Chapter Twelve
After The Scare
Briefly, I turned back to Sue. I could see the maketake Nal that had been levitating the towels to the girls was now floating near them. Sue still had her face buried in her knees with Bev and Til kneeling next to her and comforting her. Til said, “I know fainting can be unpleasant dear.” Bev then added, “But you’ll be ok.” Til had a hand on Sue’s back. Bev had a hand on Sue’s shoulder and one on Sue’s hands that Sue had on her knees. Panny was standing on the other side of Sue with his front paws on Sue’s leg. Lika was doing the same with her front paws on Sue’s arm. I turned to Zem and said with a more somber countenance, “I saw other people fainting on planet Bev. I had even heard of women fainting around rock stars. But it didn’t really occur to me at first that was what happened to Sue. I never thought I could have that effect.” Zem said, “You underestimate yourself.” This again brought a smile to my face. Mav spoke to me next. I turned my smile to him as he did so. In my peripheral vision, I saw Lega, Gwean and Heag walking back toward the other bartok. All of their focus seemed to be toward their new weapons as they examined them. They seemed to be extremely happy with them.
Mav said, “I don’t know what you said to Sue, but you’re just going to have to face the fact that you have a talent for romance.” This made me grin. Mav and Zem grinned too. I said to Mav, “Has Til ever done that with you.” Mav’s grin turned to a sentimental smile as he said, “A few times. It shouldn’t surprise you that even a Reall can be overcome with love.” Zem and I were both smiling sentimentally at Mav. Though I also had a bit of amazement on my face that a Reall woman could still be overtaken like that. I said, “It must have been some pretty fearsome love.” Mav put his hand on my shoulder as I again smiled sentimentally. Answering my question, Mav said, “Not to any really extreme degree. They just sometimes allow themselves to be carried away with their emotions. The unfortunate thing is that if we’re experiencing the other’s emotions at the time, they nearly take us with them.” Zem said, “Bev and I sometimes go through the same sort of thing too.” I turned a sentimental smile to Zem as he spoke. Zem continued on, saying, “Fainting under such circumstances has something to do with the way your and our kind of female’s brains are wired. Their sweet little hearts are so dear.”
This brought a little bigger smile to my face. What Mav and Zem said was a great comfort. I said to Zem, “But Sue and I had shared even more loving moments than that. At least I thought we had. And she didn’t do that then.” Mav said, “You never know what might set them off.” Looking at Mav, he added, “If we knew that, it would be a great temptation to be a little mean and do it to our girls too.” This caused us guys to grin. But I only did so briefly. I glanced back at the girls. They were standing now and were all wrapping towels around their waists. The Nal that had brought more towels was levitating near them with a few more. Sue glanced over and gave me a smile. I grinned, turned a little. Then I briefly kissed my fingertips and blew Sue a kiss. The others saw me do this as Sue and I grinned. Then they turned their grins to Sue. Sue pretended to grab the kiss out of the air and held it to her heart with both hands. Sue then moved one of her hands, planted a kiss on her fingertips and blew me a kiss. I turned around and walked backwards as I pretended to grab it out of the air. Then I held it to my heart with both hands as Sue and I grinned lovingly at each other.
At the same time, Bev took another towel and draped it over her shoulders. Mav thought to Til as he too turned around and walked backwards. Though we could all hear his thoughts. Mav said, “Til darling. I have one for you too.” Mav then planted a kiss on his fingertips and blew Til a kiss. Then Til pretended to grab it out of the air and held it to her chest with both hands. Til also had a bit of a loving look accompany her grin. Then Til thought to Mav, “Thank you darling. Here’s one for you.” Til then blew Mav a kiss. But as Mav was just about ready to pretend grab it, Zem ran over and put his hand in front of Mav’s and closed his hand. Letting his momentum carry him a few steps farther. Zem turned briefly and said to Mav with a mischievous, excited grin as he held up his closed hand, “I’ve got Til’s kiss!” Mav had a surprised look on his face. Zem then took off running as a determined and slightly angry look came over Mav’s face. The rest of us cracked up laughing. Our Nal also emitted telepathic humor as Mav tore after Zem and yelled, “Give me Til’s kiss back!”
