Surefoot 12: Caitian Holiday

"Ma'Sala," Kami announced, pulling back from her tall, sturdy-looking mother. "This is Esek. Esek, this is-"

"Fleet Captain Ma'Sala," he finished breathlessly, swallowing. Mother's Cubs, he was going to get his wife for not warning him! He held out a hand, suddenly understanding how all the people at the spaceport felt meeting him. "This is an honour, Ma'am! Such an honour!"

She never took his hand, just grunted, before looking back at her daughter again. "Your cub is upstairs in his old room, rutting with his betrothed. Go interrupt them, they need to save some strength for the wedding."

"My cub!" Kami beamed like a child on her birthday and rushed towards the door. "MIROW! GET OFF THAT POOR GIRL, YOUR MOTHER'S HERE!"

Hrelle chuckled - but then felt the temperature drop once more when he was alone with Ma'Sala, who bypassed him to stride up to Sasha, regarding the young girl. "So... you are the one, the only human who reached the Fourth Tier in my people's fine martial art of K'Gresirr?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"And you kicked my daughter in the kussik when you two had an argument?"

Sasha blushed. "Um, yes, Ma'am. Though in my defence, she gets annoyingly smug when she's in the right."

Ma'Sala grunted - but put an arm around the girl. "I know."

Hrelle watched them move away, as pleased at Sasha's reception from the female as he was bewildered by his own. He couldn't recall offending her.

He was startled by the big furred hand on his shoulder, as Mi'Tree drew up. "Hmm, she likes you, my boy."

"She does?" he muttered, still looking in the direction of his daughter and bond-mother as the latter introduced Sasha to a pack of very young cubs, who had been drawing silently closer throughout, fascinated by the presence of the human.

"Oh, yes." The retired actor paused and shrugged. "Well, I might be exaggerating..."

"What in the Seven Hells did I say or do?"

Bneea joined them, looking sympathetic. "She tends to keep her motivations to herself, but I suspect it's simply because... well, you're not Kami's first husband; Ma'Sala was very fond of Rmorra. We all were."

Hrelle growled, understanding but still frustrated. How in Mother's Name was he meant to compete with the memories of the dead?

As if reading his mind, Mi'Tree leaned in and advised, "Don't let her walk all over you. Stand up to her. It might earn you a swipe on the snout, but she'll respect you more for it. Now come, my Bond-son, let us introduce you to the rest of the clan, and take our place preparing the evening meal, now that all the Shall clan has finally gathered."

*

The cubs practically dragged Sasha through the gardens and towards a collection of trees, all the while barraging her with questions: Where's your fur? Why is your face so flat? How do you eat with flat teeth? How do you fight without claws? How can your Mama tell when you're sad without a tail?

Sasha, who remained curious as to the cool reaction her father got from Kami's mother, was nevertheless swept up with the collective enthusiasm of the young ones, who had adopted her completely and thoroughly as one of them. It also made her realise how few citizens of the Federation actually had a chance to meet people from other worlds - and how fortunate she was to encounter so many as a cadet in Starfleet.

Thoughts of Starfleet returned her to Giles. Damn, she didn't want to keep thinking about him, but she couldn't help herself.

"Are you okay?" one of the cubs asked.

"Hmm? Oh yeah, I was just thinking of someone I wish was here." She took off her cap and ran her forearm across her brow; the humidity here was fierce.

"Your skin's crying!" another cub declared with alarm. "What's wrong?"

"What? No, no, nothing's wrong, this is called sweating, it's what humans do when they get too hot and we have no fur to keep us cool."

"Let's go swimming then!" the oldest of the cubs suggested.

As a pack they declared their enthused agreement to the idea - and Sasha had to admit it sounded good.

They led her through a grove of trees growing a sweet-smelling red-green fruit, to the edge of a wide blue ocean, lapping white-crested waves at a thin white ribbon of beach that stretched for kilometres in either direction. The crash of the waves was momentarily eclipsed by the squealing cubs as they raced up along a wooden dock and cannonballed in, more than one of them beckoning, "Come on, Sasha!"

She grinned, for a moment wishing she'd brought a bathing suit with her - then acknowledged that none of the cubs wore any clothes, let alone bathing suits, and she started stripping off, wondering about the questions they'd have when they saw a naked human.

