The starship Cascade warped through space, invisible to the naked eye during hyperdrive. If it were visible, however, the observer would see a sleek platinum in-laid hull with large windows that gave the view of a crew going about its business, undeterred by the speed at which they were heading towards their destination.
S.S. Cascade was a vessel in the ranks of the Federation of United Planets, a protection ship set for transporting important diplomats and dignitaries across the galaxy. Led by Star Captain Simon Banks, the crew of Cascade were ready and able to combat any enemy who dared stand in their way.
Enemies in the form of space’s usual natural disasters, however, were not always easy to predict and never easy to combat.
No one could have predicted the nearest sun would send out a flare, causing shockwaves over the ship and thrusting them out of hyperspace like a toy.
Lieutenant Megan Connor was keeping company the ship’s current most important dignitary, Dr. Blair Sandburg, when the disaster struck. Dr. Sandburg was an Empath, Diplomat, Peacekeeper and Treaty-broker, holder of the Order of Earth for his work on the Kiye-Numinu Alliance and revered by his students and colleagues alike, and so Megan had been expecting someone arrogant, like she was used to dealing with, when he’d come aboard.
Instead, Sandy, as she’d come to call him, was friendly and open, keeping his empathy on a tight leash, but not hiding it, and capable of an entirely too beautiful smile. She would admit later to being so totally engaged in conversation with him, that it had taken her several seconds to register the meaning of the alarms that suddenly blared along the mess hall.
It was seconds they did not have, as Cascade spun out of warp and right into close orbit with a swampy planet unknown by most circles of the Federation. The starship wavered and then its engines sputtered as it fell down into the murky atmosphere, parts of its hull cracking under the uncontrolled landing.
Cascade landed with a boom loud enough to scatter any creatures nearby, its crew stunned, hurt, and confused.
Had Megan Connor had those earlier seconds, she would have automatically gone to shield the diplomat’s body with her own and they would have been launched from the crashed starship together.
As it was, Megan fell backwards and Blair fell to the side into the protective bubble of a curved metal sheet that used to be part of the wall, ripping free in the lower atmosphere and spinning away from the ship.
The jungle canopy caught the projectile like a mother with a child’s cradle and in gentle lurches lowered it to the forest floor.
When Blair woke up from his unconsciousness, nearly five Federation hours later, he was alone.
***
Blair was cold, darkness wrapping around him like tendrils of smoke and shattering as he shifted as if it were glass. A voice pierced through the fog, a cawing sound like crows of old.
Blair shivered and opened his eyes. The first thing he noticed was a beam of light not three meters away from him. Then memories came flashing back and he sat up, or tried to. As soon as he moved, the metal under him shifted and groaned as if it were alive.
With a start, Blair disentangled himself from the vines that had caught both him and the metal, a part of the Cascade he realized, as they fell. As soon as he’d freed himself, Blair jumped off the curved piece of wall and looked around.
He was in a jungle-type environment and he caught himself before opening his mouth to shout for the rest of the crew. He had no idea how hostile a place he’d just found himself in and he didn’t want to alert any predators to his presence. He hoped he wasn’t too far from the rest of the ship, but he knew that it could be miles depending on at what point his section had broken off.
Blair slowed down his breathing and tried to see if he could hear anything in the dim gloom. At first all was silent and then his ears adjusted and he began to make out the sounds of some sort of bird cawing in the distance and then, closer, a rippling of what might be water.
Curious, and hoping that he could satisfy his sudden thirst, Blair began to wander in the direction of the latter sound. He only had to break through a dense bit of foliage to catch sight of what looked to be a long river.
Not drinkable, he noticed by the dark color. The tree continued to root and grow out of the water and Blair realized he was in some sort of marshy swampland. It wasn’t a pleasant thought. Though his native home, the planet Styx, had several swamps, Blair had always lived on the highland plateaus and not in the humid regions below.
The water splashed suddenly and Blair gaped as he caught sight of a large ripple. Either whatever beast was making that disturbance was flat and wide, or the water was deeper than it looked. Blair began to back up, not sure he wanted to be near either way, but then the creature surfaced.
Blair took a step back and then, trying to abort the move as he realized that movement might attract the thing towards him, caught his ankle in a low root. He went down against a vine-covered tree-like object and hit his lower back hard.
“Ah,” Blair moaned, then snapped his jaw shut, afraid to look to see if the creature was approaching him.
But look he did, only to be stunned to see that what he’d thought was a beast was instead a man, an impressive man one part of his mind told him, with pale skin that foliage like this would rarely harbor, and bright eyes.
The man approached and the knelt down next to him, saying something in a language that sounded a bit like Croilan, but not enough for Blair to be able to make out any words.
“I’m sorry, I don’t understand,” Blair told him, keeping his tone as calm as he could.
The man paused, head tilting to the side. When he opened his mouth again, it came out in stilted Common. “You speak old tongue?”
“Er, yes, I suppose,” Blair struggled to get his arms free of the vines holding him. After a moment, the man helped him until Blair was able to get shakily to his feet. “I’m Blair, Blair Sandburg.”
“Blair Blair Sandburg,” the man repeated with a dubious expression.
Blair’s eyes caught the water still sliding smoothly down the man’s bare chest and shook his head. He pointed to himself. “Blair.”
The man seemed to get it then and nodded. He pointed to Blair, “Blair,” and then to himself, “J’mell.” He paused and then said, “J’m.”
“J-” Blair tried to make the name into something he could pronounce easily. “Jim?”
J’m blinked slowly, and then nodded.
“Nice to meet you, Jim,” Blair told him, slowly as he could. He was just happy to find friendly, or at least seemingly friendly, life. He knew that he had very little ability to defend himself in this environment and finding a native who might be willing to take pity was the best thing that could happen to him.
“Meeting of fate,” J’m said, as if completing some ceremony. He raised his eyes to the sky, looking for something, and then returned their heavy gaze to Blair. “Where tribe?”
Blair frowned, wondering how much he could explain of his situation. “Lost.”
“Lost?” J’m probed.
“We fell,” Blair admitted. “From the stars, the sky.”
J’m’s eyes widened. “Crash,” he said.
“Yeah,” Blair nodded, and then he shrugged. He wondered if he could convince this stranger to help him. “With you now? I’ll cook, clean, whatever you need.”
J’m hesitated, looking around as if he was searching for something, or someone. Finally, he seemed to reach a decision.
“With,” J’m nodded. “Unless you wish death.”
Blair’s mouth opened, and then closed. After a moment, he laughed. “I’m not sure if that was a joke,” he said, “but thanks for that.”
J’m’s mouth twitched as if he was holding back a smile. He turned abruptly. “Come, dark soon. Need to burn.”
Burn? Blair thought. Make a fire, maybe. He gestured for J’m to lead on, though the gesture seemed to confuse the native for a moment. Then J’m sniffed and began walking. As much as his skin color defied it, his mannerisms showed clearly that he was a native of this planet.
It was his best bet to trust this native, his only real hope of survival, but Blair had always been an optimist and he told himself to take this opportunity as a learning experience, like field work.
Still, he hadn’t had to do real intense field work in many Federation years and though Blair was in shape, he was also soft around the edges, at least in comparison to the hard lines of J’m’s fit body.
