Patience slept soundly the night she returned Anax to her head. He made sure she had a comfortable rest. However, Patience awoke to a roiling pain in her abdomen. Slightly alarmed by the break in her normal routine, Anax remained silent. The girl bolted through the hallway and out the mudroom. Her feet bounded over the cold hard pavers and dewy grass. Flinging open the door of the outhouse, she lifted her nightgown to confirm what she feared. It was the beginning of her monthly bleed.

Returned to the mudroom, Patience stood bottomless. She tied a padded cotton sling to the belt of her drawers, all the while explaining the function to Anax. He listened attentively as she straddled the cotton sling, adjusting its position before she was satisfied with it.

“Essentially the unused lining of my womb is sloughing off. It’s awful,” groaned Patience, pulling up her underwear. In a basket kept on a shelf were similar strips of cloth that she quickly counted. There were enough to last Patience two to three days before she would have to cycle through them. Of course she washed the cloth immediately when they were well saturated. She just hated how starchy freshly dried ones felt.

“Humans are such a mystery,” Anax quibbled. Seethes escaped through Patience’s clenched teeth as she doubled over in agony. She flew outside to the outhouse again.

“There can also be a lot of pain involved,” Patience wheezed on the bench. “Ugh. I’d trade this for that night you laid me in a heartbeat. At least that ended after an hour or so.”

“I—caused you pain?”

“You handled me so roughly. But yes. Pain. Do you feel pain?” Patience snipped, slightly annoyed. She had to make him understand.

“In my second life, only when I make myself firm. Should I feel considerable pain, I’ll recoil into a fog and dissipate to heal.”

“All right, then. That’s kind of how I felt. I was recoiling whenever you clawed into me and—plowed into me,” she mumbled.

“I’m sorry. I was lost in my own pleasure. Didn’t notice your feelings.” Anax patted her shoulder with a soft tendril. Patience reached her hand over and gave the coil a sharp pinch. He uttered a strange low squeal.

“You felt that, right?” Patience asked.

“Yes. It was unpleasant.”

“Payback,” huffed the girl. “Anyway, you can’t just do that out of nowhere, let alone go that hard when I’m not ready.”

“Males are always expected to show strength and dominance,” he explained.

“Well, you can ease up a bit with that. There aren’t any of your kind around here to pass judgement—” Suddenly Patience grabbed her abdomen and groaned, cursing her biology.

“This happens every month, you said?” Anax asked.

“Y-yeah.”

“You poor creatures. And all this for the sake of reproduction.”

“Right. And I heard childbirth is worst of all,” the girl huffed.

“My kind lay egg sacs, small at first. They grow as the pup inside does, until they break the membrane and hatch.”

“I’m envious.” Patience winced. She pressed a fist firmly below her navel.

“That helps with the pain?”

“For me, yes.” Wobbling upright, she cleaned herself with shaky arms. This month’s session was off to a terrible start. Patience drew a deep breath as she hobbled out into the sunlight. Tears pricked at her eyes. “Tea and a hot water bottle usually help too.”

“To the kitchen,” said Anax, materializing his body. He lifted Patience in his arms and made his way inside. To Patience’s surprise, Anax began preparing water to boil by himself unprompted. He lit the stove, filled a kettle, and took out the tin with Patience’s preferred blend that he recognized from days before. Nestled in his chest, she watched him work. At the back of her mind, the girl could not help but wonder if this was his apology to her.

“Where’s the hot water bottle?” he asked. Patience feebly pointed to a lower cupboard. With a lone tendril, Anax pulled the door open, exposing stacks of old pans and baking tins. Nearly hidden behind them was a stoneware jug molded to appear to be laying on its side. Anax pulled it out, inspecting the curious container.

“You fill it where that cork is, not the false neck,” mumbled Patience, “See? And it’s got a flat side so you can lay it on your body.” Anax made an appreciative noise and removed the cork, setting the bottle next to a cup laden with ground leaves, both ready to receive water.

Dazed from the pain, Patience was still in disbelief. She glanced down at the thick arms holding her up. It felt nice. Suddenly she noticed a few tendrils crowding near her waist. Before she could tell him off, she realized the coils were massaging her abdomen. He was trying to soothe her.

A gurgling stream filled the two awaiting vessels. Anax formed more tendrils to bring everything over to the parlor. He situated himself and Patience onto the sofa. Tendrils brought all the available pillows around them, making a plush nest. The tea passed into Patience’s hands and she began sipping meekly. A languid tendril glided the hot water bottle over her clothed abdomen like an iron on a wrinkled shirt.

“Are you being so kind because you feel guilt?” murmured Patience.

Anax was silent a moment before he responded. “You know, when you took me off I was prepared to slumber indefinitely. Didn’t know who or what would spark me alive again, or when I would awaken—if I ever would.”

