And he was singing!
He didn’t notice her approach immediately, focused as he was on the holodisplay coming from Vweet’s combot. She didn’t recognize the style of writing displayed, but she also didn’t really care, because Sway was singing!
She could pick his voice out easily, even amongst all the others surrounding her. Partially because she was listening for it, only really caring about how he sounded. But also because he sounded fundamentally different from everyone else.
There was a roughness to his tone, a husky crooning quality. The kind of tone that belonged in a smoky jazz bar, playing on a piano that was perfectly out of tune. That wasn’t, she knew, how a farasie was supposed to sound. She imagined that, were it not for the life he lived, Sway wouldn’t sound like that at all.
But he did, and she kind of loved the imperfect, rough sound. Surrounded by the pure bell tones of everyone else’s whistle, it was even more defined and all the better for it.
Then, finally, he caught sight of her coming towards him. His voice cut off as he turned, staring at her with blatant appreciation. She was going to stop in front of him, maybe reach for his hand, but he opened his arm at the last moment and snagged it around her waist, pulling her into him. And she went so naturally, like she had meant to throw herself into his arms the entire time.
“Look at you,” he hummed, his hand trailing up her back, making a deep sound of appreciation when, in doing so, he felt the open back hidden by her hair. “You’re beautiful, Grace.”
She smiled, running her hands down his chest. Enjoying both the softness of his feathers and the silkiness of his new outfit. “You clean up real nice yourself. I like it.”
There! His crest was twitching. Just barely starting to rise. She saw a stripe of the colors hidden underneath and her heart began pounding like he was flashing her something naughty.
Vweet began whistling – speaking his native tongue that, while beautiful, was annoying. Only because it was rather rude. He knew she couldn’t understand him. He was deliberately choosing to not include her in whatever he was saying.
But then Sway answered him in Standard. “No. I’d rather stay with my crew. Thank you though.”
Vweet didn’t appear upset by the rejected invitation. He inclined his head, gave Grace a polite smile, then turned and left. Sway tightened his arm around her before approaching the others that had hung back, waiting for him to return. Like they already knew he would.
Grace stayed clutched to his side as they walked together. Not all that dissimilar, she thought, to how Garnet was clinging onto Tanin. That parallel just made her want to know, more, how farasie went about mating each other.
Human ‘mating’ practices were almost completely cultural. There wasn’t really anything biologically imperative they needed to do to ensure they bonded. And since they were so bad at recognizing their own mate bonds, they could, and frequently did, join together even without one. Aside from the goodold fashioned in and out, humans didn’t need anything to successfully reproduce.
But the same wasn’t true for almost every other species. That was something that was uniquely human, for better or worse. Every other species had a specific way they bonded, some needed certain criteria to be met before they would become fertile, others absolutely wouldn’t have sex with anyone that wasn’t their true mate. There was even a species that didn’t go through a gender differentiation untilafterthey met their mate.
So, the farasie must do something, even if neither of them knew what. She was eager to find out.
For now, however, she smiled at the others as Sway joined them.
“Any problems?” Tanin asked.
“None so far,” Sway shook his head. “They’re very welcoming to me. How was the delivery?”
“Fine. Payment cleared. The domini guards took everything. We can leave whenever.”
Trove spoke up this time, looking between them. “That’s my question. Whenarewe leaving? Not that I don’t like this place. It’s nice. I’m just curious how long we’ll be lingering.”
Grace looked at Sway. Sway looked at Tanin. Tanin returned his look with a cool, calm one of his own that gave nothing away. None of them spoke for a long moment before Tanin finally said-
“We can’t stay forever.”
“I don’t intend to,” Sway assured him. “I haven’t spoken to Veesway yet.”
“We still need to deliver Loyalty.”
“Oh, me?” Loyalty, who was still there, always just on the outside of the protective circle that the guys formed, spoke up. He smiled at them. “If you’re worried about me, don’t be. I’d rather stay if Sway and Grace are staying. To watch their back.”
Tanin didn’t appear thrilled by that. “You’re paying us to deliver you. Isn’t your mate waiting?”
“Yes. But she’d be very disappointed in me if I just abandoned an ally when he needed me. I’ll leave here when Sway does. Will that cost me extra?”
Tanin was giving him a curious look. Sway, however, shook his head.
“I appreciate it, but it’s not necessary. Actually, why don’t you let Tanin and the others deliver you? I can stay here. Do what I need to do while you’re gone. By the time you finish the delivery, I should be ready to go.”
