Marcael: A Terraneu Novel, Book Five (19 page)

About Six Months Later

They had arrived back in Terraneu two days ago and it was just in time.
Tonight was the celebration dance and he was finally going to see what all the
excitement was about firsthand. Brennae had given him a quick kiss and then
hurried out the door. She had warned him that the preparations for the dance
would keep her busy all day. Brennae said she would use her decorating duties
to catch up with family and friends around Terraneu, that way when it was dance
time she would be all his. The way the little minx had purred the words
prompting him to race her for the door, but she had slipped out of his grasp.
All he caught was her husky laughter floating back to him and something about
what she would do to him “later”.

Marcael moved back into the bedroom and got his clothes. He was supposed
to drop Star and Jasper at the groomer since they had just come back from the
north and both sacath needed a good cleaning and trimming. It was either that
or they would shed all over their living dome and Marcael was positive Brennae
did not want that. They were just making some progress in giving their living
quarters in New Haven a ‘homey’ feel.

He was really enjoying their home site in New Haven. Being a square of
four, there were a few changes from a single dome. One was the much larger
living space. Two was an inner courtyard that they could do with as they
pleased. Some couples used the courtyard for hammocks, others made the extra
space into a private lounge area, and still others used the space for
children’s play equipment. For now, they were going to use the courtyard space
to display things they found on their journeys. In the case of the trip north,
Brennae had brought back…plants. He knew she had been hoping for something with
fur and possibly more legs, but they had not come across any animal life for
her to domesticate. He figured the presence of the sacath on the trip had been
the reason that the wildlife avoided their caravan. He had spotted many
different tracks, but nothing came near them. So Brennae had settled on plant
life. He was a bit worried about how they would adapt to the difference in
temperature, but for her sake, he was hoping they would survive.

Brennae wanted to eventually add to or replace all the flowers and
foliage in their bathroom, living spaces, and paths outside. Since he did not
have a preference, he told her to do whatever made her the happiest. It was a
good thing the material they had used for indoor planting in the bathroom could
be used anywhere in the domes.

Looking around at their living room Marcael smiled. He had surprised
Brennae with a framed digital collage of images taken during their trip. He had
also had some snow placed around the edges inside the frame as an added touch.
Brennae’s uncle had created a special chemical that would keep it from melting,
so they had a permanent reminder of their first encounter with snow. Just
looking at the images brought him back to the expedition north.

Marcael had learned a lot about Brennae on that journey.
 
She was invaluable with the sorrem. He could
not count how many times she saved them from disaster with her knowledge of the
animals. She was funny, entertaining, loving, playful, and had he mentioned
stubborn? They had their share of disagreements during the trip, but they had
worked them all out. He was happy to say that even her Uncle Knaleg had stopped
watching him so closely. Thinking of her uncle made him laugh. Catherine had
stayed behind since their twins were still school aged, so he had grumbled and
fussed the entire time away from his family. As addictive as Brennae was to
him, he imagined he would act the same way in twenty years. He could not begin
to know what it would feel like to be a father away from his children.

When they had arrived at the location Knaleg had chosen the real work
began. They had started with erecting a square of four domes for medical,
transporting, technology and caging. Marcael laughed at the creatures of habit
the men of Terraneu were. This new camp had the exact same center as Terraneu,
and the work would begin on getting a ring of domes built around the square of
four for visiting quarters. They did not have the materials to build the ring
of visitor domes, but the additional resources needed to get those domes done
could come and go through the transporter. Brennae had said in her professional
opinion it was too cold for the sorrem this far north, so they had sent them
back when the transport was able. The site needed to be quality checked by the
council members assigned to the duty, but Marcael was sure that it was going to
pass. He figured in less than three months they would be opening the northern
vacation destination for visitors. They were waiting on naming the site. After
more members of the community were able to go north, they would all vote on the
name they liked for it. He was going to submit the name
Sierra Summit
. He thought that had a nice ring to it.
 
