The energy shifted around us as Esayr, Laene, and Kayle murmured to each other. I could feel it easily enough like a thick fog in the room. It was oppressive, but not in any way that lingered and caused worry to bubble up. Esayr's hand tightened along my side for a moment as he chatted and I squeezed his leg in response without thought. The little touch reassured me that while we both had other things on our minds we were still a consideration.

He turned and smiled at me, his dark curls had fallen into his face after he'd showered earlier and they'd dried nearly into a wild tangle since we'd been in too much of a hurry. I watched the crinkle of his eyes when he smiled a little bit, his eyes glanced down quickly --I assumed to my lips-- and then back up. It made me wonder what it was we'd been hurrying for anyway. You make me want to kiss you so bad. The thought came unbidden as I watched that funny little way his mouth parted just a little when he looked at me.

When I glanced back toward the others, I'd noticed that Kayle had turned his back to us, invested in his muted conversation, so I decided I'd be bold. This wasn't a place for shame for something as sweet as these casual intimate moments to be tainted by those insinuations of indecency that society down on earth so desperately shoved down the throats of young impressionable girls.

I dodged up and kissed him, my mate. Nothing untoward, but it was a genuine kiss that I'd initiated solely for the sake of wanting him. He retired that soft pressure of the kiss and maybe I was a little too bold but maybe I was realizing I like teasing him just a little bit. I let my tongue dart out and quickly trace the line of his lower lip, only enough to feel him suck in a breath from the action before I pulled back unable to hide my smile. I squeezed my hand that still rested on his knee again.

"That was cruel," he was always a soft-spoken male, but those words were just for me. It was almost a shame they were nearly drowned up by another voice at the front of the bar.

"Well isn't this a fun scene?" Kados' words were as bold as he always was, charging into the room with eyes that could pin anyone to the spot, and they were focused on me and Esayr, the jump of a muscle in his cheek told me he was trying not to grin too much. Addric only rolled his eyes as he followed his brother into the room.

Kayle heaved a heavy sigh nearby, "We were doing so well giving them their space and you ruined it." He shot us an apologetic glace that I'm sure they'd all perfected over the years.

My attention bounced between both Kayle and Kados as the subtle shifts of emotion on their face hinted at a silent conversation until finally Kayle bit out a frustrated, "I won't Kados."

Kados pursed his lips just a little bit, "Boo, you're no fun."

From Esayr's reaction, the sharp tone was more posturing than anything. He just laughed and shifted in his seat until he could face the twins, "What has brought you both to a closed bar with such impeccable timing?"

"I sent them a message," Laene murmured as he stretched over the of the barstool, "it's both of you that had the convenient timing, though you have a message waiting for you when you get back to your quarters as well"

Addric followed after Kados. Where Kados faltered for only a moment as he approached us, his gaze flying between me and Esayr so quickly I would have missed it if I hadn't been primed to be ready for it. The wicked smile that spread across his face was interrupted by Addric's light shove that directed him over toward Laene. I only just caught the muttered, "Behave," from Addric before he turned to Laene entirely, "You said you had news?"

"I'd just finished telling everyone else, but current popular opinion in the meeting was to reinstate secondary professions."

"That's good then," as one both Addric and Kados folded their arms over their chests. The motion was fluid and nearly an exact mirror image of each other despite the fact neither seemed to have looked at the other.

"You'd think, wouldn't you?" Laene rubbed at the back of his neck, an uncommon gesture for him from the short time that I'd known him, "The caveat is that we will likely poll all aboard the Aarond Form tomorrow to gauge interest."

"I'd imagine many would be amenable to distancing themselves for a time until we further refine the genetic matching algorithm," Kados visibly bristled at his brother's comment.

"We've already had more possible matches this last week than in the last 4 months—"

Addric cut him off, "It wasn't intended as a slight. You've made incredible progress, but it will still take time until we get to the point of surety that the males will so desperately want."

Kados grumbled, but held his tongue long enough for Laene to continue, "Most would be amenable and the poll tomorrow would reflect it, if it weren't just revealed in the meeting, that Esayr and Addy have convinced that Earth female to come up to the ship for an interview."

