The LEVELER King ✔

CHAPTER 7

The new Leveler posed a problem: Indel refused to speak. Since the two had awoken, roughly at the same time, Nala had gathered a great deal of water.

Indel was quiet.

His injured friend must have held great importance for him.

As the day progressed with Indel so agreeable, Nala's enthusiasm for giving aid waned as well. She gave Indel the greater majority of the water because he was King, but he could barely sit up enough to swallow it.

When Nala tried to aid him, Indel eased her aside so that he might stare at his friend.

Nala understood. It was unheard of for a Summoner to examine or meet eyes with a Leveler for long. Unfamiliar with the tell-tale signs of a female Leveler, she'd tried to use Summoner habits, shapes, sizes, markings to guess. Nothing on the exoskeleton hinted at it. But now, now Nala knew. Female. The new Leveler was female and so enticing that Indel never looked away from her, not even for a moment. Indel had boasted before about being groomed by females honored and fortunate enough to receive his interest. It stood to reason that he'd carried a groomer with him to stave off the anguish of the mating spell until his arrival at his destination.

The second Leveler was in poor shape, what with the cracks all over her armor, but considering her importance, Nala resolved to treat her well. That proved a difficult task because Indel's friend scorned her.

Gathering enough paste to make food for both of them was a grueling task, made all the more difficult because Nala longed to return to their sides as quickly as she could.

When she came back to find them gazing at one another, she held her peace.

She handed Indel the greater portion, and again Indel pushed Nala aside and offered the new guest the food instead.

He was so careful—so careful with the Leveler female, far more careful that he'd been with Nala. Nala's skin itched. It felt so dry it nearly burned but it was foolish to be upset. She had no reason to be woeful. The king had his charge and obviously held affection for her.

Rather than leave the new Leveler on the ground, Nala decided to gather up hay and leaves to offer her a soothing resting place for her back.

The Leveler refused Nala's touch with a flinch and a vocal gag. Each attempt Nala made was met with a hiss. Nala didn't say anything back. Both lovers were silent with her there. Both stared at one another, and both barely ate of the food.

At the very least, Nala thought Indel would accept her food and water and save her the insult.

The day was tense, but by the evening, the second Leveler's scales began to shed.

She can even shift stages at will... Nala marveled. She'd blamed the mating season for her own change but it wasn't something she'd called on. Summoners could no longer will the stages to come. It was no surprise that this Leveler could.

Each scale which fell away brought fresher skin with it, healing most wounds, albeit crudely. This Nala acknowledged. Shifting forms left everyone renewed. If it was so easy for Levelers, no doubt this one would continue the shift until she was in her third stage—prime for mating.

That was what Indel needed. A lay. A proper lay. Rather than bear witness to the new Leveler's beauty—that Leveler's tail, Nala took great interest in the floor whenever at rest.

She considered giving them privacy for a time. No doubt Nala's lay had left Indel unsatisfied. The new Leveler might have been better skilled. Wandering around the barn in the dead of night was near suicide but Nala thought to risk it rather than bear witness to a real lay, a better one as Indel had complained even this morning that Nala's secretions were too few. A mate who wouldn't be so foolish as to lie on her back like a stupid Earther.