[b]Book 2[/b]

[b]festivity[/b]

      Jeremy sat down and leaned against the large tree, someone had told him what it was called, but he'd forgotten. It's bark was rough, and almost gold in color, it was at least twenty feet high and the 'leaves' were thin lines that shimmered, and made rainbows when the sun hit them at the right angle.

      It was his first time on Kelser, nine years after he'd found Gralgiranselhelrarvir. 

      He'd been surprised when he found out they were coming here, and then he'd wondered why they hadn't come sooner. He knew it wasn't because Gral wanted to keep him hidden, he was quite proud of their relationship, and had introduced him to his parents over vid.

      "I'm a hunter," Gral had said, "I keep my people safe by being out here, hunting those who would hurt them."

      Jeremy had found it strange, considering how much Gral loved his family, and his world. Jeremy couldn't stand being on Earth, although he hadn't realized why, at the time, that was why he'd never done more than call his family.

      "Come on," one of the females said running toward him. "We're not done dancing!"

      "I am!" he replied. He tried to remember her name, but he had been introduced to so many of Gral's large family, that he couldn't.

      "I thought you hunters were suppose to be full of energy!"

      "We are! But no one trained me for *that*!" He pointed to the crowd dancing to the sound of the band.

      She nodded and ran back to the dance.

      Jeremy had danced with Gral's mother, his father, all of his siblings, of which one brother caught him in one of the slow dances, and made sure Jeremy could tell he was interested in having sex with him. Jeremy probably would, at some point while they stayed here. He was as tall as Gral, a little leaner, and could rival him in nibbling his ears.

      "You should have warned me about this," Jeremy told Gral, when he brought a tall glass of the alcoholic beverage his father had made, with the fruits he grew on his land. It reminded Jeremy of the fruit punches his grand mother would make for summer activities, but the taste was much brighter, and the slight alcohol in it just enhanced it.

      "I didn't want to give you a chance to plan your escape."

      "Do you guys do this often?"

      "This large of a gathering? No, only when all the space faring members manage to make it back at the same time. Otherwise, it's just a small affair."

      "It can't have been easy to arranged."

      "It wasn't. We've been working on this since our trip to Earth.

      "A year? And you never told me?"

      "I wanted to surprise you." Gral said smiling.

      "Well, as you saw when we got here, you managed it." When they had arrived on the property Jeremy had been smothered by the crowd of family members wanting to hug him, lick him, nibble on him.

      "Well, all of this, is because of you. Everyone has been wanting to meet you."

      "I have to say, your family is very welcoming."

      "No more than any other." 

      "What's your brother's name? The one that looks a lot like you, just leaner." Jeremy pointed him out of the crowd.

      "That's Roumalger, you want his full name?" Gral asked mischievously."

      "No," Jeremy answered with a laugh, "I'll have forgotten that by the time I have sex with him. But I have to tell you. You're going to have to work on your ear nibbling, I think he might just manage to steal me away from you with his."

      "Oh really?" Gral pulled Jeremy against him, and closed his muzzle on his ear, licking along the edge, sending a shiver of pleasure down his spine. When Jeremy was panting and moaning, Gral started nibbling.

      When he finally stopped, Jeremy had to catch his breath, then look at his chrono, to find out twenty minute had passed. He leaned back against his Heart, and looked at Thuruk, Asarin, and their new cub, sitting at a table, and feeding her.

      "You forgot to mention that yours and Thuruk's family were close." A third of the people were Thuruk's family.

      "All the families in the valley are close, but we're the only two with spacefarers. Everyone else just works groundside."

      Jeremy nodded, and was silent, watching Thuruk and his family. "Have you ever though about having a family?" he asked.

      "I have a family," Gral replied, muzzling the top of his head.

      "I mean starting your own, having cubs."

      Gral didn't reply immediately "I did, but I never really found the time to look for a female."

      "Found the time?" Jeremy asked, turning and looking at him, disbelieving. "Gralgiranselhelrarvnir. You don't *find* the time to look for someone, you *make* the time. I swear, you're lucky I walked onto your ship, I don't think you'd have found me otherwise."

      Gral pulled him against him and ruffled Jeremy's hair. "I would have hunted you on that station of yours. Actually, if I remember correctly, I did just that."

      Jeremy smiled, and relaxed against him, watching the family in the distance.

      "Do you want a family?" Gral asked cautiously, after a long silence.

      This time it was Jeremy who took his time responding. "Yes, I do. I look at them, I see how happy they are, and I think that we have so much happiness, that we should be sharing it with a cub."

