It was still dark when I felt the slight vibrations of the Aarond Form booting up for the new day cycle. It was nearly indistinguishable on most days, but we Val'Dornn had learned to use it in the same way the humans used their loud chiming devices to wake themselves up. It was strangely more noticeable today.

I stretched my neck back on the cushion that was biting into my back and my legs out onto the floor in front of me. The floor? Did I roll off the couch in the night? I blinked into the darkness and felt around. Sure enough, I was sitting on the floor in front of the sofa.

A warm breath brushed against the back of my neck. I stilled, remembering the dream from last night. It'd been lovely and peaceful. I hadn't wanted it to end for fear that I'd wake up and be left with none of the happiness I'd felt while in it.

I turned and looked at Addison sleeping peacefully curled on the couch behind me. She'd scooted closer in the night until her face was inches from my head. She laid on her stomach with her left arm thrown over my shoulder and pressed tightly against my chest.

It wasn't a dream. I'd slept on the floor last night and it was easily the most restful sleep I'd had. I gently touched the hand that was splayed against my chest and she mumbled something in her sleep, her fingers aimlessly traced circles against my skin for a moment before she sunk back into her dreams.

I just sat and watched her sleep for a while as the light in our rooms began to slowly brighten. I couldn't bring myself to break this connection between us and held onto it until I was sure it wouldn't be long before she woke up. I snuck out from under her arm and the small complaint she made in her sleep helped to ease the small tantrum our bond was having at my leaving.

I bathed quickly and dressed, intending to be ready to take her out to an early meal before we made our way around the ship.

Should I take her to the medical and science bay first so she can learn our language? No one else save the Carabesk males even have an inkling of her language, and many will likely greet us. She probably won't appreciate not understanding others the entire day. As I fastened a nicer pair of my issued pants I decided I'd ask her if she'd prefer to speak to Kados about an implant earlier or later. I'd just pulled on a dark shirt when I heard her begin to stir in the other room.

I snuck a glance out towards where she slept and caught sight of her mid-stretch. The sleep shift had ridden up her thighs and showed off a lot of light skin. She pointed out one leg and arched her back as she reached up over her head. Does she always wake with a stretch? Would she arch back against me if she'd slept in my arms?

I craved it. I craved it so fiercely. I wanted to know the feel of her in my arms and the slope of her curves. I wanted to bury us beneath the sheets in that bed and not come out of them for days, not until we'd learned everything we could of the other both in body and spirit. I wanted to whisper her name into her hair and tell her I loved her and have her smile and slink closer to me, and maybe just maybe whisper it back.

"You're awake?" She didn't startle at my voice and I got some pleasure from that. Instead, she just mumbled and burrowed deeper into the blankets she'd dragged from the bedroom. "I'd hoped to take you to an early morning meal, but you're welcome to sleep a little longer if you'd like."

"Five more minutes," she pleaded.

I echoed it back to her. It seemed my mate wasn't an early riser like me. I tossed a careless glance back down at her long pale leg that was still out of those sheets. Though, with her in my bed in the mornings I could be convinced to stay there longer than normal.

Her five minutes meant more like 45, and another 10 to make herself what she deemed presentable before we left.

As we exited our rooms I optioned her choices for the language implant.

"I think I'd like to eat first and then go to the med bay. There won't be an issue getting it done after just eating will there?"

"I don't believe so. It's a quick and simple procedure."

"That's good."

I could feel a nervous anticipation in the bond, but she hid these nerves well on her face.

"Where are you taking me for breakfast?"

"There is a small meal area near some entertainment buildings. It specialized in learning some dishes from your planet through your broadcasted media. I figured you'd likely prefer something you were used to before I introduced you to some of the foods we Val'Dornn have picked up."

"You're like a melting pot race."

"Your cookware runs?"

She laughed as we walked and her arm brushed against me, the bond was loose almost free-flowing now. It was well pleased.

"No. It's a saying. It means that you are kinda...I don't know...there's a mix of a lot of different worlds here in your culture. You're really open to adopting things from other people groups."

She was right. We did tend to grab on to a lot of aspects of the races we'd come into contact with, especially those we'd engaged in Temani Bercari's with. "It's easy for us to adopt many things as our own when it's important to our mates. Much of our language is influenced by the different races we've encountered as are a lot of our foods."

She looked thoughtful, "Anything from Earth you expect will be adopted?"

I was amused that she'd touched on a thought I'd already had, "I expect a lot of your language will be adopted. The term 'soulmate' specifically will likely become commonplace."

"That's just English, though. There are a lot of other prettier languages than this one."

"This is the only one that matters to me," the compliment was genuine and rolled off my tongue before I'd even thought about it.

Addison blushed but took it in with a smile, "I'd like to learn your language."

"It's customary that mates learn it, but I look forward to the moment than you can understand all of my words that I say to you," and I really did.

"When you first met me..." She started to speak but then stopped, "Nevermind."

"What?"

"It's nothing just curious about something."

"What would you like to know?" I led her into a transport that would take us to a higher more populated level of the ship.

"When you first met me you said something to me when you were leaving. I just wanted to know what it meant."

I wracked my brain thinking of that day. Mainly I just remembered trying to memorize every part of her before I would be forced back up to the ship to finalize some mating documents. We'd finished that bitter dark drink that had made my anxious jitters worse than they reasonably would have been. My escort, who I'd learned was named Dylas, and Kados had both stepped up to leave and I had leaned into her to tell her....to tell her that I'd be back. "Afira kola?"

"Yes, that! You whispered it to me."

"It roughly means 'I'm coming back' but in a sense of coming back specifically to something. I wanted you to know I'd be coming back to you." I smiled, thinking about it. I would follow her into the darkest part of the universe and never look back. "I'd almost forgotten I'd said it. I was so focused on memorizing as much of you as I could. They'd only allowed me 30 minutes to test our tether and then I had to return to finalize paperwork."

"That's decidedly not romantic." She joked back and it thrilled me.

"No. Not at all. I was very displeased." The doors to the transport opened and males milled about in the long hallway that led into an area of the ship that was designed to look as much like a city as a ship could. The ceiling was a high domed creation with viewscreens that displayed the stars. Grid-like walkways separated the districts up and allowed for easy navigating.

The laughter and conversation halted near immediately as we both stepped out into the more human-friendly quarter of the city.

Addison shied immediately and sidled closer to my body, raising those possessive instincts inside of me.

"They are merely curious. You're the first and you represent more than just the hopes and dreams of myself, but almost every male on this ship as well." My voice was soft and soothing.

"I'm just nervous," she edged even closer to me until my arm was pressed tightly into her side. Between one second and the next, she'd slipped her hand into mine anchoring herself to me and drawing strength from our connection.

"They will want to greet you." The males hadn't approached likely because of the faint hint of distress I was emanating in the wake of Addison's shyness.

She nodded up at me and my beautiful mate slipped her fingers between my own and knit her hand together with mine.

It was considered a relatively intimate hand gesture in our society reserved for mated couples. It represented the reknitting of our souls together. She must have noticed my glance, "Is this ok?"

She rubbed her thumb against my hand and almost undid me. I only needed her to bite that plump little lip of hers and I'd be pulling her down the city walks to somewhere I could get some semblance of control of myself. At the moment my pants were painfully tight. I never wanted to let go of my sweet female's hand. "It's perfect."

Her smile was brilliant.