Still there was some part of me that didn't understand how one woman could have that much of an impact, even as I watched the surprise and then the unabashed interest flicker on the twins' faces. Kados recovered faster than his brother, turning to Esayr and me, "What female?"

"The one who runs that media platform that leaked your face," Esayr beat me to answering, but I followed up on the heels of his answer anyway.

"Her name is Cecelia Bird."

Kados nodded, and it made me wonder how he felt about that moment, seeing his face plastered all over our news stations. I thought back to the moment his picture had been leaked. It had only been about a week after Vailen's image had appeared on Cece's website. We'd commented on Kados' eyes then and marveled at how pretty he was. It was odd to think that he was the same male that was in that picture that I was so far removed from all that time ago, stranger still to think that I considered him some manner of friend.

"You've been holding out on us, Addison." His gold eyes pinned me to the chair, they tightened into slits as he glanced my way, lingering on my face and then flitting to the casual fall of my hand on Esayr's leg.

Then, in that second of time between one blink and the next, I could feel an emotion in the air around me that staggered me. It felt like my heart stuttered in my chest and squeezed; not hard enough to hurt, but just enough to cause my shoulders to pull forward ever so slightly and my chest to hollow out like it were missing something. Longing. I felt it clear as day, and then Kados gaze skated away from the place where Esayr's and my hands casually lingered on each other and the feeling faded away. I sucked down a shaky breath, grateful for the hand I had on Esayr if only for an anchor to something steady.

Kados' attention had shifted and I nearly counted myself blessed over it before I noted Addric's attention from behind him. There was a question in his eyes when he watched me, though he was kinder than his brother likely would have been and didn't press me for an answer to my reaction, especially if I might not have one.

Esayr must have felt my distress or maybe read it on my face since our bond was still quiet and placid, "He's joking."

Kados' teasing smile was back, "I'm decidedly not. How could you not tell us you were convincing unmated females to come to the ship?"

"I mean, to be fair, I have no idea if she's married or not," though if I were being honest I'd bet she probably wasn't. Grants for marriage were few and far between now and considering her status as a pariah amongst any who considered themselves part of the government, if she weren't married before her stunt she likely never would be now —unless she did so illegally.

Kayle cut in "And that's the concern isn't it? That every other male on this ship will have the exact same reaction all of us have."

"I'm honestly amazed," my dry comment was met with interest from everyone and it emboldened me, "I guess I'm just surprised that anyone at all would be so invested in one simple woman coming up to the ship, but I suppose that's likely colored by the fact that women in general just aren't a rarity to me." I laughed a little then as I tried to put myself in their place, "I'm also just surprised no one has tried it already, though I guess the smear campaign Earth already committed would make it hard to convince many others..." I trailed off when I noticed I'd been met with blank stares.

"Tried what?" Addric prompted.

I stopped for a moment to let my thoughts coalesce into something that was more tangible than just 'ask ladies to come to you', "I guess I'm just surprised no one has thought to open your metaphorical borders to women already. Just because the Earth banned you from going there doesn't mean they banned anyone from coming up here." I carefully tip toed around the fact that if that awful little contract were taken at face value, they were free to go down to the planet whenever they so pleased and no one could —legally— stop them, not that notions of what is legal and what wasn't had ever quite stopped a government when they had their mind set on something though.

All at once, all of their faces swiveled to Kayle who lingered behind the bar with his hands pressed firmly into the counter, he met each of their stares and then finally mine, "Now, isn't that a thought."

*****A/N*****

I lied to the lady at McDonald's today. For background, every year a spider makes a web between the side mirror on my car and the door. And, every year, I don't have the heart to destroy it's home, so I just kinda sit there and deal with it until it eventually moves on/dies. But this sometimes causes a problem when I go and get food from a drive through. The lady at the window was like "You have a spider" because it's extremely obvious I have a window spider. This year's web is the biggest yet. And I responded, "Yeah." She returned with "You want me to like??? Get rid of it? With a straw or something?" And I said the first thing that came to mind, which happened to be, "No, my son would be so sad if I got rid of the spider."

I have no son. In reality it is I that would be sad if I got rid of the spider.

On another note I'm fairly certain my neighbor's cat is actually a witch that has been doing reconnaissance on my house., but I'll save that for another author's note maybe...when I have more evidence to support my case.

There are strange happenings afoot,

~Layla