      "Tomorrow, we can start looking for a female we both like. We'll have to stay closer to Kelser until the birth, but That wouldn't be a problem."

      "I was thinking of a lost cub."

      "A lost cub?'

      "Yeah, I've been reading about them, there's a lot of them, who lost their families in accidents, we could save one of them, bring him, or her, in our family." Jeremy's voice became soft. "I want to give one of them what you gave me, a chance to be happy again."

      "I never thought about that," Gral said, "but you're right, it would be appropriate." They were pensive for some time after that, until three of Gral's siblings came to pull them back in to the dance.

      * * * * *

      Jeremy enjoyed the quiet house. After the hustle of the previous night, with all the guest, some peace was appreciated. He made his way to the kitchen, and put the case on the counter. He started water boiling, and took out the tools from the case. 

      He could get all of this done in a machine, and back on the ship, it was often how he did it, but for the first one of the day, he enjoyed the ritual. He activated the gravitic anchor at the base of the mortal so it wouldn't move, placed the pestle next to it, and then measured enough beans for two cups. Grounding the beans by hand and releasing the aromas was how he liked to start his day.

      He was engrossed in the process, taking his time, and watching to make sure he didn't grind them too fine, when arms wrapped around his waist.

      "I knew I felt you leave the bed," was whispered in his ear, before it was gently nibbled on.

      Jeremy shivered. "Sorry if I woke you."

      "Don't be sorry for waking me, be sorry for leaving me alone." The hands rubbed his chest, and his neck was licked. 

      "I thought you'd want to sleep longer, we were up fairly late."

      "I don't recall either one of us being up. We were in bed, if my memory serves me." He paused and sniffed the air. "What are you doing?"

      "I grinding coffee beans."

      "That smells very nice."

      "Roumalgergravnilamir," a female said sharply, "go put some pants on, we have guests."

      "Yes mom," Roumalger replied, and then licked the back of Jeremy's neck, making him shiver. "I'll be right back," he whispered, and then left.

      "Good morning, Parkiler," Jeremy said, Gral's and Roumalger's mother joined him at the counter.

      "And a good morning to you, Jeremy. What are you doing?" she bent down to breath in the aroma.

      "I'm preparing coffee." He took out two cups, placed a dripper on each of them. He divided the ground coffee evenly, and put that in the bottom part.

      "I've never heard of it."

      "It's a human drink. Coffee is a plant grown on earth and most of their colonies." The water was boiling, so he poured it in the top part of the drippers.

      "How did you get a human product? I thought we weren't trading with them until they stopped persecuting some of their people."

      "I know someone," Jeremy replied with a smile. The water as done dripping to he took off the dripper off a cup, and picked up to inhale the aroma.

      "You know someone who can get you an illegal product. Maybe I should inform your captain of that."

      "And lose my only supplier?" Gral said, as he entered, "I don't think so." He nuzzled his mother, and then kissed Jeremy.

      "What did you just do?" Parkiler asked, head tilted.

      Gral took the other cup. "We kissed." He took a sip of his coffee.

      "Kissed?"

      "It's a human custom that we've adopted, took some trial and error, but we found a way to make it work," Gral said.

      Jeremy was starting to turn red.

      "Really?" she said, "you're going to have to show me how it's done."

      "I don't think so," Gral replied, "it's ours, and ours alone." He grinned at his mother.

      "Is it true that you only have sex with males?" she asked Jeremy.

      He stopped moving, cup to his lips, and looked at her over it. "Yes, it is."

      "Is that a common behavior among humans?"

      "I'm not sure I'm the right person to ask," he replied, "why are you even asking about that?" He paused. "Right, you do socio-psychological research. If you want to answer that question, you should speak to one of them, instead of me. I don't know if you could trust their answers, considering they still don't acknowledge that they have males who have sex with males."

      "Maybe I can get one of the ambassadors to do some research on this for me."

      Gral's father entered the kitchen. "I thought I heard voices." 

      "Morning Dad," Gral replied.

      "Morning dear," his mate said.

      "Good morning Marse . . . Dad," Jeremy said, definitely not used to calling him that.

      Marseforderiven nuzzled everyone in turn. "What is it you're holding?"

      "It's coffee," Gral said, handing him the cup. "It's a human drink."

      Marsef smelled it, and then took a swallow. He made a face "it's very bitter."

      "I know," Gral said, smiling. "It's invigorating."

      "You drink this a lot?" his mother asked.

      "No, just a cup in the morning, Jeremy drinks it through out the day."

      "It's flavors are interesting," Marsef said. "I wonder how well I could grow it here."

