"Esayr. Esayr! ESAYR!"

I stopped my frantic pacing to glare at the males who waited in the room with me, "What?" My voice came out as a growl.

"You must calm down. You're projecting, friend." Addric was right.

I could see the tension and the worry written plain on their faces. The stress that had been eating away at me to such an extent that I had let it fill the entire room and touch my Riniere even as they stood to support me as I meet my female. What kind of male am I? To lose control of myself like that.

"None of us blame you Esayr. This situation is...unconventional." Even Laene offered his support despite being the only male unaffected by my emotional onslaught.

I bowed to them.

"Lift your head, Esayr. We're here in congratulations," Kayle smiled, lightening the somber tone in the room, "Nerves are expected. What was the human phrase those shows used? Pre-wedding critters?"

"Jitters." Kados corrected.

Kayle smiled at the golden brother, "Doing research on human things other than their DNA, Kados?"

In response, Kados bared his teeth in a way that was usually reserved for those Val'Dornn with Sumase lineages like Vailen. "It is the will of Volla'Drannen himself that we integrate with humans. It is not unwise to learn their customs before we eventually find our females." Despite the aggressive display, it was obvious that Kados threatening posture held no merit. We were all too close for that.

"If we find our females," Laene added almost as an afterthought.

Kados sighed, "At this point, it's not a matter of if--"

Addric shot Laene a glare for having sent his brother off on another tangent about his research, but it was goodnatured.

"--all it takes is one female to bridge the gap between human and intended. And thanks to our very own Esayr," Kados waggled his eyebrows over at me, "for being the first of us to find his female we will get that information. Then we can tweak our genetic studies and provide more accurate results. Near perfect results after a few females."

The comfort I had been beginning to feel from their presence and their banter began to ebb away. What if she rejects me. What if I can't convince her to accept that our souls have been bound to one another since before we were even a consideration in the minds of our ancestors.

"Esayr. What are you worrying about now?" Laene's voice broke up my dismal thoughts.

They, all of them, were looking at me again. I'd been projecting again, both as an Empath and clear on my face if even Laene noticed.

"What if she refuses? The issues...with their government misleading them--"

That warranted a chorus of grumbles from the males I called my family.

"She doesn't know what this entails. She doesn't know...what she means to me."

"They never do," Laene's response was sure, "Every new race -- while they may know in theory -- don't truly know the extent of the Temani Bercari. Some never do." I could see the shadows in Laene's eyes as he spoke, but he banished them quickly, "Your job, as with every other male on this ship is to show her what she means to you. Show her that she is everything you have ever dreamed of and more and show her you can be that for her as well. Show her all the dreams she didn't even know she could wish for."

All three males turned in unison to face Laene, who only shrugged in response.

"Laene's right. Don't worry about those possibilities now. Think about kinder happier things. What is your female like? I know from Kados' thoughts, but Kayle and Laene have both been pestering us while you were away signing your mating documents."

I thought of her light blonde hair, lighter even than Kados and how it was so short I was surprised she had even managed to pull it back into a knot at the base of her head. I thought of her warm brown eyes and how desperately I wanted to see them when she smiled. From her smile, I thought of her lips and how they were deceptively small when she was nervous because she would pull her bottom lip into her mouth to bite it as a nervous gesture and how I desperately wanted to remedy the abuse until she let it go and it looked plump and pink and suddenly obscene. I thought of how her scent drew me in like nothing else in the world. I could track her better than any Sumase tracker by her scent alone. And, finally, I thought about how as soon as I saw her I could feel her emotions so acutely that she drowned out everyone else in the room and for once that silence was comforting as I basked in the glow of her soul near mine.

"She is more than anything I could have ever thought I deserved."

My Riniere smiled back at me, proud and congratulatory.