LOG THIRTY-FIVE

Ford held the little gold beast while Marra introduced its much larger nest mate to Phoenix, Neyta and the nest mate it had been taken from at birth. The little black beast sniffed and licked at Neyta and was given a very motherly nuzzle in return. Then he turned and growled at his father, rearing up and bearing its fangs, Phoenix just appeared to roll his eyes and lay down for a nap. Turning to his nest mate he drew his head back and flapped its wings before charging across the stall, tackling its sibling. Soon the serpentine parents found themselves part of the playing field for their two offspring.

Marra left the stall when she was sure that the black beast would be all right with its parents. She leaned on the door and continued to watch them romp and play.

Ford joined her, still holding the smaller gold beast. "I doubt this one will ever be big enough to be reintroduced."

"I’m afraid not." Marra sighed, feeding the littlest beast a piece of fruit from a pouch at her hip. He took it from her, then scampered up Ford’s arm to perch on her shoulder. His tail wrapped around her neck, while front claws held the treat, which he chewed contentedly. Marra couldn’t hold back the laugh.

"And what’s so funny?" Ford straightened, crossing her arms, staring at her spouse.

"Never thought of you as a serpentine perch."

"Well good or bad, the little beast seems to have bonded with me." Ford turned her head to eye the little beast. It turned its head to look at her, as it did it slowly stopped chewing the fruit, and then it looked at the rest in its claws and tried the shove it in Ford’s mouth. "Oh well yuck!" Ford yelled, spitting the fruit to the ground and looking desperately for something to drink.

The beast took to the air, just long enough to glide into the protective arms of Marra. For her part, Marra was nearly hysterical with laughter, watching her spouse spit and sputter trying to get the last of the fruit from her mouth.

"That was totally disgusting! Not to mention just plain wrong!"

Marra stepped back, still laughing and wondering if Ford was going to take to licking her sleeve to get her tongue clean.

"Oh, you think that’s funny do you?" The tall woman gave a mock glare to her spouse, advancing menacingly.

"I do see a certain amount of humor in this situation, yes."

Ford looked to the ground and retrieved a piece of the fruit that had been so unceremoniously jammed in her mouth by the beast. "Then maybe you’d like a bite."

"No, no I don’t think that’s really a good idea. I mean, that’s been on the ground." She pointed at the fruit in Ford’s hand.

"Un-huh. But I think you should sample its delicate flavor, my love." Ford continued to advance, while Marra continued to retreat.

The blonde quickly reached for her pouch, withdrawing another piece of fruit. "I have some, thanks."

"Yes, but it doesn’t have serpentine drool on it. It ads a certain," Ford paused. " tang, you really should experience, just once."

"I’ll take your word for it."

"No, I really think you should try it for yourself." Ford lunged, grabbing Marra’s sleeve. The little beast squealed, taking to the air once again, to perch on the stall door.

Just as Ford prepared to ‘give’ Marra a bite of the fruit in her hand, the blonde slipped the piece she held, into her own mouth, offering Ford half and lifting her brows. Ford knew she had been beaten at her own game. She let the fruit drop from her hand and captured Marra in a very sweet kiss.

***

Ford leaned back into the couch, with Marra straddled over her lap, facing her. Looking up into the face of her spouse that reflected a lot more than love at the moment. She glanced down briefly to watch as Marra’s hands worked quickly unbuttoning her shirt, getting stuck on one particularly stubborn button. "Would you like some help with that?"

"No!" The smaller woman growled, simply slipping her hands inside Ford’s shirt and ripping it open.

"Okay I can see you’ve got it handled. But I don’t think my wardrobe can handle much more of this." She placed her hands on the sides if Marra’s face to get her attention. "Darling, I didn’t mean to get you so worked up."

"Well, you did. Now do something about it!"

Ford nodded. "Yes dear." She brought their lips together in a delicate kiss, designed to soothe her spouse. "Let’s go to bed." She offered quietly after the kiss.

"Oh yes. Let’s, right now." She quickly removed herself from Ford’s lap, tugging on her spouse’s hand. "Now." She demanded again.

"I’m coming, I’m coming."

"Not yet, but you will be."

***

Ford rolled over, draping her arm over Marra, she tucked herself in closer to her wife, who still slumbered contentedly. She was preparing to go right back it sleep as well, when she felt something at the foot of the bed. She waited for a moment, anticipating more movement, when she felt nothing she chalked it up to the fact that she was still half-asleep. She drew her legs up, so they fit snugly with Marra’s and took a deep, relaxing breath.

Then she felt something brush her foot. She opened her eyes again. This time something nipped her foot. She jerked it away, firmly kneeing Marra in the backside and sending her spouse crashing to the floor.

Marra turned sleepy, confused eyes up to the bed. "What?" She groaned, trying to find wakefulness.

"Something bit me."

"I didn’t hear you complaining earlier."

"I’m not talking about earlier. I’m talking about right now." She leaned up on her elbow, offering her hand to Marra, while lifting the covers to peer under and try to find out what had nipped her foot.

Marra got up from the floor, rubbing her eyes, reaching for her robe at the end of the bed.

Then it sneezed.

"Oh yuck!" Ford groaned, dropping back to the bed. "Mystery solved."

Wrapping her robe around her body and tying it off quickly, she pulled the covers back from the bottom of the bed to find the gold beast. "Now how did you get down there?"

Ford, who was now on her feet and using what was left of her shirt to wipe off her foot, glared at the tiny serpentine. "Grilled. I hear they’re really good grilled."

