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Danni smiled and hugged her back and then put the sculpture carefully away. At least they had made one friend here already—that was nice.
“Let me show you inside the dwelling,” Navii said to her. “Come, be welcome, for this will be your home during your visit with us.”
She led the way through the low vine-covered doorway—Bravik had to duck his head to get in—and into the small house. Luckily, the ceiling was much higher than the door, so the big Kindred could stand upright without ducking once they got inside.
The interior was very simple, Danni saw, with no ornamentation or pictures on the walls. There was a sitting room area with what she thought at first must be some kind of long, low bush. However, it turned out to be a couch which seemed to have grown out of the floor.
Like the front door, it was also covered in vines and flowers. It was sitting in front of what appeared to be an empty fireplace though—strangely enough—there was a big hole in the floor of the hearth. Danni wondered how in the world you could make a fire in there and decided a fire was probably a bad idea anyway, in a house made of living trees.
“This is the area where you may bask in the glow of the Mother Stone in the privacy of your own home,” Kozen said, gesturing to the flowering couch. “Of course, her power is diluted away from the source, but never fear, we gather nightly in her sanctuary to partake in her healing power.”
“That sounds lovely,” Danni said quickly. “We would be pleased to participate in your ritual with you. I am especially interested to learn about your methods of healing.”
“We are always happy to share the power of the Mother Stone with those who have an interest,” Navii said, smiling. “Though perhaps tonight you may wish to skip it in order to christen your bower.”
“Um… ‘christen the bower’? I’m not sure I know what you mean,” Danni said, frowning.
“Oh, I only meant that, as this is your first night in a new dwelling, you and your husband will certainly wish to stay in tonight and have the joy of each other,” Navii said innocently.
“Have the joy of each other?” Danni thought she knew where this was going, but…
“I think she means we’ll want to stay in and make love,” Bravik rumbled and his bronze-gold eyes shouted, I told you so!
“Yes, exactly.” Navii beamed. “A Joined couple must spread their own energy to a new dwelling by delighting in each other’s bodies. So no one will mind that you miss coming to see the Mother Stone tonight.”
Danni thought grumpily that she would certainly mind! She had come here to study the healing practices of the H’rakens, which appeared to be somewhat tied up with their religious worship of this “Mother Stone”—not to spend the night in with the big Kindred pretending to make love with him—which was something she would never do in a million years.
Are you sure about that? whispered a little voice in her head. Danni pushed it away.
“It’s very kind of you to excuse us from, uh, worshiping the Mother Stone tonight,” she said. “But Bravik and I could always, uh, make love afterwards.”
Navii looked surprised.
“But my dear friend, that would leave you so little time! It takes hours to christen a new dwelling properly! No…you had much better skip for tonight. You can attend with us tomorrow.”
Were these people into tantric sex or what? Danni wondered. How could it possibly take hours and hours to make love? It certainly hadn’t for her with any of the men she’d ever been with.
“Oh, okay. Thank you,” she murmured, trying to smile, though she was disappointed at not getting to witness the H’raken’s worship practices right away.
“I assure you, my, uh, other half and I will make good use of the time,” Bravik rumbled. He put a heavy hand on Danni’s shoulder and leaned over, as though to kiss her cheek. “Try not to look so fucking disappointed about staying in to make love with me, little girl,” he muttered in her ear. “I think they’re getting suspicious.”
Danni had a very un-wifely urge to bite him but she only smiled brightly and said, “Why, husband—you say the most humorous things!”
Navii brightened.
“Does the other half of your heart make you laugh? My Kozen constantly keeps me entertained!”
“That I do!” Kozen put in, smiling at his wife. “But you know my sweet Navii has the best sense of humor! I love laughing with her.”
Wow, they really mean it, Danni thought. Since moving to the Kindred Mother Ship, she had seen a lot of extremely happy marriages—the Kindred soul-bond that the big warriors formed with their mates saw to that. But she didn’t think she’d ever seen a couple so completely crazy about each other as Kozen and Navii seemed to be.
