The cool breeze caressed Carina's skin. She opened her eyes and found herself back in Kaden's communal hut. He must have carried her once again and laid her down on the stuffed pallet she came to know as their bed. She sat up and stretched her arms over her head. She scanned the area, found him gone and felt a sudden pang of hurt she couldn't quite explain.
It would have been nice if he had awoken with her this morning; especially after the day and night they spent together. “Boy, talk about love'em and leave ‘em!"
She had been at the commune a little over four weeks and they had spent every waking hour together making love. However, each morning she awoke alone. For some reason it really bothered her and that fact upset her more than the fact he often left before she woke up
Her “clothes” were lying next to the raised pallet and she reached down to pick them up. After she got dressed, she ventured outside
The moment she stepped out into her habitat every one stopped what they were doing and looked in her direction. It was a bit uncomfortable to have so many eyes staring her down
She started to turn around and walk back into the hit when someone called out to her. She turned and faced a beautiful Aquarian woman, smiling brightly at her. A strange sensation flowed down her back, but Carina shrugged it off. She appreciated that someone else, other than Alura and Zya, had gone out of their way to speak with her.
Carina smiled back, “Hi,"
The woman tossed long jet black hair over her shoulder, “I'm sorry I didn't mean to startle you.” She approached Carina and extended her hand in welcome, “I'm Kiana."
Carina looked down at her hand. It was turned palm up and she wasn't sure what she should do, so she did the only thing that seemed logical to her. Carina placed her hand on top of Kiana's hand palm to palm. It must have been the right thing to do, because Kiana smiled again and put her other hand on top of Carina's and gave it a firm squeeze, then let go.
"Would you like to go for a walk?"
Kiana didn't wait for her to answer. She grabbed Carina's hand and tugged her towards the main path. They walked in awkward silence for a while towards a large canopied area at the far end of the commune. It appeared to be some type of gathering place.
Every time Kiana glanced at Carina she gave her a friendly smile.
Kiana finally broke the silence; “It must be so strange for you,"
She wasn't kidding, “Yeah to say the least."
"Well I'm sure you will settle in just fine."
Carina thought she heard a bit of sarcasm, in Kiana's voice. But she must have imagined it. “I think ... well I hope so anyway. This is all so strange."
Kiana nodded with understanding, “Of course it would be for you. After all you have been through. Kidnapped from your home world, thrust into breeding with a man you don't even know. One that is not even of your own species..."
Carina stopped walking and grabbed Kiana's upper arm, halting her.
"How did you know about me being kidnapped?"
Kiana brought a hand to her lips.
"Oh sweet ancients, I am so sorry Carina ... I should have not said anything. Let's discuss other things."
Discuss other things? Something about Kiana's body language didn't quite connect with her expression of sympathy. “No, who told you?"
Kiana stared down at her feet biting her lip and looking a little too contrite for Carina's taste.
"Well I ... nothing is truly secret, in fact everyone knows. They think you are ... no I really shouldn't tell you ... come let me show you the Communal Pavilion. It's where we will..."
Carina grabbed her arm, forcing Kiana to stop walking and turn to face her. “Tell me..."
"Kiana!"
A tall heavily muscled Dreg male approached them,
Carina cursed under her breath, she wanted to know what Kiana was talking about.
Kiana's face blanched and she rolled her eyes, “Yes, Corbin?"
Carina noticed a bit of irritation in her voice.
Corbin grabbed Kiana by the arm and without a word dragged her away. In Carina's mind it only confirmed what Kiana had started to say. Whatever it was she knew it wasn't good. Her welcome to the commune was lacking to say the least.
She turned towards the pavilion and saw several women and a few Dreg men. All had stopped and turned in her direction. The look on their faces spoke volumes.
Carina cringed inwardly, and turned to walk away. But then she thought better of it.