“You … felt that badly about what you did?” Patience’s breath hitched. She took another sip of tea.

“For my kind, our first mating marks a juvenile’s step into adulthood. Usually it is done more gently, as a soft farewell to the simpler times when we had adults watching over us.” Anax sighed. “I made a mess of things. I suppose this is why most second-borns take over their donors completely. They don’t have another will to mind—to nurture.”

Patience reached behind them to grab the throw. She laid it over them, trapping the heat from the hot water bottle.

“A deer or wolf is simple enough, but humans are so much more. I said at the beginning I wanted a teacher. Learning about humans means learning how to get along with them too.” Anax allowed the girl to sink further into his body, his fog giving way to her form until she was completely and comfortably cradled.

Daring to broach the topic, Patience gulped, “Do second-borns normally lay with their hosts?”

“It is not spoken of. Any sexual gratification is sought with others of our kind. But what to do when one is all by himself …”

“You know … if you weren’t so manic, I might have enjoyed it,” Patience muttered.

“You don’t lie?”

“I’m not lying, it’s the truth. It’s true I enjoyed the time you first touched me. I can’t deny it any longer,” she sighed.

“Hmm good!” Anax rumbled.

“But thank you for making the tea. And filling the hot water bottle,” said Patience. The ligneous aroma drifted up her nose, seemingly to gingerly stroke her brain. The scent itself calmed her as she waited for her stomach to absorb the rest of the tea’s benefits.

“Why did you put me back on?”

It was Patience’s turn to pause in thought.

“I suppose …” she began. The hot water bottle continued massaging her. “You’ve started to grow on me. I don’t know if it’s by your biochemical persuasion or I’m just becoming insane.” She chuckled, a bit drunk on pain and arboraceous scent. “I need company … and I could have worse.”

Anax emitted a noise that Patience imagined him to utter while smirking. But she doubted if he could have ever smirked even in his first life.

“I also didn’t want you taking over some other poor thing. Or if I’d have to face you again. I certainly can’t protect myself from you on my own,” rambled Patience.

“So better I stay with you, then,” Anax concluded.

“Yeah, it’s my duty to keep you contained …” she teased, voice trailing off as she finished the cup and set it on the side table. The girl then brought the throw close around her, placing a hand over the hot water bottle. Anax withdrew his tendril and allowed her to rest.

When Patience awoke again, she was no longer snuggled on the sofa. Instead the dusty panes of the window in the mudroom met her bleary gaze. The girl jolted upright. Anax’s arms kept her steady so as not to fall off the wooden chair they were seated upon. Peering down, Patience saw her nightgown raised around her waist, her bottom half naked. A misty tendril led out from her gap.

“What are you DOING?” she shouted.

“You bled through that cotton strap. I’m cleaning you up,” Anax stated. In the corner was the soiled sling floating in a bucket of blood-stained water. Patience calmed herself, indeed she could barely feel him. He clearly was not in one of his moods. However, she did notice his presence inside as he began to withdraw his coil. To her horror, a very large blood clot emerged stuck around his tendril. The girl paled.

“Wh—” she uttered.

“You said your bleeds are due to your womb lining coming off. I’m removing it in one sweep.”

Speechless, Patience could only watch as Anax opened the back door with another tendril and skillfully flung the debris far out into the yard by the treeline on the edge of the property. Had the blood not come from her, Patience might have laughed at the absurdity. Might have.

“There, all clean.”

“I—”

“Hm?”

“I—really …” the girl failed to find any words. She sat there for a moment in Anax’s foggy lap. “Clean yourself off.”

“I’m already clean,” Anax huffed, “I can adhere to any substance I want or repel any substance I want.”

So that was how he took the lining out, and how it was so painless. Patience did not feel like questioning it. Briefly, the girl wondered if he could do the same with dirty clothing, but that might be asking too many tasks of him. She shook her head. She reached down to grab her drawers that Anax had tossed on the floor and reapplied them with a new sling.

“Just wash your tendrils. For my peace of mind,” demanded the girl.

“Very well,” griped the skull as he stood, still carrying her. They made their way to Patience’s room where Anax begrudgingly filled the small washbasin on a stand by the door.

“With soap,” she added. Anax grumbled and lifted the chunk of soap with his tendril and washed them as he was told. “Thank you. And next time, ask me before you do anything so … intrusive.”

Although Anax may have cleared all the loose material, Patience’s body still believed there was blood to be shed. She continued to experience cramps, and there was some very light spotting on the new strap. But all in all, it was more favorable than bleeding quite as much as she normally would. For the rest of the day, Patience relaxed on the sofa reading and sipping tea. For meals she ate pickled vegetables from last fall and eggs prepared with minimum effort. Anax patiently accompanied her, asking very little.

