Alex and Neya performing a neural link was a great idea in concept.

An important part of the Aeshen-Zeshen relationship.

A shortcut to a more thorough understanding of each other, and each other’s race.

It was severely hampered by the fact neither one spoke the other’s language enough to do anything more advanced than ask where the bathroom was.

They tried to push through it anyway. Neya’s presence was loose and enthusiastic, compared to the restraint that Carbon had usually projected. Where they lacked words, they filled in with concepts and ideas, flashes of images from memories. What Eleya had done when she had realized telling him to calm down wasn’t working, but he wasn’t mad so he picked it up pretty quickly.

It was semi-successful.

He wasn’t sure how she’d gotten their rather handsy start to the morning out of the ideas of physical space, bed, and fence. Though Alex couldn’t understand any of her thoughts, he could interpret her feelings well enough. His sleep groping had been a bit of a surprise - though he got the distinct impression that was only because it wasn’t Carbon she awoke to. The recollection that there was someone else in the bed now took a moment to filter back in, though the thing resting on her thigh should have been an immediate clue. Her view of him was likewise enlightening as she sat up and turned the lights on low. Her doubts about properly interpreting his expressions were made real, and there was a shameful unease when looking at him. As her gaze wandered what little of him was visible, she seemed to approve of his arms, at least.

She stretched, the chill air of the room finally working through her thicker fur, and spotted his external translator folded up on top of the headboard, faint blue lights still on, like they had been in the sickbay. That was weird. He had turned his Amp off last night.

She grabbed her wireless beads and went through the process of slipping them on. Claws on her thumbs pressed into recesses to unlatch them, splitting them open like fruit, resting the shaft of the antenna in it and folding it closed, then sliding it down onto the fluff at the end of the antenna. A common, practiced motion. Alex felt everything to do with the antenna through his eyes, the weight pulling them down in a way that didn’t exist for a Human, an electric buzz settling in before his words started getting translated. Questions he couldn’t understand, followed by simple answers that remained one word. Ironically, Alex knew enough Tsla to understand his replies after they had been translated for her, all of which were just ‘yes’ even though it looked like he was saying ‘yeah’ and ‘sure’ if he was reading his own lips right. They were all in the positive, which surprised her.

And that’s when he took his underwear off. Clearly still asleep and having zero idea that a real person had been talking to him, and away they went. Stupendous.

Distantly, he could tell Neya was amused by how annoyed he was at himself.

Memory-Neya steeled herself before she pulled the blanket back, thinking of Carbon. Being Carbon. There wasn’t really a perceived difference between them in that moment, save for Carbon’s greater levels of comfort with him. Carbon would do it - had done it, even, although it felt like very little about the more physical details about him had been revealed. Now, he had presented an opportunity, and she was going to learn more.

She slipped under the covers, the warmth pleasant compared to the cool air of the room, scooting down to drape herself over his leg. Kind of boney, which fit for a knee, and really not that comfortable to squish a breast against, but she could put up with that for now.

Her eyes adjusted to the darkness under the thin blanket quickly, a faint view of the subject of her interest coming into focus. He was already familiar with what was in her grasp, admittedly not from that angle. True to her word, Neya was overwhelmingly curious about what was going on down there. It wasn’t a clinical inspection, but she was here for information before anything else. Aspects felt both alien and familiar at once, and it left her feeling perplexed. There were more thoughts he couldn’t translate filling her mind as she explored with care.

Alex’s initial statement hadn’t really made it through the blanket. His leg shifted under her, and without any warning his knee came up with nearly enough force to get her airborn. Startled and suddenly moving, her grip tightened and her claws flexed out as a matter of reflex, hanging on to whatever was convenient - unfortunately for Alex it was his genitals. He planted his heel and everything was yanked free from her clutches in a moment that was fully incomprehensible, based on how the situation had been going a mere heartbeat before.

