Adjustments. Takil, year one (Patreon)

Ondry slipped his tail inside the leg of Liam’s sleeping pants. Takil rolled over, and Ondry gently moved their eggling back onto the largest pillow. Liam lived in fear of rolling onto him during sleep, so Ondry claimed the center of the nest with Takil on one side and Liam on the other. He would not trade in his life, even if some miracle had occurred to allow him to become a Grandmother.

He wiggled his tail, and Liam shifted in his sleep. The soft scents of desire drifted off his sleep-warm body. This made Ondry happy. He waited until Liam started making soft sighs and grunts before he pressed the tip inside. It had been too long since they had enjoyed each other’s body. Takil’s appearance had changed much. He brought joy and love into their life, but Ondry wished they had more time for the pleasures he and Liam shared with each other.

The moment Liam woke, Ondry knew it. The sudden gasp. The way Liam’s fingers clenched. The arch of his back. It was all perfect. But then that perfection vanished. Liam flailed, his arms sending pillows tumbling around the nest as the smell of distress bloomed.

“No!” Liam said, and he pulled at Ondry’s tail. Normally Ondry enjoyed having his tail pulled—especially by Liam—but this panicked distress made Ondry pale and Takil woke, his eyes wide as he searched the nest for the danger.

“Liam?” Ondry curled his tail around his own leg and knelt in the nest, suddenly unsure of how to calm Liam. Now that he was awake, he sat clutching the edge of the nest. “What is wrong?” Ondry asked carefully. Usually he felt as if he lived in Liam’s mind as much as his own. He looked at da nuts and simultaneously considered how they would make excellent bread and how they were too bitter to be palatable for a human. But now he felt excluded from Liam’s thoughts.

“We can’t do that,” Liam said.

“We can’t do what?” Ondry reached for Takil, but Liam practically threw himself forward, scooping the eggling up and wrapping his arms around him. Takil relaxed in his father’s arms, his eyes relaxing and his long fingers locking around the fabric of Liam’s sleeping clothes.

“We can’t have sex.”

Ondry was startled enough that he had no answer. He waited to see if Liam would clarify his statement. When he didn’t, Ondry asked the logical question. “Why?”

For a time, Liam just stared at him. “There is a child here.”

Ondry widened his eyes. Most Rownt did raise at least one child, and that did not prevent reproductive sex, so Ondry saw no reason for it to stop non-procreative sex. No doubt other palteia and chilta enjoyed the ilsil within their nests.

Liam sighed. “You don’t get it, do you?”

“No.” Ondry did not state the obvious—Liam was being irrational.

Liam held out a hand to Ondry, but he was slow to take it. His touch had hurt Liam in some way he did not understand, and now Ondry was fearful of causing more harm. Liam scooted closer to Ondry, and Ondry tossed a pillow aside to make room for him. “I can’t have sex with Takil in the nest. Children should not be around sex.”

That made no sense. Sex happened on the street and children often observed. Ondry studied Liam, trying to understand what insanity had gripped Liam. Perhaps Liam could read the confusion on Ondry’s face because he sighed.

“I know that Takil doesn’t understand what’s happening, but I can’t have sex in front of a child.”

Ondry relaxed his eyes. “You speak of human children,” Ondry said. Liam often compared Takil to human children, or more accurately, he compared the dangers in Takil’s life to those a human child might face. Even if Liam were to roll onto Takil in his sleep, Takil was sturdy enough to handle the weight. However, given how Liam had described human egglings, Ondry had the feeling they were far more fragile. Perhaps that is why they were biologically predisposed to crying. Ondry could not imagine a Rownt child ever letting out a sound without deadly provocation, but apparently human children cried regularly.

“Yes, I speak of human children,” Liam said. He held Takil close and leaned into Ondry. Ondry took that as an invitation to pull his family closer. “Human children should not be exposed to sex.”

“Why?”

