Candidate (Selected Book 4) (52 page)

"Do you know something I don't?"

"About your mother? No. This is hypothetical."

"Well, you're right. If Mom were sick, I'd do what was necessary. What would be the price?"

"One child to cure something that was going to kill her."

"That actually seems cheap," I said. "You can find surrogate mothers for far less than curing my mother of cancer. For instance."

"You are forgetting I must modify your reproductive system."

"Oh. Right."

"This would be the price I would demand, and then later I might ask for more than a child. I might ask for five years. And then we would see. I may want to keep you, or I may not care for you. You are not always charming."

"No, but no one is."

"I am." She squeaked. "Especially when I grow testy and leave you bound in the wall. That was especially charming."

"That was the word I was using. But I spelled it with a B."

"You didn't."

"Of course I did, but I used the same word for Periwinkle."

"Now, that's not fair. For Periwinkle, the word begins with D."

"D?"

"Ditz."

I laughed. "So you know some slang. You said there is more. You are married. How does your third become pregnant? And if you tell me 'in the usual fashion', I might suggest that child costs a cure for Mom plus roll both their ages back."

"If I do not wish to use any of your DNA, then artificial insemination."

"You have a husband. And you're touching me a lot."

"Both true," she said. "My husband and I have what might be called a marriage of convenience. It didn't used to be, but we have been married a very, very long time. We are fond of each other, but we have our own lives."

"And so, a Kitsune third is quite close to a Tutor third?"

"Yes."

"I would not want to be touched by your husband in the fashion you are touching me, and I don't know how I feel about any of this. As I've said, you can readily find women to agree to this."

"I can get you to agree, Andromeda, but I wouldn't necessarily want you if you were only agreeing because of what I paid you."

I turned to look at her. She was gazing at me intently. "Is this conversation truly hypothetical?"

"For now."

"For now?"

"For now," she said. "I have not decided if I wish to make it less hypothetical. I want to know something else. What if I didn't offer to pay you at all?"

"Become your lover, your surrogate mother. What else?"

"You would accept my dominance."

"The clothes."

"Yes, the clothes. You are dressed in my colors. You would wear other clothes such as these. You said they are comfortable, and you enjoy my touch."

"Now you aren't offering to help my parents?"

"That isn't what I said. I am asking if that's what it would take."

I looked at her. "Would there be others? Would you touch others like you touch me? Would you have other thirds? Other lovers? Are you still lovers with your husband?"

"Does your answer depend on those questions?"

"If you're not helping my parents it does."

"What other criteria would you have?"

"I'd want to know you better. Frankly, we got off to a bad start. I know you are willing to punish me for being emotional."

"I did not punish you."

"You did. You knew I was suffering. I told you I was suffering. But you dismissed me and walked away when you could have released me with less effort than a wave of your fingers. You punished me for being upset and insufficiently charming."

"I did not punish you. Jasmine Brighteyes did. I simply didn't rescue you from her punishment."

I thought about that. "Perhaps," I said. "But both you and Periwinkle contributed to my poor mood. How do you think I felt when you both walked away, leaving me there? That was emotional punishment. I would have been better off if neither of you had approached me in the first place than to leave me there the way you did."

She paused, and her hand grew still.

"But regardless, you left me there when it would have cost nothing to ease my suffering. I understand you were frustrated with me. But the entire event makes me leery. I am not saying you are cruel, but I am suggesting that I am not always charming, and I don't know how well we would get along if you are so judgmental because I was struggling emotionally during a difficult situation for me."

I turned away. I'd worked myself into a snit, which was annoying. But then she said, "Those are fair concerns. Will we agree the situation was complicated?"

"Yes," I said softly.

"So there is room to recover from our start, but it might take more trust building."

I turned to her. "Yes, that is fair to say."

She nodded. "You care for my appearance?"

"Yes, but I believe you are suggesting there is a sexual element to being a Kitsune third."

"Yes. Are you suggesting you are uninterested?"

"No. Human women, when meeting someone of their preferred gender -- for me, that is women -- tend to fairly quickly categorize them into one of two groups. Yes, or no."

"And I am in the No category."

"I have a Maybe category."

"Ah."

"And it is a fairly wide category," I added. "Ardent females are near the far end, not quite a no."

"Ardent women are not interested in female pairings."

"I met one who might have been, but then wasn't. Wookies are also in the Maybe category. Implacs are firmly in the Hell No category."

She squeaked. "Even male Implacs think that," she said.

"They must not or we wouldn't need to deal with them any further."

"So, where am I?"

"You are in the Maybe category. I like your looks. But I do not know if you raise my passions. Although what your hand has been doing for the last hour moved you up several notches."

More squeaking.

"What would it take to move fully into the Yes category?"

"Time. Trust. I am leery of you, but we discussed that. And then, and only then, your hands becoming more bold than they've been. I would need to know the relationship was more than sex, more than being your surrogate mother. I would need to feel valued, like my opinion mattered. I'm not sure it does."

