It took roughly a day and a half for all of Ya-Mo, the colony, the Enterprise's crew, and the Palace of Winged Daughters, to become fully aware of the fact that Princess Lena and Captain Kirk were having a torrid affair. Lena had given Jim a small bracelet that she hailed him with - in between meetings, early in the morning, or late into the night - to come to her. It was possible they spent more time out of clothes than in them.

Nyota was extremely amused. She had known Kirk since their academy days, but she had never seen him so thoroughly in the pocket of a girl. He would literally drop anything to answer that amethyst hail. Interestingly, this ensured that their diplomatic meetings went swimmingly, as Kirk and Lena took the lead, outlining a mutually a beneficial relationship between the Virosa and the Federation. It was weird to watch, as she suspected their debates were actually just foreplay, but they were incredibly productive nonetheless. What was not amusing, however, was the look on Carol's face whenever Lena and Kirk started panting over each other. Nyota could tell she was not over him, and that this was not helping. But there was nothing to be done; she was the First Princess, and he was the Captain - they had no one to overrule them.

It was turning into the best week of Jim's life. Lena was incredible. Not only was she beautiful, which would have been enough, she was also smart, tough, and supremely confident. But, somehow, they seemed to get along best when they stepped away from their duties. She could be wickedly funny and sarcastic one minute, then sweet and wondrous the next. The sex was explosive. She was in phenomenally athletic and never seemed to tire, but, as the days wore on, he found himself talking to her than fucking her. He learned that she was considered to be quite rebellious for a Virosa Winged Daughter, creating waves within their political spectrum where ever she saw fit. She laughed that the older generation of the Conclave was terrified of her radical leanings, but, because she was careful enough to act within the bounds of their laws, there was really nothing they could do. She was fascinated by his stories of deep space exploration, confiding that she would like to launch her own program eventually, but that unfortunately she, herself, would never get to go. She always seemed a little sad about that, but quickly moved on.

Eight days into their affair she hailed him as he was eating breakfast. There were to be no meetings today.

"Also…" she said, "I can't see you."

"Why not?"

She hesitated; he could tell she was uncomfortable about something, "Ummm… well… I'm a little tired?"

"Tired?"

"Well, worn out."

Suddenly Jim got it. "So I wore you out?" he said, his ego expanding rapidly.

She glared at him through her hail screen, "Hey, you try letting me shove something inside you eight days in a row, and we'll see how you feel!"

Jim laughed, "I think I'll pass. It's alright; Spock has been asking me to help him survey the volcano for days. I'll just do it today."

"You know I can send you scans of it."

"Yeah, but that's not really the point…. Hey, why don't you come along?"

"I have seen the volcano, Jim"

"Come on… It'll be fun. Hey, I'll tell Spock to bring Uhura - it'll be like a double date." Wait-did he just say that?

She looked at him like he was crazy. "A what?"

"Um a double date?"

"You mean like two days in one?"

"Ugh - no! I mean, like two . . ." Jim trailed off. He had been about to say "couples", but were he and Lena a couple? This was not territory he was interested in getting into. "Just come with us."

"Fine. I'll see you in two hours- Lena out."

Kirk, Spock, and Uhura hiked up a large volcano. It was gorgeous. Ya-Mo was primarily rainforest, alive with plant and animal life. Kirk was surprised that Uhura had been so been so keen to come - he had never pictured her as an outdoorsy type of girl, but she seemed quite happy to be wandering the wilderness with her boyfriend - fiancé. Lena was late, but she was late all the time, so it didn't matter. He knew she would catch up. Spock was busy taking extensive scans of the plant life. Kirk hadn't told him he could just get them from Lena later.

Suddenly there was a dark shadow over them, but before he even had time to look up, Lena had landed in a squat at Kirk's feet. Sometimes he wondered how she didn't hurt herself landing so fast, but he assumed she was used to it.

"Hello", she said, with her quirky smile.

Kirk almost moved in to kiss her hello, but, that would have been weird, right? "Running late?"

"I don't run, Jim."

He thought he heard Uhura suppress a laugh in the background.

"So, what exactly are we doing?"