This caused the girls and I to laugh even harder. Our Nal’s telepathic humor also increased a little. Seeing Zem and Mav’s play, Panny and Lika scampered toward them as they chattered excitedly. After what had just happened to Sue and I, a little levity was welcome. Zem and Mav ran more or less a little ways toward the patio. Though Zem was zigging and zagging to throw Mav off. After a few moments, Zem made another dash to the side to throw Mav off. Panny and Lika playfully followed them. But not too close. Zem then said with a laughing grin, “Ok! Ok! I give up!” Zem turned and held up the palm of one hand and held out the closed fist of the other. Zem said with a laugh, “Take it! It’s yours!” They were both breathing a little heavily and laughed as Zem pretend handed Mav the pretend kiss. Mav pretended to take hold of it and looked over at Til with a big grin on his face. Mav held up his closed hand over his head and called over to Til, “I have it!” Til happily jumped up and down a little as she clapped her hands a little. At the same time, Til called out, “Yay!” Bev and Sue were holding onto each other and laughing. Mav held the pretend kiss to his heart with both hands and grinned at Til.
Til clasped both her hands over her chest and looked at Mav with a grin accompanied with a loving look. Panny and Lika were scampering happily around Mav and Zem. After a few moments, Zem and Mav took hold of each other’s shoulders and shook each other a little as they laughed. They then let go of each other. Zem then turned to Bev and thought, “I have a kiss for you too darling.” We were all grinning as Zem blew Bev a kiss. But Bev’s grin was a little bigger. Bev pretend grabbed it out of the air and held it to her chest with both hands. Bev thought, “Thank you darling. Here’s one for you.” Bev then blew Zem a kiss. Zem pretend grabbed it out of the air and held it to his chest with both hands. As he and Bev grinned lovingly at each other, Zem thought, “Thank you darling.” After a couple moments, Zem moved his hands and started to turn. Panny and Lika were still scampering about a bit. Zem reached down an arm to Lika. Lika jumped on Zem’s arm and Zem then held Lika in his arms. Mav did the same with Panny. I looked at the girls. They were sharing in each other’s chuckling as they straightened up the towels on their shoulders a little.
Zem and Mav grinned at me and turned toward the gazebo. I ran up to catch up with them. As I got near them, I slowed to a walk again. I glanced back at the girls. They were walking toward the house. Bev and Sue had linked arms on one side. Til and Sue had linked arms on the other side. They all talked to each other with sentimental smiles on their faces. All three of course had towels over their shoulders as well as those tied around their waists. As I caught up to Zem and Mav, they both turned and smiled at me. I put an arm on each of their outer shoulders as I grinned. Which caused them to grin again. I briefly pulled them next to me and said, “You guys kill me.” Zem and Mav laughed a little. Which I quickly joined in on. Afterwards, Zem said with a grin, “Having fun is fun.” I took my hands off their shoulders and said, “You guys certainly know how to do that.” Both Zem and Mav moved over a little so I could walk between them. Mav said with a smile, “We try to when we have the chance. Sometimes, we can get quite caught up in whatever work we happen to be doing.” I said with a slight smile too, “I could imagine. But then again, maybe I couldn’t.”
Then Zem added with a slight smile, “It can get awfully involved.” We started walking across the dock at this point. Mav then added, “Fortunately, being immortal has given us the luxury of patience. So it isn’t really that much of a burden to take time off for enjoyment.” I said, “I know that your species is really old. Do you have any contact with species even older than yours?” Mav said, “Yes we do. Though once a species reaches a certain level of being, technological difference aren’t as acute.” Mav put Panny down at this point and picked up his towel. Giving it a firm shake after he did so. Then Mav added as Zem put Lika down and picked up his towel, (Giving it a firm shake too) “On the other hand, we don’t have many dealings with species that are much less technologically sophisticated than ourselves.” I picked up my towel and gave it a shake as Mav added, “Even less so with the even more primitive species. Such as humans on earth. No offence.” I grinned and said, “None taken.” Mav and Zem grinned too. We all went to our clothes. I noticed that one of the Nal had apparently removed the glasses from the table. But left Mav and Til’s mugs.