      "Dear, it's a human plant. It' be illegal for you to grow it."

      "It would just be for me, an experiment, if you will, there wouldn't be any harm." He looked at Gral.

      "I can't give my approval, you know that dad." He nodded toward Jeremy, "But if you were to manage to get yourself a plant, without my knowledge, there isn't much I could do about that, could I?"

      Jeremy looked from the father to the son. "I'll talk to my contact, see what he can do about it, but you're going to have to do your own research on how to grow them, I have no idea how that's done."

[b]Family[/b]

      "Yes?" the female at the reception desk asked, as Gral presented himself, still damp. He'd shaken himself in the entry way, and used the towels there, but fur didn't get completely dry that way.

      "Gralgiranselhelrarvnir, I have an appointment to take in one of the lost cubs." She looked at her screen, while he looked over his shoulder. Jeremy had insisted on driving the hover, and he hadn't found a place to park it yet.

      "Yes, please come with me. Administrator Toldiran is waiting for you." She led him to a door, which opened, after knocking, and then ushered him in.

      The office was large, and the walls were covered with holos of cubs. The desk was utilitarian, but the chairs were large and plush. The male, behind the desk, who stood, as Gral entered was on the short side, and overweight.

      "Captain Gralgiranselhelrarvnir, it's such an honor to have a decorated hunter such as yourself consider taking in one of our cubs. Please, take a seat. Are you looking for a specific type of cub?"

      "No," he replied as he sat, "we thought we would visit them, and see who tugs are our hearts."

      "We?"

      "My Heart should be joining us soon, he's looking for a place to park the hover. I can answer whatever question you have, to verify that we qualify to take one in."

      "I don't have many questions, you gave us access to your military records, when you made the appointment, and they speak quite well for you. And hearing that you have your Heart makes me even more comfortable. While I have no doubt that you can give one of our cubs a perfect home by yourself, we do prefer partnered applicants. It helps provide stability. Most of our cubs came to us under difficult situations, and stability is going to be important for them."

      There was a knock at the door, the administrator stood as the receptionist opened it, and froze as Jeremy entered. His clothes were wet. Like fur, you couldn't towel clothes dry.

      "I'm sorry I'm late, I didn't think finding a place to land the hover would be this difficult." Jeremy sat in the available chair, next to Gral.

      "This is Jeremy, my Heart," Gral introduced him.

      Administrator Toldiran was still staring at Jeremy.

      "Is there a problem?" Jeremy asked.

      "What are you?" the administrator asked.

      "I'm kelsirian," Jeremy answered, matter of fact, then realized what he as being asked. "Oh, I'm human," he reluctantly admitted, "by birth, but I'm a kelsirian citizen."

      "Is this going to be a problem?" Gral asked.

      "No, of course not," the administrator answered, getting over his surprise. "Please accept my deepest apologies, Jeremy. I have to admit you are the first alien I've ever met." He sat back down. "You are Gralgiranselhelrarvnir's Heart." He said it as a statement, but Jeremy could see that he was finding difficult to accept.

      "I am."

      "Are you also part of the crew?"

      "I am. I'm the ship's engineer, I'm also hunter trained." That surprised the adminstrator.

      "I granted you access to his military file, you should have them."

      The administrator busied himself looking though his files. "Yes, there they are. I really must apologize, I am normally much more professional than this. If you'll give me a moment to familiarize myself with your file."

      Jeremy put his hand on Gral's while they waited and gave him a comforting smile.

      "I must say, that this is an impressive record, you were at Yarvir?"

      "As part of the support personnel, yes," Jeremy answered.

      The administrator nodded. "Well, I'm satisfied that as mates you can provide a good home for one of our cubs. If you'll follow me, I will take you to the cubs' living area. You can meet them there and see who claws their way into your hearts."

      He took them through the corridor where his office, and others were located, and through a door that opened to a much livelier corridor, of sun yellow. He pointed to a door as they walked by it.

      "Through there are the classrooms, where we educate the cubs of age."

      "You don't send them to a Center?" Gral asked.

      "As I said before, most of our cubs come to us through difficult circumstances. It often leave them with troubles dealing with an environment such as the Centers. Here we have professionals who can help them deal with those problems, so that they can overcome them by the time they reach the age where they can leave us on their own, if they haven't been taken in before that."

      "Do many of them get taken in?" Jeremy asked.

      "I'm afraid that when they reach that age, not many want them. Most want a cub young enough they can make their own, by the time they are of education age, they are pretty much their own person, without even taking into account the other troubles they might have. Here we have the playroom for the cubs who are too young to be educated." Next to the door he pointed at was a large window, and Jeremy looked into the large room, where cubs were playing, either in small groups or on their own. A cub in the middle of the room looked up as they walked by, and Jeremy stopped, looking at him.

