Almost Two Hours Later

  Teresa's eyes open to a darkening world. The dual suns have nearly set, one solar body already hidden beneath the planet's zenith. The twin childlings, nestled beside her on the wide bed, are sleeping soundly. Only their heads are visible, the rest of their tiny bodies wrapped securely in warm blankets.

  Teresa gingerly sits up on the bed before realizing she is still mostly nude. Her discarded shift lies crumpled beneath her. She repositions the lower portion of her body so that she can pull the clothing from under her butt. The childling closest to that arm is jostled by the minute movements of the mattress. A pair of tiny gray eyes opens, and focuses on Teresa's face. Teresa's lips part and she releases a small gasp.

  "Oh no. It wasn't N-Vorl. They're not his. It's Mau-Nis. He's the father. Oh no."

  Teresa closes both eyes for a brief moment. When she opens them again, she reaches for the tiny gray-eyed childling. As she does so, a trembling-voiced chitter greets her ears from the second childling. Teresa receives yet another shock when she locks eyes with the green eyed childling twin.

  "What?" Teresa mutters. "Is that even possible?"

  N-Vorl's deep voice floats to her out of the room's darkness. He steps out of the shadows and approaches the bed. The enormous hunter's shoulders are slumped and his body language speaks of one who is reeling from either defeat or betrayal.

  "You're the scientist," N-Vorl says flatly, disappointment obvious in his voice. "You tell me."

  Teresa shakes her head energetically from side to side, tears streaming down her cheeks. Her voice breaks with the amount of emotion built into her plea.

  "N-Vorl, please. I'm so sorry. I'm so--."

  N-Vorl does not allow her to finish. Kneeling beside the bed, he draws Teresa into a kiss, mindful of the childling cradled in her arms.

  "I am not angry," N-Vorl says, separating from Teresa. "Only saddened. When the first childling was birthed, I believed they were both mine. The expulsion of the second childling dispelled that belief. The Nilyautha are known for their piercing gray eyes. It is not a trait common to the Fihgi. I knew immediately...That the childling could not be mine. I do not want to share you with Mau-Nis. However, if that is what this situation calls for...I will do it."

  "What? Share me with Mau-Nis? What kind of woman do you think I am?"

  "Mau-Nis will want access to his childling. And I cannot in conscience deny him such."

  "Access to his childling is one thing. Access to me is quite another. I told him aboard the Weyland station...That we could never be intimate again. And I meant it. Of course, I didn't know that then. I was...Not well. I do know that now. You are my lover, N-Vorl. My Vil'par. And, I love you."

  N-Vorl's face is transformed by the biggest smile Teresa has ever seen him display. The appearance of it almost causes Teresa to rethink her position. So sudden is the transformation.

  "I love you too...Teresa Boyd," N-Vorl says, his smile failing to diminish.

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  Both tiny childlings begin chittering at nearly the same instant. Teresa looks tiredly from one childling to the other. Three children in only two years. Oh boy. Teresa glances up at N-Vorl. Her voice is low and secretive in nature.

  "N,Vorl? While we were aboard the California...Do you remember when you offered me that vial of red liquid?"

  "Yes. The Chruksh Elixir?"

  "Yes, that. Do you remember me asking you if it was a contraceptive?"

  "Vaguely."

  "Do yautja have such a thing? I mean...If we're going to keep carrying on. I don't want to keep popping childlings out of the oven every time. It gets old...And painful...Real quick."

  N-Vorl let's out a loud laugh and flicks the end of Teresa's nose with a clawed finger. She balls her face up in faux anger.

  "Stop doing that!" Teresa growls. "Ooo, you can be so aggravating sometimes. I'm being serious."

  "So am I. But to answer your question...Yes."

  Teresa sighs and rotates her head on her shoulders, working out kinks.

  "Good. I don't want to pay every time you get a little horny."

  It is N-Vorl's turn to contort his face in pretend anger. He levels his unhappy gaze at Teresa.

  "Me? Do you mean to say that you have not also initiated our mating sessions? If I remember correctly, you did so on at least one very important occasion? Are you really going to deny that it was you who taught me the upside down mating?"

  "N-Vorl!" Teresa hisses, embarrassment in her tone.

  N-Vorl smiles with satisfaction, his mandibles flaring widely. His point thoroughly made, N-Vorl leans in, his eyes riveted to Teresa's face.

  "Although, it is the other game I enjoy best. But it will have to wait until I return. When the childlings are somewhat older and do not require the usage of your chest mounds."

  "N-Vorl! You're being gross!"

  "Am I?" N-Vorl whispers, leaning closer and licking the flesh behind Teresa's right ear.

  Teresa chuckles softly as N-Vorl wraps a strong arm around her waist and nestles his head against her chest. Surprisingly good-natured, the twins make very little sound, their tiny mandibles tightly shut.

  -

  -

  Medical Cabin

  Yau-tala drops down into a wooden chair closest to the window. The expulsion of Teresa's offspring had gone off without a hitch. For an ooman, Teresa possesses a large degree of strength. Even Yau-tala is impressed. Her mind shifts to another ooman female. Her mother, Alexa Woods.

  Yau-tala was barely nine cycles of a season old when her mother had died. An expulsion gone wrong. According to her father, her mother's advanced age had directly contributed to her inability to carry the childling to full gestation.

  If not for Halyiis, and the lessons recorded on her father's mask interface, Yau-tala might never have grown to be a true healer. Her mother had been a healer, quickly learning the ways of the yautja and the V'Dahan's. But the life she had not been able to save, had been her own.

  Yau-tala climbs from her seat near the window. She strides solemnly to a wooden desk in the far corner. Opening a top drawer, Yau-tala removes a portrait etched into thin pale wood. The portrait is of her mother and father--Lex and Scar--on the morning they chose to commemorate their n'fiis. In the portrait, Lex wears a long white shift splashed here and there with images of Chruksh blossoms. Scar is dressed in typical yautja fashion, only his mask and plasmacaster are missing from the portrait.

  Yau-tala laments the love she knew her parents once felt for each other. A love she knows she may never enjoy. A clawed hand coming to rest on her left shoulder causes Yau-tala to turn slightly. The eril'k. Mau-Nis.

  "I didn't hear you come in. Where is Vor'taalnis? Teresa is resting. She mustn't be bothered looking after an inquisitive childling. Who did you leave him with?"

  "Your father. Elder Scar, insisted he would look after the childling. He wishes to teach him more of our...Yautja ways. I should have told him that is unnecessary. Since we are not welcome or needed."

  "I was...I didn't mean that."

  "I know," Mau-Nis says.

  Cupping Yau-tala's face, Mau-Nis lowers his mouth to hers. Picking up where they left off that afternoon.