Blair struggled to keep up with the man until J’m noticed and slowed down slightly. With only a stumble over roots and rocks every couple of steps on Blair’s part, J’m and Blair began to make their way through the dense foliage. To where, Blair didn’t know.
***
They’d been traveling for many hours already when Blair finally gained enough breath to ask the question, “Where are we?”
J’m glanced at him, and then ahead, his icy blue eyes seeming to make out some movement in the distance, before he blinked and focused back on Blair. “Jungle sea.”
Swamp, Blair thought. “And my tribe…”
J’m frowned. He motioned with his hands in a sort of spherical shape. “Jungle sea all over world land. Rock gap here,” he made a slicing motion, “until more jungle sea. Tribe’s boom came here.”
Blair tried to make a mental map of what J’m was telling him, but failed. Instead, he latched onto something else the native had said. “World? This planet. Do you, does your people know that there are other worlds?”
J’m raised an eyebrow. “Yes,” he said. “Many. Worlds united as tribes sometimes unite.”
He’s talking about the Federation, Blair realized. So this planet has been visited before, but wasn’t a Federation planet. Still… “What is the name of here, this world?”
J’m immediately answered with a long word that made no sense to even Blair’s sensitive ears. He seemed to want to laugh at the confusion on Blair’s face. “Qecban,” he said finally. “Other worlds call here Qecban.”
Qecban, of course. Blair wanted to shake himself. The mysterious swamp planet. He remembered reading the report on it, how the Federation diplomats who’d been sent here had been unable to gain the interest of the natives and had soon left. Still, they must have left at least something of an impression. Either that, or the Qecban natives were more knowledgeable than the report had given them credit for.
But one thing that Blair did know, was that Qecban was not too far from a nearby Federation outpost, the planet Perve. They weren’t out in the middle or the far edge of the galaxy, they were within the patrol section of the Federation starships.
They could be rescued.
Blair heaved out a great sigh of relief, and then nearly fell as J’m stopped right in front of him.
“You must not,” J’m said suddenly.
“Must not what?” Blair asked, confused.
“You are very,” J’m waved an arm around, muttering something in his native tongue. “Emotion-showing.”
“Sorry,” Blair said. “It is my nature to be so.” And it was. Ever since Blair had learned of his own empathy and what that meant for the population, he’d always tried to show as much of his own emotions as possible. It made people calmer to know that, at least if their emotions were being read, they could read his as well.
“Unsafe,” J’m told him. “Beasts drawn to such open thoughts.”
“What?” Blair blinked a bit. “Beasts? You mean they hunt by sound?”
“Sound, no,” J’m shook his head. “Sound unimportant. Open thoughts,” he paused and then patted his chest, “feelings.”
“They hunt emotions,” Blair said slowly. “They feel their prey’s emotions and sense them through that?”
“Yes,” J’m nodded. “You be prey if you show emotions such.”
“Oh,” Blair took in a deep breath. “I can… try to hold it back.”
“Hold it back?” J’m tilted his head to the side. “No, put up shields.”
Blair faltered. Shields, that was what he was taught as an empath, but to hear that from J’m’s lips was strange. “Yes, I’ll do that,” he agreed.
J’m nodded, apparently pleased. Now that Blair knew, he realized how little emotional output the other man was giving off. Sure, some leaked through, but it was nowhere near what Blair was used to. He’d just thought that J’m was… well, some people were less emotional. But to think that he did that on purpose, that he was trained from a young age to keep it all internal…
It was a fascinating case study. Blair figured that he’d like to come back some time and study J’m and his people. He hoped the native would agree to allow Blair into his tribe, it would make for a great project. Blair could possibly even bring that intern he’d talked to at the last outpost he’d been stationed that had expressed interest in mundanes and their abilities to shield their emotions from empaths.
Blair looked ahead, seeing a break in the trees that shone like the light at the end of a cave. He glanced towards J’m, but J’m’s head was tilted to the side as if he was listening to something.
They continued to walk in the direction of the light. Blair’s steps sped up almost of their own accord as he ached to feel the sunlight on his skin. He broke through the trees in a rush and then walked several more steps, spinning around in awe.
They’d reached a sort of rocky field, short plants peeking up through the cracks, but all other life smothered by the long stretch of granite. It was flat enough that Blair could see the edge of the jungle tree line like a wave on the horizon. It seemed to encircle the rocky land, as if it wanted to consume it but was unable to.
To Blair, it was as if he’d stepped into the clouds. He’d never been more happy to feel the beaming sunlight heat up his skin, even those times when he’d been stuck on a starship for weeks on end hadn’t compared to the grueling pace of walking through the dense jungle.
Blair glanced up towards the sky and then immediately regretted it as the harsh light momentarily blinded him. With a soft shaking of his head to clear it, Blair turned back to J’m to ask him which way they were supposed to go.
J’m was frozen in spot just outside the jungle’s edge, staring into the distance with a strangely slack look on his face. “Jim?” Blair asked, coming closer to the man. “Are you okay?”
J’m didn’t react and Blair frowned, reaching forward with a hand to lightly touch the man on the bare skin of his arm. “Jim.”
With a shudder and a hard blink, J’m finally moved, stepping away from Blair. The empath let his hand fall back to his side. “What was that?” he asked softly.
“Nothing,” J’m answered immediately. “Thought storm.”
Thought storm? Blair raised an eyebrow, supposing that meant something along the lines of ‘lost in thought’.
Before he could ask any more on the subject, J’m was moving ahead. “Come, much walking before night.”
“Lead on,” Blair said as they began to travel out into the center of the rocky land.
***
Blair poked at the crackling fire, knees tucked up under him as he watched the orange glow flickering across the dark rocky clearing they’d set up camp in for the night. J’m was off finding them dinner and had told Blair to keep an eye on the land.
A rattle made its way to Blair’s ears and he froze. The rattle repeated, sounding fainter, and the diplomat allowed himself to move his head and look around for the source. At first, nothing was apparent in the gloom of dusk, but then Blair’s eyes caught sight of a low shape slithering in the distance.
It looked like a snake, like a massive snake from the old Earth creation myth of Adam and Eve. Blair held his breath, heart pounding in his chest. He wondered if he should snuff out the fire, but the creature would have already spotted it if that was what it was looking for and it was possibly afraid of the light.
The slithering led it around the edge of the outcrop of rocks Blair was on, and then away. Blair could barely stop the sigh of relief at seeing the thing leave.
Too late, he remembered what J’m had said, that the creatures of this planet were attracted to emotions.
The creature moved, faster than Blair could track, ignoring the fire as if it were not even there as it circled Blair. It raised itself up, as tall as a human, while Blair continued to sit on the ground, stilled by fear and anxiety.
Seeing it closer, even though it was shadowed by the firelight behind it, was enough to cement it into Blair’s mind for however long he had left to live. The creature didn’t have eyes, instead it had a smooth sort of face with two tentacle antennas that reached towards him, moving in the air as if it could taste his terror.
It probably could, Blair realized almost abstractly. The snake’s tail was wrapping closer to him, preventing his escape. Blair couldn’t move, immobilized by his own feelings. His empathic gifts were starting to break against his careful shields and the creatures head dipped down, the antennas almost reaching Blair’s face.
Blair flinched back and he began to wheeze as if he were having an asthma attack. His emotions were coming out stronger, draining him. He felt his body grow heavy and weak, his vision narrowing on those antennas that, almost glowing, slowly reached to touch him.