"And yet, we've been talking all evening. I have devoted significant attention to you. And I could just buy someone if I wanted a lesser human. I could buy you if I didn't care about how you felt about it.

"All right. That helps with the trust issue." I smiled. "But this is still a hypothetical conversation. There are at least three species in addition to humans I already know who are firmly in the Yes category."

"Your future choices will not include a human mate. You know that, don't you?"

I sighed. "We'll see."

"Jasmine won't let you go. She'll never let you go, unless it is to a mate, and not just any mate, either."

"She'd let you have me?"

"If you asked her to. Possibly if I demanded, regardless of how you felt, but I wouldn't want that battle. I'd rather ask her for someone else, if you weren't willing."

"Your touch feels nice. I am now asking a question, and I don't want a hypothetical answer. Did you invite me here to seduce me?"

"I don't intend to seduce you tonight. I haven't decided what I want."

"I have made promises to Jasmine Brighteyes. I am to accept dates. I do not believe you would be happy sharing my social calendar, once you make up your mind."

"If I make up my mind, you will not be dating anyone else, Andromeda."

"Unless you are buying me, I'm also not making long term promises just because you ask. Human women don't do that."

"In other words you expect us to date."

"Yes, if this conversation turns non-hypothetical."

"You wish trust to build."

"And attraction determined. Yes. I want to know how you're going to treat me. And I won't make long term promises without meeting your daughter."

"Unless I pay what you feel is a significant price."

"Then it becomes business, and I don't know what happens to a warm relationship."

"Which is why I would rather you came willingly without a price."

I nodded.

"I have another hypothetical topic. Well, it's not entirely hypothetical. I have a daughter. She is not hypothetical. She is unmated, and there are no nearby Kitsune with whom she shares mutual attraction."

"Are you about to pimp me out to your daughter?"

"I do not know this phase."

"It's very crude," I said. "Are you about to ask me to date your daughter? And you're asking that after the previous conversation?"

"Well, so far, they are both hypothetical," she replied.

I shook my head. "All right. You have a daughter. She is single. She doesn't have any immediate prospects because the pickings are slim. Um."

"I know that phrase," she said.

"She might be interested in a human. She might be interested in a female. I will tell you flat out, I am not interested in any relationship that involves me sharing a household with an adult male."

"What if, hypothetically speaking, she lives in my household along with her male cousin?"

"Does she?"

"She might."

"Fine. I'm not interested in a relationship where the male has amorous intentions on either of us. I am not interested in sharing a household that contains a male who is going to look at me like he wants me. I am not interested if there is any chance he's going to touch me in a fashion I don't care for."

"She is beautiful."

"No. If this nephew of yours is going to leer at me, then find someone else."

"What about your good parents, who will surely grow old and die?"

"You weren't offering that price," I said. "And I bet I can get that handled, anyway, and not get leered at by some male."

She squeaked. "You probably can, actually. There is no male cousin, and while she currently shares my household, I would expect her to establish her own household. Nearby of course. It's the space station, after all. How far away can she get?"

"There's a base on Titan and aliens living on Earth."

Squeaks. "Just so. But her work is on the station, and I believe she intends to stay there."

"Except when she comes down to woo me?"

"Yes, although I believe the excuse for the trip would be different."

"Does she know you're trying to arrange a marriage?"

"She asked about you."

"About me? Specifically me? When?"

"When she saw the video."

I grew cold.

"No, no, not that video. The one from the arena. Well, she's probably seen more than that by now. We talked earlier today. She asked then. I told her we were having dinner."

"What did she ask?"

"She just asked, I don't know. She asked about you."

"Oh, that's a definitive answer." But I smiled. "Has she expressed interest in human women before?"

"She's expressed interest in Catseye."

"She's gay."

"She is definitely, as you say, gay."

"And you?"

"Are flexible. She is not."

"Do you have a picture?"

She cocked her head, and a moment my visor told me I had new mail. I opened it and found someone who looked remarkably like Sugilite.

"What's her name?"

"Charoite." She sent me another email containing an image of a mottled purple gemstone. "She answers to Charo."

"She's pretty," I said. "Would I like her?"

"I don't know."

"Is she smart?"

"Brilliant."

"What does she do?"

"She hopes to lead a team to establish a proper colony here in human space. It is a long term project."

"Where?"

"That isn't determined. Possibly here on Earth. Possibly we will ask if we may have a portion of Mars. Possibly we will move something very large into Earth's L4 or L5 orbit."

"Where are those?"

"The same orbit, almost exactly, but 60 degrees before or after Earth's orbit. We won't do any of these without permission."

"What does she do in the meantime?"

"She is a multidisciplinary scientist. She studies your solar system. She likes to visit the various moons and larger asteroids."

"The pieces she wants to move."

"Or use to provide atmosphere and water. She could move a great many modest asteroids and then fuse them into a moon."

"Long term project?"

"A couple of centuries. We'd rather use a portion of Mars. Of course, we'd really rather be fully welcome on Earth."