“Where were you? I woke up, and you were gone.”
I made soft, gentle shushing sounds while I stroked her hair. “I am sorry. I could not sleep, so I went to the other room to avoid waking you.”
She sniffled and wiped her runny nose as her hiccupping sobs faded. “Excited about getting out to the lake?”
It bothered me to hide so much from her, but I didn’t want her trying to stop me. I forced a smile and shook my head. “Excited that soon we can understand each other no matter what words we speak.”
Timber chuckled. “The nanites aren’t quite that refined. Remember how hard it was for you to understand some of the phrases I said when we first met?”
“Indeed. Well, we’ll understand each other better, then. Is that more accurate?”
Once her tears had dried, we showered together before getting dressed for the day. I wore a garment underneath my pants called swim trunks, though they had no actual storage, and to my horror, Timber emerged from the closet in a fitted swimsuit.
“What are you doing?” I asked. “You do not need to wear that to receive the nanites.”
“I’m not wearing it for that, silly. I’m wearing it so I can swim with you.”
No! Anything but that!
“A-are you certain? I will have to dive deep, possibly deeper than you can handle.”
She brushed off my concern with a wave of her hand. “Oh, the lake’s not that deep. Besides, I’ll also have a SCUBA suit and gear brought out there for me. You can dive as deep as you’d like, and I can still join you.” Her grin spread from ear to ear as she modeled the swimsuit. “I thought I’d surprise you!”
This was a terrible surprise. I didn’t know what to say to dissuade Timber from going through with it.
“N’kal, what’s wrong? Do you not like the suit?” She looked down at herself. “Does it make me look fat?”
“No! It is not that, it’s just …” What could I say? I had to think fast. “You look so amazing in that; I find it disappointing that we cannot swim together like Xalanites do in this lake of yours. From what I understand, it’s considered in poor taste for humans to swim like us in public.”
Timber frowned. “What do you mean by ‘swim like Xalanites’?”
I decided it would not hurt anything to feed her a small piece of misinformation. “Naked.”
“Inpublic?” she shrieked.
“Well, how else are we to swim together in a formal courting display? Nudity allows for ease of transition from the courting process to the actual mating.”
Her eyes narrowed, and she crossed her arms over her chest. “In public.”
Something in her tone set off warning signals in my brain, and I worried she might suspect me. Since I had already committed to the story, I kept going.
“Yes. When our mating is not dictated by the elders, the ceremonies are quite beautiful.”
Her suspicious expression did not change.
“Would you like to participate? I believe Director Hall is having a section of the lake by Amber and Q’on’s old cabin cordoned off for our trip; we might have some privacy, more than we would on Xalan.”
Finally, her posture relaxed a fraction. “I honestly can’t tell if you’re fucking with me, but if you really don’t want me swimming with you, then I won’t.”
Timber was quiet on the drive to the lake. I did not believe she was angry, but she did not seem happy, either. She held my hand in the car on the way, but her eyes remained locked on some distant object outside the car.
In addition to the AARO agents on our security detail, a couple of Xalanite guards joined us. I had hoped it would just be me in the lake, but I was acquainted with these Xalanites and knew them to be capable warriors, so I did not object to their presence. While the AARO still did not allow any of us to arm ourselves, I knew they would be able to defend against him if we encountered the scarred man.
Because the lake visit was ostensibly for my health, themoyamet us there with some medical equipment set up on the shore. He connected me to several monitors and ran preliminary tests before declaring me fit to enter the water.
I strode into the lake, taking a brief moment to look back at Timber on the shore. She stood with her arms wrapped around herself, the glimmer of tears in her wide eyes. I hoped she could find it in her heart to forgive me some day … if I survived to beg forgiveness.
I blew Timber one final kiss before diving into the lake.
