“It’s the coffee maker, Bron.”
The huge Warrior put a finger on Syn’s lips
and a shiver of need snaked down to her center. “Then, my little
love, the coffee maker shall be fixed.”
“The coffee maker, grinder, and all of the
small appliances on Earth, connect to a power source using a cord
with prongs.” Syn dangled the power cord and sighed. She looked
around at the kitchen with all the strange looking devices. “I
don’t know what to use as a substitute appliance and cannot connect
mine.”
Bron smiled and the golden eyes lit up with
mirth. “Pa Syn, let me show you. Naffie, get Zadda’s toolbox.”
Syn’s eyes popped as the toolbox materialized
on the counter. Bron said, “These green crystal flats are the power
source. When I remove the cord, I will place a small power
converter on the underside of your appliance. When you place the
appliance on the crystal power source it will operate as intended.
I see there is a switch, our appliances don’t need one, but you can
turn it on and I’m sure it will work properly.”
“I’ll need the coffee maker, the grinder, the
mixer, and the food processor.”
Bron raised his hand. “Show me these objects
and it shall be done in a quarter tine. I will do the coffee maker
and grinder first as your mind is screaming in need,” Bron said,
sounding amused.
::Naffie, get your Mommie some Tierest juice
until her coffee can be made.::
Naffie opened a large drawer, and drew out a
pitcher of a light colored liquid, which he poured into a glass.
“Here Mommie, drink this.’’
::It will make you feel better until
the coffee is ready.::
“Sit, Pa Chette. This will be a long day so
you must rest while you can. Zaron is arranging for some Sarran
clothing for you. Of course, you will be fitted for handmade
garments, but for now, we must make do with the fabricated
styles.”
“I own clothing.”
“Yes, but would you consent to please us by
wearing Sarran garb this moontine?”
“Yes, I suppose. But don’t think I’m a
pushover. On Earth women make their own choices.”
Bron looked away from the coffee maker. “On
Sarran, you have choice and unconditional love.”
Syn’s head filled with doubts. How I long for
what he promises. I’m so afraid this fairy tale will end very badly
for me. I’m in love with them already and I like them! I’m in
danger of losing my soul. I must shore up my walls and re-arm my
defenses. I can’t handle another rejection. Get busy, Syn, you
can’t be maudlin if you are busy.
Bron stepped up behind her. “Don’t doubt us,
love, you and everything you are is all we need.”
* * * *
The chefs arrived with a sincere desire to
learn how to please an Earthen fem with their expertise. The
Tierest juice turned out to be the sweetest, most refreshing drink
she ever tasted and gave Syn the energy necessary to pursue her
project.
She sat down with the chefs, Brok and Tack,
to plan the menu and make a schedule for preparation of the courses
for the evening.
She had a ham and a large frozen turkey she
had planned to use for a buffet at the shelter. If she made a sauce
for the ham using the sweet Tierest juice along with candied
cherries it would go well with the turkey stuffed with local bread,
nuts and apples. She prepared candied yams and steamed broccoli
which would be topped with hollandaise sauce. The chefs prepared
Sarran salads and sides. The basic roasting could be the
responsibility of the Sarran chef, while she would do the prep
work. He assured her that the Sarran oven would get the turkey done
on time.
Dessert would be entirely of Syn’s creation.
She and Naffie dug through the contents of her boxes and found her
cookbooks and all of the Earthen ingredients that she knew wouldn’t
be available on Sarran. Providentially, she did her grocery
shopping just before she fell ill and that she kept a well-stocked
larder and separate freezer and refrigerator. She found her boxes
filled with Earthen staples, fruit, vegetables and thank God,
coffee and chocolate.
I need to keep a small amount of each for the
fabricator.
By ten tines Syn assembled flour, brown
sugar, butter, vanilla, eggs, baking soda, salt, chopped pecans,
and chocolate chips for her version of Toll House Cookies. She
managed to find a bag of M&Ms and decided to give Nafer a treat
by adding those on top.
