Majgen Ch. 018

Warning! Work in progress, the full book-series is not yet finished (unless my profile states otherwise). Agonising waits in between chapters is a very real risk!

Copyright of Nanna Marker

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----=(Lovers)=----

"Maybe this was a bad idea," interjected Majgen. "I can hold out till mornings, Aejoa. It really isn't necessary for you to educate Joone on how to..." She couldn't bring herself to say - satisfy me.

"I will resume my duties as a Winin tomorrow, Little Human. It would be wise to have a back up plan for times where I might not be able to get home on time."

"Sedatives would be a viable alternative," suggested Majgen.

'Why don't you trust me?' Joone formed the question emotionally, knowing Majgen would catch on to it.

'I do trust,' Majgen felt in response.

"You said you wouldn't be away for longer than one miui at a time tomorrow, Aejoa. We do not need to do this today," said Majgen, thinking,'Twenty hours between sexual release gives me no problems, whatsoever, with Brakwan symptoms.'

'Why won't you let me be part of this?' Joone's emotional question translated easily to Majgen.

'Feels wrong,' replied her emotions.

'Why?'

"This shouldn't be delayed till the last moment, Little Human." Aejoa was practically unaware of the silent communication between Majgen and Joone. "You are so sensitive regarding these matters. Educating him or anyone else on this topic should be done slowly and thoroughly, so you will not need to be rushed into unpleasant intimacy."

"It feels like I already am being rushed into unpleasant intimacy," explained Majgen.

'I am unpleasant to you?' Joone was hurt.

Majgen caught his question, but couldn't transmit a proper reply.'No, you aren't, but this is different,' simply wouldn't translate empathically.

"We are only talking, Little Human. These are only words."

"Intimate words," corrected Majgen. "I feel displayed."

"But you are fully dressed."

"Yes, and I intend to stay that way. You can't talk me into a demonstration, Aejoa."

"I haven't..."

"Don't give me that. You were planning to."

"But..."

"Put me down. Today's lesson in human sexuality is over." As soon as Aejoa let her go, she trotted out of the room, feeling uncomfortable about the whole situation.

Shifting his eyes between the unmoving Aejoa - his revered Winin - and the leaving human, Joone hesitated. He was hired to be with the human and also wanted to be with the human, but the Winin was the one whose commands he needed to adhere to.

"Stay with me a while, Joone." The Winin's words settled the matter. "I still have more to tell."

"I will listen, Winin," said Joone, and briefly knelt in acknowledgement.

"I pointed the general locations of the most erogenous zones out to you, Joone."

'She said the lesson was over. She wanted this talk to end,' thought Joone, feeling uncomfortable about the Winin's apparent disrespect regarding Majgen's expressed wishes.

Aejoa perceived Joone's discomfort, and found it easy to guess the cause of it.

"Joone, my Little Human needed a rest from this talk. These matters are very delicate for her, but they are also vital for her mental health. It is important that someone knows what to do if something should happen to me, or even if I just get held from home for too long at a time."

"You need not explain yourself to me, Winin," said Joone, while kneeling yet again. "I do not always understand, but I trust your judgement fully." He was speaking the truth, his reverence for the Winin was genuine.

"I expected that much, Joone. But your concentration is better spent focused onwhat I tell, than on trying to figure outwhy I tell." Aejoa paused a moment, studying Joone, before continuing his explanation of Majgen's sexual needs and desires. "I have briefly detailed to you the physical aspects. There are emotional and psychological aspects too, however, and those are even more important than the mere physical touch."

"More important, Winin?" Joone was surprised. From the clinical physical descriptions earlier, he had gotten the impression that this task - which he might one day need to perform - was a very mechanical one.

"Yes, Joone, more, far more. So concentrate and listen closely, because if you hurt her, if you make her cry, then I will cause you suffering like none you have ever experienced before." The intensity and reality of Aejoa's words were intimidating, but Joone felt no fear - only resolution.

'If I hurt her and made her cry, I would deserve to suffer,' thought Joone, but only said, "I understand fully, Winin."

----=(o)=----

In the night Joone and Majgen were alone again, just the two of them and lots of time to spend.

"Wait for me!" called Majgen, laughing as she ran down the hallway to catch up to Joone. Running as fast as she could she didn't take long to reach him now that he stood still waiting for her. "How does it feel to be able to move so fast?" she asked.