She stopped the memory there, the oddly thrilling feeling of claws dragging along bare skin getting cut short.

“That was one of the weirder things I’ve ever experienced.” Alex thought, mostly to himself. His presence wavered, a little bothered by how delightful that last sensation had felt to her. It was a lot of stuff he just hadn’t ever expected to feel... It was nice to see he was still in good shape despite not having done any real exercise in the last month or so, though.

Neya’s presence felt earnest, if not uneasy. She crinkled a little, probably trying to read him as he ruminated over what he had seen. “Sa esan”?

He fluttered, frustrated for a moment before he reminded himself that she meant well, and this had actually been enlightening. He knew the ‘you’ in that question, but wasn’t sure what ‘esan’ meant and turning his Amp on to translate it would interfere with the link. He took a chance and hoped that it meant it was his turn.

Alex figured she’d want to know his side of this event now. He cued up his memory in his head and offered it to her, the sinking feeling letting him know she was paying attention, and then let her see what he had experienced.

He had been rather enthused at starting the day that way, expecting that it was Neya in the shower and Carbon picking up around where they had left off the night before while they had some privacy. In the dim light of the cabin, he grinned. “I’m not sure we have time for...”

The realization that it wasn’t Carbon arrived suddenly, an electric jolt through his mind that woke him up fully. In this retrospect view he had a better sense of the emotions that followed, horrified to find that he was cheating on Carbon with her assistant. Instincts set in as he planted a foot and shoved himself away, a surge of adrenaline flooding his brain - though he stopped it before they got to the claws.

They parted ways, Neya shimmering with excitement before she broke the link. He started up his wetware as the pale furred Tsla’o immediately began putting her wireless back on. She was now thankfully dressed, as Carbon had picked some clothes out of the dresser for her... But this was not appreciably less disconcerting than her still being naked, as Neya was wearing what Alex would describe as a tube top and possibly the shortest shorts in existence, both a muted gray-blue. He was having a difficult time reconciling everything he had seen Tsla’o wearing so far with something that struck him as so immediately Human.

He, on the other hand, was fully dressed again. Pants, shirt, everything but shoes. Part of him longed for the heavy decompression-rated jacked they issued to scoutship crews.

That enthusiastic emotion from the link carried over into Neya’s body language. She was sitting across the bed from him on folded legs as a wide, toothy grin formed on her pale muzzle, gesturing with crisp motion as she spoke. “I think I understand now.”

“That’s good.” Her energetic response to his intense feelings of infidelity sort of put him off, but at least it was a step in the right direction. Best to double check what she got out of that, though. “So where do you think I’m coming from?”

“Your actions were driven by your culture's view of loyalty between couples.” She arched her eyebrows at him, expecting that she was right. “You both as an entwined pair, and I as her subordinate.”

“Exactly.” It was a fair assumption, having just seen that memory. “I’m sorry that my reaction was so abrupt. As you saw, I hadn’t actually been awake until just then.”

“I did not expect that you could be so animated while asleep.” The energy slowly ebbed from her face, a more serious tone creeping into her voice. “I am sorry that I have not had more time with Carbon to acclimate to our differences.”

“Eh.” He gave a little shrug. Carbon could show her the various learning experiences they had on the Kshlav’o and other times she’s dealt with humans, sure. It would probably help for some things. “I don’t think it would have helped in this case, considering how new I am to this living situation.”

“In truth, we are all new to it.” Carbon butted in from across the cabin, standing at the stove and working on breakfast. She had actually gotten dressed as well, clad sleeveless blue compression shirt that reminded him of what she’d worn under her jumpsuit on the scoutship, over a pair of black slacks that looked like a skirt when she stood still. Carbon had donned a sensible, and very durable looking, apron in vibrant crimson before she’d started cooking, as well.

“What she said.” Alex had a feeling he’d be saying that a lot. “So, boundaries as we all acclimate to this?”