Why should she give them the satisfaction of scaring her away? It did not go unnoticed that everyone seemed to go out of their way to avoid her in the short time she was at the commune. In fact, all the other Breeders had settled in quite nicely and were being readily accepted in the fold of the community. No one other than Zya, Alura and now Kiana, had attempted even a “hello” to her
Lifting her head high and taking a deep breath she nodded once to the pavilion crowd, turned and continued down the central path towards Zya and Zeth's habitat. On her way, she made it a point of smiling brightly and saying good morning to all the rubbernecks she passed
Once she reached the entrance to Zya's hut she turned towards all her ogglers and spoke in a very clear precise voice, “I'm okay, please continue with what you were doing. Really don't mind me, I'm fine."
She heard a feminine giggle behind her and turned to find Zya waving her in with a big smile on her stunning face. She laughed, “You are so bad,"
Then went over to Carina and gave her a tight hug. “So tell me how your induction into the commune was?"
Carina looked out the hut's entrance and watched as several people began talking in huddles and look towards Zya's hut. Zya noticed Carina studying their commune neighbors
She waved her hand through the air dismissively, “Oh don't worry about them!"
Carina looked back at Zya and thanked god for the thousandth time that she had the good fortune of finding at least one friend that made her situation, not so bad.
"I don't know with the exception of you and Alura, I just don't get it? I don't understand why no one else will even acknowledge me? If they want to let me know I'm different, well they are going about it the right way."
She huffed and plopped down on the soft large cushion in front of the table of food Zya had prepared for their daily breakfast. They would eat and then go into the communal holding to begin their day
The holding was the main communal hall, built more like a pavilion. There, elder Breeders and a few older Dreg warriors would assign specific tasks to all the rest, in preparation for seasonal festivals or communal feasts
The most important of the Dreg annual festival was the harvest celebration. It was a symbol of fertility and the entire community would gather to celebrate for 3 days and nights as homage to the ancients.
The ancients, Carina learned, where Yor's first settlers and were literal gods to the Dregs. They are believed to live on in an immortal plain, which looks over the planet and can bring good fortune or destruction to the Yor
According to Alura, it was extremely important to keep these ancients content. Alura had given Carina a brief history lesson on the ancient history of Yor and how the Dreg society became what it was now
Carina was amazed to find out that Yor was once the most technologically advanced planet and the Dregs were the most feared in terms of power and warring skills
Unfortunately, that very power almost destroyed the entire planet and its inhabitants. Apparently, four major clans, The Dregs, Dracos, Velix, and Morea had represented Yor. Each clan represented a different evolutionary lineage.
The Dregs represented the warrior branch for their superior physical endurance and strength, the Dracos were known for their ingenuity and superior intellect, the Velix, water dwellers, had command over the elements, while the Morea, considered the simplest of the four clans were dessert nomads, and more or less served as labor for the other clans.
Each morning she and Zya would discuss the history of Yor. She learned a lot about Yor and how Breeders came to be a major necessity
This morning was no exception. Zya refilled Carina's cup with more yi milk. The yi was a small herding animal about the size of a goat that provided milk and meat for the Dregs. Small herds of them were kept near the perimeters of the communes and shared.
Zya sat back on her knees, “So war broke out. The entire planet bled with the blood of innocents for thousands of years. Until the Dracos decided to end the feuding."
Carina loved the animated way Zya told stories.
Zya sipped her cup of yi, “They devised a parasitic weapon, which they unleashed on the three other clans."
"But why would they do that?"
Zya shook her head as if it was a mystery to her as well.
"Their objective was to genocide the other clans so that their clan would be the sole survivor on Yor."
She paused to slice a piece of yam-loaf for them, which was similar to Portuguese sweetbread, “However, they found that their own people were not immune to the parasite and they were destroyed by their own weapon."
Carina knew what happened next, Alura had told her. It was the Dregs who found the antidote and killed the parasite before it took them as well. However, the antidote only worked on Dreg Males which was why the Galactic Council legalized interbreeding between species.
She nodded to Zya. Zya reached over and gave her hand a friendly squeeze. “That is why you and the other Breeders on Yor are so important.
