Page 7 of Bound By the Vori

Sijhord’s eyes lit up in response, his tail curling around her ankle with his excitement. “You teach? This is considered a most valuable position in Vori society since few have the great patience for it and the skill to do so in a way that engages the young. All Vori highly value those who instruct.”

She laughed softly, unclear if he was teasing her or not. “Well, if that’s true, that perspective is something else. I was teaching high school courses, but I had worked damn hard to get there, and was working on a higher degree program to perhaps move into teaching at the university level. Not that I didn’t do plenty of time as a student teacher in elementary schools. I got my start there when I was working on my master’s degree actually, so I understand what the work is like at different education levels. As far as I’m concerned, I earned every bit of praise I’ve ever received—rare as it has been—and then some. But I can’t say in all the years I taught that I received such high praise and pretty words.”

“Those who hold such opinions are fools, hoping to breed nothing more than subsequent generations of fools,” Rykaal retorted so crossly that she swore that he was offended on her behalf. “Vora has had its struggles in recent generations, but the honor and respect paid to our educators—positions usually filled by those who were not Vori and not vulnerable to the problems that plagued us—were always upheld.”

Kim straightened to her full height and regarded him thoughtfully, pleasure warring with disbelief. His pleased smile and Sijhord’s earnest expression told her that he was being straight with her. A worldwide culture where teachers were treated respectfully despite being themselves alien? How novel compared to what she left behind.

“The Matriarch will be pleased,” Rykaal added. “She will no doubt wish to meet a human educator. There have been some setbacks with creating policies due to lack of understanding of human culture.”

Kim’s cheeks warmed with pleasure at the confidence in her mate’s voice. She didn’t want him to have the wrong idea, however. “I’m not exactly an expert on human culture. I have advanced degrees in the Arts and Humanities which includes history, art, some politics, but these are still mostly specific to where I’m from. Earth has many different human cultures. There won’t really be a one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to people arriving from different parts of the world.”

Rykaal’s lips pursed, but he inclined his head. “I will be sure to address that matter to The Matriarch. I know that Vora is changing not only because of Dr. es’EtaliAgor’s medical discoveries but also due to the large influx of humans. It is better to be prepared. It is something she has mentioned in regard to her young heir.”

Kim cocked an eyebrow. “There are really that many humans here?”

“Oh, yes,” Sijhord replied. “The capital cities have the most, but you will find them in much smaller numbers within the various familial territories as well.” His expression brightened. “We should take you around the city so that you can see it firsthand. We do have the next several rotations off for mating and bonding.” He glanced over at Rykaal, and the other male nodded, a faint smile tugging at his dark lips.

“I think that is an excellent idea.”

Just that quick, Kim found herself in the midst of planning their day, with her mates mentioning a number of shops and must-see stops, and she felt her own excitement rising proportionately to the enthusiasm of her mates. Even somber Rykaal spoke with a note of anticipation in his voice as his tail twisted and curled with a soft rattle that she began to interpret as signs of his eagerness. Though the movements were small, and his crown coils moved around his head in a soft wave, it was as adorable as the anxious wiggle of one of her previous teenaged students when they got to the age where they were too cool and too grown to show the gleeful joy of a child. Well, she had no problem doing it.

Giggling, she looped her arms through theirs and hugged them close to her with a thrilled squeal of jubilation. A honeymoon starting out with a day to explore an alien city? It was going to be lit!

Seven

Sijhord undulated at his mate’s side, trying hard not to outpace her walking speed. Rykaal’s contained speed as he moved forward leisurely at her side was the perfect model of exactly what he was failing at doing.

The city radiated out from the palace at its center like a starburst, the winding streets circling the apex before expanding further. The market was the closest area to the palace gates, and it was where they took their mate, eager to savor her fascination and excitement.

As promised, there were many humans visible mingling in the streets and within the various shops. Several humans owned their own establishments varying in goods from human art to cuisine made with products that were frozen and sent on ships from Earth to Vora. They mingled among male Vori. Despite the medicine that cured or at least offered control of the symptoms of madness that had come over the females of their species, very few came into the capital, preferring to comfortably remain within their own territories with their mates surrounding them.

