Not Alone

Chapter 13: Tea and Etiquette

A large, gently glowing pearl rests in my cupped hands, the soft light illuminating the bedroom cave as I sit in Asper's coils, his hand slowly running up and down my calf. I glance down to the ground next to us, where three more fist-sized pearls glimmer in pristine white light.

Asper's forked tongue tastes the air, his nose crinkles a little at the smell "The pearls have been cleaned by seawater and sand, yet I can still taste traces of blood on them," his silver eyes glance down at the other pearls, his tongue tasting the air once more before looking back to the one in my hands "This is can be nothing but a courting gift from the Orca. A valuable gift at that"

Tracing my thumb over the silky smooth pearl, I watch as the light seems to shimmer like light through water "How valuable?"

Asper lets out a breath through his nose as he briefly thinks about his answer "A single one of these pearls could win over any female. Even if you were a no-stripe trying to court a royal female. Pearls of this size and quality could only be crafted by very skilled Mermen over several years and they typically only craft one throughout their entire lifetime, using it to gain great favor from their female"

My eyes widen as I glance back at Asper, his face entirely serious. To have four pearls like this? Goddamn, our Orca guy does not fuck around.

Dias walks into the bedroom, three cans filled with ginger tea held between his hands. He hands Asper and me a can as he carefully sits down on the bed beside us, making sure he doesn't splash the hot water.

I blow gently on the surface of the water before taking a sip. Asper had managed to track down several different 'medicines' within the forest before the whole kidnapping debacle, bringing back primarily strong-smelling ginger and mint.

Dias gently rolls the can between his hands, looking towards the ground as Asper takes a cautious sip of the hot ginger water, wincing a little before setting the can down on the stone floor beside the bed.

I take another sip of my tea before breaking the silence "I want to talk to the Orca, but I'm pretty sure I know what he wants," Dias looks up to meet my eyes "Most likely to be my mate"

Asper squeezes my calf gently "He has clearly proven he is a strong protector and a talented provider. If you want him to be your mate, then I would gladly accept him with us"

I tighten my grip a little around the warm can "But it's not just me in this relationship," I motion towards Dias with a tilt of my head before looking back at Asper "It's all three of us. Together. Extending a relationship to involve another person is complicated. Dias and I were able to absorb you into our relationship so easily because we have, occasionally, had a temporary partner with us, so we have some experience with that. But a fourth? That makes a complex relationship even more complicated"

Asper brows furrow in confusion "You need more males around to help us protect you, and one who can swim can only be an asset this close to the ocean"

Dias shuffles a little in his seat as he speaks "That's fair enough, I won't say no to more protection, but that's not really what we mean," Dias sets down his tea and moves closer to Asper, close enough that his knee brushes against cool black scales "It's not Xena in a relationship with each one of us. It's all of us in a relationship with each other"

Dias brushes a strand of Asper's silver hair away from his face "From what I can tell, you don't mind me trying to court you?"

Asper blushes a little but responds evenly, if a little hesitant "It is new to me, to receive the... affections of another male. I don't have any reference for it in my inheritance. But... No. I don't mind it. It is... flattering"

The corner of Dias' mouth quirks upwards as he leans a little closer to Asper "I really should've asked first, to make sure you were comfortable, but I wanted to tempt you a bit"

Asper huffs a soft laugh as he looks fondly at Dias "Consider me very tempted then"

Dias sits back a little, the corner of his eyes crinkling in a gentle smile "Good to see my efforts were appreciated."

I crack a smile at their antics, but I need to prevent the conversation from getting too derailed "Dias and I, in our relationship, share. It's how we can make adding a new partner work without causing any issues, we always share and we expect our partner to share as well. With you, it worked out really well despite us not really discussing it like we should have, and I'm so glad it did"

Taking another sip of the warm tea to soothe my throat, I continue on "We share you, and you share us, so we have something really nice going on. But that could get really messy with a fourth person, especially if one of us doesn't like him, or he isn't willing to join a relationship with you and Dias as well. And I'm not willing to risk the good thing we have going here if it's going to get complicated like that"

Asper pauses in running his hand up and down my leg "You would turn away a strong male if I did not like him?"

Dias takes a sip from his tea as he answers the question before I can "Absolutely. You come first before any stranger that saunters up, even one that saved Xena," green eyes look over to me "But I do think we should at least go talk to him. He clearly went through some effort to get the pearls, apart from killing the Mermen at least partly on your behalf"

Asper looks a little stunned, clearly reeling a little from the first half of Dias' sentence. I lean back against Asper's coils, draining the last of my tea from the can. As we wait for Asper to process the fact that yes, we really would tell a male to go fuck themselves if they didn't like Asper, I think about the Orca.

I glance down at the pearls. I couldn't find pearls that big even on the internet, and to have four of them? And they glow? It's a pretty impressive gift. Especially for a guy who hasn't even spoken to me before.

Having given Asper a minute, I speak up "I'd be willing to go talk to the Orca. I sure as hell think he earned us at least hearing him out"

Asper licks his lips and swallows before responding "I agree," he glances at Dias "I understand that you and I are still figuring things out between us, but surely having another male around the ease the burden of safety would not be a bad thing?"

Dias nods "I think as long as we both like the guy, our own relationship can continue to grow fine"

I pick up Asper's now cooled tea and hand it to him "Alrighty then, we can head down in a bit to go find the Orca," I watch as Asper hesitantly brings the can up to his lips and takes a sip, his face lighting up with pleasant surprise "Have your tea first"

AN: I was actually planning on making this longer, but I'm trying to keep the word count to around 1000-1500 per chapter. Also, I find that as I write, I'm not keeping super strictly to the Manga. Like I'm keeping to the big points and major worldbuilding, but I'm kinda adding stuff as well. It's been kinda fun continuing to build the world as I go tbh