The fire crackled loudly and then Blair heard the faint sound of hissing, then a roar. He tried to turn and look, but he was stuck where he was. He had no energy to move, even as the great snake creature escaped from that which was attacking it, satisfied with even a partial meal.
Blair must have blacked out, because the next thing he knew he was opening his eyes to the sight of J’m’s stiff back as he put out the fire. “J’m?” he asked, voice cracking.
J’m turned to him, blue eyes flashing in the gloom. “You are shaman.”
“What?” Blair struggled to sit up. J’m came to his side and helped him and Blair let himself lean against those strong arms. A container of water, made from the skin of some beast, was presented in front of him and Blair drank gratefully.
“Shaman, one who protects emotions,” J’m explained, voice right next to Blair’s ear. “One who walks always in danger.”
Oh, Blair realized, his mind rebooting. Empaths… J’m’s people called them Shamans. And yes, he hadn’t even thought about it, but of course creatures that fed off emotions would find a feast in empaths like Blair.
“I didn’t mean to keep it from you,” Blair said honestly. He hadn’t even thought that J’m would have any way to understand him had he thought to bring it up.
“I am Enqueri,” J’m said and he was moving away from Blair now, standing. “My duty be to protect my shaman.”
There was something harsh in J’m’s voice, a deep sorrow, and Blair’s tattered emotional state echoed it in his mind.
J’m began to move around, packing up the small camp. Blair’s eyes had a hard time making him out, the darkness of night already upon them, but J’m moved just as surely as he would in the day.
But it wasn’t that which revealed what Blair should have known all along. It was what J’m said next, “Together must move quicker. Back to your tribe. You have Enqueri there to protect you. You are strong, you must.”
And then, with J’m’s blue eyes staring straight into Blair, the dots finally connected.
“You’re a Sentinel,” Blair breathed, trying to stand. It took him several attempts, but he finally made it to his feet to face the native.
“Sentinel.” J’m frowned, and then shrugged. “Sentinel, Watchman, Enqueri, yes.”
By the stars, Blair thought. No wonder he’d felt safe in J’m’s company. All empaths such as himself were courted by Sentinels, as the other half that could anchor their abilities.
The rest of what J’m had said caught up with him, but he had no time to tell the man that he didn’t actually have a Sentinel waiting for him, at the crew or anywhere, before J’m was motioning for them to move.
Blair was shaky, his whole body drained, and they took frequent breaks to get him food and water, but J’m did not let them stop to sleep until the rocky plateau had slipped back into a softer forested area. Blair couldn’t decide if he missed the open land or not, but it didn’t matter. They were heading back to the crew, to Blair’s people, because J’m said so.
And Blair would follow J’m, the Sentinel, as was in his genetic code. He would trust J’m without even knowing him because something about him called to Blair. His earlier actions began to make sense, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care.
When Blair began to shake, the combination of the attack and the sudden discovery playing a war on his mind and body, J’m guided him to a canopy of soft moss and told him gently to sleep. Blair slipped into dreams immediately.
***
It was fascinating to Blair how quickly J’m picked up Common. Sure, he’d seemed to know it before, but every time Blair spoke it was like he seemed to remember more and more what proper grammar to use. Already, perhaps only a Federation week or so since the crash, J’m was perfectly understandable in his speech and seemed to, in turn, hear more of what Blair meant when he spoke.
Blair figured that was J’m Sentinel abilities coming through. Sentinel’s reportedly had amazing memories, able to keep far more of their sensory input than mundanes. And though Blair had no idea as to J’m’s level, he figured it would be high. The man moved like a predator, his steps calculated and graceful as he stepped over the roots and vines.
Yes, Blair could admit that he was attracted, more than just attracted actually. He figured that part of that was the circumstances. He was stranded on an alien planet, it wasn’t unusual for him to begin developing feelings for his rescuer. Especially since his rescuer was a Sentinel.
Blair refused to acknowledge the fact that he’d never been attracted to any Sentinels before. They’d, in fact, repulsed him on some level. All others who’d come before him for the chance of bonding had felt wrong.
But not J’m.
Blair clenched his hands together, willing away that idea that had begun to form. J’m wasn’t his. J’m had a tribe back somewhere, he probably had someone waiting for him, even several someones.
He might even already be bonded.
Blair couldn’t hold back the sudden flair of needangerdespairwant that bubbled out of him in a gusher. He clamped it back as quickly as he could, but the damage was already done.
A great caw reverberated through the jungle as the nearby trees rattled with a flock taking flight. Blair found himself with his back to a tree, J’m covering him in strong arms and holding him against his bare chest.
Blair looked up and caught sight of black wings just before a creature that looked much like a raven from the old tales Blair like to read flew past, black eyes wide against his face before it swooped past him.
“Mallye,” J’m said softly, like a curse.
Blair relaxed back as nothing more happened for several long moments. J’m drew away from him and Blair stifled his immediate reaction to reach forward, to hold on. The ghost of J’m’s heat against him remained on his skin.
“Heartbeat raced,” J’m observed. “You let out burst of feeling, scared the mallye. Why?”
“Scared them?” Blair said instead. “They weren’t attacking?”
J’m shook his head. “Mallye eat that which has already left life.”
“Oh, they’re carrion birds,” Blair said. “I didn’t even realize they were here.”
“Mallye follow that which interests them,” J’m said. “Some tribes say they show death to come. Mine…” J’m paused. “Other tribes say they are rebirth.”
Blair shivered. “I’ll stick with rebirth.”
J’m shrugged, and then his eyes trapped Blair. “Why?” he repeated.
Blair felt blood rush to his cheeks, but he remained stubborn. “It won’t happen again.”
J’m seemed to want to argue for a moment, and then he turned away. “It won’t,” he said, as if it were a warning.
No, it won’t, Blair told himself silently. J’m didn’t want him, probably had someone already. Blair needed to control himself, stop crushing like a cadet to his commanding officer. J’m wasn’t his.
J’m didn’t want him.
***
For the first time since Blair had been attacked by the snake creature on the rocky plateau, he was alone, waiting for J’m to return. The man, the Sentinel, was scouting ahead to see if the river had flooded as he suspected.
Blair didn’t care much why exactly J’m had left, what he cared about was that the man had. He curled his arms around his legs, eyes and ears alert for any danger. His emotions were on a tight leash, but Blair feared accidental leaking, and he was right to. As an empath, a Guide, he was never totally safe from the bad sides of his abilities until he bonded.
There was a shift in the air and Blair froze. He continued to look straight ahead as a dark shape emerged from the trees in front of him. Slowly, silently, Blair notched his mental shields up as high as he could and only hope that this creature coming towards him now could not see or smell him.
Or at least, would not be interested in him.
The shape came forward totally and Blair blinked at it. It was feline in shape, black in color and with a long tail that swept along the ground as it stalked towards him.
Its eyes locked on his and, like before, Blair could do nothing.
He’d never felt so weak before coming to this planet. On Qecban, what was once his greatest strength would now be his downfall.
The cat creature was upon him, circling him much in the same way the snake’s tail had, before curling up around his side. Blair waited for that feeling that had left him drained for days, but it never came.
The feline continued to lie there, curled in half-crescent around his scrunched body. It laid its head on its paws and began to purr in a low tremor that shook up from the ground into Blair’s body.
