Second Companion Bond

I left his office and found Sheida sitting on the short stone wall that separated the raised gardens from the lawn. She smiled as I approached and stood. We embraced and pressed our noses together.

"You feel troubled," she said, taking my hands. "What's wrong?"

"Raiza became thoughtful while I met with the healers who assisted me last night. I know he has a request to make, but won't."

"Daddy's always like that. As much as he convinces himself that something is a good idea, he never barrels into it. If the request is important to him he'll make it."

"Okay. He said we could go home and he'd come later."

"Good. More play time," Sheida smiled.

"Perfect."

We brushed our noses together before walking down the long street to a burrow located on the corner. She took me to her room and we strengthened our companionship connection. Sheida was panting slightly as she lay in my arms. Her smile was huge and revealed her teeth. I smiled just as big. We snuggled for some time before we heard Raiza come home. I liked feeling her bundle of shifting emotions—happiness for having a companion; yet nervous since Raiza didn't know yet. She slid from my arms and dressed. I got up and dressed as well then followed her from the bedroom to the kitchen. I helped her prepare roots and a few vegetables for dinner. Raiza came in as we finished, still looking troubled.

"Welcome home, Daddy," Sheida said, touching her nose to his cheek.

"Thank you, Sheida." He returned the kiss.

We all sat down to eat.

"Did you have rough patients this afternoon, Daddy?" Sheida asked.

"No patients. Just questions I'm not sure how best to approach to get the answers I need."

"Anything I can help you with?" she offered.

"Not this time."

"Okay."

"Raiza?" I asked. "How long have you worked at the clinic?"

"Going on 35 years."

"Have new techniques been discovered in all that time?"

"Just more effective ways of applying the techniques we do have for quicker healing," he replied.

I nodded.

"It would be nice if you could remember where you learned the healing you know, Maaziah. Whatever it is you do is a lot more effective and efficient in resolving problems we don't have a resolution for."

"If I could tell you, I would," I said.

Sheida reached over and patted my arm.

I covered her hand with mine before she pulled away and we continued to eat.

"It may return with time," Raiza said.

"Perhaps."

"Thank you for all your work on Sheida. She looks the best she has in years." His fingers brushed against her cheek.

"Thank you, Daddy."

Raiza smiled.

"I would lose the only knowledge I have if I did not use it," I said.

"True words. Did Sheida show you around when you arrived?"

"A little. We spend most of the time getting to know each other a little better. Kind of difficult in my case."

"But still worth the effort," Sheida said softly.

I stroked her quills a couple times then finished my food. "Your expression keeps turning thoughtful when you look at me, Raiza," I said. "What is troubling you about me?"

"How is it that you can change to the other forms with such calm? After the trauma of being blended with another sex of your same race, I would think you would resist the change."

"The loss of my memories is the biggest reason for that calm. I don't know what I was, or the life I was supposed to be living. It is just as foreign to me as all these other forms are. So, for now, what form I hold has very little meaning to me."

"And yet you chose this form above the rest."

"Because there is something you and Sheida need. I don't know what it is, but being in another form would not help either of you."

"And what makes you think we need something?"

"I feel it; just as I felt Sheida's illness and your unresolved grief for Walfria."

"So, I really did feel your touch this morning."

"You did."

Raiza nodded then took his empty plate from the table. He rinsed it off then put it away. Sheida followed suit and took care of both of our plates. I turned to see how I could help with the clean up, but a warning feeling from Sheida told me to stay where I was. I locked my fingers together then started to think of how I needed to start teaching the clinic's staff the work I did. Sheida wrapped her arms around my shoulders. I raised my right hand and rubbed her arm for a moment. Then I turned my head and we kissed. She let go, patted my shoulder, before leaving me alone once more with Raiza. He rearranged a few more things before sighing heavily.

"I don't know how you can pick up on what you do, Maaziah," Raiza started. "For many of us that kind of sensitivity only comes when we bond another and then that sensitivity remains solely for that partner." He came back to the table and sat next to me. "I would like to understand your acute knowing, as well as get a sense of what it is like to be one of the others."

"I could try to describe what I sense," I said, despite knowing that wasn't it.

"Words are insufficient to fully answer the questions I have. I … I'd like to feel what you feel."

"You want to be able to morph like me," I frowned.

"No. No. There's… another way to access the feeling without needing to duplicate your traumatic experience." Raiza rested his hands by his mouth.

"This bonding you mentioned."

He nodded, almond eyes widening slightly in anticipation.

I sat on the answer I already had for just a moment. His eyes started to water with pleading before I shifted my gender to be female.

"Alright, Raiza."

"Thank you, Maaziah."

He reached over and embraced me. I held him relaxing in his hold as he stroked my head. He lightly touched my nose with his and I met his gaze before he took me into his room. We undressed and he lay me down on his bed. He caressed my body, brushing our noses together often before he created our bond. The rocking was comforting as strength and surety rippled through my system. The puzzlement of all his questions came through just before he pulled out. Our noses touched before he lay beside me, covering me with a blanket as he held me. We lay there for a moment to let the new awareness settle. His eyes closed while he thought about the energies.

"I feel two separate tangles of feelings," he said after a moment. "Is that from your dual nature?"

I shifted back to the male form, watching his expression.

His brow furrowed deeper. "The emotions I know as you, shifted slightly with your change, but the second remains the same."

"Then you are picking up my other companion's feelings as well."

"Other companion?" Raiza asked, opening his eyes to see me.

I nodded. "Sheida and I bonded early this afternoon."

His eyes studied my face as he tried to sort out his response. Surprise, worry, calm, and confusion flipped through our bond before he spoke again. "If companionship was what Sheida needed help with then why did you speak at dinner as if she still needed help?"

"Because she does."

"Is it because you healed her blood disease?"

I shook my head. "This goes deeper than the blood disease. Right now the problem is hardly perceptible in her bundle of emotions, even with my acute senses."

"Any idea as to what it might be?"

"I do not."

Raiza nodded then thought a moment, absently feathering my left side. "We'll need different sleeping arrangements then. It would not do to leave either of your companions to sleep alone."

"Alright. Should I go get Sheida?"

"Yes. I'll rearrange the bedding."

"Okay."

I got up and dressed while Raiza got up as well. I walked down the hall to Sheida's room. She lay with her back to the door and her eyes closed, but her shifting emotions let me know she was still awake. I sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed her abdomen. She inhaled deeply and let it out as she turned to face me.

"Are you not spending the night with Daddy?" she asked.

"He feels it's best if the three of us share a bed since I am a companion to both of you."

Her eyes shimmered a little in the dark as relief swallowed up the worry that had started to come through our bond.

"I didn't bond you to leave you alone, Sheida," I said, pulling her up into an embrace.

"Thank you."

"Always."

I held her in my arms for sometime before we went towards Raiza's room. Sheida stopped me by the guest room where Raiza had a very large bed ready. He turned when we entered. Raiza held out his arms for Sheida. She stepped into his embrace and they held each other for a long time. Both of their emotions shifted. Raiza was a little concerned about our bonding, while Sheida felt hesitant because she wasn't sure how her dad would react now that he knew. Raiza eventually let go and rubbed her arms.

"Congratulations, Sheida," he said.

"Same for you, Daddy," she replied.

"We should sleep. Some of us have a long day tomorrow."

The three of us climbed into bed, Raiza on my right side, Sheida on my left. I shifted to be sexless as both of them snuggled close to me. Sheida lay with her back to my chest and Raiza lay tight against my back. He slid his arm around my waist and I set my left hand on it while wrapping my other arm around Sheida. Her hand rested on my arm and we slept.