      "The door at the end of this corridor, leads to the courtyard, although, with the rain, I expect most of the cubs will be inside." The voice became fainter as they kept walking, and Jeremy stayed transfixed in front of th window.

      The cub had looked up, and then back down at his toy, but in that moment of eye contact, Jeremy had recognized something. He couldn't say what it was he had seen there, but it felt familiar. He looked at the door, for a sign indicating he couldn't go in. Not seeing one he opened the door and walked in. He caught the attention of all the cubs in the room, but none of them moved from where they were. He sat, cross legged in front of the cub, who gazed at him with steady gray eyes.

      "Hello, I'm Jeremy, what's your name?"

      The cub didn't say anything, he tilted his head and looked him over. He wore faded pants that might have been a little to large for him. His fur was copper, with highlights that made Jeremy think of fire.

      "I don't have fur," Jeremy said, offering him his hand. The cub took it, looked at it, turning it over, and then let go of it. "Can you speak?"

      "We don't know that he can," a female said, behind Jeremy, startling him.

      He looked up at her. She was young, with silvery fur, and wore a uniform that indicated she was a medic. "What's his name?" 

      "Rudyumdamselhelrarin."

      "How did he come to be here?"

      "He was found in the wreck of a hover six month ago. He hasn't said anything since coming here."

      "His mother?" She shook her head. "His father?"

      "She wasn't mated, and she didn't declare him on the birth records."

      "Is it common for the father not to be declared?"

      "No, but it happens."

      He looked back at the cub. "DO you prefer being called Rudyumdamselhelrarin? Rudyum? Or . . ."

      The cub looked up at him after he said the shortened name, and their eyes met again. This time, the memory of where he'd seen eyes like that hit him.

      It had been in a mirror, his own brown eyes, after sleeping with a girl for the first and only time. He'd been in his first year at the university, and it had been something of a dare, something about how he couldn't still be a virgin at his age. So his friend had found him a girl who was interested and he'd slept with her.

      The next morning, he had looked at himself in the mirror, and his eyes were empty. They reflected the emptiness he felt inside. He felt lost, he didn't know what he was doing, or why. But somewhere at the back of his mind he knew that if he stayed much longer, he wouldn't survive.

      That was when he had thrown himself in his studies, and started specializing in antimatter, something that would let him get off earth and hopefully as far as he could, as fast as possible.

      He was seeing all those things in eyes that were far too young to have lost so much hope. He couldn't be more than four years old. No one that young should be that empty inside. He looked around for the female, he wanted to ask his age, but she was busy taking care of a cub who had injured herself.

      He stayed like that, watching Rudyum play with hovers, crashing them together in silence. After a time the cub looked up, over Jeremy's shoulder, and he turned to see Gral and the administrator walking by, toward the offices. He looked back at the cub, who was playing again.

      "Rudyum," the cub looked up at him. "I don't know what happened to you, who hurt you so deeply, but if you'll let me, I will protect you. I have a home, and a mate, he is loving, and strong. He's stronger than I am, and like you, he's named after the Protector. I can't promise you that you'll never feel pain again, but you will never be alone again. You will be loved, I will do everything I can to show you happiness again." Rudyum kept looking at him, eyes impassive, while Jeremy's eyes were getting wet. He offered him his hand. "Please, let me take you away from here."

      The cub looked at the hand for a moment, and then placed his in it. They stood and left the room. When Jeremy opened the door to the office area, Rudyum stopped, so Jeremy stopped too. For a moment he thought he saw apprehension on the cub's face before it was blank again.

      Jeremy waited for Rudyum to start walking again before leading him to the administrator's office. The door was open and he entered.

       Gral turned, looking at him beaming with happiness. In his arms was a small bundle. "Look at her, Jeremy, isn't she precious?"

      Jeremy joined him, and looked at the small cub he was holding, he could only see her face, she mewed once and then feel asleep. Jeremy nodded and looked up at Gral.

      Gral only then noticed the tears. "What's wrong?" He then saw the cub holding Jeremy's hand, and half hiding behind him. Surprise and concern fought for dominance on his face as he looked from the cub Jeremy held, to the one he was holding.

      "I can't leave him here," Jeremy said, fighting to keep his voice steady. "I know we say we were only here for one cub, but we can make it work with two. I don't want us to have to choose between them."

      Gral nodded and rested his head on Jeremy's "We will make it work," he whispered.