Her initial embarrassment was swept away by the rich coolness of the water as she went under - marvellous! She burst up through the water and laughed, before beginning to splash the cubs around her, making them squeal and splash back, before stretching her limbs and swimming a few metres out and back. She had stopped exercising in the past week since the argument with Giles, and between that neglect and the slightly higher gravity on Cait, she was feeling it now in her muscles.

Such was her distraction that she never noticed the adult figure sitting on the side of the dock, watching her approach, until Sasha was almost there. "Oh, sorry!"

"For what?" It was a female, a little older than Sasha, with a remarkable coal-black fur but with a lighter patch circling her right eye. Her mane was also almost non-existent compared with most other Caitian females, just a tuft of fur on top of her head like a male's; with that and her muscular frame, only her breasts would distinguish her gender, at least to Sasha's eyes.

"I'm, uh, not sure." Sasha couldn't remember seeing a Caitian with such a dark colour before, but then she only ever saw a handful in her life before today.

The female shrugged. "Well, I'll take the apology anyway, and save it for some time when it's deserved." Her clothes were piled beside her, and her feet only just reached the water; with a shift, she could kick at it, and did. "Looks cold."

Sasha rose up, holding onto the edge of the dock, as the waves shoved rudely against her on their way to the beach. "It's not so bad."

"Your nipples tell a different story. Unless you're just excited to see me?"

Sasha glanced down, blushed and dipped just enough under the water to cover her breasts. "I, ah, it's the water. Humans are-"

The female smiled. "I know about humans, I work with them all the time in Starfleet."

Sasha's interest perked. "You're in Starfleet? So am I."

The female nodded now, adding with a smirk, "I know all about you, Sasha Hrelle. Aunt Kami won't stop singing your praises to my Mama. I think our mothers have some sort of rivalry going on with us."

"Kami's not-" Then Sasha stopped herself, smiling. "Probably, yeah. But you haven't told me your name. You have the advantage of me."

"The name's C'Rash, officially Lieutenant C'Rash Shall, of the USS Vigilant." She looked down on the girl and winked. "And you'll know when I have the advantage of you."

Sasha felt a strange reaction - was they flirting? - but shook it off. "So, Lieutenant Shall, are you getting in the water, or are you just gonna sit there all day looking pretty?"

C'Rash regarded the human - before propelling herself off the side of the dock and diving into the water in a perfect pose - even her tail was absolutely straight behind her.

Then she disappeared.

Sasha glanced around, expecting her to emerge any second now. Any second now. Any- oh God, did C'Rash misjudge the depth of the water and hit her head on something-

She felt the hands grab her ankles just before she was pulled under, managing to hold what breath she had in her lungs.

Someone was gonna get their ass kicked...

*

Hrelle felt almost overwhelmed by the sheer numbers gathered in the main hall for evening meal, with the younger members of the clan happily sitting on the floor when all the places at all the tables had been taken by the older ones. The huge open areas let in the cooler night air, while sonic screens kept out the insects, and music played in the background. It was noisy, chaotic- and supremely happy. And a world away from the meals he remembered as a cub: his had been a small clan to begin with, scattered throughout Cait, rarely assembling except for sombre events such as his mother's death when he was six.

He looked across at Kami's firstborn Mirow: a handsome male with golden-brown fur and a charming glint in his eye as he made sure his partner-to-be Ptera of Clan Mroara-Lnee was cared for, the love between them evident. Nearby, Mi'Tree was regaling the table with an anecdote about meeting the First Minister at the premier of his final vivid, while Bneea rolled his eyes and corrected every seeming error in the telling of the tale; the two males had met when Bneea acted as Mi'Tree's stunt double, and had been inseparable for decades.

Past them, Ma'Sala ate in silence, acknowledging people only as they passed by or offered another course of meats and delicacies.

He leaned in closer to Kami, who had somehow managed to stop hugging her son long enough to detach herself and devour an entire plate of fried shuris sticks on her own, a repast that would have earned a rebuke from her if it had been in front of him. He made sure his voice was as low as it could get. "Why didn't you tell me your mother was who she was?"

She licked her lips and tossed another bone to the edge of the plate. "It was never important."

"Not important? She commands the Mother's Fury! She led our forces to victory in the last Ferasan War! She's a legend!"

Kami shrugged. "My Mama was the one who birthed me, suckled me, and would come home, bring me gifts and tell me stories of her adventures in space. That was all that was important. Still is."

