Page 18 of Aura Awakened
AURA
His body language is meant to be reassuring, I can tell that much, and I do feel a weird sense of calm coming from him. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work. He’s staring at me, explaining something, but the meaning is lost. All his words are garbled, clearly an alien language, and I can’t help the panic that tries to drown me. Communication has not been an issue up until now, so what’s going on?
“Why can’t I understand you? What’s happening?”
He’s still talking, but he holds up an index finger, telling me to wait a moment, and sure enough, the words eventually resolve themselves.
“We could understand each other before, because the Malifects have translators installed on all their ships. They need to be able to communicate with slaves from a thousand different worlds. I don’t have that technology here. However, my people have the ability to communicate…telepathically, I guess you could say, although that’s not precisely what it is. It has to do with pheromones. It’s how we’re communicating now. I’m speaking out loud, but the telepathic link is translating in your brain.”
He closes his mouth, but the explanation keeps coming, straight to my head.We no longer have the need for verbal speech.
I’m sorry. WHAT?
“How is that possible?” I ask. “I’m human and definitely not telepathic. Can your species just bestow the ability on anyone they choose?” In a way, it kinda makes sense. Plants on Earth have demonstrated the ability to communicate with each other through pheromones, in a way that’s similar, though much more basic, to what he’s describing. I knew he was a plant! But it doesn’t explain how I factor into that. It’s not like a random tree can casually let me know if it’s infected with Dutch elm disease.
It’s complicated,he says in my mind.I wouldn’t normally be able to do this with a non-Acacian. But you are an exception. And I should warn you, it’s only going to grow from here. At the moment, we can hear each other’s thoughts. If we try, we can feel each other’s emotions. Soon we won’t even have to try.
“Hold up,” I say out loud, unwilling to try the whole telepathy thing. “You can hear all my thoughts?”
No, not all. Just those you choose to send me.Ifyou choose to send any.
All right, that’s a relief. “And what’s this about me being an exception? And feeling each other’s emotions? What the fuck, Fillian? You owe me so many explanations!”
He heaves a sigh and resumes speaking aloud. “It has to do with what’s called a star-bond among my people. It refers to the notion that some of us have one person with whom we are destined to share our lives. A connection that is written in the stars. It cannot be denied or altered. It is as much a fact of our existence as breathing or growing. It’s very rare; fewer than twenty percent of us even have a star-mate. And even then, not every Acacian is lucky enough to find theirs, but those who do describe it as a blissful experience. It would seem”—he sighs again and looks at me meaningfully—“that I have found mine. It’s why I woke you up in the first place.”
I blink several times as my brain absorbs and then rejects the information. “Are you…do you mean to say that you thinkI’myour star-mate? That’s ridiculous! We’re not even from the same planet!”
“Believe me, I had the same reaction when I realized what was happening.” I don’t mention that I was annoyed by it, or irritated that she’s human. If there’s one thing I’ve learned today, it’s that humans are more resilient and open-minded than I ever gave them credit for. “But all the signs are there. And not just for me. You admitted that you felt it too.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The physical electricity between us, for one thing. The pheromones that connect us take on a nearly physical form. I can feel them. You mentioned that you felt them too.”
“Dude, I thought that was just, like, I dunno, static! Not a…a…mating bond! We need to put a stop to this right now. We can find some other way to communicate.”
He smiles ruefully. “The bond has already formed. It will only get stronger from here. It can’t be stopped.”
“That’s insane! What if I don’t want to be bonded to you? I have a life on Earth! What if I have a husband or a boyfriend? Or just like being an independent woman?”
“Do you have a husband or boyfriend?”
I glare at him. “That is beside the point.”
He grips my arm. “It really isn’t. I need to know if I have competition.”
“You say that like you’re in the running. I don’t even know you, not really!”
He leans back and rubs his temples, as though this whole conversation is giving him a headache. I know the feeling. And he might have a point, because I can feel a sense of sadness wafting off of him. As if I’ve hurt his feelings. For reasons I don’t care to examine, this bothers me.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t say that I don’t know you. For someone I only met a few hours ago, I actually do know you better than I would have expected. But be reasonable: there’s alotwe don’t know about each other.”
“You have a point,” he says. “Look, we don’t have to talk about this right now. Besides, I’m an honorable man; I won’t force you to do anything you don’t want to do. But it’s only fair for you to know what’s happening to us. And don’t forget, even if we get out of this scrape, there’s no guarantee I can get you home. Although, you might enjoy spending some time on Acacia.”
The thought of never making it back to Earth fills me with nausea. I mean, sure, my parents are dead, I don’t have any friends, and I’m just really getting my business off the ground, but, dammit, it’s my home. Who cares if I’m as dull as a butter knife and spend my free time watching shows made more than a century ago? “I can’t imagine why you would think that.”
“Well, for one thing, it has flora the likes of which you’ve never seen. You did express an interest in botany. I think you would find Acacia’s plant life fascinating.”
Okay, the guy knows how to pique my interest. “Really? Like what?” Any distraction that keeps me from focusing on the whole being-bonded-with-an-alien-and-not-going-back-to-Earth-thing is welcome.