Page 80 of Right Next Door
So, then, why were they here?
But as Tsok was pondering that, walking with Misty back towards Fellbud Manor, he became aware of how quiet his female was.
“Are you angry?” He asked, making her start in surprise.
She looked at him, seeming to have to think about his question. As if she had been so far gone in her thoughts, she needed a chance to replay it in her head.
“Angry? Why would you assume that?”
“You seemed angry at Senior Boktare. About his comments on humans.”
“Oh.That.” She rolled her eyes quite aggressively. “Yeah, that was pretty rude of him. It was like he was calling my whole species a bunch of sluts who get off on being hunted down and rutted.”
Tsok just stared at her. A bit confused.
She cut that glare on him. “I know you’re not thinking that you agreed with him.”
“I never said that.”
“So, youwerethinking it!”
“Humans are, as I understand it, much more sexual than the rest of the Coalition. And Jeanie did seem to enjoy the way Vigo rutted her.”
She crossed her arms, glaring at him. “Are you saying kreecharma females don’t enjoy it?”
“I’ve never heard one say they did.”
“I mean, like, before. Before all this anti-mating stuff. Did females of your species like being mated?”
Tsok parted his muzzle, but he had to close it because he genuinely had no answer for her. He knew why his people had stopped mating. The horrible case of a youngling with precocious puberty and a despicable male that took advantage of that. It had been horrific – enough so that it turned his people off the concept of mating altogether.
But before that…
It wasn’t like his species was unadvanced. Three hundred years ago, when that shift in the culture came, and before they joined the Coalition, they had still been a space faring species. They were conquering their own solar system and making plans to move beyond. An action that, unbeknownst to them, had caught the eye of the Coalition and earned their spot within it. They were more advanced than Misty’s people were now. So, it wasn’t like the kreecharma had been a bunch of barbarians, roaming around, rutting their females in wild attacks everywhere. They had a civilization, they had order, they had a functioning government.
But he honestly didn't know what the culture around mating was before that one, terrible mating that broke them from their desire for it. He could give her no answer.
“Females enjoyed mating once.”
They both turned, looking behind them. Davard must have been following after, though Tsok hadn’t noticed. His aid was giving them a curious look.
“They enjoyed it?” Tsok asked, surprised. “How do you know?”
“The study of history is a hobby of mine,” he said simply before facing Misty. “Our females used to enjoy the ruts of their males. They welcomed it. Admittedly, it could, and did, happen at the worst of times, but one of the male’s instincts is to take his female somewhere safe and secluded for the duration of the rut, so it’s not like females were being taken out in the streets. Well, at least, not inthatway.”
“So, two people would just pass each other in the street, get a whiff of one another, then he’d take her away and rut her?” Misty asked, just to clarify.
“Breed her, actually,” Davard said. “The rut doesn’t end until the male can smell that the female is gravid. Even if the first time is enough to take, it still would take days before her scent turned. There used to be specially designed buildings meant to lure in a mindless male to give him a place to hole up and finish the rut safely. Of course, some took their female back to their domiciles, or the female’s domicile if it was close enough to scent.”
“They had buildings for mating couples?” Tsok asked, surprised. “I’ve never heard about that.”
“Oh, you wouldn’t. The last one shut down hundreds of years ago. There’s no need for them these days.”
“Wait,” Misty looked between them. “People still mate accidentally. Right? What happens to them now?”
“There are squads trained to deal with it,” Tsok said simply. “A team of five or so are dispatched to sedate the male and separate the two. Hopefully before the female is assaulted.”
“Assaulted?” She frowned. “That’s a bit harsh, right?”