Zem said, “A few of the older species may be able to do certain things a little easier than our technology allows us to do.” Having reached our clothes, Zem added as we dried ourselves, “But trying to derive such information from them would only deprive us of making those discoveries ourselves.” Tal formed into a screen between us and the house. As Zem and I took off our trunks, Zem added, “Besides. They would probably be as unwilling to give up such information as the Mind is with us.” Mav then added as he took off his trunks, “There are times when we may trade some scientific information. Just because a species is older and a little more advanced than ours, it doesn’t mean that we may not have come up with something that they haven’t.” Zem and I had dried ourselves a little more. Then we sat down our towels and started to put on our underwear. Mav did the same thing a couple moments later. Panny and Lika were over by a railing and grooming each other. They seemed to enjoy digging around a little in each other’s fur. But I doubt if either of them had ever experienced a parasite.
I said to Mav, “Who are the oldest beings you have ever come across.” As Mav put on his underwear, he said, “Do you mean Zem or I personally, or our species.” As we continued getting dressed, I said, “The Reall species.” Mav said, “A being that was a member of a species called the Hovath once met one of our ships and spent some time there. Their species is older than this visible universe by a few billion years.” A surprised look came over my face and I said, “Wow.” Mav said with a grin, “Wow indeed. Though no doubt there are even older species out there in the great infinity beyond.” I said, “Zem told me a little about the Mind. What do the Hovath as a far older species think of the Mind.” Mav said, “I have never heard of a highly advanced species that didn’t hold the Mind in the utmost regard. Whatever most humans might imagine to be a god is nothing compared to the Mind.” Zem and I were putting on our pants and tucking in our shirt tails at this point. I said to Mav, “It’s both wonderful and terrifying that such an entity exists.” Mav said, “Nobody has ever found anything but ultimate wisdom in communication with the Mind. There is great comfort to be found in that.”
As I sat down and started to put on my shoes and socks, I looked over in the direction of the bartok. They were all standing near their fire and admiring the weapons that Mav had modified for Laga, Gween and Heag. These three bartok were the only ones holding their weapons at this point. I said, “The bartok sure seem to admire the modifications you made to their weapons.” Mav and Zem smiled in that direction too. After looking for a few moments, Mav pulled out his chair and sat down. Mav said, “They were very brave. They deserve them.” I said, “What exactly did you do to them.” Mav gestured to the Tal screen and said, “Tal will show you.” I turned the chair I was in a little to look at Tal. An image of Lega’s weapon appeared on the screen. Ths side showing Sue, myself, Lega, Gwean and Heag faced us. After a few moments, the image got smaller to show more of the shaft. It also began to rotate. Showing the other things on it. When the pictures of Sue and I with the defending bartok came up again, I turned to Mav with a sentimental look on my face and said, “They’re beautiful!” This made Mav and Zem grin as I added, “With images of Sue and I! I’m so honored! Thank you!”
Mav took on a sentimental smile and said, “It’s really the bartok you should be thanking.” Zem said, “They will prize them more highly than any medal would be prized by a soldier.” I grinned at Zem briefly and then looked back at the screen. Then I said in a kidding around kind of voice, “I’d kind of like to have one myself.” This made Zem and Mav chuckle. I turned toward them again and chuckled a bit myself. Zem said, “I don’t know what you would ever do with one.” This caused a little more chuckling. Afterwards, I said, “There isn’t a lot I could do with one.” This caused a bit more of a chuckle from us. A few moments later, I looked back at the bartok. Zem and Mav did too. I said, “They were brave. It occurred to me earlier that anything that could cause you a problem, they had to know that they wouldn’t stand a chance against. Can I thank them too?” Mav grinned. Which made Zem and I grin too. Then Mav said, “Sure. But hold on a second.” Tal transformed back into his normal shape as Mav seemed to think something. A few moments later, Mim, Pam and Sas arrived. Mim went to Pim and Pam went to San. Both of them circled around their partner’s surface at differing angles.
