Chapter 3

Despite some initial protest from Lisia, Regan was left to cope with the harlings on his own. Meanwhile Cal dished out the latest news and gossip from Immanion. The most amusing anecdote involved Ashmael's harling Phaniel taking a shine to none other than the Tigrina.

"He's only four, mind you, but he worships Rue in his little harling way," Cal said. "Reminds me of you, Swift."

"I never 'worshipped' you, Cal!" Swift protested, straightening in his seat. "You just made a rather large impression on me."

"Evidently," Cal replied boastfully, turning to the other hara. "Lisia, you know who Swift shared his Feybraiah with, don't you?"

Lisia's gaze shifted from Cal to Swift, then back. "Ah, I see," he said slowly. "Makes my own Feybraiah seem a little less dramatic."

Cobweb raised an eyebrow at his bondmate. "What gives you the idea aruna with Cal would be 'dramatic,' Lis?" It was an effort to keep a straight face.

"I-- well, I--" Lisia stuttered. "I was just thinking, no ordinary har gets to be Tigron, so it probably was something rather special."

"You flatter me," Cal said. "I'm... well, leave it to any of these fine hara to tell you I'm not perfect. Hell, leave it to Pell and Rue." For a moment Cal's face was shadowed as he tilted it and looked down at his hands. "Speaking of which... though not really... I wanted to talk with you, Lis."

Lisia started slightly. "With me?"

"Yes, with you," Cal replied. "Can we maybe step out back to talk?"

Lisia looked to Cobweb, sitting beside him. "Well, it's going to be cold outside."

"That's all right," Cal concluded, raising himself from the sofa. "Seel will lend us some cigarettes, which'll make it a bit better. Won't he?"

Seel, who hadn't spoken for a for minutes, apparently tired, nodded. "Sure. I've only got herbal, but they should do." He pulled open a drawer in the side table and drew out a brass box. "Here you are. Light 'em with you mind, oh Mighty Tigron."

"Thanks, glad somebody gives me respect," Cal said grinning. He put his hand on Lisia's shoulder. "Now let's go out and talk."

At first the three hara remaining couldn't imagine what Cal and Lisia would be talking about.

"Harlings?" Swift asked. "I mean, he was talking about that deal with five more!"

"No, no, it can't be that," Seel said. "I think it must be--"

"Delivering pearls!" Cobweb interrupted. "Of course. He's probably asking Lisia for his expertise. I wonder..."

"What?" Swift asked. "What do you think?"

Cobweb smiled. "Maybe he'll even ask him to come to Immanion for whatever births may be coming up -- his, Pell's, Rue's. Lisia is a wonderful birthing coach."

"As I well know," Swift said. "Well, I suppose it's possible. Maybe he'll just give him some advice, though. Immanion's a terribly long way, especially since we know he won't leave Sage. Besides, they have plenty of experts there."

"Hmmm," Cobweb puffed. "True. Ah, well, let's let them be. I think I'd like to go upstairs for a bath. If Lis comes back here, tell him that's where I'll be."

"Of course," Seel assured, "though I'm sure he'd be able to find you on his own."

Cobweb was lying underwater when Lisia entered his mind, delivering a gentle greeting, an image of a Lisianthus bloom. Smiling slowly, Cobweb kept his eyes shut, knowing the lights were going down when the red behind his eyelids turned a darker shade. As Lisia disrobed, Cobweb regulated his breathing. He could remain underwater for minutes, a sensation he had grown to enjoy.

Finally Lisia's face came through the surface, tickling Cobweb's nose and then at last capturing his mouth. Cobweb bobbed up just as the rest of Lisia slipped into the bath, so that the two bodies rolled toward one another, the slippery perfumed water sloshing around them.

"Have a nice talk with Cal?" Cobweb wondered, speaking mind to mind.

"Mmmm," Lisia hummed, his lips buried in the curved pleasure spot just under Cobweb's left ear.

"I hope you've put his mind to rest," Cobweb continued, despite the lovely distraction of Lisia's lips, now trailing down to his shoulder.

"Mmmm," was all Lisia would say, his lips moving down to Cobweb's left nipple.

"Put you in mind for some 'dramatic' aruna?" Cobweb murmured aloud before succumbing to his own moan of "Mmmm." Irresistible.

The bath tub was not the most spacious but he and Lisia had always fit so well together that aruna was natural and unhindered, never more so than on that early evening. As Lisia slipped into Cobweb, a wellspring of love bubbled up and like a sponge engorged with water, Cobweb felt his insides swelling with pleasure and then, for the second time in his life, opening up. They were walking through the purple fields of their imaginings as together they created something Cobweb had wanted for many years, a tiny new life to grow inside him.

"Mmmm," Cobweb purred afterward, hand on his stomach as the pleasure continued to ripple through him.

Lisia, who'd slid over to the side, was glowing with happiness and no doubt pride. Becoming a father was something he had promised Cobweb he'd do, and now that he had apparently accomplished it, he had only one thing to say: "Mmmm."