"She doesn't like me."

She looked at him and smiled. "She will."

"Your fathers think it's because she's comparing me to Rmorra."

Her expression sobered at that. "You want me to have a word with her?"

"Mother's Cubs, no!" He shook his head. "Forget I said anything, she'll warm up to me." He looked away. "I'm very charming."

She laughed at that, reached out, pulled him close and nipped his ear. "Finish your tsurista, they're an aphrodisiac."

"Will I need it?" he asked, sniffing the air, catching all the scents of arousal among the adults; it was a tradition to forgo using Seasonal suppressants during bonding ceremonies. It was... heady.

His attention turned to Sasha, sitting among the young adults, beside a black-furred female who was talking closely, indicating various dishes and features around the hall. "Who's that with the Runt?"

"My niece C'Rash. She's in Starfleet too. Security."

Hrelle nodded. "I'm glad she's made a friend so quickly."

Kami looked up at him again. "You think that's just friendship?"

He stared at the cubs, frowning. "You think it's more?"

"It could be."

He grunted, not expecting this side of her. "What about her and Giles?"

"What about them?"

"Come on! They're a couple! She shouldn't be sniffing around other people!"

"Is that right, Counselor?" Kami asked sarcastically. "They're not married, not bonded."

"That's different, they're human, with different customs and attitudes about fidelity. Perhaps I should go talk to her-"

She reached out and patted his hand. "Perhaps you should just sit, eat, drink, and mind your own business? This is something Sasha needs to work out herself."

*

At their own end of the room, Sasha was tucking into some tsuristas, a seafood delicacy that reminded her of Terran crabsticks. "So, Ma'Sala, Mi'Tree and Bneea are all married? But Mi'Tree and Bneea are bonded? What's the difference?"

Beside her, C'Rash was pouring them both some more wine. "There are multiple levels, both legal and chemical, depending on one's role in the clan and where ties may need strengthening; as Matriarch, Ma'Sala is married to a couple of others here as well, some she's had sex with on and off, including Mi'Tree and Bneea in order to get pregnant with Kami, after she persuaded them to join our clan. They were already a married couple for some years."

Sasha nodded at that, already seeing the multiple levels between her father and Kami, when they first chemically bonded, their pheromones adjusting to make them 'unavailable' to other Caitians, before they officially married in a Starfleet ceremony. "And they have no problem with being a gay couple married to a female?"

"Gay?"

"Sorry, that's an old human term for being homosexual."

One of the older males sitting opposite her and listening laughed. "What are you talking about?"

C'Rash leaned in close to a confused-looking Sasha. "Caitians make no distinctions, and have no labels for, sexual preference or identity; most of us are what you might technically call bisexual, even if we end up bonded to one or more others."

"Oh. And which of them is Kami's actual Dad? Mi'Tree, or Bneea?"

C'Rash stared. "Both."

"No, I mean- did they ever run a DNA test to see which one might be her biological father? Wasn't Kami or anyone else curious?"

The female played with her wineglass as she regarded Sasha. "Have you noticed how no one's questioned your presence as a human here? About your relationship with Esek Hrelle? Not even the cubs; though they're naturally curious about you being human, they haven't asked what you're doing here.

It's not because they already know. It's because they don't have to ask. When a Caitian enters a room with you and Esek in it, their senses tell them immediately who you two are: a father and his cub, bonded over many years. The details are generally not important if you're not keeping the Clan Registry, and don't need to be spoken aloud, any more than someone needs to comment that you, for instance, have blonde hair... and a gorgeous pair of breasts." She smiled. "It's obvious."

She continued as Sasha blushed. "Kami was raised by the two males as her fathers. She was also raised by Ma'Sala, and by my mother, and by other older males and females - just as I was. Depending on the circumstances, you can be a Kin-daughter, a Bond-cub, a Kith-sister, sometimes multiple roles to the same person... it gets complicated, and the language isn't always adequate."

"No shit." Sasha leaned back on her elbow, sinking into the cushion beneath her and somewhat ruining the effect she was trying to generate. "And how would you describe the two of us?"

C'Rash's gaze narrowed. "Desperately in need of going off with some of the other young ones drinking and dancing. What do you say?"

Sasha grinned. "Lead the way."

*

There was an amazingly loose structure to the evening as much as the day, with the clan going to bed, staying up, singing, eating, talking and laughing and rutting as they pleased - where they pleased. No one minded, it was all a part of the celebration of family, love and life... in other words, a typical Caitian clan gathering.