Sas went over near the railing and transformed herself into an image of Sue. She was wearing the same kind of beautiful garment she was when she and Tal went to the bartok earlier. Sas-Sue smiled at me as I stood up. I said to Sas-Sue, “You look beautiful!” Sas-Sue grinned and said with Sue’s voice, “Thank you.” As Panny and Lika went over to set near Sas-Sue, Mav then said with a smile, “Let me contact Sue.” I could hear Mav’s thoughts as he said, “Sue.” Sue said, “Yes?” Mav said, “Erik wants to thank Lega, Gwean and Heag. Sas has made herself into your image to wave at them when they’re thanked. But the thoughts will be yours. You can have a maketake screen show you the image. When Sas tells you to, just think, Ak Lega. Ak Gwean. Ak Heag.” Sue thought back with happiness to her thoughts, “Ok!” Apparently, Bev and Til were listening in too. Because Til said, “That’s so sweet.” Mav thought for us all to hear as I walked over to Sas-Sue, “Their language is pretty simple. How’s this. You can just think to them, Brave Lega, Gween, Heag. Thanks from Sue, Erik.” I said, “That will work. How exactly do I say it in bartok.” Mav told me. Afterwards, I said, “Ok.” We all looked over at them. I thought, “Bartok.” They all stopped what they were doing, faced in our direction and bowed to the ground. Lega, Gwean and Heag held their weapons flat on the ground in front of them. I then thought, “Terat Lega, Gween, Heag. Ak hoot Sue, Erik.” Sas-Sue thought to Sue, “Your turn.” Sue thought as Sas-Sue waved at them, “Ak Lega. Ak Gween. Ak Heag.”
Lega, Gween and Heag all lifted up their bodies as they held their weapons in both hands and outstretched arms above them. Then they bowed down again. They kept doing this. Mav made it possible for their voices to be heard by us.
As they bowed, each stated various statements of thanks and reverence. Among which were, “Ak gutta Erik. Ak gutta Sue.” After a little of these statements, Mav thought to them, “Ak bartok. Ohem. Ohem, gias.” The other bartok raised up their upper bodies and bowed again repeatedly as well. Sas-Sue turned back into Sas. Sas headed toward Tal as she thought to Sue, “As you saw and heard, your thanks was well received.” Tal and Sas started to circle around each other’s surfaces at differing angles as Sue thought back with a happy, sentimental tone to her thought, “Good. We’ll see you soon. By.” We were all smiling as Zem and Mav stood up. I looked to Zem and said verbally, “The sun appears to be getting low. Maybe we should have some refreshments on the top patio.” Zem said with a smile, “That’s a good idea.” Mav then said to me in a wry manner, “Are you reading my mind?”
I looked at Mav as we all laughed. As if a human could! After the laughter, I said to Mav with a grin, “If humans could do such thing, we would have probably have learned what Zem told me. Which is that basically, it would be an extremely impolite thing to do.” Mav said with a smile, “Zem’s right. It wouldn’t be a very nice thing to do.” I went over to Zem and put my hand on his far shoulder as we grinned at each other. Then I grinned back to Mav. I said, “Has anybody told you guys lately how wonderful you are?” Zem and Mav laughed a little. As Zem laughed, he put his hand on my far shoulder. Their grins got a little wider as Mav came over to Zem and I. Mav reached over and slapped his hand down on my other shoulder and gave it a brief, slight, affectionate shake. But left his hand there. Mav said, “I think you just did.” My grin was replaced with a bit of an emotional look. I looked at Mav and then Zem. I said, “It’s true.”