Brennae swore it would be a long while before
she wanted to go north again, so she would pass on giving the camp a name. The
cold weather had not bothered him or the sacath. Star, Jasper and Titan had
been along for the trip and frolicked in the snow without any issues.

Gathering the sacath and leaving New Haven Marcael hurried along the path
to the groomer, Star and Jasper stayed right on his heels. When he stopped at
the dome that held the groomer and pointed, “Go” both sacath hit the ground and
rolled onto their backs, feet pawing at the air. “Stop being such big babies
and go!” Marcael waited and when the sacath refused to budge, he got the
assistance of the groomer. Dragging Jasper behind the groomer who was dragging
Star, Marcael was huffing and puffing. “You need this Jasper. You stink!”

“I know what Brennae wants done Marcael. I’ll take if from here.”

Marcael was happy to leave the protesting sacath and make his way to the
fabricator. He had requested a special necklace made for Brennae and he wanted
to pick it up before she caught him and ruined the surprise. He marveled at all
the activity around the community. These dances were a
very
popular event if the buzz of excitement in the air was any
indication. He saw volunteers putting up twinkle lights, banners, and streamers
all over the paths, benches and even in the park and swimming pond.

“
Marcael? Can you come to the
council dome?”
He heard Kniam in his mind.

“I will be right there. I am at the
fabricator and it will only be a moment.”
Marcael answered back. When he
had his package, he turned along the path and walked to the council dome.

When he arrived, it was only the male council at this meeting. Kniam,
Knollig, Knaleg, Kneus, Thian, Asteen, Ailech, the newly appointed Baylech, and
himself. Marcael took his place at the table and the meeting was called to
session.

Kniam looked around the table but his gaze stopped on him. “With your
mission north, and having just arrived back after everyone left for Antilles,
we want to make sure you know what was accomplished yesterday and what we left
on Earth.” He nodded to Kneus and his brother started talking.

“We sent all of the atmosphere cleaners we could make in the time we had
to build them, the equipment to monitor their progress and more probes. All of
those items will remain cloaked of course. There were no indications of native
activity just like your mission.”

Knollig smiled, “It went very quickly. I don’t think the team was on
Earth for longer than a couple of hours.” He looked to Kniam, “You would think
that Knadyn, Knacayn, and Knalech had stayed there for years the way they went
on and on about the mission.”

Kniam smiled indulgently, “Yes they are young and very excited to do a
mission to Earth. I figured it was a good one to start them with.”

“They had to start somewhere.” Kneus laughed at his son’s eagerness.

Marcael smiled at the image of Brennae’s brothers and how pumped up with
pride they must be feeling. He remembered his first mission for their
grandfather. Could it be that it was really so long ago? Shaking off the
memories of a life he no longer recognized, Marcael asked, “Is the plan still
the same. To gather the data in six months and then decide on an extended away
mission?”

“Yes nothing has changed in that regard.” Kniam answered, “Once we have
an idea on the changes our atmosphere cleaners have done, if any, we can decide
on further missions. Now that the Northern holiday camp is being finished we
need to decide on a time frame for the mission to expand to the West.”

The talk turned to when the caravan would be leaving again, how long it
would take, and who would be going. Since this camp would be in a tropical
location, Knaleg insisted that Catherine and the twins were going this time.
Marcael knew
he
was not going to miss
seeing Brennae on the sandy beach, so it was decided who would be traveling.
Knaleg insisted they could be back before the next Antilles mission if they
left in a few days. It was going to take them a shorter time traveling to get
to this expansion. Setting up the square of four and prepping the area would
take less than three or four months tops Knaleg assured the group.

When it was time to call the meeting so everyone could get ready for the
dance, Marcael was surprised to note the increased excitement coming from the
males. Up to this point, he thought it was just the women who were anticipating
the dance. He asked the males about it before they could hurry off.

“You’ll see.” Knollig stated with a smile. “It isn’t that the dance isn’t
fun because everyone has a good time.”