"Princess Lena", Spock began, "We are conducting a search for useful or interesting forms of plant life. As the volcano creates the most nutrient rich soil on the moon, it is likely that the best sampling would be here."

She smiled, "You are correct, Commander. I am assuming Jim told you he declined my offer to share my extensive scanning with you?"

"He did not mention that, Princess Lena."

Lena and Spock turned towards Kirk, "I wanted to go look at the volcano!" he said defensively. What he didn't say was that he also wanted to get Spock off his back about his affair. He didn't care what Spock said, Lena was not Carol - she wasn't like anyone he had ever been with before really. This wouldn't become a problem - they understood each other.

Spock closed his scanner, "I would be very appreciative of your scans, Princess."

"Call me Lena", she smiled.

Despite the lack of necessity, the foursome continued onward. Though she would have been loath to admit it, Lena was sort of enjoying herself. It was not flying, per say, but it was interesting to get perspective from the ground. She rarely saw the plants and animals up close.

"Come this way", she said suddenly, realizing where she was.

Lena led them through a pathway of trees that suddenly thinned out. They found themselves standing on the edge of a 50 foot waterfall, with a deep pool of water at the bottom. The mist from the fall felt wonderful in the heat.

"Wow!" Uhura exclaimed, "This is beautiful!"

"It is one of my favorite places", Lena said. "Most of the pools here are quite warm because of the volcano, but this one stays nice and cool because of the falls and deep water."

"How deep?" Jim asked.

"30 feet."

"Awesome." Jim started removing his clothes.

"Jim, what are you doing?" Uhura was annoyed.

"Going in - of course."

Lena looked at Uhura, "We can - there is a path that leads down. A lot of Virosa enjoy swimming here - Jim, WHAT are you doing?"

"Going in." Lena saw that Jim was perched on the edge of the 50 foot cliff in his boxers. He wasn't seriously thinking about jumping in was he? It was a fifty foot drop! Of course she wasn't afraid of heights, but she could fly!

"You can't be serious!"

"Whoooooaaah, I'm gonna fall!" he said, teetering on the edge of the cliff, teasing her.

"Jim - AH!" Lena shrieked. He had stopped pretending to fall, and leapt off the cliff in a graceful backflip. Lena felt her heart drop to the pit of her stomach - She spread her wings, but knew she would never get to him in time. She heard a splashing sound, then after what seemed like forever, his reckless laugh.

"Hey come in, the water's fine!"

Lena turned to Spock and Uhura, "Does he ALWAYS do this?"

Spock merely sighed, "Yes … Nyota, what are you doing?"

Uhura was undressing down to her sports bra and underwear. "Going in", she grinned tucking her engagement ring, which hung around her neck on a chain, into her bra. It was a little too big.

"The jump is quite dangerous."

"I can swim."

"Nyota-"

She leapt off the cliff into a perfect swan dive.

Spock started removing his clothing as well.

"You're going in too?" Lena asked.

"Yes - apparently."

"Do you want to go down the path?"

"That is no longer an option."

"Sure it is, it's right there."

"Of course, but human pride dictates that my ego should not allow me to."

"Huh? - I thought you were a Vulcan."

Spock gave her a rare smile, "Only half" he said and dove off the cliff. Clearly humans were crazy.

Lena fluttered down to the waterfall's base, watching as Jim splashed water in Uhura's direction. She felt a small pinprick of territorial jealousy, which she immediately brushed away. Uhura was Spock's mate – there was nothing between her and Jim. Still, she was very attractive. Had it not been for her interest in Jim, she, herself, might have been tempted.

Lena settled on a rock and removed her shoes, casually dipping her feet in the water. It was quite warm out. Jim swam over to her.

"Come in," he said.

"I can't, it's too deep."

"I've got you."

"You can't keep me afloat for an extended period of time."

"Just trust me."

Despite knowing it was a bad idea, Lena started to undress. Fortunately, as she hadn't been anticipating having sex today, she had worn underwear - silver metallic, designed for support and to wick the sweat away from her. Jim noticed.

"Since when do you wear underwear?"