Blair breathed out and reached hesitantly towards it. The feline didn’t move. As slowly as he could while still actually moving, Blair began to stroke the cat’s muscled back.
The feline purred louder and moved into his touch. Bolder, Blair began to pet it in earnest. There was a strange quality to its fur, almost ethereal under his fingers. Blair found himself fascinated by it and before he knew it, his legs had stretched out to a more comfortable position and he was half lying on top of the large cat, scratching it like a pet.
Another crack and Blair glanced up, noticing as the feline did as well, purring cutting off immediately.
J’m came into sight and both of them, Blair and the feline, relaxed. J’m’s face showed some surprise as he took note of their positioning. “Nuyxe?”
“Nuyxe?” Blair repeated. He paused as the feline’s ear flicked towards him. “Is that your name?” he asked it.
Nuyxe began to purr again.
“You can see-” J’m let out a quick breath. “When did she come to you?”
Blair blinked. “Not long ago, at all. She,” she? Blair thought and then accepted, “must have been just in front of you. Is she your pet?”
“Pet?” J’m said, seeming to not know the word. “She is pantharia.”
“Pantharia,” Blair said. “That’s her species, huh. But how do you know her?”
“We have Lazox,” J’m explained, hesitating before he gracefully fell to his knees in front of them both. “She is my spirit guide.” Nuyxe yowled at that, though J’m seemed to understand what that was supposed to mean as he shook his head. The feline shifted and all of the sudden she was no longer as solid under Blair’s petting.
Blair withdrew his hands, stunned. “Then why did she come to me?”
A bit of pink appeared on J’m’s cheeks, but his eyes were still icy cool as Nuyxe got up and paced towards him. In a flash, she disappeared from sight. “It is because she believes us… suited.”
“Suited?” Blair repeated. “For what, companionship?”
J’m shook his head. “For bonding.”
“Oh,” Blair breathed. “I thought… Do you not have a Guide at your tribe?”
A pained expression came over J’m’s face. “No,” he said shortly. “There is no one.”
Blair turned away. No one, he thought. No one back home, but not Blair either.
“Blair,” J’m called to turn his attention back. “I am sorry.”
Blair shook his head. “No, no it’s fine. I mean,” he gave a bitter laugh, “I’m attracted to you and of course you must have sensed that. How could you not, you’re a Sentinel after all.”
J’m nodded as if to agree. “I understand that you do not want me in this way,” he said as if continuing Blair’s thought. “You have your own bonded, I would not make you uncomfortable for your body’s judgment.”
“Wait, what?” Blair blinked. “No, no bonded for me. I don’t have… you thought I was already bonded?”
J’m’s eyes widened. “You are not? You do not have someone to bond to?”
“No,” Blair said. “I’ve never been interested in it before. Not ‘til,” he paused and then thought, well, why not, and continued, “not ‘til you.”
“You want me,” J’m stated, disbelief coloring his tone. “I am not suitable-”
“Not suitable!” Blair gaped. “Jim, you are beautiful and brave and strong. You are the poster boy of Sentinels, how could you think you weren’t suitable. I would bond with you in a heartbeat if you were interested.”
“I am interested,” J’m said immediately. “So interested, Blair, but you deserve one who-”
“No,” Blair practically growled out. He didn’t want to hear who he deserved. People had been saying that to him his entire life and here was someone he wanted who actually seemed to want him back. “No, Jim, you. I deserve you.”
And it was fast, they’d only met weeks before, but Blair had heard it was like that for the right Sentinel-Guide pairs. That it didn’t take long for the promise of a connection to bloom under heated stares.
And a couple weeks solely in each other’s company was months and months of short meetings. No, Blair knew that he felt something deep for J’m and though he would not be able to say, even if pressed, what exactly that feeling was… it was there.
It was as if a star had exploded. J’m reached forward and grasped Blair and Blair went willingly, egged on the by the passion that seemed to swirl just under his skin.
J’m’s eyes, usually so icy, were now heated with need. “I would have you, my Blair, my Guide,” he murmured into Blair’s lips.
“Then have me, Sentinel,” Blair challenged.
J’m huffed a small laugh, one of the most expressive sounds Blair had yet to hear him make and it was a treasure that he locked away to relive in the future, but at that moment all he cared about was stripping away his dirtied trousers.
They were both gross, both stuck with unimaginable scents and colored flora and fauna juices and remains. Their hair was unkempt, their faces unclean, but in the short awakening of Sentinels and Guides, they were perfect to each other.
J’m peeled off the cloth that served to cover his cock and already it was hardening under Blair’s gaze. Blair licked his lips, reaching out to touch, but J’m clasped their hands together and pushed up to kiss him instead.
Blair opened his mouth to the Sentinel, his Sentinel’s, mouth and moaned under it. J’m’s tongue curled around his own and they danced, the sparks flying in their minds as their emotions began to meld.
Of their own accord, Blair found his eyes closing and he accepted it. J’m’s touch was fire down his body, coming to his ass in the lightest of strokes. Blair lifted his hips, the need in them both too strong to let this play out slowly.
Understanding, or perhaps unable to do anything but, J’m stuck a finger in Blair’s hole. It was unsanitary, but Blair could barely care as he gasped against the probe of both J’m’s mouth on his and his finger.
J’m pulled it out and left Blair feeling almost cold, until that finger came to Blair’s mouth and he understood that this was all the preparation he was going to get. Knowing this, he began to greedily suck at first one, and then two, and then three fingers. The taste of J’m’s fingers was hardly appetizing, but with each coat of saliva Blair allowed himself to sink into his own mind and begin to prepare it for the bond that would be forming.
The fingers withdrew and then moved back to his hole. Blair let his head fall back, J’m’s remaining hand coming to clench in his hair as he roughly prepared the empath. There was no soft love in this, but a need to not hurt beyond repair. The need was slowly fading as a new need pressed harder and harder.
“Do it,” Blair panted. “Just do it.”
“Blair,” J’m groaned, taking all three fingers out and replacing them with something far larger.
With one thrust, he pushed all the way in and Blair arched up in a silent scream at the harsh intrusion. The feelings that bridged between them were brutal, primal and J’m thrust like he had no other purpose but to claim Blair.
Blair, in turn, let himself just feel as J’m emotions came bowling into him. All that repressed feeling flooded into the empath, but Blair was nothing if not powerful and he calmed it with a directed path, allowing it to form a link that would bind them together.
J’m shuddered, orgasm shattering his body as the link solidified like a chord striking, a star reaching the end of its life and massing outwards in a second. In that moment Blair and J’m found themselves anew, no longer as two beings but as one whole.
Blair came across his own and J’m’s chests, rolling through his pleasure as well as J’m’s. J’m continued to thrust, slowing down as his cock softened in Blair and Blair’s cock letting out its last drops of white.
J’m collapsed on top of Blair and Blair welcomed it as the new bond hummed between them. It was like first opening his eyes, like the first time he’d ever felt sunlight on his skin, like the first time he’d felt pure joy.
It was like coming home.
The fire crackled between them, flames licking into the musky air. Blair was laid out on his stomach, giving his legs a rest from a long day of walking. J’m was stretched out next to him, propped up on one arm.