Carina had no idea how to handle that last part. It seemed that Yor was not the only planet that needed Breeders, but she learned that they were the most desperate
It made perfect sense to her when Alura pointed out the reasons behind her abduction. What didn't make sense was why she was the only one who was abducted if interbreeding was legal in this universe.
Zya grabbed Carina's hand and helped her up. “Come we need to go. The others are making their way to the holding."
The two of them exited the hut and followed the other Breeders to the communal holding. Inside, several of the women were already separated into groups
Alura motioned them over and they started walking towards her, when a powerfully built Dreg warrior grabbed Carina by the upper arm and halted her
He motioned for Zya and Alura to continue towards the assignment post and walked Carina away from the rest of the group. Just outside the pavilion's perimeter, the warrior stopped and handed Carina a shovel. He pointed to a large circular divot, “There is where you will start. You must dig the mound and flatten the area so that we may set up the pyre for the feast tomorrow night."
His face remained stoic
Carina looked at the huge pile of dirt and back at him. “I can't dig all that by myself, besides I thought that it was the males that dug and started the pyre not the wom ... ah Breeders. I assumed I would be with the other females working on the food and tapestries for the celebration?"
She was a bit indignant and didn't hide her dissatisfaction with her “task” at all. Of course, it was just another attempt at breaking her resolve to try fitting in. All week she had been given odd tasks, or the dirtiest and smelliest
Even though Alura and Zya had tried to help her there was only so much they could do, since they needed to help others get the preparations started. Alone she tackled the work no one else wanted
So far, she had managed to not only get the jobs done but done so well that even the other Breeders had to admit the work was good. However this, a day before the actual celebration, was completely unreasonable
She glared at the smirking warrior, “No fucking way! I'm done here, you need a hole dug then here's your shovel and you better take it before I shove it where you don't want it!” She glared at him, trying to burn a hole right through the middle of his forehead.
He gave her a wicked grin. “Very well I will tell Dar-Kaden that his Breeder refuses to honor him by defiling the sanctity of the fertility harvest."
She had no idea if what he said was true and her refusal to dig a hole would shame Kaden. He was going to be the next High Chieftain and this warrior was already using his title. It told her that people were already looking to Kaden for leadership. What if it was true?
Carina grimaced harshly at the still amused warrior. This was just wrong. It was lower than low. What did she do to deserve this? She threw her shoulders back and walked determinedly towards the arrogant son-of-bitch holding her shovel.
She snatched the shovel as she walked past him and went over to the huge pile of dirt, thrust her shovel into it and started to dig.
Damn how she would love to shove the pathetic excuse for a shovel up that Dreg's ass. She looked up and saw him still standing arms crossed over his chest with a satisfied smirk on his face
She glared at him, managing to give him her best snarl. He laughed.
Asshole!
After a while, her arms began to feel like rubber. Carina looked up, wiping the sweat form her forehead. She had barely moved two feet of dirt. Her back ached like hell. She straightened herself and stretched, arching her back.
Alura was sitting across the way in the pavilion weaving baskets. Her brow wrinkled with worry. Carina shook her head as if there was nothing out of the ordinary going on and smiled. She didn't want Kaden's mother to drag Kaden into this. If anything, the less Kaden interfered the better her chances of winning over the other breeders, without appearing coddled.
Zya had told her that people were gossiping behind her back, about Kaden's “unnatural” infatuation with her. It made no sense. Someone was stirring the pot.
Taking a deep breath, Carina turned back to the pile of dirt. She thrust her shovel in as far as she could. Before she hauled up the load, she glanced up to see if the asshole Dreg was still watching her. She gasped.
Kiana approached the warrior and stretched up on her toes to whisper something in his ear. Carina watched as the Breeder snuck into a thickly covered patch of foliage. The Dreg who'd given her assignment, looked around a few times and then quickly joined Kiana
Holy crap! Wasn't Kiana already mated to someone? It didn't take a brain surgeon to figure out what Kiana and ass wipe were up to. Carina unloaded her shovel and resumed digging. Something was going on and she wondered if Kiana had anything to do with it.