"How does it feel to always be so slow?" countered Joone.

"Annoying," laughed Majgen.

"What a negative approach to the world!" exclaimed Joone, then laughed and said, "To learn to be more positive about your speed, you should re-do your travel through the hallway." He was joking, and Majgen followed up on the joke.

"What you mean from all the way back there?" Majgen looked down the hallway mimicking exasperation. "Do you realise how long it would take me to get there?"

"Yes, I certainly do. About three seconds," Joone stated cheerfully.

"More like thirtyyeeeEEE." Majgen shrieked in surprise as Joone picked her up and ran her through the hallway in three seconds. Her shriek evolved to laughter as they stood still again.

"I like the sound your laughter makes," said Joone.

"Good thing you don't know how ticklish I am then," giggled Majgen.

"Ticklish, you say?" Joone put her down. "If you make it to the other end of the hallway faster than me, then I won't tickle you."

"That's not fair. I can't make it there faster than you."

"Since when was tickling meant to be fair?" asked Joone, and shook his limbs in a manner which had always prompted his younger brothers to run away giggling - wise from experience. Majgen caught the association from his mind, but didn't run away. The two of them were joking. Joone wouldn't bully her beyond her acceptance of the joke.

"Well," said Joone, "to make it fair you can get a ten second head-start."

"Ok," Majgen said and started running down the hallway.

Only one third of the hallway was left when Joone caught her again.

"Too slow!" he exclaimed, and ran her back to the start of the hallway. "Last chance, if you don't make it this time Ihave to tickle you. It's the tickle law. GO!" he said and put her down.

Majgen started running again, but he picked her up after two seconds only.

"You cheat. It hasn't been ten seconds yet." She laughed in his hold, not the least bit offended by his joke.

"Ah, but I didn't say you would get ten seconds head-start the second time round, did I? Now I have totickle you."

Shrieking and giggling Majgen tried to wrestle loose.

"Tickle, tickle, tickle, tickle," said Joone, shaking his free reaching limbs, as he had done as a kid when preparing to tickle a younger sibling mercilessly.

"Mercy, Big Boss." Majgen caught the yijejoan kiddy term for mercy through Joone's emanations, and giggled at his surprise upon understanding her words without the translator.

"So you got the words," he admitted jokingly. "Now speak it convincingly, or else!" His pretend threat drew a new shriek from Majgen.

Joone ended up tickling her a little, although mostly with words. Both enjoyed the joke, and continued playing it till Majgen was breathless with giggles. At which point Joone decided to stop while the game was fun. The little human was still giggling when he carried her down the hall, towards the destination they had had before they started joking.

'Her emotions are singing from all that laughter and fun,' perceived Joone.'Mine too, although I am not as breathless as she.' He nuzzled her empathically, nudging her to share emotions with him. Happily Majgen complied.

'We are both very happy right now.' Joone smiled, a yijejoan smile of course, not a widening of the lips like a human would.'She is just as ticklish as any of my siblings. She responds more deeply to the game though.' He tried to grasp the difference.'It feels similar to what the Winin showed me. How she feels when...' His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden surge of anger in Majgen.

"What's wrong, Maijien?" he asked.

"Aejoa had no right to show you that memory." Majgen's anger pulsed steadily. "That was private."

"It was his own memory he shared with me," explained Joone.'It still feels strange to hear her call the Winin by name. I didn't even know Aejoa was his name before she told me.'

"I know it was his memory," said Majgen. "I perceived that too. But, it was his memory of something private between me and him. He should not have shared it. It was wrong of him."

'Wrong? How can she so easily accuse the Winin of doing something wrong?' thought Joone.

"The Winin is not infallible, Joone. He often does something wrong, just like everyone else."

"Not like everyone else," claimed Joone. "The Winin is elevated; he possesses far greater wisdom and insight than ordinary people."

"Oh, really?" Majgen made an impatient movement to climb out of his hold, and Joone put her down.

"Yes," persisted Joone. "A person cannot rise that high amongst the Eieie, unless unusually wise."

"Oh, really?" The irony in Majgen's emotions was obvious to Joone as he tailed her slowly.

"You know yourself that he is a very special person."

"Do I?" This question was genuine rather than sarcastic.'I consider Aejoa a good man, a loveable man,' she thought.'But I don't hold him in the high reverence yijejos do any Winin.'

