Partner

The Sidhe language has very few pronouns. He, she, it, they, we. They use it fairly easily so I suspect there is some word that... basically... means 'it' in their language. But the word is only used in connection to an object or in the general meaning of an animal that doesn't exist "the kitten, it's so cute!" so when refering to the Sidhe of the tribe, rather than saying Sidhe and implying all of the race, the Sidhe of Souse's tribe have come up with the compromising "we'sa" which is like "I'ma" which I have no idea where it spawned from but is used in the general sense of "I'ma go to bed now" Which is kind of like a frustrated way of saying it.

Like Mik's mother I have been up since 4am. I have had a lot of coffee. So either I'm going to get lost in my games or I am going to update like crazy.

I went looking for a possible old time tree online. You know, something to be like, "it looks like this." But there were really just bits. Why do I need an old time tree description from a people's point of view? Well... obviously...

ANYWHO.

I know the last thing Lillow says is utterly confusing and any meaning could really be taken from it all. That was actually the point. I've had the unfortunate problem of speaking pretty much exactly like that. "Have you seen the thing for that gibble I'm doing with the other thing? The pink one? You know it's got this thingy poked out the side and a dobble there and there's another thing on the other side." and people actually go "yeah. That thing." and know what I'm talking about.

It's like magic.

Read, Review and Enjoy.





The next morning Mik woke to Paw shaking him. The man groaned and both of them went off to the shower. Where they were alone for the first time. Paw kissed Mik hungrily and Mik willed his body to respond. But it didn’t. When Paw’s lips left his, for just a moment, Mik groaned and stood under the water. The Sidhe sighed against Mik’s shoulder and they both had to accept the failure… for the moment.

Dried and shaved, Mik went back into the main room to find his mother standing by the door, wide eyes taking in it all.

“Mom?”

“Uh-oh,” Paw ducked behind Mik’s back, crouching behind the man just enough to hide himself.

She turned, just slightly, and gapped at him, “You are not a Sidhe.”

“No. I’m not. I’m working with them.”

“Then…” she frowned, “who is …”

“Paw, is. He’s. Currently hiding behind me because he has suddenly decided it was a bad idea. Not that Paw listened to me,” Mik muttered, more towards the Sidhe than to anyone else.

“A Sidhe. A Sidhe, Mik? Do you know anything at all of myths and beliefs and, it has been compared to joining with an animal.”

“Actually,” Koln looked quite bemused as he interrupted, “Coupling with the opposite sex has always been seen as taboo between Sidhe and people. The issue being possible offspring. Mik doesn’t have that issue with Paw, as they are both male as in so far as we can tell, Paw is not capable of having a child.”

“How do you know he’s not dallying the women? Young women cannot resist my boy.”

Unfortunately it was true… more than some few of his peers in high school had often commented on how young women seemed to be drawn to him.

But the only ones who were actually, honestly young were Violet and Lillow. Mik almost laughed but turned it into a cough.

“Mom. I’m not dallying anyone. Most especially the women.”

“Why most especially the women?”

Was it one of those days that he could just not win with her? Or was she jittery from taking an overnight flight?

“Look,” Mik took his mother’s arm and steered her a bit closer to Souse and Essuan, “this is Souse and Essuan. They’re mates.”

“She’s pregnant.”

“Yes, mom, Essuan is pregnant,” Mik muttered, “I’m not certain what the other females do but Souse here would not allow me to dally anyone.”

“Dally?” Souse muttered with a questioning look.

“Sex.”

“Ah. No, no females for Mik,” Souse muttered, “if Mik did, Paw would be very upset.”

Stressing the upset part.

“Where is this Paw?” She snapped back at Souse.

“Uh, perhaps later.”

“Later?”

“Perhaps you’re a bit… twitchy,” Mik murmured, “more rough than usual?”

“Oh? Oh.” His mother touched her hair and her shirt at the same time and tried to smooth out her hair and tug out the imaginary wrinkles in her shirt, “I’ve been up since four am. Didn’t get much sleep last night. Had too much coffee. Jay wouldn’t even get up to see me go, it was so early.”

“That is early,” Souse muttered, “what time is four am?”

When the leader looked at Mik, Mik frowned, trying to recall what the current time might be. There were no clocks in the Sidhe room, as the Sidhe had no use for them.

“It is currently just after ten am, Souse,” Koln murmured, “Just before four am was the last black out time.”

“Ah. Long time ago.”

Mik turned to his mother and found her staring at his shoulder with wide eyes. The man frowned and turned his head just slightly. Paw’s head ducked back down, the Sidhe’s face pushed into his shoulder and a small tremble shook Paw’s body.

“I’ve never seen him like this…” Mik murmured.

“What beautiful eyes!” his mother exclaimed, ignoring him completely, “like the colour of my oak leaves in summer!”

Paw peaked over Mik’s shoulder once more, blinked at Mik’s mother and then scuttled just a little to the side so that he could press his face against the back of Mik’s neck. The wave of heat that rolled through Mik’s body was not only poorly timed, it was highly inappropriate for the moment.

And all the Sidhe likely knew about it.

Mik pressed his lips into a firm line and shot Essuan a killing look when she opened her mouth to say something to Souse.

“Is there a nose attached to those eyes?” Mik’s mother stood on her tip toes to look over his shoulder, “I see shoulder. Mik. Are you dating a man with two eyes attached to a floating shoulder?”

Paw giggled despite himself, before rubbing his nose against the back of Mik’s neck as if to erase the image from his mind. The motion did nothing, and everything, for Mik’s desires.

Mik knew that he couldn’t take much more, he drew Paw around him and presented the scrunched up Sidhe to his mother.

Paw’s shoulders were hunched, head hung low and eyes and face pointed to the side, away from Mik’s mother and away from Souse’s tribe at the same time. The entire stance screamed fear and submission.

“Hullo, Paw,” Mik’s mother smiled at the Sidhe only to make a confused look in Mik’s direction, “are their social interactions different from ours?”

“I don’t know. We’ve never tried introducing a complete stranger to them.”

Lillow slid effortlessly between Mik and his mother, the young woman beamed at the woman and made a very large motion that was meant to be a wave, “Lillow.”

“She’s Lillow?”

“Yes. And she can speak our language. As can several of the others.”

“Like that one,” his mother pointed at Souse.

“Too much caffeine for this one,” Lillow murmured, “Mik tell mommy go naps. We’sa talk when go to garden.”

“Well. Paw wanted to-”

The young woman turned around and gave Mik a look that made him take a step back. Violet, on the other side of the room, giggled into her hand at Mik. Mik glared back at the girl before trying to glare at Lillow.

Arms crossed, an eyebrow raised and Mik threw his hands up in the air, “fine. I’ll send her off to nap. But you talk some sense into him.”

“Lots of sense to be had with on that of the thought and the thing,” Lillow motioned to one side, then the other before poking her fingers together, “And of the giver of life to the thing and the other thing with the thing and such.”

Mik frowned and decided just to go with the idea that Paw was acting strangely because Mik’s mother was the giver of his life.

Then again… none of the pairs had mothers to meet or contend with. How would a Sidhe approach a parent of someone they were interested in? Throwing their weight around, or showing that they were willing to be submissive to the parents, no matter the stature to the tribe?

Mik gave his head a shake and moved around Lillow carefully, “come on Mom, we’ll get you in a nice sleep room and in a couple of hours we’ll go and see the … ehm… garden.”



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