The next day saw Patience feeling better. Though still languorous, she did not bother changing out of her nightgown. She harbored no shame as she walked up the path to the road to retrieve the mail. There was a new catalog from Wiggum’s department store in Haverston. While the Firmins had always supported the smaller businesses in Keaton, some things were only offered at Wiggum’s. The catalog pages also absorbed the perfect amount and was favored in the outhouse.

Patience turned around to stare at her family’s home in the morning light. The brick cottage peered back at her through tastefully wild landscaping. In the front yard, shrubs were allowed to grow out, flowers mixed and mingled despite their species. Framing the tableau, tall trees stood on either side of the cottage. Their unruly limbs nearly touched the roof shingles flecked with lichen and moss. No sign of the vegetable garden or atelier in the back could be seen from the road. Mr. and Mrs. Firmin liked to work privately.

The Firmin property, flanked by a fruit orchard and a small tomato farm, was nearly indiscernible as its own proud little piece of land. It was a narrow parcel, deeper than it was wide, and only a fraction of the size of its neighbors. Her parents enjoyed the seclusion without being totally remote from other people. But both businesses had been sold by disinterested progeny to larger companies and were no longer tended by individual families. The only neighbors Patience was left with were laborers from out of town who steered clear of her strange little house, leaving the girl to feel all the more alone..

“You have a nice home,” Anax commented.

Patience sighed, a sad smile on her face. The last time she observed the cottage from the road for this long was after her parents had departed. The house had looked grayer, the shrubs wilder, the flowers faded, and the trees unfriendly. However, at this moment it appeared closer to the dreamy visage Patience would often conjure when reflecting on her home.

“Yes. It is, isn’t it …” Patience mused as she stepped back down the path towards the warm brown door.

Having finished the last of the bread, the girl eagerly started a batch of dough. It was cooler out so the dough would take some time to rise. By mid-morning, the window revealed a light rain sprinkling the earth. There was nothing else to be done. She returned to her room and sprawled across the bed, hoping a nap would whisk her away for a while.

“Sleep again so soon?” murmured Anax.

“I don’t know what else to do,” Patience muttered as she shifted onto her belly, resting her head and Anax to the side.

Silence fell upon them, but Patience’s insides began stirring. A nap was out of the question now as a growing restlessness tickled her core. Unsure of the reason, she felt a slight pressure start to build at the pit of her pelvis. She pressed her lower half into the bed in attempt to relieve it, but it only amounted more.

“Do you need release?” asked Anax with a hint of excitement in his rasp.

Patience exhaled slowly, rolling her eyes towards her window. She was willing to chance it. She knew Anax had his wants and admitted herself that she would long for satisfaction on occasion. Patience had never truly pleasured herself; there was always work to be done or she would be too exhausted and simply fall asleep. Every so often she might wake from some instantly forgotten dream in the morning and feel her loins throbbing having descended from the peak. Now she had Anax. He was available and spurning his assistance would not solve anything. However, Patience decided she would dictate the terms this round.

An answer departed her lips at last, “Yes.”

Immediately Anax’s fog breached her clothing.

“But be more gentle, please!” Patience insisted.

Anax halted, his grasp on her clothes relaxing.

“Lest I take you off again,” she added.

Anax snorted softly, “I’ll take it slow for now.”

Before Patience could adjust herself, she felt Anax press onto her back. He had materialized fully above her, lying on top. His hands slid from her haunches up her sides, pushing her nightgown to her chest. They then burrowed between the girl’s body and the quilt. His claws creeped towards her gap. He did not insert any digits this time and only had them stroke and press against her sex.

Patience sighed. It felt good straddling his solid fingers. Melting into his presence, she began leisurely rolling into his hands. Anax lifted a couple of digits away from the quilt, providing her a sultry slant to rub against. His pelvis loomed over her backside, keeping her buttocks from rising too high. Soon the familiar slick of wet dribbled onto his fingers.

“A-all right,” she murmured, “you can go ahead now.”

Following the cue, the tip of Anax’s cock nudged at her entrance. He gradually slid in, taking time as he had promised. This was already leagues better than their previous session. Patience hummed serenely. With the full length inside, Anax started to grind into her.

The feeling of being compressed felt surprisingly nice to Patience. Anax had not condensed to a considerable weight, so it was still comfortable. He left his hands on her pelvis as well so that he could push her into his fingers, providing more stimulation. She also appreciated him not thrusting as violently; he barely pulled out more than half his length before gliding back in.

He seemed to be enjoying this as well. Low growls curdled around her nape. Anax built up a little speed, his pelvis still holding close against her bottom. Patience felt a small pool of fluid settle into his sedentary hand. She bucked high, forcing luscious sounds from her folds. Doubly aroused now, Anax pumped deeper. A smile broke across her face as she felt him fill her.