Naffie watched carefully as she sifted the
dry ingredients together, creamed the butter, and then added the
eggs. She followed by adding the chocolate chips, the chopped
pecans, and saved the M&Ms for the finishing touch. She mixed
the ingredients together gently but thoroughly and proceeded to
drop spoonfuls on her cookie sheets. She made a triple recipe so
that there would be some for the company to try in addition to the
peach pie and pear tart she planned to put up later. If fresh
Tierest fruit was available, it would make a fine strudel mixed
with her frozen raspberries. Luckily, she had several cans of
sliced peaches and pears as well as fresh apples. The turkey went
into a type of appliance designed to warm it to room temperature.
It didn’t resemble a microwave but seemed to perform the same
function.
Since both the Earthen and Sarran number
systems worked on a base ten, once she figured out the Sarran
temperature for freezing and for boiling it became easy to
extrapolate the oven temperature for her baked goods. In ten
minutes, the aroma of freshly baking cookies wafted through the
house. Syn then began a second fresh pot of coffee using Columbian
and Mexican Pinon coffee beans in combination with some finely
chopped unsalted pistachio nuts.
* * * *
While Syn and Naffie worked in the kitchen,
Bron and Zaron along with their security detail made a sweep of the
house with Duchess padding at their heels. When they reached the
office where the two Elders did most of their council business,
Duchess began to howl and claw at the floor. Zaron bent down to
soothe the agitated feline and got scratched for his trouble. He
was about to send out a mental call to Syn when the enraged feline
managed to pull up the offending floor tile. She carefully poked
her paw at what seemed to be a hole in the solid slab beneath the
tile.
One dainty white paw held up a listening
device.
Zaron snapped at Stoker and Garlance.
“Dispose of this immediately. One of you go the cooking center and
check on Her Highness and Naffie. We must report this to Juraens
and Mark.”
Stoker interrupted Zaron, “Juraens will be
here in a tine. I told them we managed the earlier situation;
however we need him as soon as possible this morning. We have a
security breach. No one has entered the suite since the incident.
We can show him the detritus and he and Dr. Stern can begin an
investigation. The few people you can absolutely trust will be
gathered here this moontine. You can make it known to them then.
Garlance and I will work with Juraens, his bonded, and the petite
beauty. They can help us search the rest of the manse; to be sure
we are safe. Inviting a team, even one of our own, increases the
risk of someone implanting another device.”
“So be it.”
::We almost lost our offspring and our
fem.::
::I didn’t think the BondStir reached so
deep, Dragon, it terrified me. Hold me, Zaron, let me feel you
against me.::
::Kiss me, Dearest.::
Zaron grabbed
Bron by the shoulders and pulled him into his lean, long muscled
arms. Bron’s thin, wide mouth covered Zaron’s with a hunger born of
need that simmered unchecked for too long.
The WarriorPair partially removed their
clothing. Bron went down on his knees to caress his lover’s member.
Zaron moaned as Bron’s mouth touched him. Bron worked quickly,
aware that they hadn’t much time. He ran his tongue over the
engorged head of Zaron’s phallus, sweeping down to encase it in his
mouth while moving his throat muscles to clench the mushroom-like
end while pulling back the foreskin. His hands were busy as his
mouth worked. He kneaded his lover’s balls as his head bobbed. It
didn’t take long for Zaron to touch Bron’s hair and to spurt into
his mouth.
Zaron slid back into the chair. “Now I must
return your generosity, my Dearest.”
“No time, Dragon. But after tonight we will
make up this absence to each other and our fem tenfold.
* * * *
Syn finished all of the prep work for the
meal, put the cookies in the oven, and sat down with her favorite
ceramic mug filled with coffee. She poked around in the pockets of
her jean shorts attempting to liberate her cigarettes. Not wanting
to smoke in the house, Syn stepped outside onto the patio, bringing
an ashtray from her kitchen box along with her.
“Naffie, you can take the tray Mommie showed
you and cover it with a napkin. I’m going outside for a little
while.”
“Are you going blow smoke again? That can’t
be good for you.”
“Whether it’s good for me or not, I smoke.
It’s how mommies handles stress.”
“Stress?”
“Yes, stress.”
“What’s stress?”
“Stress is the overwhelming desire to knock
the crap out of someone; and the inability to do it.”
“Well that’s good then, you won’t need to
smoke anymore. Poppie and Zadda will make sure their fem isn’t
stressed.”