“It’s what the dancing leads to.” Thian hurried out the door.

“What did he mean?” Marcael wondered at Thian’s parting words. He knew
what dancing led to in the privacy of their dome when he held Brennae. Surely,
Thian was not suggesting it happened in public.

“Well you’ve lived for thousands of years Marcael.” Knaleg laughed and
hit him on the back as he passed by. “What do you think he meant.” Then he
hurried out the door laughing even harder at Marcael’s expression.

“
I’m staying out of this one.”
Kniam
moved past him out the door. “
We’ll see
you at the dance later.”

Marcael just followed the other members out the door. He was suddenly
apprehensive about attending the celebration. What if it turned into an orgy
and he had to kill someone for touching Brennae?
 
Worse than that, what if she got mad at him
for not participating? What if…suddenly he started laughing. The males had been
teasing him and he was letting his imagination get away from him. There was no
way that Brennae was going to ask him to participate in an orgy. She was just
as possessive as he was. He was going to have a good time at the dance and make
sure that Brennae did as well.

*~*~*

Now he knew what the excitement was all about, the celebration dance was
like nothing he had ever participated in before. The Watering Hole had set up a
table so that you could get refreshment without having to leave the park. The
music was loud enough to hear, but not so loud that you could not talk. The
lights were bright in the middle of the dancing area, but then they got shadowy
and romantic the farther on the edges of the park you went. Everywhere you
looked there were couples, families, and friends all enjoying themselves
dancing, drinking flavored water, swimming or showing off their football
skills.

Brennae had insisted that they did not have to find her family to say
hello, but Marcael had insisted that it was okay.
 
He understood that she had been to more of
the dances than he had, and she did not want to spend the night surrounded by
family.
 
He just wanted to make it a
quick visit. Spending time with her family in an informal setting was a
revelation for him. Everyone was talking over each other, and he would have
sworn that the women were managing to talk about
everything
at once. The children had begged permission to leave and
play with friends already so it was just the adults left.
 
Not long after that everyone else scattered to
dance, or drink, or swim and Marcael moved with Brennae to the edge of the
dance floor.

“I got you something.” He whispered against her ear as they danced to a
nice, slow song. Pulling the necklace out of his pocket, he held it up so she
could see it shining in the light.

“It’s beautiful Marcael.” She went to reach for it but he stopped her.

“There is a surprise to it.” He showed her the little nick that when
pushed with a fingernail the necklace popped open. Inside was a glittering
snowflake. “Do you remember when your Uncle Kneus came north to inspect the
transporter?” When she nodded her head he continued, “I had him separate a
snowflake from one of the snowballs we had thrown around, and then I added the
rest of it to our picture collage.” He smiled at the stunned look on Brennae’s
face then gently turned her so he could put the necklace on for her. Moving her
hair over her shoulder and kissing the skin that was revealed he sighed, “I
want to add some sand from our trip to the beach when we go.” Turning her back
around, he softly kissed her lips. “If that is something you would want.” He
hurried to say in case she thought he was being presumptuous about what she
would like added to her gift.

“It’s perfect Marcael.” She wrapped her arms around him, “I would love to
place some sand from the beach into my necklace.” The song changed but was
still a slow one. Brennae was pressing her lips against the side of his neck
and he felt her tongue slowly lick against his skin. The immediate answer in
his groin almost made him stumble. He grabbed handfuls of her ass and pulled
her harder against him. Their movements matched the tempo of the music and it
occurred to Marcael that slow songs were like making love, only standing up and
with clothes on.
 
He slowly worked them
further into the shadows, until they were completely engulfed by darkness. He
was not as open as the other residents of Terraneu were when it came to public
displays of affection. What he wanted to do with Brennae was meant for a
bedroom, he just did not think they would make it that far. She had been
rubbing against the front of him, her fingers digging into his skin and her
mouth moving more desperately along his neck.