Blair let his eyes appreciate the smooth lines of J’m’s body, shadowed and defined by the firelight. This man, this determined, brilliant man, was his Sentinel, was his bonded. Blair had never felt anything like this before.
J’m smiled as he saw him looking at them sat up. “What is that?” J’m pointed to one of the badges of Blair’s jacket.
“What, this?” Blair looked down, seeing the once pristine blue and green orb smudged over by dirt. “Oh, that’s my Order of Earth badge.”
“Earth?” J’m frowned.
“Yeah, the original settlement?” Blair looked up at him. “Don’t your people have a migration story?”
“Migration story, yes,” J’m said. “Falling from the stars.”
“That’s about right,” Blair sighed. “See, about four thousand years ago, by Federation time, humans as our ancestors were called, escaped from the planet of Earth on a fleet of ships. That’s how we ended up here, at this end of the galaxy.”
J’m shifted, crossing his legs together. He gestured for Blair to go on, but Blair hesitated. “It might bore you,” he said.
“You don’t want me to get confused,” J’m picked up immediately. Blair flushed, having forgotten what they could sense between the connection they now shared. J’m was apt at figuring out his true reasons for things. “Tell me.”
“Okay,” Blair, too, sat up. “So by Federation date we’re in the year 3597 S.M., that means three thousand ninety-seven years ago, our ancestors began their migration. The records say that those ancestors had been running out of resources on their original planet, Earth, and even in their solar system.”
“The great mistake,” J’m said.
“Yeah…” Blair frowned. “Yeah, so they started to drill farther beyond the molten lava that was in the center of Earth to get to the hard materials of the core. Except, even though they thought they were being safe about it, the drilling caused the crust of the planet to become unstable.”
J’m rested his chin on his hand, waiting.
Blair’s lips twitched and he straightened, realizing what J’m was trying to tell him. Clearing his throat softly, Blair began to tell the story that he was told as a child, the story of the humans on Earth who had to escape the destruction of their planet. How they’d been put into sleep on ships nowhere near the technological advancement of what the Federation had now.
The starships had wandered through the galaxy, together as a fleet, until their power reserves got dangerously low and they landed on auto pilot on the nearest planets. The ships separated then, all in the same star clusters but far enough away that human life began to develop separately.
Over three thousand years, the humans became something else. Some adapted to the planets they had landed on, some didn’t. The Kiye became so pale that every one of their blood veins were visible, the Niminu grew feathers for hair, and then, out of every planet, Sentinels and Guides began to crop up to protect their people in the harsh new environments.
After a while the once humans began to re-discover spaceflight and slowly they found each other, except by now they were not the same species anymore, some could not even have offspring together, though many were still extremely genetically similar.
Soon the Federation was born, a collection of planets whose purpose was to unite those who’d once been of the same planet. And perhaps who, one day, could again consider themselves of one mind.
“And you, Blair?” J’m asked. “You are of Federation?”
“I am,” Blair nodded. “My mother was born on the planet Styx, but she left when she was young and met my father. I don’t really know where he was from, but,” he shrugged. “I joined the Academy when I was sixteen and never looked back.”
J’m hummed and leaned back. “And now you come here.”
“And now I’m here,” Blair agreed. He reached down to touch J’m’s shoulder. J’m’s other moved to join his. “With you.”
***
The forest was unnaturally still. Blair frowned, moving to walk just a bit closer to J’m. J’m’s back was tense and through their bond Blair could feel as he strained out with his sense.
Blair placed a hand on his arm, letting his presence ground the Sentinel. J’m’s muscles bunched as he moved his arm, resting his hand on Blair’s shoulder. Blair adjusted his steps, keeping in stride so they could walk together easily.
There was a soft black flash and Blair caught sight of Nuyxe running through the trees to their left, before she vanished into the undergrowth. “What is it?” Blair asked.
J’m glanced at him and shook his head. Blair frowned but let it go, sure that he would never understand all the intricacies of the planet.
At least, not unless he continued to live there. Blair bit his bottom lip, prodding at the idea like it was a hot wire. He couldn’t leave J’m, they’d bonded and yet…
Regardless, they would at least be going to see if the crew had survived the crash, Blair figured. See if they needed any help with rescuing and the like. That, at minimum, Blair would do.
Blair stumbled, toe having caught in a low root. J’m’s hand slipped down, catching him by the waist before his knees could fully buckle. “Thanks,” Blair murmured, righting himself.
“Careful,” J’m said, but where usually there would be amusement in his tone at seeing Blair struggle with unfamiliar footing, now there was a different, hard sort of tone.
Blair nodded, frown deepening.
***
J’m stopped them at the edge of a river. “You smell,” he said, nodding to the water.
Blair rolled his eyes. “Thanks man,” he muttered. “You’re like rosebuds yourself.” With a shake of his head, he stripped off his shirt and trousers. He saw J’m slip out of his leather loincloth-thing and wade into the water with it still in hand.
Taking from the sentinel’s example, Blair got completely naked, but took his clothes with him as he joined J’m in the water. It was cool, but not cold, with the sun streaming directly into the center. The water was a gentle flow, enough to wash them clean but not so much where they had to swim to stay afloat.
Blair scrubbed his clothes as best he could, though he knew that they would never become as clean as they’d once been, and then waded to the shore to lay them out to dry. J’m joined him and then, soon as both their hands were empty, wrapped himself around Blair’s body.
“Hey,” Blair said, letting himself float backwards.
“The day is young still,” J’m said, disappointment in his tone as his hands ran down Blair’s body.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Blair twisted so they were facing each other. “You’ve never done the nasty in the daylight?”
J’m’s eyebrows scrunched together as he tried to work out Blair’s meaning. “The nasty?”
Blair grinned. “Come here, big boy.” His hand stroked down J’m’s side and then to his cock. He took it in his palm and began to stroke fully up and down.
J’m’s head arched back. “Blair-” He seemed shocked as Blair moved them both towards the shore until they were only half in the water. “It is still…”
“Day?” Blair kissed at J’m’s throat. “So?”
J’m stilled. “That does not bother you?”
Blair took his hand off J’m’s cock, worried suddenly. “Does it bother you?”
With bright blue eyes, J’m studied Blair for a second, and then shook his head. “No,” he said finally. “No.”
“Good,” Blair smiled and then, without warning, swooped down to take J’m’s cock in his mouth.
J’m gasped above him, hands coming instinctively to clench in Blair’s long hair. Blair let it, starting a slow suck from the tip down. His tongue lapped at J’m’s head and then he opened his throat, ridge by ridge taking the rest of the half-hard cock in.
J’m was fully hard in a moment, trying to thrust into him if not for Blair’s hands on his hips, holding him back so that he wouldn’t choke. “B-blair!”
Blair sucked hard, swirling his tongue around the base. His nose was pressed into J’m’s curls, his Sentinel’s scent so heavy down there that it made Blair’s head spin with need.
J’m grunted, cock twitching. Blair wondered if he’d ever been given a blowjob before. With a sort of mental grin, Blair placed both hands flat on J’m’s thigh and then closed his eyes, still softly bobbing on J’m’s cock as he felt for their bond and sent a zap of his arousal through his.
With a cry, J’m came in a sudden burst, cock throbbing in Blair’s mouth as Blair continued to suck until the last of J’m’s seed was down his throat.