"Yes," replied Joone. "I know how you sacrificed yourself for him. The Winin told my boss, and she told all of us."

"And?" Majgen said in yijejoan, requesting the rest of the explanation.

"That was it," said Joone, and then reiterated his meaning more directly. "The Winin is such a magnificent person that you chose to sacrifice your life for him, and risk torture too. Even though he was a stranger -- and an enemy."

Stopping in her track, Majgen turned to Joone. She moved her gaze to his face and his beautiful amber eyes before talking. "There is something you don't realise, Joone. If you had been the yijejo prisoner in that interrogation room then I would have done the exact same thing."

'Full Truth,' perceived Joone, and sank to his knees to be closer to her eye level.'How can the truth be she would have done the same for me?'

"Because you are a good person too, Joone."

'Is that all it takes?' he thought.

"It's what matters most," replied Majgen. "Of course it doesn't make things worse that I love you too."

"You really are exceptional, Maijien."

"If you look close enough, Joone, there are many exceptional people all around, everywhere. You just need to open your heart to them to see it."

Joone blinked.'She spoke Full Truth on that too,' he perceived. "I wish I could see as clearly as you do, Maijien."

----=(o)=----

"Put an extra plate in the pile," instructed First Servant Inee. "The human is sleeping, so I invited Joone to join us for breakfast."

"Good thinking, Inee," commented Servant Mooje. "After a whole night alone with the pet, he is probably longing for some company."

"He doesn't appear to mind spending time with the human though," added Low-Servant Niinon. "Seems a bit weird to me."

"Don't speak of things you can't understand," First Servant Inee chided Niinon. "The Winin spends a lot of time with the human too, and no one payshim for that."

"That is different, Inee," objected Low-Servant Niinon. "The Winin owes the human a debt of gratitude, a personal debt. The Winin would not take that lightly."

"If the Winin owes his life to the pet, we all owe it gratitude," added Mooje. "But that doesn't mean Joone will not long for yijejo company by now. He has been with it for two nights in a row now. There isn't much time left to socialise when you are at work all night like that."

While arranging their breakfast on food presentation tables, the servants continued to debate whether Joone's current employ as pet-watcher was a good or bad job, and how frustrating it would be or not. Their debate could probably have gone on for a long time, but was immediately aborted the moment the topic of the conversation arrived.

"Morning greetings," said Joone, as he stepped into the shared servant dining room.

None of the servants failed to notice he was carrying the Little Human. All of them was too baffled by that fact to return the greeting.

"Maijien woke up," explained Joone, "so I took her with me."

"Ou," - aha, said First Servant Inee, though not really understanding. "Joone, you don't have to be with the human every single moment. Not even while it is awake. Dining breaks are perfectly acceptable."

"I know, Inee," said Joone. "She had a nightmare and couldn't fall asleep again, so I thought coming with me to breakfast would be a good diversion."

"Ou," Inee said again, though still not understanding.

"Do you mind sitting right here, Maijien," asked Joone, after locating a spot at safe distance from the - to her - lethally toxic food.

"No, this is good," she replied sleepily. Majgen longed for sleep, but didn't dare sleep again so soon after a nightmare.'It is so strange that in my dreams yijejos are still nameless monsters,' thought Majgen, watching three of the steady servants and Joone gather breakfast and eat. They ate standing, regular yijejos normally did. A yijejo would only eat sitting if they were being served a meal, not when serving themselves.

"So how was your night?" Low Servant Niinon asked Joone, after piling some food on his own plate.

"It was very enlightening," Joone replied honestly.

"Enlightening? How so?" Niinon was surprised by Joone's choice of words.

"In so many ways. All of them very hard to explain, Niinon," Joone said with an enigmatic smile.

"Please try," requested Niinon, genuinely curious about the background for Joone's cryptic answers.

"Maijien taught me a new way to perceive empathically."

"The human?" Niinon asked with a whisper, sending a surreptitious glance towards Majgen.

"Yes," replied Joone, whispering too just for the fun of it. Joone knew Majgen could follow the meaning of their conversation through their emanations, but he found Niinon's clumsy attempt at acting inconspicuously rather hilarious.

"What could a human possibly teach a yijejo about empathy?" asked Servant Mooje, also whispering.

"A whole lot more than a yijejo could have imagined," whispered Joone, and then he couldn't help himself any longer, his body started shaking with laughter.