"Ford!" Marra cuddled the small beast. "It must have a cold."

"It’s got something. I’d call it a death wish if it had two legs."

The little beast whimpered, curling in close to Marra. "Ford, I think it’s really sick." She tried to get a good look, but the tiny serpentine merely burrowed deeper into her robe.

The tall woman huffed, tossed down the shirt, then pulled on her own robe. As soon as she approached Marra, the little beast fled the blonde’s arms in favor of the brunette. It curled tight against Ford, shivering and whimpering. "Easy little one, easy." Ford soothed, despite herself. She held the tiny serpentine up closely inspecting its eyes and face. "Yup, it’s sick."

"What can we do?"

"Hmm, let’s get dressed and take it down to the stables. We can put it in an accelerator and see if that helps."

Marra moved to a cabinet and began removing clothes for them both. "What’s an accelerator?"

"It’s a cellular accelerator, used to assist in the growth process. During times of war, young serpentines are some times accelerated to replace adults lost in battle."

"Do you think it’ll help?"

"Well, it certainly can’t hurt. All we’ll do is accelerate it a couple of days and see if we can get it past this illness." She bent; retrieving her torn shirt then wrapped the tiny beast up in it while she dressed. She placed it on the bed; it burrowed into the cloth.

"Maybe the fruit I fed it this morning was bad." Marra looked to Ford, who had not appreciated that last comment at all.

"Let’s hope not. We had some of that fruit too."

"Oh yeah, we did, didn’t we?"

"Yeah, we did."

***

Ford placed it in the accelerator, then stepped out and closed the door.

Marra watched through the observation glass. She could tell the little beast was scared, it was shaking and trying to scratch its way out of the chamber. "Are you sure this won’t hurt?"

"It won’t hurt it as long as whatever illness it has isn’t fatal. If the illness is fatal, it could die, but we wouldn’t be able to save it anyhow."

"Oh Ford." Marra felt a lump form in her throat at the thought of loosing the little beast. Even in the short time that she had had them, she had become quite fond of this one and she loved to watch it play with Ford, even when Ford didn’t realize she was being played with.

"Don’t worry darling. If we find out it’s really serious, I’ll make sure it doesn’t suffer."

The tiny beast continued to try and scratch its way out of the chamber. Ford moved to the control panel. Her hands worked the controls, the chamber filled with a light mist. At first the tiny beast seemed to be frightened, then it settled down and curled up, looking as if it were sleeping.

Ford watched the display, alternating her attention between the display and the beast. "He’s not growing."

"Now we know it’s a he? When did that happen?"

"The accelerator tells me that. But he’s not growing, at least not his physical size."

"Is he maturing in other ways?"

"Yes. His mind and body are maturing, but his body size isn’t changing in the least."

"Have you ever seen a small serpentine like this before?" Marra drew even closer to the observation glass, her own curiosity now getting the best of her.

"Never. I’ve heard stories of them this small before, but I’ve never seen one."

"That settles it then."

Now Ford was really confused. "Settles what?"

"We should name him Earthling. We’ve heard stories about them, but we’ve never actually seen one."

"Earthling, it is then darling." The tall woman nodded. She certainly couldn’t argue with the logic.

"Is he going to live?"

"Yes, I think he’s going to be just fine. I’ve advanced him by about six months actually. The illness has cleared from his system. You can get him out if you like."

Marra opened the door, stepping inside she slowly gathered up her little friend. "Come on Earthling, let’s go home."

* * *

Ford sat on the couch, reading her historical text. One hand held the book, the other hand idly tickled the stomach of the beast that was rolled on its back, its little eye closed, wings spread, legs relaxed, tail flipping around slightly and it was purring.

Marra smiled at the picture when she entered with the tray that held their evening repast of coffee and cheesecake. "Find anything interesting in that new book about Earth?"

"They seemed to love to fight. Even from their earliest historical documents and mythos they were constantly in conflict with each other."

"Maybe we are more like them than we should ever want to admit then." The blonde offered taking a seat on the other side of Earthling and pouring Ford’s coffee.

"So it would seem. Or maybe it is just the nature of an intelligent beast to fight."

"Then why don’t serpentines fight among themselves?"

Ford glanced up from her book, accepting her coffee. "Good question. Other than to watch males battle for a mate, I’ve never actually seen them fight. Or at least not to injure each other."

Earthling, who was now miffed that both of Ford’s hands were occupied, crawled up on her lap, curling into a little ball. The dark haired woman looked down at her little companion. "I think he likes me."

"I think he loves you." Marra leaned over, planting a kiss to her spouse’s cheek. "It’s easy to do."

"Hmm." Ford sounded unconvinced as she sipped her coffee. "I think my lap is just soft."

"Why, yes it is." Marra replied with a smirk, "Another reason to love you."

"Care to expound all the reason you love me?"

Marra licked her lips to hide her grin, then she lifted her tea cup and offered, "First, would be your sense of modesty, and the fact that you’re secure enough in who you are, not to need your ego stroked."

Ford turned to her spouse and smiled. "That had to be one of the most articulate ways of calling someone a jerk I have ever heard. Would have been better if I hadn’t been on the receiving end of it, but remind me my love, that should we need to negotiate with anyone while enroute, to have you at my side. Not only are you beautiful, but you have a simply eloquent harmony with words."

Marra looked amused as she continued to sip her tea. "You do pretty good yourself, Lord Kurrathian."

TBC…

Return to The Claiming of Ford