And it continued to remind Hrelle just how different his own upbringing had been, on the Archipelago. How lonely. Really, it was a wonder that he hadn't deserted sooner.

As the evening continued, he often excused himself to help carry some of the smaller sleeping cubs up to the rooms they were sharing, before returning to find himself in the midst of another conversation with another member of Kami's clan, and he'd often look across to make sure his wife was okay. He needn't have worried; she was still clinging close to her son, taking in his scent a thousand times, reinforcing her memory of him, as well as that of his bride-to-be.

And then he'd find himself drifting off, thinking of the time when Sasha would move on with her life, and leave him behind.

Mother's Cubs, he told himself, you are a maudlin old son of a bitch .

It was dawn when the group began to die out, and even the most effusive personalities were flagging. Hrelle found Kami and gestured to her. "Come on, Beloved. Good night, Mirow, Ptera."

"Morning, you mean." Mirow drew up and hugged him. "And thank you."

"Thank me? For what?"

The cub smiled. "For saving Mama from a life of wearing out her bedside toys."

He dodged a smack from his laughing mother. "Cheeky little shit!" To Ptera she advised, "Watch him, he thinks his charm and good looks will let him get away with anything!"

"Yes." The young female laughed, her accent posh for a Caitian. "He's probably right." She took Mirow by the arm. "Come along, my handsome male..."

Kami sided up to Hrelle and copied the gesture. "Yes, come along, my handsome male..."

They were on their way to their assigned rooms when they ran into a collection of older cubs ascending from an adjoining staircase - led by C'Rash and Sasha. They appeared very drunk, very dishevelled, and barely managing to keep quiet. A flushed-looking Sasha, wearing only a sarong and holding onto C'Rash, looked at Hrelle and Kami, her unfocused eyes widening. "Oh shit, look out! It's Fat Cat and Lil' Kitten!"

The cubs collapsed into titters as they swayed and held onto the sides of the hallway for support. Hrelle had never seen Sasha in such a state, and couldn't suppress his shock... and amusement. "Care to explain yourself, young lady?"

Sasha bit her lower lip, clearly and inadequately trying to control her giggling. "I don't know if I can, Captain Dad, Sir. I'm a complicated young adult."

One of the young males behind her laughed. "That's our Tailless Cousin! She downed a full pitcher of Rula punch herself, and she's still standing!"

C'Rash drew up, smiling and making shooing gestures at the older Caitians. "Run along to bed, Fat Cat, we're only having fun." To Kami she added, "See if you can work the tension out of him." She reached out and patted his stomach. "Some of this too, while you're at it."

Hrelle glared at the young female now. "Didn't the Academy teach you how to show respect to a superior officer?"

C'Rash chuckled. "Claws in, Esek. This is a clan gathering; the only one who can pull rank here is our Matriarch."

But Sasha waved her back. "Hold on, friend, I'll deal with this." She swayed a little as she drew up to her father, gathered up her remaining stability and said, in a childish voice with big wide eyes, "I'm sorry, Daddy."

Her friends broke down with laughter. She turned to them and snarled, "Shut up! This always works with him!" Then she returned to face him, eyes wide again as if he wouldn't have heard her. "I'm very, very sorry."

It was all Hrelle could do to keep from laughing himself as he announced sternly, "Good night, Sasha."

When they were in their own quarters, Kami shucked off her skimpy clothes and approached him. "You're not going to cause them any trouble, are you? My niece is right; only the Matriarch can pull rank at these occasions."

He embraced her, hugging her tightly. "Don't worry, it was hilarious, and I'm in no mood to piss off your mother any more than I have somehow already done. Now... how about helping me with this tension?"

*

In their own sleeping quarters, Sasha was grateful for the salmon-pink morning illumination streaming in from the high, narrow windows, having learned in the dance clubs and bars they had visited in town that Caitian lighting was minimal compared to humans', allowing for superior Caitian vision. More than once, she had to hold onto C'Rash.

Which wasn't a bad thing.

Everyone was stripping off what little they wore and collapsing onto the beds, in twos or more. Sasha was giggling as she practically fell backwards onto the mattresses after finally managing to undo a truculent sandal heel strap. She giggled, staring up at the stone ceiling. "Oh, Dad's gonna kill me later."