At the same time, Zem and Mav’s grins turned to sentimental smiles as I added, “Sue and I are probably the most fortunate humans to have ever existed. Sue and I would be as honored as the bartok to have met you all if there weren’t more affectionate feelings getting in the way.”
Mav and Zem briefly looked at each other with even a little more of a sentimental look. Then Zem said to me, “Don’t go getting all mushy. Or you’ll get me and Mav going too.” This caused us all to crack up laughing. We all shared in each other’s laughter as I gave Zem and Mav’s shoulders an affectionate, manly shake. After the laughter died down, we all released each other. Zem said, “Well let’s head on up and get the table ready for the girls.” Mav said, “Sounds like a good idea.” We all started heading toward the dock. Zem and I paused a little to let Mav step up parallel to us. We all then walked toward the dock. Panny and Lika followed us. Looking through the outer glass walls of the house, I didn’t see any of the girls anywhere. The other spare Nal were levitating near the ceiling by the maketake. As we walked, San and Pam separated. They each came down and levitated up a mug. Then they levitated them toward the maketake machine. I wasn’t paying attention at the time. But Pim, Mim, Tal and Sas went over to the table. They started to make our bathing trunks and towels disappear.
Briefly looking over at the beach where the girls had been, apparently one of the Nal had removed the girls’ clothing and blanket. I looked at each of the guys and said, “Somebody should tell Til, Bev and Sue that we’ll be up there.” Zem said, “I’ll take care of it.” We all walked along as Zem seemed to get preoccupied with thought. San and Pam at this point had the mugs sitting on the maketake machine. Pam was taking out what appeared to be a decorative, flowery centerpiece. San was nearby with a folded tablecloth. Mav and I briefly smile at Zem and then at each other before returning our attention back to walking. Having gotten off the dock, Panny and Lika scampered off to the left, toward the beach. After a few moments, Zem turned his attention to us and said with a smile, “They’ll meet us up there when they’re through getting ready.” Mav and I also smiled at Zem. As we did so, Pim and Mim each levitated a chair from the gazebo table. No doubt they were going to bring them up to the upper patio. I looked over at the houks out in the field to our left. A few were snacking on grass. A couple others were laying down.
Farther out in the field in front of us, there were the various groups of animals here and there. I said to Zem as we started to walk in the direction of the stairs that went up the side of the house, “I have another idea.” Mav stepped in and said, “What’s that.” Alternating my smile between Mav and Zem, I said, “My idea is a romantic gesture I would like to do with Sue that you also might wish to do. I would like a big bouquet of fragrant, beautiful flowers. At some point I plan to say something to Sue about how I feel about her. Which no doubt is going cause us to kiss. As we kiss, I plan to press the flowers up against our faces a little so as to make it seem as we are kissing on a bed of flowers. Sue and I had many flowers and petals on our bed after our wedding. I hope it will remind Sue of it.” Mav said, “Til and I have had flowers and flower petals on our bed many times. As have Zem and Bev. It will remind them of it too. You’re just full of good ideas.” This increased my grin a little as Mav turned his grin to Zem. Then Mav said, “I think we have a romantic genius here.”
This caused a beaming grin to come over my face. Zem turned his grin to me and lightly slapped his hand down on my shoulder. Then Zem said, “That’s my human!” This caused us all to laugh. After the laughter, we were approaching the stairs. Looking through the outer glass walls, I still didn’t see any of the girls anywhere. I said to Zem, “How long do you think the girls will be.” Zem smiled at me and said, “It’s hard to say. But it shouldn’t be too long.” Mav looked at Zem and said, “If they’re going to get all dolled up, we might find ourselves underdressed. I’ll see what they’re going to be doing.” Mav also appeared to become preoccupied with thought as we neared the bottom of the steps. After a moment, Zem started going up the steps. As I turned to follow him, Mav said, “Til said we’re fine dressed as we are.” Having turned and smiled at Mav as I too climbed the stairs, I said, “That’s good. I didn’t really feel like wearing anything too formal.” Mav said, “It might have been a good idea to anyway. Just to help show the girls how much we appreciate them. But then we would have run the risk of making the girls feel underdressed.”
