Page 52 of Unfinished

“Do you have any children out there, too? Like Veesha?”

Jesthi’s feathers flattened tightly against his scalp as he looked down at the brick floor. “It’s highly unlikely.” He finally told her, sounding unexpectedly bitter.

The husk made a crinkling noise in her hand, and she set the remains down on the table. “May I ask why?”

“Unlike R’kash, I did not begin my career in a city temple. I’ve been at Evathi since I was a youngling. There are temples where women go when they wish for children with priest clan blood, and Evathi is not one of them. Most of us don’t have his…experience.”

Jesthi still wasn’t meeting her eyes. He pulled a skein of gold string from beneath his robes and set a dagger on the table. If Jesthi thought R’kash was experienced, what did that mean for the other men here?

“Why don’t you look for a mate yourself?” she asked.

His lips pressed together hard before he answered. “Maybe someday I will. Not many women here are like you, Sienna. I have no great status to offer, and most wish to live nearer to the cities. Besides, the temple must always come first, so priests seldom take mates, although that seems to be changing now.”

“R’kash looked for a mate. Why didn’t he let that stop him?”

“He’s the high priest. He has Veesha. It’s different.”

Jesthi snatched a handful of husks off the table in a graceless move that scattered several pieces to the floor. His feathers shifted above his head in agitation, and she knew she’d hit some sort of nerve, which hadn’t been her intention. She liked Jesthi. She could see him with children and a wife, all of them cheerful and full of energy just like him.

“Why don’t you show me how to make one of the dolls, and then we can get started. We’ve got a hundred left to go, right?”

He looked up, the stiffness around his mouth fading as a slight smile peeked through. “That’s correct, lady.” He picked up several husk pieces and held them up, showing her how to craft one of the little dolls with a few folds and ties.

Sienna was still trying to master her first doll when Veesha ran inside, wings aflutter and Faseeth trailing slowly behind.

“Lady Sienna. I didn’t expect to see you here crafting fertility charms. Is that one yours?” he asked as he looked over the materials on the table like he thought they might be infested with something.

“No. I’m just helping out for the celebration tomorrow like everyone else,” she said as she finally got the doll’s legs the right length. “Do you have similar festivals in Lisseethi?”

Apparently, that’d been the right thing to say, because Faseeth launched right into a detailed recounting of forest courtship and hunting parties. A few minutes into his descriptions, she went to catch Jesthi’s eye and found him patiently guiding Veesha’s hands as she gathered the husks into a doll with a wide skirt. All of the priests at Evathi were so good with her. It was hard to believe that most of them had never spent much time around children before.

Jesthi noticed her looking and flashed her a warm smile, bending his head towards her third finished doll. “You’re doing well,” he told her.

Veesha soon tired of sitting still and took off to run circles around the large table, her doll in hand. By the time they’d almost finished, the other priests were trickling in to join them. R’kash’s warm hands settled over her shoulders, and she let her head fall back against his chest. It all felt so natural, so right.

They woke up tangled up in each others’ arms the next morning, and she never wanted to leave, but it was Veesha’s birthday, and they only had a little time to celebrate before the craziness of the harvest festival.

Sienna gently shook his upper arm. “R’kash, wake up.”

She’d gone back to the kitchen to work on her pie with Neevish later last evening after Veesha had gone to sleep. It was currently being kept ready in one of the Xithilene stasis-cabinets. She’d learned that despite the primitive appearance of things here at Evathi, there was quite a bit of advanced tech hidden behind the veneer of old stone and simplicity. The stasis-cabinets preserved food far better than her fridge back home, and she wouldn’t even need to warm up the pie ahead of time. Still, that didn’t mean she didn’t want plenty of time to decorate the dining hall.

R’kash let out a deep, rumbling groan that she could feel vibrate against the hand she still pressed to his chest. She sighed happily. He was so handsome. He hadn’t pulled the curtains back fully since their first night together, and in the morning sun, his scales appeared to glow. She needed to move, but she could easily stay there all morning just drinking in the sight of him.

“Sienna,k’lallsa,” he said as his eyes slowly opened.

She caught the slide of his nictitating membrane, a transparent sort of third eyelid that moved left to right over his eyes, as he turned his face away from the bright sunlight. After seeing how fast he’d run up the sandy hills when they’d taken Veesha to the riverside, she hadn’t been too shocked to find out his body had additional built-in protection for his eyes, but it was still a bit disconcerting to watch.

“It’s early yet.” His arms tightened around her back, drawing her in closer.

“It’s Veesha’s birthday,” she reminded him, her lips moving against his chest and making him hiss as he squirmed back. She’d discovered scaled skin could be ticklish, too. She laughed and rolled away onto her back. “Come on, R’kash. We have work to do.”

He arched his back and stretched like a cat in reverse, lifting his arms to dig his fingers into his dense black feathers. He was smiling with his eyes closed, and it was all she could do not to reach out and skate her fingers down his beautiful body, but if she touched him, they’d never leave the bed.

“Come bathe with me, Sienna?” he asked as he slowly sat up.

“I’d love to,” she said. Xithilene bathrooms didn’t disappoint, and Evathi’s accommodations were even more luxurious than the facilities aboard theBite of the Fa’asath.

She followed him into the jade-walled, slightly glowing bathroom, and they prepared themselves for the day, unfortunately keeping to their own sides of the cleansing chamber, a spacious all-in-one washing and drying compartment.

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