“Blair, Blair,” J’m murmured pulling Blair up so that they were face to face. He kissed Blair’s mouth, hand coming down to grab at Blair’s cock.
Blair surrendered himself to his Sentinel’s expect touch, twisting sensually in his grip as J’m brought him off with smooth thrusts of his hand.
Only a short while later, Blair and J’m were back in the water, cleaning off the marks of their mating, as J’m had called it. J’m climbed out, shaking himself dry before grabbing his loincloth and folding it back over his thigh.
“Jim,” Blair said softly, putting on his own clothes. “Why is it so quiet?”
J’m looked at him and then his shoulders collapsed down. “We are near Telvekie dens,” he admitted. “They are territory-hunters, dangerous for us.”
“There’s no way to go around them?” Blair asked, though he already knew the answer.
J’m shook his head. Blair grimaced, praying quickly that he wouldn’t have to deal with another emotion-sucking monster as he quickly finished pressing down his shirt and got ready to head back towards the Cascade crash site.
***
Now that Blair knew there was concrete danger, he felt the silence even more of an oppression on his skin as they continued to tread along the edge of the jungle. He saw through a break in the trees a barren stretch of land.
Blair stopped, squinting his eyes. “Is that…”
J’m paused and then moved back to stand by his shoulders. Blair pointed to the giant skeleton. “Yes,” J’m said. “Once telvekie.”
Blair gulped dryly, noting how huge the skeleton was. On the top, several mallye perched. One of the birds turned a glinting eye on them and Blair twisted away. “Let’s go,” he muttered.
J’m kept his hand on Blair’s shoulder after that, for which Blair could only be thankful. He’d never before missed a phase weapon so much. He usually hated carrying a gun, but he wished for nothing more than the safety of one in his hands.
That, or to just be off this planet.
Or no, Blair corrected, glancing at J’m out of the corner of his eyes, to be in a safe place. To be with J’m where they could laugh together and not worry about the predators who might be sensing their emotions.
They walked for nearly the length of one of the Federation’s smaller space stations when Blair heard it, the crack of large footsteps navigating through the more spacious trees.
J’m’s hand clenched and they both stopped walked. Blair looked at his Sentinel, watching and waiting.
After a moment, J’m turned ice-blue eyes to him. “They are headed towards us,” he murmured. “It will serve us better to give them two smaller targets.”
“No,” Blair protested immediately. He knew what J’m was trying to do. “You will not lead them all to yourself.”
J’m gave him a small smile. “You will feel me, we are bonded. We can find each other again, Blair, it is for the best.”
Blair scowled, but then the cracking sounded louder, closer.
“Go,” J’m said. And then he sprinted off straight ahead.
Blair cursed and took the left fork. He ran until he was out of breath and stopped, leaning on his knees as his lungs constricted in his chest. Blair looked up, only to stifle a mild curse as he heard the sound of low clanking.
A massive figure, the full grown representation of the skeleton Blair had just seen, wandered behind the trees. Its head was covered by a huge horn, twin tusks hanging from a small jaw. Its tail was long, whipping like a cat-creature, but spiked at the end. Ridges along its back would make it uncomfortable for any rider who wished to climb it and its feet were hooved claws.
Hoping that his empathy was on a tight enough leash to prevent it from sensing him, Blair began to creep backwards slowly.
The telvekie made a sort of snort sound. Blair froze. Holding his breath, he waited to see if it would leave. The creature raised its snout, as if it was sniffing the air.
And then its face turned towards Blair and it began to run. Blair turned on his heel, jumping over the roots to race back towards the direction J’m had gone. He tore through the low hanging branches, barely noticing the scrapes that cut his skin open as he brushed against tough bark and clinging vines.
Blair broke through a clearing, panting. The sound of pounding clunks followed him and he looked around for anything he could use as a weapon.
Time stopped.
Blair paused, the world fading away as light shone from the trees around him. There was a far away sound, like drums and then a howl much closer.
A four-legged creature, with fur of grey, peppered with black and white. It padded across the clearing, looking at Blair with somber eyes.
“Hello,” Blair murmured, kneeling down. “What’s your name?”
Hrodvi, the air seemed to whisper.
“I’m Blair,” he said, holding his palm face up.
Hrodvi, or so it seemed to be, tilted his head. Would you take me, Blair Sandburg? I would be your houn’nd so you too be my bonded?
Blair felt a stirring in his gut, a connection beginning. Where he may have worried about it interfering with his bond with J’m, instead it seemed to strengthen it, add another string to the mass of rope that connected them together.
“Yes,” Blair whispered. “I would take you, if you would take me.”
Hrodvi gave him a sort of grin and then threw his head back and howled.
Blair came to with an audible snap. He wavered, confused for a moment. And then he heard the sound of a beast behind him and he ducked to the side just in time to dodge the charge of a great beast.
There was a growl and then Hrodvi was there, facing off the beast. Blair looked at him and Hrodvi lunged. Some sort of emotion was leaking through, a soft awareness of the spirit animal.
Run, he seemed to say.
He fled.
Blair stopped running as soon as he realized that the telvekie no longer followed him. He pushed down the panic that had begun to bubble up as he realized that he had no idea where he was, where J’m was, because he’d learned his lesson there.
His silent companion appeared before him and Blair knelt down, reaching a hand out. The houn’nd, Hrodvi he reminded himself, sniffed his palm and then looked at him with knowing eyes.
Blair took in a deep breath. He reached around himself, searching for that tug that would lead him back to J’m’s side. With his new Lazox bonded by his side, he stood and walked.
***
The telvekie ripped at him with its tusks. J’m dropped down to the ground and rolled. His stretched his touch to feel the vibrations and it gave him enough warning to jump forward off the root-covered ground and in-between two horns of the massive beast.
Nuyxe yowled at him and J’m propelled himself on top of the telvekie using its pale horns, cool and crackling under J’m’s hands. He heard a hiss in the air and spread his legs so that the stinger on the creatures tail hit its own body instead of J’m’s.
The telvekie screeched so high-pitched that J’m nearly got lost in it. His connection with Blair, his Blair, rippled and then J’m found himself flying into a nearby tree.
He groaned softly, but didn’t let the spark of pain stop him as he used the slippery bark of the tree to slide around it. The branches from above began to fall in waves as the beast rammed itself into the strong trunk.
J’m picked one up, swinging it as the weapon it was. He pace settled into that of a predators walk and he felt more than he saw as Nuyxe settled herself behind the blind creature that was searching for them with wide arcs of its nostrils.
He knew he could not run, already he felt his body weakening. His inner structure, those bones that protected his heart, were strained. He wished for Incacha to be there, the shaman would have healed him… but it was no use wishing for him now. Not when he had Blair.
The telvekie must have picked up some part of his emotions leaking through, because it rushed forward faster than a delpen beetle. J’m just barely managed to dodge to the side, using the end of the branch to thrust up into the softer underbelly of the beast’s chin.
With a roar, the telvekie thrashed, its tail coming up and then falling with a massive thump as Nuyxe bit and clawed it off at the base. The beast made a howling cry that could have reached the stars and J’m froze under it.
In those precious moments, one pointed tusk caught the edge of his body and ripped into him like a stone tool in dried hide. The force of the pull threw J’m sideways, into a spiny vevea bush where small thorns cut into him and stuck there.
