Nanny For The Alien General by Athena Storm
Keilon
It starts with a gentle nudging. A slight pressure. It’s not unpleasant but rather comforting, reassuring. Like my body had been adrift and is now being slowly, and with great care, being put back to rights.
There are small gusts of air, pure and sweet, that touch my skin, before being snuffed out by something. As my brain resurfaces from whatever swamp it lays submerged in during sleep, I begin to assemble what is actually happening to me.
I’m being cared for. With sure hands that move with speed, confidence and grace. Hands that make someone feel cared for. That you can submit yourself over to, even in great distress.
As the elevator of my brain rises up into the realm of the conscious, I put it all together. The dressings on my abdomen are being changed. Cool air hits the wounds before being closed off again by crisp, clean-smelling bandages that, once tamped down, make me feel somewhat whole again.
A memory surfaces. My son pounding angrily on my stomach, yelling about some injustice. Then blackness had overtaken me. Before the pain, before the shock of his tiny fists, I remember feeling something else.
Confusion and awe. Confusion that this healer woman could actually make me, for one split second, question the logic of our Kiphian laws, and awe that my son, though small, held such strong convictions.
It was a lot to take in before passing out.
But now, I feel comforted, cared for, that I am in good hands.
Until something else registers deep within me. And not in the spot I would have anticipated.
As I feel the hands of the healer human female on my abdomen, as my eyes open to look at her, a searing surge of white-hot warmth cascades up and down my spine like the firing of an ion stone.
It’s unmistakable and shocking. And jolts me fully awake.
My whole body jerks.
The woman’s hands fly from me as if she’s been stung.
“Whoa! I’m sorry! Did I hit a nerve? Are you alright?”
I am just as shocked as she is, but try to regain my composure.
“Ah, no! I just…I don’t know. I felt this searing..I’m not sure what it was…feeling up and down my spine.”
Her face wrinkles in confusion.
“You don’t have any wounds there. Trust me, I checked. I am sorry to have caused you pain, though.”
“I…thank you. No, I don’t think you did…I…”
I let my words trail off as comprehension fills my brain. First, I feel sheepish that this woman has examined my body without my knowing. And, more alarming still, that her touch has elicited in me a sensation that, if the legend holds true, could only come from one’s true mate.
The merest touch of bare skin on skin between mates will cause the Kiphian male’s spine to heat up in response. This will happen with no other…
The words flash in my brain. And I can’t fathom what to do with this information.
“Let me check, though. Just to be sure,” she says, breaking my thoughts.
Before I can protest, she gently rolls me to my side and quickly inspects my backside. Finding nothing, she repeats the move on the other side. Still nothing. Throughout it all, I try to interrogate the sensations coursing up and down me, hoping to find a meaning beyond what I already know.
“Seems all right. Again, I’m sorry. Let’s get this bandage finished though.”
With that, she proceeds to finish dressing the wounds on my abdomen and putting the bandage in place.
The whole time, I try to concentrate on the why of the feelings I’m feeling and not the feeling itself. It sears, yes, but it also feels deeply pleasant. Like a hot bath or a long nap on a winter’s day…or utter contentment in the arms of a lover…
Stop it. Stay focused.
The legends say this feeling can only come from one’s true mate. But that’s impossible! She’s a human. A rogue one at that, living illegally on Kiphian lands. Besides, it’s not like she and I have anything in common or, for that matter, even like each other. Fate has thrown us together but that is all. Nothing says we have to like each other.
No, it’s nerve damage. Your system is…malfunctioning.
I seize onto this thought like a drowning man. That must be it. It feels right to me. It settles into my brain like the salve this woman keeps placing on my wounds.
Serafina. That is her name. You must show some respect. She is your healer and nothing more. Expend no more energy on this.
As I close this loop in my brain, the woman ends her dressing and sits back. She seems satisfied with her work. And so am I.
“All right. That’s done then. You should get more rest. But one there is one more piece of urgent business,” she says, looking away from me. “Emex! Come here, please. I believe you have something to say to your father?”
Curious, I look around. From the corner of my eye, I spy Emex, hiding behind a chair. At Serafina’s urging, he inches forward to my bedside. His eyes are downcast and he fidgets with his hands, twisting his fingers in and out of each other.
“Go on, say it,” Serafina urges, gently.
With muffled words directly mainly to the floor, my son mutters an apology. “Sorry, daddy. Hitting is bad.”
There is an awkward pause before I realize that that is all he is going to say. Serafina shoots me a look as if to cue me and I reach over, somewhat painfully, and pat him on the back.
“That’s all right, son. Thank you for the apology. I accept.”
The moment feels odd and stilted for all of us but I suppose it’s better than nothing.
“Good job, Emex. Now go and play with your sister,” Serafina says. Emex scoots away, glad to have the unpleasantness behind him.
Good. Now I can rest…
“We have something else to discuss,” she says, almost as if she has read my mind. She has taken a deep breath as if to steel herself. This surprises me as she seems built for anything.
“Yes?”
“What is your name?”
Only answer as asked.
“Keilon.”
“All right, Keilon. I know this has been a harrowing few days for you and you have had a lot to take in, but I need you to do something for me.”
Me? Do something for a human?
“What is it?” I ask, cautiously.
“You must promise not to reveal this village to anyone back in the Lake Kingdom. No one must know about it. Especially not the Kiphians. In return, I will promise to get you healthy again and back on your feet. Do you swear?”
I don’t answer right away. This is a lot to ask. I am breaking my own laws. But, then again, I am the King. And, she did save my life. Though I am not out of the woods yet and I am helpless without her.
Proceed with caution.
Taking a deep breath of my own, I reply, “I swear. I will keep your village a secret.”
A slow smile creases her mouth - the shape of which is quite lovely.
“Good. Thank you. You may rest now.”
And with that, she stands and leaves my bedside.
Lying back on the pillows, I suddenly find my brain so full of confusing thoughts that sleep seems impossible at best.