Lena kicked the water to splash him in the face, but lost her balance and fell in. As graceful as she was in the sky one would have thought she would have been less clumsy on the ground, but her enormous wings were a great hindrance. She was under for a split second when she felt Jim pull her head above water - she was coughed and sputtered. Her wings were submerged - again.

"Shhhhh - it's OK I've got you." He kissed her nose soothingly, and pulled her close, still treading water.

Lena began to let him calm her - he really had a knack for it. She noticed he really wasn't trying very hard to stay above the water. "How are you keeping us up?" she asked.

He started laughing, "I'm not sure if I should tell you."

"What?"

"I'm not…"

"Not what?

"I'm not keeping us above water."

"You're not?"

"No - you are."

"Huh?"

Jim could hear Uhura laughing in the background. Lena really had no idea. He remembered how she tried to keep her wings out of the water in pool she took him to the first day. He was willing to bet that before today she had never been in deep water in her life.

"Lena", he said, "your wings are float-you can't drown."

She frowned at him, "That's not true, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

He let her go, drifting a few inches away from him. True to his prediction she stayed perfectly afloat.

"See, you're fine."

Lena was speechless. It had never occurred to her that her wings were buoyant. Like all Winged Daughters she kept them above water when she bathed, then servants would clean them with brushes, feather by feather. It was not that they couldn't get wet, but water made them extremely heavy and rendered her flightless.

Uhura watched them with interest. This was the first time she had seen them interact outside of their meetings. They were oddly intimate. At first she thought their affair was just about the sex; Jim had acquired quite a swing in his step since the night of the feast, but now she realized that there was genuine chemistry between them. As they walked up the hill to gather their clothes, she motioned to Spock to watch them. He entertained her theory, but presented the excellent argument that it had only been eight days, and that Jim had a history of fast burning infatuations. Lena did too, judging by what he had gleaned from Brok. In a way, it was fortunate, as in nine days they were to depart Ya-Mo, presumably never to return.

Veelia scribbled furiously on her con-sol. Lena had sent her fairly extensive scans of the Enterprise, but there was still so much data missing. Additionally, the information on their weapons was heavily encrypted. Although Veelia had to admit that she had been quite neglectful of her work; she would have to make up for it when Pavel went back to his ship. Too bad she couldn't ask him for help.

Veelia grinned when she thought about her gift. Since their first kiss she had become much more emboldened - true, she still had not had sex with him, but she had become quite comfortable with kissing, and more. A few days ago they had been kissing passionately, when she felt the sudden impulse to remove his shirt. He was more than happy too, but he then moved to take off hers as well. At first she had been hesitant, she was much slighter that the other Winged Daughters, something they loved to tease her about, but upon seeing his worshipful reaction when she allowed him to touch her, her insecurity vanished. Since then, they seldom kissed with all their clothes on. Veelia had discovered that it was wonderful to feel someone's bare skin on your own when they held you. They had not progressed to anything below their waists, but she could feel his arousal through his boxers when he pressed into her. She loved the powerful, confident high it gave her to know that she could affect him so strongly.

She heard him walking towards her room and quickly shut off her con-sol. He entered with a slight knock - a weird human habit meant to announce entrance - and took his place behind her, looking at her con-sol.

"Good morning, Vee-ya. Vat are you vorking on?"

Veelia had flipped to a random screen of formulas she had already completed. "Just reviewing", she said. Thinking for a second, "Actually, maybe you can help me…"

She opened a screen that contained a formula she had been working on - a physics equation to convert warp core energy into a shield. She had gotten the idea from the Enterprise, whose efficient engine did it with ease, but she couldn't figure out how. She had extrapolated the formula and removed it from its original context, so there was no way he could know it was from a scan of the Enterprise, but he should still have the answer. Then she could feel productive, and leave it alone for the rest of the day.

"Zis should comvert zee varp core into a proyective sheild." he said to her, "Ze Enterprise uses zee vewy same technoloyee. Vare did you get zis?"

Whoops! "I came up with it!", Veelia lied quickly. He frowned but then shrugged. She was brilliant, after all. He reached over and easily balanced the equation for her. "Done", he said.

