XII

I carried her straight to our dwelling where a major overhaul had taken place. I had flown the whole way allowing both her and myself to cool off from the night wind. Her legs were tight around me. Her core was pressed against me. My stem was pressing against my seam. My body was primed to take my mate.

The opening of the cave now had two a light. It made me stop. Yet Ava squealed in delight, "Now I'll be able to find the opening if I go for a night walk." She had added this. I wondered briefly what else Vinic had managed to get done while we had been at the ceremony. Or at least getting ready.

I wanted nothing more than to carry her all the way to my sleeping nest and take her. I was not about to stop her pearls of delight. While I didn't fully understand why somethings made her happy I enjoyed seeing her joy enough that the pain of containing my stem was worth it. Considering how easy it was to distract her from her desire I assumed she was not ready to mate with me yet. I respected her choice in that.

By the opening a, bit further in from the light, was a switch that Ava hit. The light above turned off as if it had never been there. Beside the switch was a stand. It held two shelves that barely passed the top of her knee. Above the shelves were row after row of small hooks. I could not fathom the purpose of the objects but they made her smile before she rushed further into our dwelling.

She peaked into the room closest to the entrance but quickly moved to our nesting area. I had never seen her move so fast. I followed close at her heels wondering what she had asked for that made her so excited. As soon as she rounded the corner she yelled and rushed in. I quickly followed. Yelling was normally a bad thing. I turned the corner just in time to see her jump onto a raised platform not far from my sunken nest.

She bounced when she landed which sent her into a fit of giggles. "What is it?" I asked her having never seen a similar object.

"It's a bed!" she replied. Her eyes looked at me with the biggest smile. I realized that if this simple thing was all it took to bring her joy she would have one at every place we would visit. "I've never had a real bed before!" She ran her hand over the top of it and pressed on it. Curiously I put my own hand on the object. When I pressed my hand sunk into it. It was odd that there was some give to the fluffy thing but not enough to remain where I pressed. The further in my hand went the more it resisted.

It had a covered roof to it made of light material that was tied off at the posts. One side was raised with a dimond pattern along the wood. Ava ran her hand over one of the posts and with a soft click little lights flickered to life. She flopped onto her back and gasped, "My very own bed!" The lights dotted the top like stars and the raised wood of the single side held a light at each point of the dimonds. She looked towards me and jerked up.

"He did it!" she said in amazement looking over my shoulder. I turned to look at what had clear shocked her. My nest now had a large cushion of purple and green. It was extremely close to where I slept at night.

"Why would you have him make me a cushion?" I asked.

A round of giggles was my response. "It's not for you silly. It's..." Her cheeks got a slight pink color, "It's for if I decide to sleep there with you. The heat plates are to hard for me to sleep on." I was gonna have to thank Vinic with a new plant for his collection. If it would hurt her to sleep beside me she was unlikely to ever do so.

She crawled from the bed, as she called it, and moved towards her cushion. I followed her and stood at the edge. She patted it a bit. She bit the corner of her lip and than ran to the side where I stood. She reached for the edge as she did only to slide back in. When she stood back up she looked at the sides of the nest. I felt my eyes widen at a problem I don't think any of us saw coming. She was too small to get out on her own.

She looked at me in dismay and I climbed after her. I lifted her out and she gave me a small smile. She ran over to her bed an grabbed one of the small cushions from it. She tossed it in the nest. She clicked the switch again and then made her way over to my nest. She sat on the edge and let her legs hang over into it. I lifted her back down in. Her hands gripped my upper arms and I flexed in her grip.

She looked away from me. I caught sight of the red in her cheeks and then it hit me. She couldn't see. "Can you see?" I asked her.

"No. Humans have trouble seeing in the dark. Some can but most of us can't." She started feeling with her foot to find the cushion. I lifted her up. If she couldn't see than I could easily carry her to her spot. I set her on the cushion and then handed her the smaller one she had grabbed.

My mate was sleeping with me on our first night. As much discomfort as I was in I gladly suffered it to sleep next to her. She settled the smaller one under her head and laid down. I laid next to her and closed my eyes. Happy to listen to the sound of her breathing. That sound told me my Mate was close by and I couldn't be more happy to hear it.

I left the nest to go look around at what other changes had taken place. One of the rooms had outlines of the floor. Two squares made up the majority of it. One square was by the wall with a mark about belly level on me. The other square was huge in the center of the room. I noticed a couple more marks here and there on the wall but I did not under the language of builders.

Not much else had really changed. At least nothing of note until I reached the end. The building team had extended opened the back of my cave and built an even larger landing platform. They had left a stone over hang above that covered the landing. I could not claim to understand why she had requested this be built but the view was nice.

There was seating along the wall and a small table. I ran a finger over the railing. This was clearly built for Ava. Without the railing it could have be any other landing for a flying Asura. This railing was safety for my human mate. Standing out in the cool night air.

Her smell had filled the nest. I wanted to hold her. I also did not want to rush her. If I pushed her too much would she hate me? Would she even want to sleep next to me again? I flew off the landing. I had a destination in mind to go relax and get my mind off the feel of my mate in arms. I flew over the trees.

The cold air ripping at my hair. Most males cut theirs short but many who were mated or courting would grow out their hair. Many females liked playing with their mates hair. I wondered if Ava would like to play with mine. Some races would decorate their hair. Ava had shown interest in the hair of the other Asura. She had really only shown interest in his own hair during their first meeting and that had been short lived.

As the trees opened up before me I saw the water. The small lake as a common place for us to bath and swim in. I came here now to relax, take a second to get my mind off mating with Ava. She was beautiful. Her golden skin with her black hair. Her eyes like Citcu leaves. I dived under the water. I had always enjoyed swimming. The feel of the water over my scales. The way everything looked beneath the waves. The way the sun and moon looked from down here. My wings pressed tight against me to prevent drag. It was a practiced movement that not everyone had to learn. After a time I flew back home to my sleeping mate.