I turned to look at the man. I looked him over head to toe, Nothing about him feels familiar. He looked like the Council Master, only he had a lot less gray hairs, his skin was bronze and his wings were blacker. His silver eyes were cold and distant, his gaze frightened me, I felt like a bug under his stare. He had a callous face, I can't imagine him smiling. I stepped closer to him and inhaled again, he did smell of Petrichor. I lost my breath standing in front of him. My dreams came rushing back to me.
Kishna tired to pull me away but I couldn't move, I was glued to this alien man. I was frightened looking at him, but the thought of turning away from him terrified me even more. Nostalgia rippled through my blood, I felt cold then hot, happy then sad, excited and at peace all at the same time. I needed to be one hundred percent certain. I lifted my open hands to him, he just stared at me unblinking.
"Can I see your hands?"
He didn't move, just watched my hands then met my eyes with that blank uncaring stare. When he didn't move the Council Master stopped his conversation and intervened.
"Indulge her."
The man turned and looked at him long and hard.
"We are getting to know them. Males and females of their culture are more hands on with everyone than we are."
He looked back at me then held out his hands open over mine. I touched them one at a time. His hands were hot like a fresh cup of tea, the skin of his palms were tough and marked with knots and scars. His fingers were long and bulky, like pieces of evenly cut rebar. His nails were short, sharp and dull black, like claws. A storm rose in the put of my stomach. These were the hands! A pain in the center of my head pulsed violently.
I raised a hand to my head trying to will the pain away. I wanted, no needed to know more about him. Kishna wrapped an arm around my waist and tried to pull me away from him. I didn't want to leave.
"Come on Alei, let's go."
"No. It's him."
Kishna wrapped his other arm around me, and whispered against my temple.
"Please Alei. Let's go."
"I have memories missing, and he's the only thing that feels right. I'm not going until I know more."
"Alei."
He was getting on my nerve now. He knew how much not remembering anything frustrated me, how lost I felt. Why was he trying to get me away from the one thing that might help make sense of everything. He hates his first name but it's the only way to get him to listen.
"Amadeus. Do not pull me away from him."
Kishna let go of me and took a step back. I didn't want to use that method but it was the only choice he left me. This man, this alien, was the key to me getting some resolution, I was going to go as far with this as I could.
"Can you hug me?"
That cold stare again, only it was colder like he was warning me. I refused to budge, and the awkward silence between us stretched on before the Council Master intervened again.
"Brother."
"Mal'k."
"Engage her."
"She is a joined female."
"A different culture brother."
He hesitated, looking me over then watching Kishna. He stepped forward and hugged me, I was overcome with euphoria. My head against his chest I heard his heart pounding, like a horse in trot. My arms circled his waist as tears streamed down my face. This is him! When I snuggled against his neck, he pushed me away violently. I felt discarded, empty and lonely. Kishna had caught me before I fell and tried to pull me away again. I was so distraught I couldn't fight him this time.
My tears didn't stop, in fact after he had pushed me away they intensified. We had barely taken five steps away when I sunk to the floor weeping. He had rejected me. That thought played over and over in my head along with the memory of his push. My heart ached, more than the exploding shockwaves in my head. But the pain in my head was unbearable, I held my head as I wept uncontrollably.
I vaguely remember Kishna brushing his hands at my tears. He lifted my face to look at him, his lips moved but I couldn't make out what he was saying. I think he was asking what was wrong. But everything was just noise, noise I wanted to shut out. I was also aware the doc had approached us.
"What's wrong with her?"
"I don't know doctor, she's not responding. I think it's her head."
"Let's bring her to the infirmary."
Kishna tried to get me to stand, but I couldn't move. Right there in that moment I was ready to give up on life. I hadn't felt like that in years, not since I was eight. Why do we have a heart? Such a useless organ, things would be easier without it. I dug my nails into the skin over my heart, hoping to tear it out. The pain was comforting, it made me feel alive again. Kishna pulled my hand away, blood stained my shirt and nails as I looked up at him.
"Take out my heart Amadeus. I don't need it."
He picked me up and carried me out of the common area, but the further I got from the Alythe man the worse the pain was and the harder I cried. I needed to get back to him.
"Kishna put me down."
"I can't."
"Please, I have to get back to him."
"No. Being near that man is making you sick."
"Being away from him is killing me."
What I didn't know at the time, was that things in the common area hadn't calmed down. In fact after we'd left things had escalated. It turns out the man had his own episode of crying that deeply affected the rest of his people. Women were wailing and men were weeping. The Council Master and his wife were hit the hardest. The man's grief brought him to his knees in pain. His wife tried to steady him, but she felt everything her husband felt.
