"A wedding?" The words filled up the entirety of the room, squeezing the air until the only thing left was silence.

Silence and the electric crackle of the media feed in the background.

A tying ceremony.

Esayr watched me in that breathless way. The one that told me I held everything he'd ever wanted right in the palm of my hand and he was only waiting for me to offer it to him.

No one said anything at all. Though emotions exploded in the room. Mostly hope bright and vibrant warmth the like the sun just behind your eyelids.

When Esayr reached for me it was a calming shielded touch. The overwhelming emotions faded and when I blinked I realized my lashes were heavy and wet from tears I hadn't even realized I'd cried.

"It's your decision. Always. Uninfluenced by me or any others here," the muted hum of emotions still simmered but whatever he'd done had stuffed them away enough for me to gather my bearings.

I tugged on our bond. It was quiet but not in that cavernous way from before and at my faint glancing touch, it opened slightly allowing the steady drip of my mate's emotions to reach me.

He wanted it.

As if that should surprise you, Addy. I still asked, though, because I'd never get enough of hearing him tell me he wanted me --all the ways he wanted me. "Is that what you want?" I could feel the tickle of amusement, not just from Esayr, but also the soft filter of the others in the room as well at my question.

His answer was a glancing kiss, just on the edge of my mouth but my hand stole to his face and turned it until his mouth covered mine. I deepened that kiss in front of everyone here in this room.

Because I wanted it too.

A marriage. A tying ceremony. It was quick. All of this nonsense had been ever since I'd put my cheek swab into that little plastic tube and dropped it into the doctor's hands. And yet, I'd already committed forever to him. Committed it on my back, my knees, between warmed sheets and plastered to a smooth tile wall. I'd already relinquished my freedom to return to the planet that rotated lazily beneath this planet.

Deciding to marry this male, my mate, who'd stood quietly at my side no matter my moods or inclinations and supported me through them even when they were actively at odds with his interests. It was the easiest decision I had to make and a part of me wondered if I hadn't already made it already some time in the quiet moments over the last few days. "Marry me, Esayr."

"With every thread I have, I will tie you so tightly to me you won't ever be rid of me," his words were light and joking but the thought of them set me on fire and I watched the shock of them register on his face just before he threw his head back in a laugh.

A chorus of cheers went up in the room, banishing the somber mood that had hung like a cloud since the news of the girl that had disappeared had broken across the ship. The chatter picked up into a dull roar around us.

I turned to Cece, who stood watching our exchange with open curiosity, "I'd assumed you were already considering the option, though I see now I might have overstepped a boundary." Her attention slipped to the males around us, cataloging the excitement that hummed like a hive.

"It was on the horizon."

Her head canted to the side just slightly while she watched the others in the room. She didn't turn back our way as she murmured, "A shame that it is tied to this, though," her eyes turned to the nearby viewscreen.

It displayed a map of the united states that was peppered faintly with red dots. All of them were Val'Dornn genetics labs. I felt my chest tighten as I looked at the map.

"I would pull your men off the planet," Cece's observation startled me enough that I turned to look at her profile, trying to see what it was she did. Trying to figure out what it was in her mind that had her pulling conclusions --accurate conclusions-- out of the thin air.

Vailen had turned to look at the screen as well.

"Or at the very least the ones that are located in America," I jumped in, afraid that Cece, in all her unbiased nature, would leak that news that no one should have known, "They shouldn't know that you have men on the planet, but if they do find out...it won't be pretty." The comment was made as much for Vailen as it was for Cece.

The only response I got from her was a nod.

Vailen engaged just a little bit more, with a biting comment, "With how they treat their own females associated with us, it wouldn't surprise me if there was blood." He was quiet for a spell before he finally relented, "I'll offer to pull my men, though I doubt they will take me up on the offer. They won't want to leave any matches vulnerable to retaliation."

"What is our first step then?" Esayr rumbled behind my back, his heat radiating through my clothes all the way to my skin.

"We kill them with kindness," They all glanced my way with a question in their eyes, "They want to make us the villain. We'll show them everything the dark side has to offer --cookies and all." If I hadn't been a human/val'dornn liaison I could have --at the very least-- been the girl that makes the lame space puns. "We'll start with the tying ceremony. From here on out, we don't wait for them to make the first move. We'll broadcast it and anything else we please through their channels."

