turned to face him. “Kasium, are you well?”

Realizing he was acting irrationally, he tried to calm himself. After a few submarks, he realized his heart and adrenal system refused to abide by his brain’s demands.

He needed to isolate until he had his emotions under control. Emotions were the enemy of science. He was a healer, he needed to be cool and collected at all times.

“I believe I’m suffering from eye fatigue,” he said, pointing to the display behind him. It was a common malady among Talin and if not addressed, could turn into crippling nerve pain. “I’ve spent too many marks focused on my research.”

Rossimun sounded a soothing rumble. “You should medicate and rest, my friend.”

Kasium sounded a rumble of agreement. Without another word, he sealed himself into the small private quarters in the infirmary. His emotions were so close to the surface that if he didn’t do something immediately, he’d storm off to confront Zuri and Jalin.

There were a few vials on the small table in the room. Pulling off the sealed caps, he downed them all, one right after another. He didn’t need to read the labels, he recognized the color combinations of the vials.

As he hoped, the chemicals hit him fast, and he started feeling unsteady before he even got to the bed. Collapsing down, herolled on his back and stared up at a ceiling that moved in and out of focus.

One of Zuri’s wraps lay on the pillow next to him. He drew it over his face, letting the smell of her fill his nose slits. If he focused really hard, he could pretend he was in the cottage, and she was asleep in her nest on the floor next to him.

“I’m in control,” he whispered to himself. “I’m in control. I’m in control. Tomorrow I’ll fix everything.”

Chapter 6

Tarrian

Tarrian watched Aubrey wade into the shallow stream. He wanted to follow but stayed on the bank, ready to jump in at any hint that her balance was compromised. Aubrey was rock hunting, and when she was concentrating, she hated it when he “loomed over her like a villain from an Old Earth horror movie.”

He didn’t have to know what a horror movie was to know that being labeled a villain wasn’t good. Still, he wished she’d let him get a little closer. When she was focused like this, it was common for her to lose her footing. He didn’t want her to suffer a fall when it was completely unnecessary, but Aubrey was stubborn, so he kept his distance.

“Ah ha!” Aubrey cried out, straightening up with a wet, moss-covered rock clutched in her hand.

“What prize have you found?” he asked, using interest in her rock to join her in the water.

“I think it’s a fossil,” she said, rubbing at a corner of it. Then she held it up. “Do you see the hole? It was probably a spine.”

He’d spent his entire adultlette and adult life in service to the Talin military. He knew all kinds of things associated with battle. The science he learned centered around weapon trajectories and ballistic resistance of various materials.

Now that he’d dedicated his life to Aubrey, he was discovering joy in other things, such as finding a fossil. Aubrey brought light and laughter to his life; how could he not delight in anything that made her this happy?

“We can take a detailed image scan of it and send it to experts,” Tarrian offered. “They would be able to tell us what animal it was originally.”

Aubrey smiled even as she shook her head. “Nope, I want to figure it out myself. Before I decided on geology, I was super obsessed with paleontology. It’ll be fun to dive into your Unibase and figure out who this vertebra belonged to.”

“As you like,” he agreed. “Would you like to head back now?”

“Let’s go a little further downstream,” Aubrey said, tucking the fossil in an outside pocket of the bag slung over her shoulder. So far, the bag only had a few small rocks and the fossil, but there would be more. The bag was always full to bursting by the time Aubrey agreed to stop. Only then would she let him carry it; until it was at its heaviest, she wouldn’t let it go.

It was another example of how stubborn his sweet human could be.

“We should walk along the bank, not in the water,” he said, ready to fight her on this point. “There are spin slugs, and I might be able to see them fast enough if we’re walking with the water.”

“Sure,” she agreed, and he sounded a rumble of relief before picking her up and walking her out of the stream.

Aubrey let him carry her the short distance but then demanded to be put down and allowed to walk so she could see the rocks better. This stream was a solid two-mark journey from their compound by ground transport but was secluded enough that Tarrian didn’t worry about getting mobbed by curious Talins.

Their seclusion meant he could touch her without worrying about being reported to the Committee of Pet Welfare. They also got away from the crowded compound for the day. There were few negatives and many positives. If he wasn’t concerned about Aubrey overexerting herself, he’d plan trips for them every rotation.

“Tarrian, look there!” Aubrey exclaimed at the same time she moved to jump off the short embankment and into the water.

Tarrian’s swift reflexes kept her on dry land. “Aubrey, we’ve discussed this! You need to let me check for spin slugs first.”

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