He smiled and began to work on his meal. “Sex. Some biting. It is the venom and the semen that create the regenerative effect in those who are proper companions.”
She closed her eyes and asked, “Venom? No one mentioned venom.”
His tone was slightly amused. “They were remiss. Venom is part of the binding link between us. Don’t worry, it won’t hurt much, and I hope to have you nice and distracted before I administer it.”
She absorbed that and squinted at him. He was calmly finishing his breakfast. She got a suspicion. “Do you even need to eat?”
“It supplements me between the meals I require, but you require the meals, and I have learned that consuming sustenance alone is not conducive to mental health, so we will be eating meals together.” The edict was set.
Athena looked around and nodded. “So, there is a formula for the care and maintenance of companions.”
“It varies from Hmrain to Hmrain. We all have different triggers and absorption techniques, and requirements. When I am building a world, I require much more... energy.”
She frowned. “Are you planning on that soon?”
He shook his head. “Not for a century, so we have some time before that.”
She looked at him, and he set his napkin aside and looked back with an amused expression.
His features were even and sharp. Cheekbones were high, eyes were that disturbing shifting mix of dark and light. His skin was a mix between light and dark chocolate, which made the pale silver designs stand out sharply. His white hair was nearly the same colour as the designs, with two small silver clips on either side of his jawline. His clothing was simple, a set of wide-legged trousers in a soft black that coordinated with his black wings.
“Aren’t Hmrain wings supposed to be leathery?”
He shrugged. “Some are, some aren’t. There are also those with insectoid wings, but all of us have wings.”
There was a pause, and it went on for nearly a minute. After that, he stood up and held his hand out to her. “Let’s head to the textile research area and see if they have come up with anything that will suit you.”
“I thought we are going to the research facility this afternoon?”
“We will go again after lunch. The bulky suit doesn’t flatter you, and I am becoming eager to see you in something more elegant.”
She suspected that there were other motivators for him. He seemed touchy, and right now, most of her was covered. He seemed to want to change that. She swallowed. “Sure. I haven’t seen the textile team in a few weeks. It will be nice to pop in and say hey.”
He got to his feet, and the size of him ratcheted her tension back into place. She had forgotten about the height difference when they were seated. Now, it was rather obvious.
He moved behind the chair and pulled it away from the table. She stood up and took his hand, letting him pull her into his arms. He bent and lifted her, bent his knees, and shot skyward.
She closed her eyes during the ascent, and then, when the pressure downward had ceased, she opened her eyes as they flew over the treetops, above the meadows, and to the colony base. The fastest mode of travel on Hyrnan was Etska.
She leaned up carefully. “Should you have warned the R&D department that you were coming?”
He shrugged without shifting his grip on her. “Probably.”
She sighed and pressed fingers to her forehead. This was going to be a cluster fuck.
He chuckled and flew toward their destination.
Athena was surprised, but there were landing areas on every single building in the colony. “This place was built for you.”
“Of course. Flying is the most convenient. It is the fastest way to get around on worlds with unstable ground. Air jets happen, but my wings are designed to manage sudden changes in the wind.”
If she had been with her team, she would have made a flatulence joke, but it didn’t seem appropriate.
He landed on the research rooftop. A security officer scrambled out of the entry to the building, bowed, and straightened quickly, staring at Athena.
She nodded at him. “Officer. Morning.”
He blinked. “You’re human.”
She nodded.
Etska looked at him with a raised brow. “You are in our way, officer.”
The man’s eyes widened, and he held the door for them.
Etska asked her in common, “Is there going to be a problem with your kind?”
She nodded. “Some of them. Selling sex has a stigma in many of the countries on Earth. The food aspect isn’t covered in base-level education.”
He walked to the lift, still carrying her as if she was an empty box. “You aren’t food so much as sustenance. You are air and water, not bread.”
“Good to know. I am still going to get some nasty comments over the next few years.”
“I am sorry for that, but it does not change the contract.” He gave her a small smile.
She chuckled. “I didn’t think it did, but if I come to you in an irritated mood, one of my own people probably set me off if you weren’t the one to do it first.”
He snorted softly, and the lift stopped on the fourth floor. He carried her into the front area, where a junior researcher skidded into the chamber and stared at him. “Overseer, we were not expecting you.”
Etska inclined his head, and the assistant bowed. “I would like to see the textile samples that you have been generating.”
“Oh. Of course. I will just get researcher Thalmin.” The assistant nodded and darted out of the room.
Athena tapped his cheek. He turned his head. She looked at him expectantly. “I can walk, you know.”
“But, this way, I don’t worry about you going missing or getting trapped by a door closing because the researchers didn’t see you.” He cocked his head as if he was reasonable.
“Fine, but I am going to relax like I was shot. It is going to get comments.”
He looked like he didn’t believe her, so she flopped into his arms bonelessly, one arm dangling loose.
He sighed and lowered her to the floor. “There you go. Happy now?”
“I would be happier if I was digging through the swamp with the guys, but yes, it is better, thank you.”
Researcher Thalmin came in, his striped colouration flowing in a slow pattern. Keskans were like living Rorschach tests; their face and probably bodies showed their moods in the patterns. He was definitely off balance.
“Overseer, welcome. What brings you to the textile research lab?”
“Thalmin, I have recently obtained a companion, and instead of cladding her in the standard extruded fabrics, I thought I would see if there had been anything foraged that would be suitable.”
Thalmin looked at Athena in her forager gear, back at the very elegant Etska, and he nodded. “Oh. Right. We have a few discoveries that might suit.”
Thalmin opened the door to the lab, and Athena was ushered in by the flat of Etska’s wing. He was keeping an eye on her whether she wanted him to or not.
The teams were working with focus and conversing as they ran fibres through a series of tests. Thalmin was speaking excitedly to Etska and asking for details about the hand of the fabric and the level of opacity.