“It’s not exactly like hockey,” I told Skalla, unable to look away from the childhood goodness of the game. “But it’s close enough.” And even though the rules were different, the visceral joy, the thrills and the pain of the game, were instantly recognizable as ones shared in equal measure by human children. All the way across the universe, and here we are, alien children playing the same kinds of games I did.

“Let her have a turn.”

I jumped, realizing Skalla was speaking directly to the children.

“Oh, no, that’s alright,” I said hurriedly, not wanting to encroach on their game. Just watching had been good enough.

But the children were already hopping excitedly at the prospect and rushing to offer me their sticks.

“Yes, yes! Let that pale, ugly boy try it!”

“She’s female, you dolt!”

“Wait... Really?”

“Let the ugly female have a go!”

Skalla bared his fangs and looked like he was about to smack the ones who’d called me ugly. I snorted, barely holding back my laughter, and waved him off.

“Thank you,” I said to them in Bohnebregg, grinning and taking the closest stick offered to me. It was different from a hockey stick. It reminded me more of a lacrosse stick, but with a curved wooden paddle instead of netting at the end. “Alright. Here goes nothing.”

The wide-eyed children stood back and urged each other into breathless silence, as if I was doing some magic trick that required immense concentration instead of simply attempting to hit a rock with a stick. Trying not to lose my nerve under the weight of all those expectant little eyes, I nudged the flat rock into the correct spot and took a deep breath. Then I gripped the stick’s handle and executed the movement with a resounding smack!

The rock skipped over the pond in great, bouncy arches, zooming right past the furthest hoop on the other side. I was fairly certain that going past the hoop wasn’t ideal, but the children lost their minds anyway, jumping and screeching, both sides demanding my points be added to their score.

Skalla watched me from over the children’s heads, giving me a look that made my chest constrict.

He was looking at me like he was proud of me.

He was looking at me like he loved me.

“I guess that was pretty good,” I called to Skalla with a laugh, trying to lighten the moment. “Although I’m way more used to playing on ice.”

Without moving his eye from my face, he lifted his hand out to the side, jabbed a single finger towards the water...

And the surface of the pond instantly solidified.

If I thought the kids had been excited seeing the “ugly female” hit the rock across the pond, they went absolutely ballistic after this new development. Whooping and hollering, they moved as one big, writhing mass onto the ice, instantly sliding and falling onto their sticks in giggling waves. They had absolutely no idea how to move on the slippery surface of the ice, but they also didn’t seem to care much, and they revelled as much in the tumbling down as they did the clumsy gliding around. It probably doesn’t get cold enough here to see ice like this normally...

“Like this,” I called, easing out onto the ice, marvelling at the perfect surface, like it had been freshly polished by the Zamboni. “Watch me!”

Jolakaia had lent me a pair of child-sized boots, and while they certainly weren’t as effective as skates, I could at least try to demonstrate how to push forward across the ice correctly. The kids delighted in this lesson and took to the new motion as quickly as only children can do, little lizard-like feet propelling them forward. Soon, they were all more or less stable, and they naturally fell into a circular pattern of movement around the edge of the pond follow-the-leader style.

I slid into the centre of the pond, standing still there and letting the children with their hissing alien laughter swirl around me. Skalla was still watching me, and that look hadn’t left his face. If anything, it had intensified. It was a look that asked for as much as it promised. A look that said, I see you, Suvi. Do you see me?

And suddenly, I was sobbing, standing on ice that felt so familiar. Skalla’s eye darkened. He didn’t even attempt to cut his way through the turbulent children. He merely opened his wings with a crack and vaulted right over their heads until he had landed directly in front of me.

“I’m not sad,” I told him quickly, sniffing as he gently cupped my face and dragged his thumbs through the tracks of my tears. “I’m just...”

Nostalgic. Homesick. Hopeful.

Happy even though I shouldn’t be.

Cracked open by the way you look at me.

“Thank you, Skalla,” I said, my heart hurting in a way that almost felt good. Like a muscle getting sore only because it’s becoming stronger.

Because it’s been used.

He didn’t answer me. He merely tipped his snout down to meet my mouth and tenderly drew my tongue against his. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him.

The children didn’t notice us, didn’t have any reaction to our kiss at all as they skidded and screamed. They remained gleefully caught up in their own exuberance while Skalla and I were caught only by each other.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

Skallagrim

All that playing at the pond meant that we were late for the meal at Jolakaia and Zev’s. There was food left, though, and the four of us ate outside as the stars came out. As the two moons – Shara and her mother – began their nightly healing trek across the sky, Suvi excused herself to the apartment, claiming fatigue. My instincts, my heart, and my loins (these days those three things seemed to be one and the same) urged me to follow her, but I held back a little, watching her perfectly rounded backside disappear up the stairs before speaking to Zev and Jolakaia.

“I would... seek your advice,” I said, the words feeling unnatural on my tongue.

Zev and Jolakaia looked at me, as shocked as I was. No doubt they knew I was not the sort of male to ask for help. But in this case, I felt it was warranted.

“I want to... I’ve promised to woo Suvi. I was wondering if you two had any ideas.”

Blasted river, just saying it made me want to peel my own scales off in vicious humiliation. I should know how to please my own mate, curse it all!

But, other than a beginner’s knowledge of the places on her body that made her writhe and squeal, I hadn’t gotten very far otherwise. I wanted to do more than just please her physically. When I’d seen how happy she was with those children at the pond today, when I’d watched her bloom on the ice I’d created, right before my very eyes, it had made me greedy to the point of pain. I wanted more of that. More of her joy. And I wanted to be the one to provide it.

Only problem was I had no idea how.

“Do you... Do you have any knowledge of human courting customs?” Jolakaia began. She spoke slowly, carefully, as if testing every word for how much it might offend me before moving on to the next.

“None,” I admitted with thorny reluctance. “I assume that, in time, I could learn enough about it. But the heat could be coming any day now, and I want to win her love before that happens. I figured since you are both female, you must know what females like.

“We are female, but we are from Bohnebregg,” Jolakaia said. “And even so, even among Bohnebregg females, there is much variance in taste and desire. I am not so sure what we can offer you...”

She looked stymied, maybe even discouraged.

“Do not give me those moping eyes,” I snapped. “You look like you do not believe that I can do it.”