Chapter 4: Mating Dizyntk

The planet of Sapphire contains several landmasses. The northern continent stretches from the planet's north polar region to two-thirds of the way to the equator. It covers about half of the planet's circumference. The southern continent is smaller. It is located halfway between the south polar area and the equator. It stretches like a winding ribbon over two-thirds of the planet's southern hemisphere. Along the equatorial region there are several large islands as well as numerous small chains. The capital of the planet is located in the center of the northern continent. Almost three thousand kilometers away, on the southern coast of the northern continent, is the headquarters of the Fleet of the Second Star Cluster.

The southern coast is also used for several resort areas. Dizyntk are excellent swimmers and they enjoy the warm waters and white beaches that lay along this stretch of coastline. The Fleet HQ is located midway between two of the largest resort communities. The main building sits perched atop a cliff that rises 200 meters above the crashing waves of the ocean.

Michael had been unable to see any of the resort areas. He had been in meetings most of the day. At this time, however, he was enjoying a hot drink at the concession area located at the top of the HQ building. The breeze was cool and pleasant. It was the view that had his attention right now, it was extraordinary. From the table he was sitting at he could see west for several kilometers along the coast. The views of the shining blue water and the strips of white sand were beautiful. He almost forgot that he was waiting for someone.

"It is a spectacular sight, is it not?" a pleasant voice asked.

He turned to see Heratala standing with a tray in her hands. He stood and took her tray and sat it on the table.

"Yes, it is." he said as he sat her tray down.

She sat down and enjoyed her drink while looking out over the coast.

"Is your family well?" Michael asked.

"Yes, very." Tala answered. "How is your mate?"

"She is well." Michael replied.

Tala could tell that something was bothering her friend. His voice had a distracted tone.

"Is there something bothering you, Michael?" she asked him.

He smiled and looked at her, "Is it that obvious?"

She nodded.

"It is just something that I knew might happen, but I was unprepared for the eventuality." he said.

"And this is?" she asked.

"I knew that dizyntk were usually bonded to more than just one mate, but I did not think that it would be this soon." he said with just a touch of embarrassment.

Tala smiled in understanding. "I see. The Princess has asked you to consider adding another to your mating group."

"Yes, she has. Her name is Velakari. She and Feya were friends when they were children." he explained.

"Do not feel too uncomfortable about your uneasiness." Tala said. "Most dizyntk are the same when their mate asks this of them."

Michael looked surprised. He had assumed that this was something that dizyntk took for granted.

Heratala laughed at his surprise. "Did you think that we just accept it when a mate asks if another can join a mating group?"

Michael nodded. "I had actually. From your comment, though, I can see that I am mistaken about this."

"It is always hard when the one that you love asks that you try and love another as much as you do them." she explained. "If you already are familiar with the individual in question, that makes things easier. In cases like yours, however, when you do not know the dizyntk that she is asking you to love, it is just as hard for us at it is for you."

Michael leaned back and considered this. He had just assumed that Dizyntk readily accepted new members into a mating group. Now that he actually thought the matter over he understood how silly this was. If that were true then there would be large numbers of mating groups with five or six or more members. The vast majority of groups only had three or four members however. That obviously meant that adding a new member was not such a simple thing. Michael seemed to feel better knowing that his feelings of uncertainty were not just due to his being human. Most Dizyntk went through this as well.

"Thank you, Heratala. This talk has helped me a lot." he said as he smiled at her.

"I am happy that I could be of help." she replied. "We are friends after all."

Michael suddenly remembered the note from Feya. "Oh, I almost forgot." He reached into his pocket and took out the envelope. He handed it to Heratala. "If I did not give this to you, Feya would have been very displeased with me."

Heratala opened the message and read it. She seemed very happy. It had been a long time since she had visited the palace.

"I insist on meeting the one sharing a bed with my mate." Michael said while trying to imitate Feya's voice. He did not do a very good job.

Heratala almost fell out of her chair from laughing so hard at his poor imitation. As she caught her breath, she said to Michael, "Tell the Princess that I will be happy to come to the palace. I will be there a week before our next patrol."

The two of them then talked for a while about their next patrol and about the meetings for the next day. Afterwards, they went their separate ways. They were different specialties and attended different meetings. Michael was definitely feeling much better after talking with his friend.

Michael returned to the palace after the last of the meetings ended. He arrived shortly after noon. Feya was busy with her own duties and would be for another few hours. Aria was at her classes and would not be home for a couple of hours herself. Michael was expecting, therefore, to be alone in the living area. He decided to take a bath and was surprised to see a female Dizyntk wearing priestess robes walking into the bath just ahead of him.

"Excuse me, Sister" he said to her just before she opened the door. "I do not believe I know you."

She turned and looked at him. Michael felt his breath catch for a moment in his throat. She was beautiful. Michael had been on Sapphire for almost five months. In that time he had seen few, if any, Dizyntk females that he would have called unattractive. This was the first time, however, that he had seen one with jet black hair and such pale skin. Dizyntk, as a rule, were not dark skinned. A light shade of brown, similar to a human of Asian or Hispanic descent, was about as dark as any of them ever got. Feya's skin color looked like a Caucasian human with a light tan, which was normal for the majority of Dizyntk. The Dizyntk in front of Michael, however, had skin so pale that it was almost white. The contrast with her dark hair was stunning. The fact that her eyes were a striking deep blue only added to the effect of her beauty.