Carbon murmured an agreement as she flipped something in a pan over. Whatever it was, it smelled sweet and savory. He wanted to say it was like Canadian bacon, but if it was a breakfast sausage.

“Yes, that is a good idea.” Neya did the bow again, then scooted herself over to the edge of the bed, legs unfurling from under her and stretching out. “I will be more wary of the- Alex’s true attention from now on, in particular. If you would prefer that I not take my place here, it will not be difficult to find another accommodation.”

“Hang on. The first part of that is great, thank you.” He held up a hand and weighed how to continue. Alex being the intruder in this living situation rose to the top of his mind with ease. “I don’t want you to have to go live somewhere else, by Tsla’o rules, you belong here. I’m the alien. Maybe if I had my own home and Carbon... and you had moved in there, sure. But my life before now is being stored in a pile of boxes in my mom’s craft room, so I remain the stranger. It’s on me to adapt to here. I would appreciate help with that, of course.”

Stolen story; please report.

Neya’s eyes widened, just enough to be perceptible, and she sat up straighter before she spoke. “You did not have a home before you were entwined?”

“I mean I had intended to live on the Kshlav’o for like two years, and I’d been using crew quarters on McFadden when I went back to the program... In the dorms before that. Not the most rigid definition of homes, I guess, but I wasn’t sleeping on the street or something. My parent’s place always has a spot for me, too, even if it’s just the couch.”

She was taken aback by everything Alex had just said, very nearly aghast. “How long were you itinerant? You slept on seating?”

“The couch folds out.” Sleeper sofas were not a thing for the Tsla’o. That was going in a report.

“What she is bothered by is the idea you did not have a... true home? A place where you would stay when you were done with your travels, no matter how long they would take.” Carbon piped up from the stove before the two could continue their conversation, proving context for both of them. “It is common for Humans to change homes in a way we would find excessive, and they perceive each place as their true home. Consider their rapid expansion. It is more sensical if a new place becomes a home, rather than a job or duty. Would you say that is an accurate assessment, Alex?”

“Yeah, I’d say it’s close enough anyway.” That was going in a report. Finally putting a why behind their lack of expansion, something he knew had bothered a bunch of people in the CPP, and probably other parts of their government. There were going to be papers written about those sentences. “I suppose you might say that my parent’s house was sort of like my true home the entire time, if that’s easier to work with.”

Neya had been busy having her mind blown by that information, leaning back on an elbow and massaging her forehead with her other hand. Alex talking again brought her back around. “You said they would have you sleep on the seating? That folds up? It is not even the good seating?” She pointed at the long bench next to the front door. It sat on stout, stubby wood legs and was topped with several flat pillows in a variety of dark, rich colors. You could fit three or four on it, depending on how comfortable everyone was with not having personal space.

“Oh no, it’s nothing like that. It’s like...” Their couch was comfortable, for one thing. And while he hadn’t been around too much of the Sword of the Morning Light, he hadn’t seen anything like a couch as he knew it, and clearly the translation for Neya was not accurate. “Like several heavily padded chairs attached to each other, long enough to lay down on, but the arms are only on the far ends. And it folds out into a bed.”

Neya fell silent as she worked at envisioning that, eyebrows knit in confusion.

“It might make a nice addition. Not a classical piece of furniture, but I have grown fond of them.” Carbon glanced over her shoulder at him, a wry smile curling the corner of her mouth and a wink in his direction as she plated whatever it was she had been cooking.

They had spent a lot of time relaxing on the couch in the mess aboard the Kshlav’o, which honestly hadn’t been that comfortable, but it had made some good memories. “I wouldn’t mind. Have to get a big screen for movies, though.”

“I will have to see pictures of the unfolding chairs. I do not understand it.” Neya sighed and shook her head. “Alex, would you like to use the shower now?”

That was a fair question, he was basically fully dressed. “Nah, you can if you want.”

