Page 3

“Completely.”

Fascinating.

“That is interesting.”

So was Toman’s glance toward the wiggly, expressive male at his side, but he did not let the individual distract him entirely and quickly turned back to me.

“I have learned the native language of the people that live closest to the gate, but their world is very fractured and there are countless additional languages on their planet.”

Countless?

“The spell works but it takes time for the words to be fully assimilated and it must be done with someone who has a complete knowledge of the local language. Our first choice for the spell did not work out as expected. Her knowledge was very limited due to living in isolation and I was not fully able to follow other locals until I bonded with my mate. At that point the spell or possibly the mate bond worked much better.”

Mate?

He had found his mate?

Toman had a mate from Earth?

“You bonded? With one of our people from Earth?”

My question was unnecessary but it came out before I could pick one that would gain me more information. Toman was polite and did not point out the redundancy. My confusion was acceptable due to the newness of the information, and I was glad he understood.

“Yes. It was unexpected but they are able to make strong bonds and did not lose that knowledge. Understand that a lot of other information, both cultural and magical, was not passed down for a variety of reasons.”

What information had they lost?

“I know our people will be glad that they did not lose the ability to bond.”

If Toman had bonded to the male of Earth, were the others similarly paired? Had we affected them in some way by going through the gate? Would they have mates here? Did they understand bonding in the same way we did? Had they come looking for mates? What aspects of it were lost to them?

Swallowing back my questions, I indicated acceptance and tried not to startle the people of Earth as I responded.

“I and the others are looking forward to getting their language so we can speak to them more easily.”

Yes, acquiring their language was the first thing that needed to be done. Toman should have agreed easily but he quickly indicated displeasure of some sort.

He even performed some of the same purposeful wiggles as his mate.

“The spell gives a full accounting of the language…including what we would see as…mate-related topics. It has been discussed and they decided that the language should not be given by a spell to someone considered too young to understand the physical aspects of bonding.”

What?

That was…

They were…

What?

They physically bonded differently?

I was not the only one who had questions, but I had to admit, the other academics were more practical.

“Should we have brought a physician?”

“Did humans have those kinds of differences in the past?”

“What do the histories say about their mating habits?”