Thank you to everyone who is reading, fav'ing, alerting and a special thank you to Badly-knitted and Shadowspirit13 for reviewing. Each review makes for one happy writer.

Incidentally you can thank Badly-knitted for the comment in the review that caused me to alter the first scene. It was originally just intended to be the beard. To quote Cassandra The Last Human from Doctor Who: "It's like living in a bouncy castle." ;-)

Chapter 14 Strange awakenings

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Kensington's abridged phrasebook for the interstellar traveller,

Saluvian and Micurii'an - English,

3. issue, 2. edition:

"Zuuva",

Noun.

Meaning: Beloved mate.

Description: A term of endearment used exclusively by the dominant mate toward the submissive mate. See also "Ziwa"

"Ziwa",

Noun.

Meaning: Beloved mate.

Description: A term of endearment used exclusively by the submissive mate toward the dominant mate. See also "Zuuva".

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Warwyn woke up at the first crack of dawn and immediately noticed something odd about its appearance. It suddenly had a beard. A completely full-grown beard from ear to ear and down to its navel. It grabbed a hold of it and yanked experimentally. It hurt. Then its arm brushed over another changed part of its body. Breasts! It had breasts. It hurriedly pulled down the zipper of its coveralls, accidentally pulling out some of the hairs from the beard and bringing tears to its eyes. Blinking to clear its sight it then proceeded to investigate its new appendixes. They were medium sized and rather perky. The rosy nipples hardening in the chilly morning air. Warwyn tucked the beard away under its chin so it could get a proper look, first at the one, then at the other. It put a hand up to touch the softness of them and tested the weight of one. Noticing how the breast wobbled when it let go Warwyn got the idea to start hopping slightly up and down, making the breasts bounce merrily. So busy was it with studying this phenomenon that it didn't notice Orion waking up and staring at it.

"Nice beard." Warwyn shrieked and jumped at the sudden sound. Orion was still lying in his dragon form where he had been resting all night. His amusement was evident in his entire posture and the sound of his voice. His eyes roamed over Warwyn's body and Warwyn felt a sudden wave of embarrassment and shyness that it hadn't felt before around its mate.

"Nice boobs too." Orion added and laughed as Warwyn turned bright red and hurried to cover its chest back up. His merriment was however cut off abruptly by a sharp stab of pain in his shoulder. Sighing heavily he relaxed back down again and just settled to watch Warwyn bring the embers in the campfire back to life.

"Seriously though. Why do you have a beard and breasts?" Warwyn's diminishing blush flushed angrily red again. It looked down at its hands too embarrassed and shy to speak. "Please? I'm your mate. You know you can tell me anything." Orion looked at it imploringly. Warwyn hesitated and then whispered:

"It's the Change." Orion was confused at first, but then it dawned on him.

"Puberty." Warwyn nodded slowly. "But why so suddenly? And so randomly?"

"It's normal for Micurii'ans. There are three – well, four - phases. First phase is spontaneous development of various bodily features found in the adult body." Orion had to smile. He could practically hear the quotation marks. "Second phase is conscious experimentation with various genders to determine a preference. Third phase," Warwyn blushed profusely again and stared down at its hands again. "Third phase is attracting and seducing the bondmate through pheromones and telempathic means."

Orion absorbed this piece of news. There were still so many things he didn't know about their respective species'. He was glad though that the Saluvians and the Humans had a more predictable puberty. But he did know what the fourth phase would be.

"The fourth phase is the consummation of the bond through sex." Warwyn nodded shyly. Orion thought it made a very cute picture then even with the long beard. "And how long do these phases last?"

"It varies." They were silent for a few moments; then Warwyn softly said: "I don't think I'm into beards though." With that it removed the beard, but kept the breasts and got up to fetch some of their few remaining foodpackets. Orion smiled as he watched it go, feeling that life had certainly gotten interesting after he had met his mate.

