Oh, crap. “Schaef, we got one coming your way. Remain calm. Don’t react, unless he gets aggressive. Then just retreat.”
I tried to keep my voice low. They’d never done this before. To my surprise, Yinet climbed up on the rock with me, staring back at my camp. From the way my people started to turn in circles, I knew her mate was already there. They were fast on all fours.
“Shara?” Lizzy gripped at my leg again as several LR again started their sniffing and nuzzling, purring her name.
“You’re fine, just keep telling them your name, and pay attention to theirs.”
“How, they’re all the same. Lizzy. Lizzy. Oh, we need to introduce them to breath mints. Hey, where’s that one going?”
I looked down in time to see tufted heels disappear into the grass. “Another male heading your way.” I bit at my lip, wondering what all this meant. I stretched to look back at the camp. I squinted.
Yinet’s mate suddenly loomed tall over the men, then his head darted out.
“Owww!” I heard Remy over my comm. “Shara, I’m trying hard not to react, but I don’t appreciate the head butting over here. What the hell is going on, and why’s he growling at me?”
“Are you sure he’s growling? What’s it sound like?”
“It sounds like growling, like… grrrr…ret… Oh? Gerret? Ah, he stopped hitting me.”
“Well, it might be his name. Introduce yourself and see if he repeats you.”
“Okay. Gerret… Rem…my. Yeah, Remy. Remy… Oh Shit!” As I watched, Remy disappeared. I could see a flailing arm or leg as he was dragged off his feet and into the grass. My hand clenched, Batista trying to get out. I couldn’t let her, she’d panic.
Just then another LR stood over the group, his nose roving about before he started butting his head against Schaeffer. “Kazan?” For the first time Schaeffer sounded genuinely alarmed.
I could see Remy on his feet again, walking or being pulled towards us. “Introduce yourself and start this direction. Use your first name. They can’t pronounce ‘s’ sounds.”
“Dick should be easy for them.”
“Shut up, Lizzy.” Schaeffer stuck with Richard, avoiding the tumble by heading towards us willingly.
The LR next to Lizzy heard her name over the little speaker on her belt and got excited, chattering at it. Great, there went our open comm line.
Remy entered the clearing, Gerret’s marsupial fingers wrapped firmly around his arm. He was dragged right up to my rock, where both he and Yinet resumed snuffing at us and chittering to one another. I suddenly wanted to crawl under the rock in embarrassment.
“Want to tell me what’s going on?” Remy’s tone said he really was trying not to be rude.
“Not yet.” I looked at Gerret and spoke his name. Now he chattered excitedly, bouncing off the rock with Yinet. They made a circle of the clearing before sitting down together.
Schaeffer stumbled into the circle and was thrust towards Lizzy. That male bounced around the circle. “Rikerd. Rikerd. Rikerd.”
“Richard, what did he introduce himself as?”
Schaeffer, all stiff and composed, shifted his eyes to me. “Belup. We seemed to agree on that pronunciation.”
“She’s Kenup. Seems there’s a naming thing for mates.” Lizzy looked at the male. “Nice to meet you, Belup.” That elicited an excited reaction.
I glared down at Lizzy from my place on the rock. “Now, is there anything you want to tell me?” Getting nothing, I had to fight not being totally pissed off. “All the sniffing around was to see who… marked who.”
Lizzy’s cheeks turned red. Schaeffer’s lips got tighter.
Remy caught on, looking over Lizzy’s head to the camp. “I suppose it could be worse if they got a whiff of the crew.”
“I never… not this time.” Lizzy turned nearly purple.
“So, Dick, how long did it take her to get under your sheets?”
“Not long. She was easy. Ouch!”
Lizzy nailed his shin perfectly.
The LR started to keen at the tension. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “We’ll discuss this later. You better sit down.” I pulled Remy down on the rock beside me. Schaeffer and Lizzy sat on the ground and immediately the LR calmed down.
As disturbing as it was, it revealed LR formalities. Females could speak to females, males with males, and mated pairs with each other, otherwise the sexes sat in clusters of bachelors and bachelorettes.
Our xeno-sociologists would have fun figuring this out, later. For now I needed to continue communications.
I started by pointing at things around us. It amused the LR and we played the naming game for a good hour, until they grew fidgety.
I knew it was time for us to part when Yinet came to me again and nuzzled my cheek. “Yes, Yinet.” I pointed at the sun and circled my finger across the sky and back to its morning position. “Tomorrow.”
I pointed to the rock beneath me. “Tomorrow.”
“Tomrow.” She took my hand and pointed to the forest. “Ara, Yinet.” Her long fingers pointed to the others in my group, then to the forest. “Tomrow.”
All I could do was nod my head. Was she really inviting me into their forbidden territory? She let me go and ran off into the deep grasses. I was in.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
We were accepted, though it opened up a larger mess for me to deal with. I turned my attention back to Lizzy and Schaeffer. “Seriously?”
Our distraction with the LR gave Lizzy time to recover. “Last time I checked it wasn’t illegal to screw your kidnapper, though the opposite’s a felony. Besides, you threw me at him.”
“You did!” Remy and Schaeffer spoke in unison.
“What happens in a week when you get bored?” Being Kazan, I knew everything in Lizzy’s history. “I have to work with this guy. He’s a big enough pain in the ass without you screwing with his head.”
“We’re adults, so that’s our business. Who knows, maybe he won’t be such a pain in your