Zem turned to look at us as he continued going up the stairs and said, “That wouldn’t be good.” I said, “Sue could show up in a potato sack and I wouldn’t care.” This caused us all to chuckle. Zem briefly turned a little and said with a grin, “I know how you feel.” As Zem reached the top of the stairs, Mav added with a grin, “Me too.” Both Zem and I briefly turned our grins to Mav. With our girls being so wonderful, we were all definitely in agreement on that point. After a couple more steps, I too was at the top of the stairs with Mav a couple steps behind me. Zem was walking toward the other set of stairs. Turning in that direction, I followed. I could see into the bedroom up here. And the views lounge on the other side of the opaque area. But there was no sign of the girls up here either. Though it was possible that they could have been in the opaque area that I figured held the bathroom. I hadn’t really taken a lot of notice the last time I was up here of the glass doorway below the top landing. This led to the near side of the viewing lounge. As Mav reached the top of the stairs and turned on our direction, Zem was beginning to go up the other set of stairs.
Mav said with a smile, “It doesn’t look like the girls are hanging around up here.” Zem and I both turned our smiles to Mav. Zem said, “They’re probably downstairs in one of the bathrooms or bedrooms getting ready.” Mav said as I started up the steps too, “I know how Til and Bev are. And apparently Sue is the same way. Fastidious in their cleanliness.” Zem said, “After swimming and rolling around on the ground, they probably are taking some extra time to clean up.” I chuckled a little and grinned. Then I looked at Zem and said, “For all I care, along with a potato sack, Sue could be all muddy too.” Both Zem and Mav laughed a little. Zem and Mav looked at each other and made happy faces with their eyebrows raised a little. They both said in unison, “All mud, all the time!” Then they laughed a bit. With a grin, I said as Zem got to the top platform, “What was that all about.” Zem turned to us as he moved more onto the landing at the top of the stairs. As Zem did so, he said, “There is a Reall couple named Tol and Mil.” As I neared the top landing, Zem added, “They have a planet with a large number of amusement areas. One of which is a mud themed amusement park.”
As I stood on the top landing, I made room for Mav as Zem added, “These have not only has made them famous among the Reall, but many of the other highly advanced species. Every mud themed activity you could think of they probably have.” Mav got to the top landing and said to me, “They have mud slides like water slides, mud skiing, falling mud glob obstacle courses and many other fun activities.” We headed toward the table in the center of the top patio. I briefly glanced around. Zem and Mav did too. When I saw the patio from the air and the back of Grabby, the table was square with four chairs around it. Now it was transformed into a rectangle. There were two pairs of chairs on the other side and a pair of chairs in the middle on the near side. This was a good idea. Because us couples could look to the one side and see what was sure to be a beautiful sunset or look in the other direction and see the sunlit mountains. Along with the two moons that were now fully visible above them. I wondered who had thought of it. It could have been Zem, Mav, or one of our Nal.
At this point, there was a table cloth on the table and the centerpiece in the middle. San and Pam were about eight feet in the air and a few feet off to the far side of the table. Down the lakeshore in that direction, I could see the bartok sitting around their campfire. The toddler was in the lap of one of the females. The young female and the smaller male were snacking and looking at the others. At this distance, I couldn’t really tell who was who. But being the largest, I could recognize Lega. The female with the toddler and Lega were discussing something as Lega admired his weapon. Gween and Heag were admiring their weapons too. The other adult female was sitting nearer to either Gwean or Heag and admiring his weapon too. Zem then said as we nearly reached the table, “We have been to the mud park many times together. Bev and Til get so wonderfully muddy.” This made us all grin. We stopped near the table and Mav gestured to the chairs on the near side of the table and said, “You and Sue can set there.”