Kim peered at her surroundings in fascination. “I never did ask,” she murmured. “I get the reason for your size difference, but why is your coloring so different from the others too?”

Sijhord blinked and chuckled at his own surprise. It was such common knowledge on Vora that it had not occurred to them that she would find it curious. “It is genetically linked to the same traits that cause our size and the lack of the nervous receptors that are sensitive to female vocalizations. We are what you humans would call throwbacks. It is believed that our appearance was once more common before selective breeding isolated more desirable traits in coloring, size, receptivity, and temperament.”

Her nose wrinkled, and she glanced over at him. “Selective breeding, huh? Damn. Sorry I asked.”

Sijhord smiled, but he did not quite understand her distaste. “It is not a bad thing, Kim,” he assured her as they headed toward a nearby shop filled with colorful fabrics. “Although it makes males like me even more undesirable, it was for the better good and safety of everyone that allowed males to be accepted more readily by females. Before we began doing this, a great many generations ago, many males were isolated and lived out their lives alone, most not even permitted to remain within the maternal territory where they were born.”

Kim looked up from the pink swath of silk on display and glanced sharply at him. “What? Why?”

He gave her a sad look. “Imagine a whole society where every male is as large as we are but not subjected to the training that guards are to harness our strength properly and to put the needs of our community before our own, with our people’s welfare our only loyalty. Before the breeding programs, females were reluctant to take more than one male as her mate. If she did take another, her first mate would often cripple any other males who came into the nest so that they were unable to potentially harm her. Males possess defenses that females do not, and when we are large like this, without any controls in place, we are dangerous. Not only to females but to all Voris. It was not uncommon for males to jealously defend perceived territory or to outright kill rivals when it came to mating. When certain members of our population were born smaller and sensitive to the female vocal patterns, noting that it could subdue him, it was considered beneficial.”

“Okay, granted, that all sounds terrible, but it also sounds a lot like playing god,” she pointed out. “Isn’t the whole madness that afflicted your females a result of breeding too? Seems to me that selective breeding had a pretty steep consequence.” Her lips thinned. “Selective breeding for certain traits may look good on paper to some, but it sounds a lot like eradicating people from your society that have every right to live, love, and have families of their own. I have a hard time believing that once those policies were put in place that the ‘undesirables’ were allowed to carry on as usual in making their families. That’s generally not how it works. And that’s not even touching the hot mess it can play within your own genetic pool.”

Sijhord frowned. He had never considered it that way. It was always taught as a good thing that had benefited their species by providing some balance among the Vori. He had never given much thought to males like him who would have been actively culled from breeding. A shiver ran through him at the idea of what that would have meant. He did not believe that the males were murdered. He did not think that the Matriarchs in the past would have been so cruel. But among the Vori, even then males had outnumbered females to a greater degree. They would have had to do something to breed out the old bloodlines.

From the shuttered expression on Rykaal’s face, he knew that his mind had to be wandering along similar routes though he was careful not to betray his thoughts.

“Anyway, I’m glad those practices are over,” Kim continued, her attention returning to the racks of material that would be cut and sewn to fit her alien body just as neatly as they were styled for a Vori’s upper body. Her lips curled as her eyes skimmed over to him. “As far as I’m concerned, your females are missing out.”

He gave her an infatuated smile, his eyes following her as she put the pink material back and pulled out a vibrant green that was just a shade or two lighter than his scales. Holding the material up against her, she looked over at him and swished the material around her body.

“What do you think? Should I throw a little money around so that we can match?”

His heart warmed with delight. “You would wish to do that? In some places, especially near the capital, it is the highest compliment for a female to rub a male’s coloring onto her scales. Not her entire tail,” he was quick to add. “But just a little bit of coloring here,” he said, pointing to where his scales began along his pelvis, “to demonstrate her favor.”

“Hmm… I guess that would make it easy if a female had multiple favorites,” she teased, her smiling eyes flitting to Rykaal to include him in their flirting.

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