At the same time I had to stop getting further away from him. I pushed and kicked my way out of Kishna's arms. The moment my feet hit the floor I pushed him away from me and bolted back to the common area. When I got there the room was divided, the Space Corp guys had rounded up all the humans to the side of the room I came in and were barring them off from the Alythes.
As I pushed my way through the crowd, I saw him. He was on the floor in restraints. Their physician was standing over him, he pulled out a tube of some kind and stabbed the man in the neck. I felt my gut sink and the pain in my chest left me shaking.
At this point I was an observer to my bodies actions, I rushed ahead to the front pushing against some of the guards screaming for them to stop. One of the guards pushed me back to the crowd but I grabbed hold of his arm. I needed to stop them, if I don't I would lose him. I don't even know why that thought crossed my mind.
The Council Master reached out to the physician making him stop. When the physician released the man he was incapacitated. His head was thrown back looking up and his lips were moving incoherently. I felt a warm gentle brush against my mind. The sound was faint but I could make it out, Alei. He was saying my name! I fought the guards harder trying to get to him. The Council Master asked Klein to have them let me through. Klein demanded that in return everything that was to happen next, humans would witness it and Alythes would communicate for them to hear.
When the guards let me through I ran to him and held his head, his eyes were lifeless silver mirrors. He kept whispering my name, hearing him incited more tears from me. I kissed him. Marshmallows...
"Who are you? Why can't I remember?"
He didn't respond, just kept whispering my name. As I traced his lips with my fingers my tears fell onto his cheeks, his eyes answered with a single tear that rolled into his hair. I wiped it away and rested my forehead against his listening to him whisper my name. My mind may have forgotten, but my body remembers him.
"I'm right here." I kissed him again, then turned to the Council Master.
"Release him."
He turned to their physician and guards and ordered the man be released and awoken. Another man objected, saying the Council Master should not intervene. The physician also objected to the order.
"I must advise against that, the state of his mind -"
"He will touch hers."
The other man was very against the idea, they started talking about companions and restrictions. Saying it wasn't right to have him touch my mind.
"She is not his companion, if she were they would have broken the restriction."
"She is not Alythe. The restriction was designed for our minds not theirs.
"The physician has said her brain has grown to resemble ours."
Two others stepped in and voiced disapproval for releasing him.
"Council Master your brother has been forcing that woman into the role of his companion."
"The restriction has proven this. We were wrong to have taken him from the Canyon of Regrets."
"Councilors your disapproval has been heard. Release my brother."
The guards released his restraints and the physician injected him with another tube. When he remained as he was, I looked frantically at the physician and Council Master. The physician suggested he would return to his senses shortly. I couldn't wait for shortly, I kissed him again. His mouth responded to mine and I felt him stand up.
When we broke off his eyes were piercing mine, they didn't feel cold and uncaring like before. Now they were warm and burning with need. He pulled my body to his and kissed me, his mouth was hot, his kiss was ravenous. I want him.
He stopped and cradled my head against his chest, I wrapped my arms around his waist. His smell, his taste, his sound I wanted all of it. His wings circled us, I felt like I was home, safe and loved. I looked up at him, a stranger but he felt like a part of me.
"I need you."
"I need you."
"Who are you?"
"Your husband."
Husband? The word was so foreign yet nostalgic, a warm bubbly feeling spread from my stomach. Did I really marry an alien after knowing him for a few weeks? As I ran my fingers along his face, touching his features, I realized the headaches I was getting earlier were gone, as was the pain in my chest. I really am your wife... I still don't remember anything about you, not even your name. Lao'k.
"Lao'k?"
He smiled at me."Yes Alei."
How did I know that? I thought of knowing his name and it came to mind. While I was wondering how I figured out his name, I also thought of his age. I mean, he has a small white patch running through the center and I can see the thin gray hairs streaking through his hair, so he has to be a few years well older than me. 3049. I laughed, that's ridiculous no one can live for thousands of years.
"Are you 49?"
"3049."
That's the same number that came to mind just now. When did I learn to read minds? Wait a minute, I remember, when they first came aboard, they were speaking directly into our minds. Am I telepathic like them? Did I become telepathic after marrying him? I wonder what he's thinking of right now. Images of us flashed in my mind, he was fantasizing about us having sex, and with the most serene look on his face!
I slapped his chest. "Stop that!"
He pulled me closer and breathed against my temple. "I need you."
You know, we had been in our own little world I forgot we were in the common area with a ton of people standing around watching us, until his brother spoke.
"Brother."
"Mal'k. What happened to my companion and I?"
"She failed the restriction."
Lao'k glared at his brother. I smoothed his brow and tapped his lips. He can smile so innocently, yet when he's angry you would never believe he can smile. He squeezed my fingertips between his lips and pressed me tighter against him.
"Tell us what happened."
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