Mav and Zem walked on to the other side of the table. As they did so, Mav smiled up at San and Pam and said, “The table looks nice. Thank you.” San and Pam started to circle around each other’s surfaces at differing angles as they both said in unison, “You’re welcome.” At this point, Tal and Sas were heading our way with a tray. On it were six identical mugs and two smaller ones. Two of these mugs were no doubt Mav and Til’s. The two smaller ones kind of looked the same. There was also a decorative, metallic and covered pitcher on the tray. Also on it were a folded stack of napkins. The other mugs were just like Mav and Til’s. Almost like they were psychic, Panny and Lika also came up the steps to the upper patio. As they continued to come our way, Pim and Mim rose up above the back of the patio. Pim levitated a bouquet of flowers below him. Mim levitated two below her. The bouquets were made up of many different kinds of flowers. Around two thirds of the stems were wrapped a decorative, shiny white ribbon tying the stems together. We all smiled in their direction for a moment. Then I turned my smile to Zem.
Commenting on what Zem said concerning Bev and Til getting wonderfully muddy, I said, “The mud park sounds like a lot of fun.” Both Zem and Mav were smiling at me too as Mav said, “Unlike our little chase here, there, it was easier for them to give us the slip.” We all chuckled some and shared in each other’s amusement. I looked back over to Zem. Who was now standing near the pair of chairs to the right on the other side of the table. I said with a smile, “I hate to ask you. Because you’ve done so much already. But if you ever decide to go back, maybe you could take Sue and I along.” Zem grinned. Which made me grin. Mav added with a grin, “And Til and I.” I briefly grinned at Mav and then back to Zem. Zem said, “Sure. It’ll be fun.” My face got extra happy as I said, “Oh boy!” This made Zem and Mav chuckle a bit. I had a big ear to ear grin on my face. Tal stopped by the table and Sas continued on. Sas sat the tray near the centerpiece. Mav smiled at Sas and said, “Thank you.” Sas answered and said verbally, “You’re welcome.”
I picked up one of Panny and Lika’s mugs and looked at it as Sas went back over to Tal. Then I said, “These are so cute!” These only had two larger heart shaped outlines on them and one slightly smaller heart shaped outline. One held a portrait of Zem and Bev. The other held a portrait of Panny and Lika. The third smaller heart that was in front held two heart shapes next to each other. One orange and the other yellow. Which were Pim and Mim. Below each portrait were the names of those in the portraits with a plus sign in between them. There were also a small number of smaller solid red hearts scattered about them. We all grinned as Mav said, “It was just a little something I thought up.” I said, “The girls are sure to get a kick out of them.” This made Mav’s grin widen a bit. I sat the mug back down as Zem picked up some napkins. Mav picked up a couple. I did too. As we all sat them near where we would be sitting, Pim and Mim approached with the bouquets. Panny and Lika sat near the table. I said to Mav, “Do you have any mouthwash. I don’t want to seem completely like a pig when the girls show up all fresh and clean as they are likely to be.”
Mav was smiling as he said, “We have just the thing.” Pim sat a bouquet on the table over on the other side of the centerpiece. Mim sat the other bouquets on the right side of the tray. As Pim and Mim rose up, small spheres came off of Pim, San and Tal. One of these each headed to Zem, Mav and myself. As they came, the little spheres transformed themselves into small, rounded rectangles about three sixteenths in an inch wide and an inch long. Mav said, “Just let the piece of Tal into your mouth and close your lips.” I did as Mav said. Zem and Mav did the same. We all smiled as we let these flexible pieces of Nal move around our teeth. I could feel a minty fresh taste in my mouth as the Tal bit cleaned inside my mouth. As they did so, I thought, “Is there any end to how useful you guys can be?” Tal answered telepathically and said, “I suppose it depends on what you need done.” I said, “It’s probably more than I’ll ever need to ask.” Zem then thought, “Happy is any Reall with a Nal.” Pim said with a hint of sentimentality to his thought, “Thank you.”
Pim and