She bowed again and padded off to the bathroom, shorts still distractingly short, though partially obscured by her tail from the rear view. Sure, his girlf- wife had picked those out for her, and had been perfectly happy about Neya hugging him while naked the night before, but it was still a lot.

Alex hauled himself fully out of bed as well, standing on the narrow rug that protected bare feet from the floor in the morning. Tightly woven cloth of some kind in a dark green that matched the bedding, adorned with a repeating geometric pattern that was colored like jade. He skirted around the dining room table, coming up behind Carbon and sliding his arms around her waist. “Morning.”

She had been mixing a bowl of thick golden batter, pausing to lean back against him. “I feel as though I have missed something significant.”

“Nothing too wild.” Alex replied, despite how unusual nearly every moment of this morning had been. “Just finding out about where our boundaries are for the moment, and finding out just how chatty I am while I’m asleep.”

Her head tilted, rotating a bit to point an ear at him as she scoffed softly, that alone enough to carry all her disbelief in his statement. There was a little smile in her voice, at least. “And what did you talk about in your sleep?”

“I don’t know. Neya showed me the memory, and it was all in Tsla so I picked up exactly none of it. Whatever she was asking I kept answering ‘yes’ so it was yes or no questions, I guess.” He gave a little shrug. “Whatever it was, the answers must have been all right based on what she-”

Carbon didn’t reply for a moment, waiting for him to finish that statement. It became clear he wasn’t going to after a few long seconds. “Go on...”

“I was, y’know.” He shook his head as he tried to not just blurt out the facts of the incident while actually telling her what happened, knowing very well that she’d just ask Neya anyway. “Upright, and she went to check out what was going on down there. With both hands.”

“She is a curious sort.” Carbon nodded softly, not a trace of anything but understanding in her voice as she scraped the sides of the bowl to ensure she’d mixed it thoroughly. “Proactive.”

“That’s it?” His voice might have gone up an octave. “She’s a curious sort?”

“Yes? She’s always been curious, it is one of the things that made her a good choice as my Zeshen as I am curious as well. Could you imagine trying to exist so closely with someone who is disinterested?” She took hold of his hands and situated them on her hips beneath her apron, before turning the burner back on. “Is that wrong?”

“No. It’s a me thing.” He gave her a squeeze and kissed the top of her head, the scent of the cinnamon-like shampoo she used filling his nose. If that was fine with her... Maybe someday it’d be fine with him, too. “Hey, last night you said that Zeshen aren’t family. What does that mean?”

Carbon held a ladle full of batter poised over the pan as she digested his question. She began pouring it out onto the surface, a slow drizzle that she used to lay down a braided pattern. “It means a Zeshen is not family. They are not considered by law like the entwined, or a parent might be. The law bends for them, but they are excluded.”

He leaned over so her head wasn’t in the way of the pan, letting him watch her work clearly. That made sense, from a legal standpoint. Not allowing a person that had been... issued, to dip into wills and power of attorney and such as that. Despite the fact that they were deeply, and apparently intimately, involved with their Aeshen’s day to day life. “Alright. Let’s consider for a moment that it’s the only lens I have to view her through, since ‘wife’s assistant’ is very wrong.”

“Ah.” She dipped the ladle back into the batter and repeated the pattern on the other side of the pan. “Perhaps an older view of the concept. A Zeshen not as a living person, but a soul attached to another’s body. We know they are real and alive now, but we will speak of myth for the moment.”

“Okay. A soul without a body, attached to someone so they don’t become a violent spirit, right?” He recounted from their link the night before about this subject, which had been pretty informative.

“Yes. The second soul helps the first. But the body, the life, always belongs to the first soul.” She set the ladle aside and worked a thin wooden spatula around the first pancake, flipping it with a practiced flick of her wrist, the pattern of the pour visible on the cooked side. “Would you say this pan is a member of your family because I am cooking with it?”

“No.” He was following so far, though talking about living people - even with the caveat that this was mythology - as objects rankled him. "Humans will make family out of just about anything, though."