The telvekie wavered before J’m’s darkening vision and then limped off. J’m doubted it would survive more than the distance to the nearest river and he was sure the mallye would thank him for their meal, but he had more pressing issues.
Cutting back a curse, J’m rolled himself out of the bush, unable to hold back water in his eyes as the thorns tore his skin in countless places. He collapsed on the ground and then struggled to regain control of his own body. If he fell unconscious here, the insects of the jungle would consume his flesh, attracted by his oozing blood.
And unlike the mallye, they would not care if he was not yet dead.
J’m felt a presence and reached a hand up to clasp the softly-solid back of Nuyxe. His spirit bonded helped him as he dragged himself to the nearest boulder, a vine covered rock that could have once been the side of a great mountain, now devoured by the jungle around them.
Nuyxe sent him a blast of worry and J’m smiled softly. “Yes,” he said in his native Qecban tongue. “It is bad.”
The pantharia rubbed her face along his side, the blood continuing to flow as though her body was not there. J’m closed his eyes and reached for the hum in the back of his mind, the bond that was his joining with Blair.
It rang back at him, strong and reassuring, but J’m could not allow himself to be coddled. Even now, he felt his limbs become heavy and he knew his end was near. It would not matter now if the insects climbed the vines of the boulder and found him… he would be dead soon.
“Blair,” J’m whispered, his voice faint to his own ears.
His bonded would die with him, as was the tradition, the legend. Unless, unless J’m did as Incacha had done not so long ago. If J’m could just break their bond, then Blair would survive.
It had hurt something deep inside J’m when Incacha had done so, something that might not ever be healed, but Blair had his people to get back to and for J’m to tether him forever in death to this land was selfish.
Nuyxe curled herself around his suddenly freezing body as if she knew what he was planning. He supposed that she did and was glad for the comfort in these last moments.
As J’m felt his eyes closing of their own accord, he grasped for his bond with Blair and clawed at it with a hand that became a paw. Nuyxe’s power joined him and J’m ripped at the connection he’d forged not five nights before.
With an almost audible tear, the connection broke like a water creature’s dam. J’m felt a moment of deep sadness and regret.
And then he was gone.
***
Blair knew he was close when he felt the pain like a phantom touch through his body. J’m was near, and he was hurt.
The empath’s pace picked up as he practically flew over the jungle ground. He didn’t even realize how easily he navigated the roots of the undergrowth, all he could think of was that J’m needed his help.
He burst through a clearing, smelling in the air the same pungent scent that had come from the telvekie that Hrodvi had helped him fight off. Blair had taken no more than one step around, though, when the hurt ripped through him like a solar storm.
Blair gasped, stumbling. Only Hrodvi’s sudden appearance at his side kept him on his feet, but he was too far gone to even notice as his vision swam. Pain radiated from him, scaring off beasts for miles around, even those that would normally be attracted towards such a strong emotion, as he pushed with all his might against the force trying to destroy him and his core.
They were moving, Hrodvi leading him blindly. Blair tripped over something and landed with his hands on a cold lump.
His vision cleared and Blair choked out a sob at the sight of J’m, eyes closed, in front of him. “Jim, wake up,” he said. His hands roamed up to check for a pulse and when he found one, faint but there, he nearly started crying from relief. But there was no relief yet, not until he was sure that J’m would be alright.
The wound on his Sentinel’s side was the biggest issue, and also the cold temperature of his body. Blair ripped off his own shirt, uncaring that it left him chilled in the gloom of dusk, as he tore it into stripes and began to roughly wrap J’m’s side.
When that task was done, Blair’s hands shaking from exhaustion and fear, he moved J’m up to a flatter piece of land and curled around him, trying to get both of them warm.
There was a soft purr and he saw Nuyxe standing next to Hrodvi. Blair tried to smile at them, but it failed. “Can you guard us?” he asked instead.
Neither answered, but Blair felt some sort of acceptance from his small connection with the houn’nd and he relaxed into J’m’s side.
He was scared for the man, scared beyond anything he’d ever felt before. His feelings for J’m had grown, morphed into something almost tangible. J’m was his Sentinel, his bonded, and Blair would not let him go, could not.
Closing his eyes, Blair reached for the tatters of their bond. He cringed away as physical pain racked his body, but forged on after only a moment’s hesitation. With his mind’s eye he saw the clawed remains and knew, just knew, that J’m had done this to them.
It was almost enough to make him stop. Then he felt something soft against his cheek and realized that it was Nuyxe rubbing against him, giving him assurances.
J’m wanted him, she seemed to say. Save J’m.
I will, Blair answered back silently. Jim is my world, my universe. I will save him.
She left then, but not too far and Blair felt as though he could still feel her presence, hers and Hrodvi’s, watching over him.
Bolstered, Blair let himself sink deeper into a trance. With care and worry and love he began to gather up the loose ends of their bond and knit them back together.
***
Sunlight woke Blair. It caressed his cheeks, beckoning him closer. Blair moved into the caress and it solidified into fingers gently touching his cheekbone, stroking up and down his face.
Blair opened his eyes and caught J’m watching him with a strange expression. The sentinel’s lips were curved softly, his eyes glittering in the sun’s rays.
“Why did you do it?” J’m asked softly as he noticed Blair was awake. “You risked death fixing the bond before I healed.”
“Why did I do it?” Blair struggled to wake fully. “Do you not want me?”
“No,” J’m’s eyes widened. “Blair, you have… you are so much. You are light for me.”
“But I am an outsider,” Blair breathed.
J’m shook his head. “It does not matter. I was alone before you came, Blair, my tribe is gone, they were kill-”
Blair reached forward and both of them breathed easier as the bond between them sang like a musical note. J’m clasped his hand and brought it to his chest.
“You don’t need to explain anything to me,” Blair told him. “I care for you, Jim. I would stay with you, I would have you never try to break our bond, please, but you do not need to explain yourself.”
J’m smiled softly, sadness and hope like a breeze through Blair’s empathy. “I do not know my birth tribe. The tribe that raised me found me in the jungle and took me in because they recognized my status.”
“As Enqueri,” Blair said.
“Yes,” J’m nodded. “The shaman, Incacha, was my mentor and my partner. When I was old enough, we bonded.”
Blair felt something in his heart still as he realized that J’m had been bonded before. “But Sentinel-Guide bonds are permanent,” Blair breathed. “How?”
J’m reached forward and stroked Blair’s cheek, and then drew his hand away. “I was away, hunting. I felt-” he stopped, but Blair could feel it anyways, a rush of despair coming towards him.
The feeling was an echo of what Blair himself had experienced not even a day before and he let out a pained whimper. J’m pulled him close until Blair was practically in his lap and they both relaxed as the connection continued to thrum between them.
“I raced back, but it was too late,” J’m whispered. “A remalka swarm had devoured everyone, everything.”
“Incacha… he did what you tried to do…” Blair murmured. He couldn’t imagine what a remalka swarm was, only that the terror that floated to him from J’m was horrifying. To know that such a strong man feared something so intensely, well Blair only hoped that he would never learn.
“I did not want to you to die, my Blair,” J’m said. “You have your people to return to. I have no one, no longer.”
“That is a lie,” Blair lifted his head and caught J’m’s eyes. “You have me, now. My Sentinel, you have me.”