Syn shook her head, chuckled, and slipped out
the door.
* * * *
Mark and Juraens approached the back door and
saw Syn standing outside, cigarette in hand. “Do you have another
one of those?” Mark asked softly. “I’m Dr. Mark Stern and this is
my bonded, Juraens.”
“I’m Syn Sinclair. I’m taking a break from
making the moontine meal.”
“Zaran and Bron put you to work already?”
Syn opened the pack of cigarettes. “Take a
few and replicate them. I have two cartons in my things.” She took
a long drag on the cigarette. “I was in my cabin for most of the
trip. Excuse me Juraens, if I speak out of turn, but what do you
know about my BondStirred?”
“They are the finest men I know. Bron and
Zaron have sacrificed their lives for their people. In the darkest
hours, they never showed discouragement, never wavered in their
determination that our sons would have the opportunity to bond like
their fathers and their fathers before them.”
Mark took a drag. “I got to know Zaron on
board during the worst of the fighting. They lost a fempring and a
beloved wife and yet spent their time comforting a nation. Zaron
played his part disguised as the Chief for the whole trip. I
believe only Juraens and the cats knew who he really was until it
was necessary to break cover for the hearing.”
Can I be honest here, gentlemen? I don’t know
if bonding with two Elders is the right thing for me to do. You
must have heard the rumors. I’m a former prostitute and heroin
addict. I may tarnish their reputations and even prevent them from
governing effectively. Maddy will make sure everyone on Sarran
knows. The only way she would have accepted me is if I bonded with
the street sweeper—covered in shit and grime, she wouldn’t have
noticed me; only to comment upon my getting my just desserts. I
can’t bring that type of scorn on TeBron and TeZaron’s head. And
what about Nafer, this would be absolutely horrible for him.”
“Nafer is the most resilient offspring I have
ever encountered. His empathy and his psy ability make him more
mature than his age,” Juraens said firmly.
“You can help him by just being there for him
with a cuddle, a pat on the head, or milk and cookies if my nose is
working correctly.” Mark and Syn put their cigarettes out in Syn’s
ashtray, a flat chrome circle with two chrome pelicans sitting on a
pier. The beaks held the burning cigarette and would put it out if
the smoker forgot it. They set it on the small table outside the
door.
“Come in gentlemen. Why don’t you wander over
to the study and I’ll be there with some refreshments to compensate
for all of us rising so early and facing such a full day.’’
Mark and Juraens made for the study and Syn
re-entered the kitchen.
* * * *
Naffie had disappeared. Syn thought he
followed the guys to the study. She placed her fancy napkins on the
tray and arranged the cookies over the platter. She poured coffee
into the coffee server, tea into the teapot, and milk into a
pitcher. After placing sugar cubes, Sweet and Low plus half and
half, and cut lemons on the tray, she was done. Syn gathered up her
courage and made for the study.
* * * *
“Let me help you with that,” Zaron said as he
waylaid her as she tried to open the study door. He took the heavy
tray and told her the voice command to open the door automatically.
He set the tray on a cart the Syn likened to a room service cart in
a hotel, but more elaborately designed with inlaid wood of
different hues crafted into a pattern of clouds.
“What a lovely cart!”
“It came with the manse several thousand
years ago.” Bron stepped up to the cart. “You will notice that the
pattern is strictly clouds, no Tierest tree. The Tierest tree has
come to symbolize Sarran unity. The crest of the FireClan has a
flame at the top of the tree, like the spreading rays of our sun.
The cloud is the relic of the members of the AirClan who became
extinct during the ClanWars. The clan that fought Air was the
WaterClan. There is nothing left of them, except a ruin of a
manse.”
“How sad, a whole culture lost. Have your
archeologists looked for remnants of the clan?”
Bron came up behind her and put his arms
around her waist. “An attempt was made after we regained space
flight; however, it was short lived. The Zyptz came and all of our
resources were spent on the war.”
“Hmm—I wonder if there are any archeologists
among the women?”
Zaron came up to Syn with a cup of coffee,
there was cream and Sweet and Low, just how she liked it. “I have
the
Brightstar’s
manifest, it lists the occupations of all
of the fem on board.