Velakari smiled as she looked the human over. He did not look like a Dizyntk of course. Kari could see that he was not an unattractive creature however. It was also obvious from the look on his face that he found her pleasant to look at as well.

She bowed her head to him. "You must be Michael." she said to him. She looked up at him. "I am Velakari. It is a pleasure to finally meet you."

Her voice was very soothing, similar to Liracalia's, but with a sensual edge to it. It took some effort for Michael to answer with a normal voice.

"So you are Velakari." he said to her. "It is easy to see why Feya is so taken with you."

Kari blushed a bit at the compliment. "You are too kind." she said. "Were you going to take a bath as well?"

"Yes, I was." he replied. "But, please, you go first. You are a guest after all."

Kari noted his politeness. She thought to herself that this was not going to be so hard after all. She had been concerned about how difficult it might be to find the human arousing enough to mate with. She was quickly realizing that it might not be that hard at all.

She shook her head slightly and reached her hand out to him. "Let us bathe together. We need to get to know each other after all."

Michael swallowed hard. Normally it would not have been too difficult to simply bathe with a female Dizyntk. The bath they had here was large enough for four or five to easily bathe together as Dizyntk were very social creatures. The problem was that Kari was very, very, attractive. He did not want to seem impolite, however, so he nodded his head.

"Of course, if that will make you happy." he said with a smile on his face.

"It would make me very happy." Kari said. The smile on her face was more one of desire than happiness however.

She was very curious to see what the human's body looked like. Michael was wearing his military uniform and this covered most of his body.

As they undressed, Michael took pains not to look directly at Kari. He was doing a good job of not getting aroused so far. He was unsure, however, how long this would last if he stared at her for very long. Kari was doing just the opposite. She was taking a good look at Michael. The human was quite tall. The tallest Dizyntk males were around five feet six inches tall and these were rare enough. Michael was six foot one. He was slender but well muscled. He did not have any fur but his skin was smooth and appealing in appearance. Kari could easily see why her friend found the human attractive. She found it amusing that Michael was trying not to look too much at her. She was also happy that he thought her so attractive. They entered the bath and sat quietly for a few minutes. Michael was relieved that they were in the water. If he got aroused now it would not be so obvious. After a minute or so, they began talking. Kari talked for a while about her childhood with Feya. Michael enjoyed hearing what Feya was like when she was younger. Michael talked about the time he and Feya had spent together on the planet they were stranded on. They had talked for over an hour when Kari asked about the one thing that could distract Michael completely from any thoughts of arousal.

"I know that Feya was hurt in the crash." she said. "How bad were her injuries?"

Michael looked away and closed his eyes. He did not like to think about this. He had not even talked about it with Feya. He still had the occasional dream about what Feya had looked like when he had pulled her from the wreck.

"Bad, very bad", he said quietly. "I do not know how I managed to save her. Everything in her body was broken and bleeding. She does not remember most of it and I am glad that she does not."

Kari realized that she had asked something that was upsetting. She came over to Michael while he had his head turned. She stood and wrapped her arms around Michael's head and pulled his face softly against her.

"I am sorry." she said gently. "I asked something that I should not have."

Without even thinking about it, Michael wrapped his arms around Kari. "It is alright. I have just not talked about it before."

Kari nuzzled her face into Michael's hair. She found that his scent was very pleasing. Michael was enjoying the warmth of her body against his. He began thinking the same thoughts that Kari had been thinking earlier. It would be very easy to want to mate with Kari. Actually, Kari was having the same problem that Michael had experienced earlier. She was feeling herself becoming quite aroused by this human. She had never been aroused by anyone other than Feya. She did not know if he had as good a sense of smell as Dizyntk and so could detect this. She did know that she did not care if he knew she was aroused. After several minutes they both decided that they needed to get out and dry off. As Michael stood up he realized that he had become noticeably aroused by his close contact with Kari. He was quite embarrassed.

Kari smiled as she looked at him. "It is quite alright." she said. "If we are going to try and become as close as Feya wishes, then I am happy that you find me so arousing."

She turned around and said, "For the time being, however, I will be polite and not stare." She turned her head back, looked down at his erection and back at his eyes. "Not too much anyway." she said teasingly.

Michael blushed at this. The two of them dried themselves and got dressed. As they entered the living area, Aria arrived from her classes. She ran quickly to her father and jumped into his arms.

Michael grunted a bit and smiled at his daughter. "You are growing so fast."

Aria giggled at this, looked at Kari and back at her father. "Did you get to meet Kari? I like her, father."

"Yes, I have been talking with her for a couple of hours now." he said. "I like her as well."

"Mother loves her." Aria continued. "Are you going to bond with her?"

"You are going a little fast, my dearest." he said to her. "I have just met her."