“Is it so? That is interesting and worrisome.” Carbon paused as she flipped the other cake, pulling a large stoneware plate over beside the small cooktop. She shook her head. “ In the more modern sense... I told you that she is ourselves, and you did not understand it at the time. Would it make more sense if I said that when she was my Zeshen alone, I always spoke to myself? But now when you speak to her, you are also speaking to me? And when I speak to her, I am also speaking to you?”

By the time he’d managed to suss all that out, she had finished transferring the pancakes to the plate and started another pair. “No, but it’s confusing differently. In my head she’s an individual. I can't shake that, and I’m not sure how much acting like she’s you or me it will take to work around that. The best I can do right now is ‘they’re my wives’ which I think is closer to what you’re talking about, but still very different.”

“It is not bad. That would make you both my husbands?” She transferred the second batch of golden-brown pancakes to the plate with a quiet chuckle, then poured the rest of the batter out in a much less fancy pattern, a pair of lazy figure eights finishing it off. “You said you had no point of reference as a Human. That it will take you time to adapt is valid. Perhaps I can think of better ways to describe this relationship as you work, as well.”

“I suppose it would.” He laughed along with her, resting his chin on her head as the pancakes cooked. “Sure would be nice if somebody had written a book about all this stuff. Maybe a video. ‘So you’ve got a Zeshen’ or something.”

“Historically, being an initiate is a years-long process that puts you in contact with several agents, so there has been no need for such a thing. There are a few tasks for Neya to take care of this morning, you may add things to the list.” She flipped the hastily made cakes and patted his leg, bumping him away with her hips. “It might look good for the new prince to be showing a purposeful interest in our culture so quickly. Conservators and their librarians pretend they are an insular group, but they speak widely.”

“Yeah, that does sound like mom.” Alex gave her a little space, picking up the dirty dishes off the counter and taking them over to the sink. Everything was pretty straightforward: spout, two knobs, deep metal basin with a drain. Similar to Human design, but as he learned in the bathroom, one knob was for hot and cold water mix and the other for flow rate. He started unlatching cabinets and peeking in, looking for cleaning supplies. “Got a sponge or something?”

“Your mother is a conservator?” She looked at him with surprise in her eyes as she reached over and pointed out an unmarked transparent bin tucked into the corner of the cabinet.

“Research librarian.” He pulled it out and popped the lid off, several very bristly washcloths about the size of his hand laid out neatly beside a well-used block of soap. It smelled just like lemon and cedar. This was not a combination he was expecting, let alone being a scent so immediately easy to identify in Human terms. “I’m still not sure exactly what that is. It’s not a regular librarian, but she always enjoyed the job but didn't like, explain it in detail.”

“Oh, hm.” She nodded to herself, shutting the stove off and sliding the pancakes onto the plate before setting it into a narrow, vertical oven beneath the cooktop. The sausage she’d cooked first was already in there, the scent of spiced, smoked meat wafting out. Waiting for themselves before serving breakfast, which was polite. “From what I have seen, she does have the tenacity to be a conservator.”

Alex would have to pass that along, after he figured out exactly what a conservator was to the Tsla’o. He started on the cutting board first, the knife she’d used on it already dealt with as it was nowhere to be seen. “So when Neya’s out of the shower, I just ask her to go find some books for me?”

“Ask or tell, through any means of communication. You do not need to wait, she is very mindful of requests and orders alike.” Carbon arranged the handful of dirty dishes neatly next to him, pan still cooling on the back burner.

“I’m not interrupting someone’s shower to ask them to do something for me.” He set the board into what he assumed was a drying rack. It had all the same design cues he would expect from a drying rack. Carbon didn’t seem to be bothered by him putting clean dishes somewhere weird, so Alex took that as a victory. “I don’t care if it’s appropriate by Tsla’o standards, that’s a sacred space and I’m not going to invoke work in it.”