Liam blew out a long breath. “That’s a big question.” Liam huffed. He claimed the sound was one of humor, but Ondry had learned it was more likely to signal that Liam was minimizing his own pain. Ondry tightened his arm around Liam’s waist. 

“Explain it,” Ondry said softly. He reached around to play with Takil’s toes. Takil grabbed at Ondry’s hands, pursuing them when Ondry moved.

“I just can’t. I can’t have sex,” Liam said.

“Okay,” Ondry agreed. He enjoyed non-procreative sex because he relished the way Liam relinquished control of his body. He never wanted to have another morning like this one because Ondry realized he had, in some inexplicable way, harmed Liam. If they needed to avoid sex, then they would.

“But… but you enjoy sex.” Liam looked over his shoulder and frowned at Ondry.

“I enjoy bringing you pleasure,” Ondry corrected him.

“And now I’ve ruined that.” Liam sounded miserable.

“You have ruined nothing. I will always love you,” Ondry reassured him. He wondered if this had something to do with Liam’s difficult sexual past with humans. Those who had hurt Liam had been dead for hundreds of years, and yet the wounds they had left occasionally opened. If Ondry thought it would help, he would go to Earth, find the remains of those who had hurt Liam and tear them apart molecule by molecule.

Liam leaned his head back, resting it against Ondry’s shoulder. “I know I’m being stupid. Takil isn’t human.”

“You are human.”

Liam gave another huffing laugh, which did nothing to reassure Ondry. He waited in silence, playing keep away with Takil, who showed great determination to catch Ondry’s fingers. He had the instinct of a hunter, and he would—one day—steal more than his share of meat from the plate.

“Humans enjoy sex, but they don’t always care about whether their partner enjoys sex.” He stopped.

Ondry paled as he put two pieces of information together—children should not be allowed to see sex and humans had sex with partners who did not enjoy it. Pedophilia. Ondry had read of the illness, and the Grandmothers had warned human authorities that any adult who showed such sickness would not survive an encounter with the Rownt, but Ondry had never thought of the subject as affecting Liam.

“You’re cutting off my oxygen,” Liam said, and Ondry realized he had tightened his hold too much, and he loosed his arm.

“No one touched me when I was a child. I just wonder…” Liam squirmed around. “If I hadn’t been so young when Mort starting complimenting me, if I had been older when I started hanging around him and those people who were so… sexual.” Liam’s voice trailed off. Ondry regretted he’d never had a chance to kill that man.

“It’s stupid. It’s not like that with Takil,” Liam said. He let their eggling go, and turned.

“It is not stupid,” Ondry said firmly. “You are human and you cannot forget what is true for you.”

“But we can’t go without sex forever.”

“Not forever,” Ondry said. “In ten or twelve years, Takil will be old enough to want some time away from us.”

“Ten or twelve years?” Liam sounded shocked. “But…”

Ondry waited for him to process his thoughts, but the silence continued too long. No doubt his palteia was trying to find a way to sacrifice his own needs. Again.

“We are going to have six hundred years of married life. Ten years is equivalent to three or four months of a human relationship.” Ondry still felt ill at the idea that most humans had less than a century of life and their relationships averaged two decades. Ondry suspected six hundred years would not be enough time for him to love Liam as much as he wished to. If he had to give up pleasuring Liam’s body for a short time, he happily would.

“Humans often stop having sex for that long after they have a child,” Liam said slowly. “I think it’s because they never get to sleep through the night. Sleep deprivation is not sexy.”

“We can follow human custom in this, but we are never accepting a human child,” Ondry said firmly. He adored Takil, but he could not imagine a child that cried. The thought distracted Ondry long enough that Takil caught his finger and promptly bit it.

“One of these days his teeth are going to start growing in, and you’re going to regret this game,” Liam warned.

“Yes,” Ondry said, “I will.” He wiggled the fingers of his other hand, and Takil gave up his prize in an effort to catch this new prey. One day Ondry might regret this, but for now, he was content. His family was happy, and that was enough compensation for Ondry. He found as he grew older, his definition of a good trade had changed.