I’m about to question her further whensomethingmakes a Goddess-awful, ear-splitting noise.
“Nova!” Ah-Lanah coos, and I look to see the female and her new youngling in her arms. The youngling in question is currently yanking on High Spear Rynn’s feathers with a tiny little fist. “Nova, let go, baby.”
Rynn smiles through gritted teeth, his Zahreenah giggling at him in his lap.
“I’m so sorry, Rynn, I think she’s missing her daddy.”
“I bet you’re missing daddy Mavyx, too, huh Alana?” Chaz-Titi comments before shoving a handful of nectar berries into her mouth.
Ah-Lanah gives her a good-natured glare while she prizes the High Spear’s feathers from her youngling’s grip. “We are bothmissing him, and hope he gets back safe and sound very soon, don’t we baby?” she says, making her voice go strangely high-pitched as she bounces the human youngling in front of her. I do not understand the bouncing, nor the strange singing-tone Ah-Lanah uses.
Nova squirms in her hold and Chaz-Titi reaches for the tiny youngling. “Here, let’s give mama a break, huh? So she can eat something without having to fuss over you.” Something strange happens to females when they speak to their young, because Chaz-Titi’s voice goes high as she starts to babble nonsense-words to the youngling while rubbing their noses together. “Oh, I could just eat you up, I could! yes, I could! Nomnomnom!”
I freeze. Humans do not eat their own young, do they?!
Before I get a chance to ask, or possibly intervene, saving the youngling from the jaws of a hungry female, Chaz-Titi shoves the tiny human across Polly’s lap and into my own hands. “Here,” she tells the youngling, “time to meet Uncle Ricky!”
I hold the thing out in front of me, my hands dwarfing its tiny frame where they are hooked under its short, chubby arms. “Uh…hello?” Nova does not answer. She begins to squirm. Looking to the others for aid, I find none. There are only grinning faces looking back at me. “Ah… Ah-Lanah, did your… did your youngling hatch too soon?” I ask. “She is very small, and is not answering me.”
“Don’t let your Second Spear hear you question his daughter, brother,” Rynn says as he feeds his mate with his own hands. “Mavyx thinks little Nova here is a direct descendant from the Goddesses themselves and can do no wrong.” He sucks a breath over his teeth as if I have just committed a great crime against Tribe and Temple. “If he hears you comment on her size…”
“I am not-… I just-”
Thankfully, Polly leans into me and pats my leg. “Human babies are meant to be that size. And they don’t talk or walk for a good long while.”
“Oh.” They arecompletelydependent? That is…terrifying.
Nova begins to squirm with more vigor this time, her tiny human head searching for something even though her eyes remain closed. “Looks like my little star is hungry again,” Ah-Lanah sighs. “Hand her back over.”
As intriguing as the human youngling is, I am relieved to pass her back to her mother’s arms.
“Watch this,” Chaz-Titi tells Polly with a grin before announcing very loudly. “Alright, y’all, baby’s gotta eat. Y’all know what that means!”
Very quickly, all the tribesmales around us, bar Rynn, stop what they’re going and make haste in clearing the area. Some fly off to their duties, others gather their things and scurry away like busy berry-beetles. It is almost as if they move with fear nipping at their tails.
“Why are they leaving?” Polly asks, just as confused as I am.
“Because,” Ah-Lanah says, lifting her coverings to reveal one of her full breasts in a movement so quick and without care, I almost think I am seeing things. “Understandably, there was a lot of interest in how women feed their babies and Mav did not like the staring, not one bit.” There’s some shuffling and positioning of the youngling while she talks and suddenly I am reminded of our lessons with the females and the role of their breasts when rearing young.
“Mm-hm,” Chaz-Titi nods, handing Ah-Lanah a woven piece of cloth that she then drapes over her shoulder and the head of the youngling as she feeds. “You should have heard her man,” she says, leaning into Polly as she continues, “now I’ve heard one or two threats of violence in my time, but let me tell you, Mavyx got creative with it. The things he said he would do to these poorguys if he caught them staring at his girl’s taa-taas? It even made me wince to think about it!”
I can imagine it. I can understand it. The way I would want to shield and protect my Polly has my own gut twisting at thoughts of her beautiful body being gawked at like that.
Well… by anyone else but me. I am the only one allowed to ‘pervert’ with my Polly.
The remainder of the evening passes by filled with pleasant idle talk and eating. We recount the differences between Trixikka and human young for my Polly’s benefit, and Zahreenah takes great pleasure in explaining the hatching of our younglings from our Temple. ‘So fucking weird’, I believe she described it as, although, I remember what we had been taught about how human young enter the world, and I do not think humans can speak on what is ‘weird’ or not. Everyone takes turns in holding little Nova - well, everyone except for Bea. She seemed to want to leave the gathering for her nest as soon as she was offered the youngling to hold. And, even in my exhausted state, it was difficult to miss the way Zyntarr respectfully waits in the shadows to escort her back to the shared female’s hut.
At one point, I find my body turned in to face my mate, my eyes intent on hers as she talks with the other humans about… well, human things, I suppose. It is not the words that have me taken, but the way the firelight kisses her cheeks - cheeks that are rounded with a smile. The shadows of her lashes, the way she looks to the skies when she’s trying to remember a detail, like the stars themselves could reveal it.
I also love the way her soft stomach jerks when she laughs, and how round her thighs and rear are as she sits cross-legged beside me. She is so precious to me, and yet I have the urge to take her in my arms and squeeze her really tightly. I do not know why. I do not want to harm her in any way, she is just so…
I do not know the words for it.
She makes my mouth water, my heart race, and my cock swell. I also want to bite her, in so,somany places.
She turns to me as her conversation grows sparse. A gentle smile curving her lips as she finds me already staring. “What?” The word is almost whispered and trails off into an amused sound.
Our eyes make a map of each other’s expression as the fires crackle and the others talk quietly around us. “You claimed me today.”