“I…” J’m’s expression was open, unguarded for the first time since Blair had met him. “I do not know how you could want me. I caused the death of my shaman, I hurt you because I thought I was dying, Blair.”
“You did not cause Incacha’s death,” Blair said harshly, because that, at least, he could answer to. “Do you blame me for the fact that my ship crashed?”
“No,” J’m shook his head. “How could I?”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Blair said, “just as that wasn’t mine.”
“But if I’d been there, I would have heard them coming,” J’m began.
“And then what?” Blair said. “Could your tribe have escaped?”
J’m wavered, and then shook his head. “Not against the remalka. Not all of them.”
“What ifs are not healthy, Jim,” Blair said. “I understand that you miss Incacha-” he stopped himself because he couldn’t prevent the jealous flare and he hated himself for it.
J’m caught it, as Blair knew he would. “Incacha was a,” he struggled for a word, “guardian to me. A mentor. I did not hold lazox for him.”
“Lazox?” Blair frowned and glanced at where their spirit animals continued to guard over them. “I thought lazox was bonding.”
“Yes,” J’m nodded. “Bonding of love and soul. For Incacha I had bonding of spirit, but he could not see Nuyxe, could not touch her.”
“Oh,” Blair breathed. He glanced back at his houn’nd. “Hrodvi.”
The wolf-like creature came forth, Nuyxe on his tail. J’m make a startled noise.
“This is Hrodvi,” Blair said softly. “I… bonded with him when we were separated.”
“Hrodvi,” J’m repeated. He held out a hand and then made a sound of wonder as the houn’nd stepped forward into his palm.
After a moment, Hrodvi stepped back and licked Nuyxe on the shoulder. The two flashed, causing both Blair and J’m to close their eyes. When they opened them again, the spirit animals had resumed their watch from the edge of the clearing.
J’m turned to Blair. “I did not realize you felt… you cared for me to that…”
“I do,” Blair’s voice broke and he cleared his throat. “I do, Jim. I would have stayed for you.”
J’m’s eyes widened as if he finally got it. “No, I have nothing for you here.” He smiled. “I go with you, my Blair.”
“Even to the stars?” Blair asked.
“Even to the stars,” J’m agreed.
***
Captain Simon Banks had seen quite a number of disasters in his time as a protector in the Federation. His crew’s crash on the strange swamp planet was far from the worst of these.
He hadn’t let himself think of those they’d lost as he’d instructed immediate recovery and clean up procedures. But now, several Federation weeks after they’d landed, he allowed himself a moment to grieve. To grieve for those who’d burned in the fall, for those who’d succumbed to their injuries, to those who’d been sent out to look for other survivors and had never come back.
It was the last group that had Simon the most upset. It had been his choice to send out those men and women, even though they’d had no idea what was waiting for them. His navigators had determined them to have likely fallen on the planet of Qecban, but even then there was so little the Federation database had on this foreign outcrop.
After all this time, they’d managed to get the sub-space communications up and running, which was a great sigh of relief for the entire crew. Simon suspected that the fear of the crash site had kept most of the planet’s predators away from them, but he figured it was only a matter of time before they became brave enough to do more than knock against the side of the piece of hull the crew slept in at night.
“Sir,” Megan Connor spoke from his side.
“Yes, Lieutenant?” Simon ripped himself away from his thoughts and turned to her.
Megan, like most of the crew, looked wrecked. The bags under her eyes proclaimed sleepless nights and her clothes were those of a homeless savage. Simon didn’t even want to think about the smell that came off her, for he knew that he too smelled just as rank.
It was only lucky that enough water and food rations had survived the crash, for they’d given up exploring for supplies after the first two teams had gone missing.
“The S.S. Chicago is on its way,” Megan said. “Our radio SOS reached them as they were making a hyperspace break.”
“Thanks be to the ancestors,” Simon breathed. “What is their ETA?”
“Just under a Federation day, Captain,” Megan smiled, showing relief in her eyes. “They said they’ll beam up the injured and send down a shuttle for the rest of us.”
“Good,” Simon nodded briskly. “I’ll inform the crew.”
“Sir,” Megan said, stopping him. Simon raised an eyebrow at her and she took in an unsteady breath. “What are we going to tell the Federation about San- Dr. Sandburg?”
Simon let his shoulders slump. He knew the lieutenant felt it her fault for the diplomat’s disappearance, but so many had been killed in the crash, it wasn’t wise to put the blame on anyone. “The truth,” Simon told her, “that he went missing during our fall into the planet’s atmosphere, like at least a dozen others.”
“Yes sir,” Megan saluted.
Simon returned it and opened his mouth to dismiss her, when they both heard the crack of a branch. The captain and lieutenant pulled out their energy guns simultaneously, turning towards the noise. They were near the edge of the clearing, on the far side of the shipwreck from most of the crew, but still within shouting distance should they need the help.
A bird-like creature cawed and then took off from the tree near to them. Simon watched it for a moment, frowning.
And then two figures appeared out of the gloom of the tree.
“Sandy!” Megan gasped, lowering her phase weapon. Simon kept his up, not recognizing the second man who appeared next to the missing empath.
“Megan,” Blair’s voice was relieved as he came forward to stop several strides in front of them. “You survived.”
Simon slowly lowered his gun as he realized that the other two men were both unarmed. The stranger had a hand on Blair’s shoulder, almost casually touching him. The doctor seemed to not even notice.
“We thought that you were-” Megan cut herself off with a sort of cough.
“I thought the same about the crew,” Blair admitted and Simon could hear the rawness of his voice. “Jim saved me,” he explained. “I landed in the middle of the jungle and he led me back here.”
Jim, Jim? turned his cool blue eyes on Simon then, assessing him and then the gun in his hands.
“We have a ship coming for us, just a day out,” Simon said then. He cleared his throat. “I- the crew will be glad that you made it, Dr. Sandburg.”
Blair smiled brightly at him and Simon was reminded yet again that the empath could sense his relief. “Thank you, Captain.”
“Captain?” Jim spoke, softly and for Blair’s ears.
“He is the chief of the ship I was traveling on,” Blair said, turning slightly to face his companion.
Jim seemed to get that and nodded. Then he stepped forward to stand directly in front of Simon. “I wish to ask for you to allow me to continue to travel with my bonded.”
Simon blinked, but it was Megan that asked, “Sandy?”
Blair stepped around Jim to get back in their view. “Jim’s a Sentinel. We bonded.” His cheeks were blushing red, but his eyes showed his determination and his hand found Jim’s easily.
Simon let out a deep breath. It was a bureaucratic nightmare for one of the most powerful Empaths of the Federation to bond with an uncivilized native of an unknown planet. They didn’t even know Jim’s power levels, but if Blair had accepted him then he was more than just a basic.
“Welcome aboard, Sentinel Jim,” Simon said.
Blair relaxed back to lean against Jim’s side and Jim shifted to encase him in powerful arms, a smile on his lips. “My gratitude.”
Megan laughed and pulled them both in the direction of the rest of the crew. “Hey guys!” she called out. “Look who decided to show up at the last minute!”
High in the sky, the mallye circled the reunited crew, cawing to each other in speech only their own could understand. By some unseen signal, they turned as one like a black cloud as large as any starship, and soared away. Below, the human-creatures they’d been watching encircled a pair that, to the mallye eyes, shone like the golden glow of sunlight seeping through a dense canopy.