Vailen dipped his chin in acknowledgment, "Then it sounds like our first step is planning a Tying Ceremony," Vailen's attention flicked between me and Esayr, "I can reach out to Roan, though you could find him easily enough in the atrium."

I glanced back to Cece, aware that she'd never met the Val'Dornn prince. "Would you like to come with us, Cece?"

"Sure," her attention stayed on the screens for a moment too long, before she pulled herself away to follow us out and into the hallway.

The walk was mostly quiet, interspersed with some conversation about the ship itself and the layout. We crossed the central navigation terminal and that seemed to stop Cece in her tracks for a moment while she stared up at the stars far above us.

I pinned Esayr with a look, "I told you it was beautiful."

He smiled and just shrugged used to seeing it probably every day of his life.

When Cece finally stepped to follow after us, she seemed quieter, a little bit more at peace. The small inklings of feelings that I'd gotten from her every once in a while had calmed even more until she might as well have been the glassy smooth surface of an undisturbed pond.

The sensation reminded me of Prince Roan in a roundabout way, though I'd yet to be around him when whatever this strange ability of mine had begun to manifest. I hadn't been around him much at all of late.

I turned to Cece, "Have you met Prince Roan?"

"Hmm?"

"Large male long dark hair and completely golden eyes?"

"No, I don't believe I have."

He's hard to miss. You'd know if you had. It was odd to me that he wouldn't have at least come to speak with her after she'd come to the ship. I was also reasonably sure he would have known she was coming, as well. "He's the guiding Prince of this ship, is that right Esayr?"

He ushered us down a small connecting hallway and into the beginning of the large domed atrium. We were dwarfed by the tall columns of the room in a way that almost made me nostalgic for downtown Saint Pete with its tall glass buildings. "He is our Prince, yes, and the one that ushered us here with the guidance of our deities."

"Then I look forward to meeting him."

"I'm surprised he hasn't met you already."

The sentence was more a question than a statement and when I glanced to Esayr for an answer he supplied me with one, "Guidances are rarely simple and Princes even less so."

It wasn't an answer at all, but I had no response for it as we stepped into the circle of the heart of the atrium. Roan stood staring into that rotating crystal sphere in the center. Red robes flowed like water over his shoulders to only just brush the soft organic floor of the room.

When he turned, for the first time in my life I saw a blatant emotion on the Prince's face. Shock.

It snapped like a whip crack in the air around us and I imagined for the briefest moment that Cece felt it too, when she stepped slightly behind me.

I shot my consciousness out to Esayr along our bond. Is it a mate bond? I poured the question into the bond hoping to convey it in whatever way I could, but the only response I got was a similar confusion. Not a mate bond? I got no understandable response to that question.

Prince Roan schooled his features quickly, smoothing them into a placid serenity. But when he spoke, he spoke directly to Cece, "We thank you, for your help." He left the conversation with that singular enigmatic comment before he turned to me and my mate, "I see we have a ceremony to plan." When he smiled it was softer even crinkling the skin next to his eyes in a way that reminded me that he was --at the end of the day-- a person and not some mythical figure, "The others will be pleased. Those few out on voyages will likely return because of this progress."

"Your brother?"

It was odd, watching the flick of emotions on the Prince's face, his eyes gave away very little. You couldn't tell when his attention wavered from you to the next person, it was unsettling most days, but today there was a brief stutter that made me think he might have glanced to Cece again where she stood half behind me, her hand loosely gripping the fabric of my shirt.

"Already on his way."

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

I ended up having another interview this past week with the company for a similar job. I'll likely hear back sometime this week about the position, so here's to hoping! I'm very nervous, though that's more the norm for me than anything else. I just always want to do well at whatever it is that I'm doing that I have to take a minute to remind myself that I need to give myself time to learn.

In more fun news! I have another interview today, though this one is with a local fostering company looking to find some forever homes for kittens! I've wanted to get cats for a long time since I'd grown up with cats basically my whole life and there are three little boys through this foster program that they were hoping to adopt out in a set. I'll be going for a meet and greet in a few hours to see if we mesh well and to start the process of seeing if I can possibly adopt them!!

Whether anything comes of either the professional or the cat interview, I'm at peace with it! But, I won't lie I'm very excited about both.

Be patient and kind with yourself. You're worth love too,

~Layla