"What's so funny?" whispered First Servant Inee.

"It's funny that we are all whispering," whispered Joone, his voice severely distorted by the yijejoan laughter.

"Why?" asked Niinon, still keeping his voice very low.

"Because I know, Niinon," Majgen said in yijejoan, she would have liked to say -Because I know what you are talking about, Niinon. But she didn't know the rest of the words.

Startled by the alien voice, Niinon dropped his breakfast plate on the floor.

"I apologise, Niinon," said Majgen, not knowing how to add -I didn't mean to startle you.

"Hi, Human," said Niinon, slowly gathering his composure. "I didn't know you spoke yijejoan."

"She doesn't really," said Joone, and added, "Yet. But we are working on that, aren't we, Maijien."

"Ei," replied Majgen, - yes.

"You could have warned me," Niinon said - sounding grumpy, and kneeled to pick up the plate and food he had dropped.

"I apologise, Niinon." Joone knelt to help clean up the mess, but couldn't help laughing. "I just had so much fun with all the whispering and secrecy. Why were you whispering anyhow? If you didn't know she could follow the conversation?"

"I don't know," admitted Niinon, and added, "Just felt right," with a growing laughter of his own.

"It's not like you normally need a human's aid," Mooje added to the joking. "Usually you are perfectly capable of dropping a plate and making a mess, without anybody helping."

Niinon had plenty teasing retorts to that comment. The servants spent the rest of the meal teasing each other openly, mostly amiably too.

After the meal, they put the food away in union and withdrew to a shared leisure room with hot drinks. This was a usual routine for the servants, while waiting for the Winin to wake up and call for morning service. Joone chose pure cold water, rather than a hot drink. He wouldn't dare carry Majgen while holding on to a hot yijejoan drink. Such a drink would be poison to her, and he would fear accidentally spilling some of it on her.

The exchange of teasing comments abated while everyone seated in the leisure room, leaving a natural pause for other topics to be taken up.

"Reveal the mystery to us now please, Joone," said First Servant Inee. "Tell us what the human taught you tonight."

"She taught me to sense so much more, clearer, more vivid, more true. I cannot put it into words, Inee," admitted Joone. "It is beyond words."

"How does she teach you then?" asked Inee, sensing Joone's honest enthusiasm.

"She shows me."

"Can you show me?"

"I would like to try," replied Joone. "I have never yet tried with another than Maijien."

"You make it sound very different," said Inee. "Does it hurt?"

"Not at all. It is a wonderful feeling," promised Joone.

"Well, do show me then."

"Will you aid me, Maijien?" asked Joone. "I don't feel fully confident yet."

"Yes, Joone," she said, and transmitted,'I will assist.'

While rising from his seat and moving closer to Inee, Joone tried to explain what he would do. "First I will see you, Maijien's way, and then I will show you what I saw, Maijien's way."

"Sounds interesting. Will I be able to tell any difference from normal mind-sharing?"

"If I do it right then you will, Inee." Joone suddenly felt insecure regarding his own new abilities.

"No, fear," said Majgen, her emotions spoke what she had meant -Don't fear.

Inee studied the young yijejo and the younger human.'Was the human that confident all along?' wondered Inee, as Majgen's confidence and trust seemed to strengthen Joone. With a lowered mind shield First Servant Inee awaited Joone's next move.

"Relax," said Majgen. "Close your eyes, Joone."

"I'm a bit nervous, Maijien," admitted Joone. "I'm not sure I'm ready after all."

"I know." Her human voice somehow sounded more alien to the yijejos when she spoke their language than when she spoke her own.

"Forget," said Majgen, meaning -Forget who you are. "Remember heart, open heart." This message was cryptic to everyone but Joone.

"Listen with my heart. I will listen to my heart, and I will listen with my heart."

"Yes," Majgen said. "Now see heart."

With eyes still closed, Joone reached out to feel Inee empathically.

"He has a warm and gentle touch," Inee informed the others, who were watching with curiosity.

"My heart sees," Joone said smiling happily. "He is beautiful, Maijien."

"I know." Majgen smiled and cuddled closer to her friend's chest.'I knew you would be able to see it.'

"You are beautiful, Inee," said Joone.

"Beautiful?" Inee was puzzled. "Maybe I was forty years ago. Now I'm just a wrinkly old dried fruit."