"Great!" Veelia realized with excitement that this would put her ahead of schedule. She reached out for Pavel's shoulder, and walked him back to her bed. He sat down and they started to kiss. She had become so accustomed to his lips, his hands on her chest, the smell of his hair. He was really quite lovely. She reached for his shirt and pulled it over his head. He was quite thin, thinner than the males Lena and Suria generally mated with, but he still had a nice muscle tone. He leaned back, pulling her on top of him. Veelia climbed into his lap straddling his growing erection. She smiled shyly - he was really into her!

Quite suddenly she remembered she was wearing a dress. It had been Lena's but Veelia borrowed it so often the she just gave it to her. Lena preferred to wear flight suits anyways. It was baby blue, Veelia's favorite color, with a scoop neck, and fell loosely to her knees. Though, straddled on top of Pavel, riding up to her waist, it suddenly didn't seem so modest anymore. He noticed - she felt him slide his hands up her thighs, and rest them gently on her hips under her dress. She also realized something else. Usually their topless make out sessions involved her staying in her flight suit pants. He had stripped down to his boxers, which she was fine with, but as his hands started to slide down to the straps of her dress, she felt a little apprehensive. Of course it would be stupid to go put on a flight suit now so she could justify just taking off the top half - ugh why hadn't she thought of this when she was getting dressed?

OK - maybe this will be OK, she was still sort of dressed, right?

He slid down the straps of her dress, exposing her chest to him. He loved her cute little breasts. Seeing his face she started to relax - she could trust him. He was kinder and more caring than any male she had ever met. He helped her out of her dress, and they continued their passionate kissing, almost naked, but not quite.

Suddenly the door swung wide open - it was Vexel. Veelia HATED Vexel. Vexel was one of the few who still bothered to make fun of her. She was very highly ranked; her family only needed one more generation of Winged Daughter born to be afforded the title of Princess. Vexel was highly annoyed by Veelia's relationship with Lena - Vexel should have been the future Queen's protégé.

"Oh whoops!" Vexel laughed. What was she doing in here!? Veelia thought.

Veelia froze, but oddly enough, Pavel took control of the situation, "Can I help you?" he asked, with just a hint of aggression in his voice.

Vexel look taken aback, "I was just looking for my con-sol."

He wasn't buying it. "Vell it isn't here."

"Sorry! - I didn't think you guys were actually doing anything."

"Zat is none of your concern."

Whoa - no male had ever spoken to Vexel that way, "What did you say to me?"

"I zed, what Vee-ya and I are doing to none of your concern. Your con-sol is not here, it vould not be here. Zerefor, I do not know vy you are here, or how I can help you." He spoke lightly, as not to offend a high ranking Winged Daughther, but Vexel was livid. She could kill this boy is a second.

"Vell", he continued, "vy are you here?"

"I'm leaving, "she snapped.

The door closed behind her.

""Thank you", Veelia said. "I … she… we don't get along."

"Ov course not, she is a bully."

"I..yeah..she was making fun of me earlier." Veelia said quietly.

"Vy?"

"Because we haven't ...you know."

"Zat is none of her business."

"That's what Lena would say. But she doesn't care what anyone thinks… I'm sorry."

"You have nofing to be sowy for Vee-ya."

They were still in bed together, both stripped down to their underwear. Veelia had pulled away from him when Vexel entered the room, but she now closed the distance. He was really so nice to her. Anyone else would have made her feel silly, but somehow he seemed to understand.

"How did you know how to handle Vexel?" she asked.

He peered at her, "I vos bullied for a vewy long time ven I vos young. My classmates did not vike me because I vos much smarter. I did better on tests and eventually vos fast tracked though college and zen Starfleet. Zat did not make zem like me more."

"What did you do?"

"Quite simpwy? I wealized zat zey did not have ze power to hurt my feelings. I have ze power to let zem. I chose to take zat from zem. Only people who are vewy close to me can hurt me, but I trust zem. Vexel is yealous of you. You are brilliant, and ven Lena is Queen you vill be in her favor- not Vexel." He stopped to touch her face, "You should not give her ze power to hurt you. She has not earned ze right the affect your feelings. You cannot control ze sings she says and does, but you can chose how you weact to zem. Vell...it vorked for me anyvays, and wook at me now! I am ze youngest Ensign in history, I am a bridge officer of ze first deep space mission of ze federation, and I get to spend twelve days vis you."