Head muddled by pleasure, Patience failed to notice Anax making himself progressively larger with each thrust. In even increments, Anax expanded his cock until it squeezed against her inner walls. She gasped at the slight sting when there was no longer any fluid between her raw flesh and his solid mist. Seemingly sensing her feelings, Anax restricted his girth before it became too harsh. As a pleasant surprise, the small tingle only tugged at the mounting pressure building below her waist.

“Is this better?” Anax grunted.

“I-it’s—g-good,” Patience moaned, voice shaken with each push. If this was how sex usually went, then she was more than willing to put up with it. She might even seek it.

As Patience was thoroughly dripping now, Anax expanded his cock again to utilize the extra fluid. His hunger drove him to slam into her, but Patience welcomed it this time. Gone was any pain. She reached her arm behind to squeeze his backside, urging him on. Each shove pushed her closer to the edge. Patience gripped the hem of the quilt. The heat building inside sought urgent release. She sucked in a breath and slid over Anax’s hand. He pushed three thick digits up to her slit as her barriers broke, surrendering to a rush of pure satisfaction.

As she rode out her bliss, Anax held still, only letting Patience’s bucking work his cock. On her final throe, he fell hard into her, slamming his length in as far as possible, and released. Spurts of fluid coated her insides, some drizzling out as Anax retracted himself. Patience lied panting. Completely spent, a nap finally loomed around the corner.

The rain eventually ceased and gave way to the sun. Flaxen rays splashed upon the cottage, illuminating patches of warmth throughout the interior. Patience woke with a light in her eyes; her body buzzed with an energy she had long missed. A faint memory of a birthday years past drifted through her mind. Her parents were alive and well. The smell of cinnamon and sugar wafted from a pot, a glaze ready to coat baking sweet rolls. A new book, the diary of an archaeologist, sat on the kitchen table. A navy ribbon that had constricted the parchment wrapping the tome now coiled around Patience’s wrist, awaiting new life as a hair ribbon. The feeling had thrummed through her limbs and core. It was excitement, it was fulfillment, it was happiness.

For the first time in years, the girl’s chest rose away from the bed, light and airy. She wanted to greet the day, not out of obligation, but to see what it had to offer next. Patience stretched and arched her back, letting that wonderful feeling flow from her fingertips to her toes. Knuckles scraped against the wall as her arms rose past her head, a bit of pain failing to mar the overwhelming contentment. Swinging her feet to the floor, a thought suddenly came to Patience. Her heart skipped a beat.

“Y-you can’t get me pregnant, can you?” she blurted.

“It is not possible for us to interbreed,” stated Anax.

“Good,” said Patience, relief washing over her. She left for the mudroom to pull on her galoshes.

“My seed should have already dissolved. It is only viable when deposited in particular environments.”

“Particular environments as in your congealed foggy … situation that’s only found in others of your kind?”

“Correct.”

Quite relieved she was not about to become a mother of some abomination, the girl then made her way to the outhouse. Minding the mud birthed by the rain earlier, she skipped along the stone path and continued to ponder.

“You can successfully sire offspring in your second life?”

“Yes. Females, however, cannot make egg sacs to bear young.”

Patience’s head filled with visions of being a biologist studying these strange creatures as she sat on the bench. A thousand questions queued themselves. She could communicate with one of them. That would indeed expedite research. She could learn so much. Although, she was certain she would need to go to a university to even begin such a career path. Certainly Uncle Lung was well connected and could aid her. Then again, being the leading biologist on this species would draw a lot of attention. Patience slowed her breathing. One day at a time. With a tear and a wipe of a catalog page and a dash of lime, the girl sprang from the outhouse to wash and check on the dough.

Voluminous, perfectly round, and just the shyest color of beige, the dough was ready for Patience’s favorite step. She formed a fist and punched into the fluffy pillow. It gave without retaliation and submitted to the force. Patience loved the feeling of the dough displacing around her fist. Nearly reaching the bottom, she folded the dough over a few times and then brought the lump to the floured counter. She kneaded it with a few quick passes and then tucked it into an oiled bread pan. Covering it with a towel, she let it sit for its final proof.

“Bread takes much work,” Anax commented.

“Sure does,” sighed Patience as she wiped her hands. “Doesn’t hunting as well, though?”

“True.”

Patience smirked and stepped to the parlor again, this time seating herself in the armchair. Eyes up at the ceiling, she wondered where she and Anax would travel together first. Naturally, she could not just up and leave, it would take some thought and a bit of planning. But the girl had resolved to get out into the world and she wanted to start considering it seriously. A thunderous rolling cramp brought her back to the present. She could resume thinking in a couple days’ time.