?Hozh, are Jesusa and TomAs around the house??
?They?re at the river. Everyone is.?
?Ask them to come to me.?
?Can you help Aaor??
?I think so.?
It went away. A short time later Jesusa and TomAs came to me and sat on either side of me. I thought about sitting up to say what I had to say to them, but that would have been exhausting, and there were other things I wanted to do with the energy I had.
?You saw Aaor?? I asked them.
TomAs nodded. Jesusa shuddered and said, ?It was a
a great slug.?
?I think we can help it,? I said. ?I wish it had come to me before it went away. I think we could have helped it even then.?
?We?? TomAs said.
?One of you on one side of me and Aaor on the other. I think I can bring you and it together enough to satisfy it. I think I can do that with no discomfort to you.? I touched each of them with a sensory arm. ?In fact, I hope I can arrange things so that you enjoy it.?
TomAs examined my left sensory arm, his touch bringing it to life as nothing else could. ?So you?ll give Aaor a little pleasure,? he said. ?What good will that do??
?Aaor wants Human mates. It must have mates of some kind. Until it can get them, will you share what we have with it??
Jesusa took my right sensory arm and simply held it. ?I couldn?t touch Aaor,? she said.
?No need. I?ll touch it. You touch me.?
?Will it be changed back to what it was? Will Nikanj finish changing it before it brings it to us??
?It will not be a limbless slug when it?s brought to us. But it won?t be what it was when it left us either. Nikanj will make it a land creature again. That will take days. Nikanj won?t even bring it out of the river until it has developed bones again and can support itself. By the time it?s able to come to us, we?ll be ready for it.?
Jesusa let go of my sensory arm. ?I don?t know whether I can be ready for it. You didn?t see it, Jodahs. You don?t know how it looked.?
?Hozh showed me. Very bad, I know. But it?s my paired sibling. It?s also the only other being in existence that?s like me. I don?t know what will happen to it if I don?t help it.?
?But Nikanj could??
?Nikanj is our parent. It will do all it can. It did all it could for me.? I paused, watching her. ?Jesusa, do you understand that what happened to Aaor is what was in the process of happening to me when you found me??
TomAs moved against me slightly. ?You were still in control of yourself,? he said. ?You were even able to help us.?
?I never stayed away from home as long as Aaor has. As it was, I don?t think I would have gotten back without you. I would have gone into the water or into the ground for my second metamorphosis. Our changes don?t go well when we?re alone. I don?t know what I would have become.?
?You think Aaor is in its second metamorphosis?? Jesusa asked.
?Probably.?
?No one said so.?
?They would have if you?d asked them. To them it was obvious. Once we get Aaor stabilized, it can finish its change in here. I?ll be up soon.?
?Where will we sleep?? Jesusa asked.
With me! I thought instantly. But I said, ?In the main room. We can build a partition if you like.?
?Yes.?
?And we?ll have to go on spending some of our time with Aaor. If we don?t, its change will go wrong again.?
?Oh, god,? Jesusa whispered.
?Have the two of you eaten recently??
?Yes,? TomAs said. ?We were having dinner with your Human parents when Oni and Hozh found Aaor.?
?Good.? They could share their meal with me and save me the trouble of eating. ?Lie down with me.?
They did that willingly enough. Jesusa cringed a little when for the first time I looped a sensory arm around her neck. When she was still, I settled into her with every sensory tentacle on her side of my body. I could not let her move again for a while.
Then with relief that was beyond anything I had ever felt with her, I extended my sensory hand, grasped the back of her neck with it, and sank filaments of it bloodlessly into her flesh.
For the first time, I injected?could not avoid injecting?my own adult ooloi substance into her.
By the neural messages I intercepted, I knew she would have convulsed if she had been able to move at all.