Veelia couldn't meet his eye, "Yeah - but this isn't how The Gift of Flesh ritual is supposed to work. I fucked this up…"

"I vould not change one moment, Vee-ya."

Veelia looked at him, "Really?"

"Vell, maybe it vould have been better if Vexel didn't come in here and make you upset."

Veelia laughed, "I feel better now." She leaned over to kiss him. It was funny how she had never thought of it like that - even Lena hadn't. Pavel was right of course; she did not have control over Vexel, but she could control how she reacted. It made perfect sense. She wouldn't let Vexel get to her because she shouldn't care enough about her opinion.

Veelia climbed back onto Pavel. His hands were on her breast, but she could tell he wanted them to dip lower. The changed position so that she was on her back, and he started trailing kisses down her neck. He hadn't done this before, but she decided in a split second to let him. His kisses lead to her breast, where he started to gently kiss and suck on her nipples.

Veelia thought she was going to explode-it felt really really good to have his mouth on her. She could hear herself moaning in response, and started to feel the heat building between her legs. The more he kissed and sucked, the more it grew, and she started to think about how much she needed some relief. The hand he wasn't using for support rested in her hip - so closed to where she wanted it to be. Maybe he could...

"Pavel...um...could you?"

He looked up at her. Anything you want, his eyes told her. She was pretty sure she knew what she wanted. She took the hand that had been resting on her hip, and pushed it a few inches inward. He blushed and smiled a little then started stroking her over her underwear. This wasn't enough.

"Underneath", she said breathlessly.

He leaned over to kiss her mouth again, and she felt his fingers pull back her underwear and slip inside her. She gave a little gasp in response. This was kind of awesome. Smiling she kissed him back, and let herself enjoy the sensation. She was so wet, panting - as he moved back down to kiss her breasts again, she wondered if she should just do it. They only had four days left. He was technically inside her right now -how different was a penis from fingers anyway? Of course she would have to take off her underwear, but his reaction to her body made it easy to do it.

"Pavel?"

He was back near her face, planting kisses on her jawline. "Yes…."

"I...let's do it."

"Do vat?'

"Let's do it, let's have sex." He kisses slowed, and he looked at her,

"Are you sure? You don't have to."

She nodded. This was it. She really liked him. He understood a lot of the things that had been holding her back. Lena's was right - he was perfect. She lifted her butt off the bed, and pulled off her underwear. She was completely naked in front of him. True to form he reacted very positively, and took off his own boxers.

It dawned on Veelia that she hadn't actually seen his penis before, but it didn't look so scary. She could tell he was nervous. Oddly enough she was much calmer than he was, perhaps because she had finally made up her mind that she wanted to do this. She reached up to kiss him, and released a hint of her pheromones. She didn't want to expel the powerful gusts that Lena and Suria used, but she gave him enough to take the edge off. "Don't be nervous", she said, stroking his hair.

He kissed her back and started easing his way in. Veelia could tell he was going slowly not to hurt her. He was shaking slightly as well. It took a minute or so of pushing, but finally he was all the way in. Veelia mind went crazy, she did it! She was having sex! And it was only slightly more painful than anticipated! He started to move back and forth. Veelia arched her back; it was very pleasant. She wasn't sure if she was going to orgasm, but that was OK. Lena had told it typically took four or more rounds with a new partner to learn each other's body. She opened her legs a little wider, allowing him to thrust deeper - OK that felt amazing! Apparently he thought so too, because he finished 30 seconds later, and collapsed into her chest.

He rolled off of her, flushed and grinning, but rolled to his side so he could see her face. She burst into her musical laughter. "Vat is wrong?" he asked, his heart sinking.

Seeing the worried look on his face she kissed him, "Nothing, that was...great! I'm laughing because of how nervous I was!" He laughed too. Now that it was over it seemed silly to be so panicked about something as easy and natural as sex.

"Vould you...like to do it again?"

"Yes! But don't you need time to…" she trailed off looking down at his penis - apparently not.

"I'm good," he said, and rolled on top of her once more.