Warwyn soon returned with the food and set about cooking it in the makeshift pot it had made. Orion observed the process in fascination. Carefully so as not to jar his shoulder he shifted his position to allow him to look around the place. He'd already seen the woven mat beside him and the pot. Now he noticed that Warwyn had made improvements inside the cave as well.

"You've been busy." Warwyn smiled and nodded, pleased that he had noticed.

"You've been out for more than a day. Two nights and a day, actually." Orion felt his blood run cold upon hearing that. 'Oh, my poor Warwyn, my Zuuva.' Warwyn flinched sharply and gave him a startled look. It had felt his emotions flare through the bond.

"Zuuva, I'm so sorry! You've been here all alone!" Warwyn dropped the ladle it had used for stirring the pot and rushed over to him. It flung its small, thin arms around his large dragon neck and hugged him tight. He couldn't help but notice the new breasts being pressed against him, but he was too distraught to consciously think about it.

"Shh, it's okay." It tried.

"No, I should have been here. You must have been so scared. I'm so sorry."

"Orion, stop it." It pulled out of the hug and glared at him angrily. "You were here. You were just unconscious." It hesitated. "And yes, I was scared. Very much." It swallowed. "I was scared to be all alone. I was scared of this strange place." It looked around briefly indicating the world in general. "But most of all I was scared that I would loose you." It blinked furiously to prevent the tears from falling. Orion was suddenly very glad to be in his dragon form as dragons didn't cry. He used his wing to pull his mate into a tight embrace and started purring deeply to comfort them both.

"I am sorry, my love." He whispered softly and held his little mate as it finally let go of the pent up emotions and sobbed itself to sleep.

xxXxx

A few hours later they were both woken by the onset of heavy rain. Warwyn shrieked as the cold water had its coverall soaked within moments. Orion held his wing over it as an umbrella to shield it from the worst of it. He wasn't really bothered by the downpour. His scales let the water run off without harm.

"Get inside." He told it as he saw the campfire fizzle out and sending up a puff of white smoke. The pot was full of the charred remains of what should have been their meal. That was two precious foodpackets wasted. For a brief moment he was annoyed with Warwyn for not removing the pot from the fire. But he reminded himself that he was the reason it had abandoned the pot in the first place. 'No use crying over spilt milk.'

"Not without you." Warwyn was shivering by now. Orion sighed. Reluctantly he tried to get to his feet, but he collapsed before he could stand. He could hear Warwyn make a despairing whimpering sound, reminding him of a puppy whining. He tried again. His whole body shook with the effort and he felt he weighed a ton – which he probably did, he thought with amusement. His dragon form had grown considerably the last few weeks. A result of his resent growth spurt no doubt.

Slowly he managed to stand. He had to stand and catch his breath for a moment before making the agonizing trek across the ledge and into the cave. Once inside he flopped down weakly, gasping for breath. Warwyn rushed over to him and fussed over him, petting his large head and mumbling worried nonsense meant to comfort him. Nice as it was to be pampered, he could see his mate shivering with cold and it wouldn't do for it to become ill as well.

"Warwyn, go get out of those wet clothes." He told it, startling it a bit. "And see if you can get another fire going. You need to get warm. Don't want you to be sick too." It smiled and jumped to its feet. "Oh, and could you remove that?" He turned his head sheepishly to indicate the soaking wet blanket that had glued itself to his back. He felt so helpless like this. He couldn't even remove a wet blanket by himself.

"Sure." Warwyn beamed at him, delighted to have something to do and to be of some use. It quickly removed the blanket and did what it could to wring the water out. It then draped it over a large outcrop near the side wall and set about doing the appointed tasks. Orion meanwhile was sulking. He hated being helpless and having Warwyn doing all the work. He was supposed to take care of his mate. 'And look how much of a mess of things I've made of that so far! Some mate I am!' He really wished he could change back to his human form again. But he simply didn't have the energy and the dragon form would heal faster. It would also keep him from getting cold. But still…

He looked on as Warwyn got changed, noticing the pretty, delicate breasts had disappeared. He hoped they would make a return visit, 'cause he rather liked those. But, then again, he really liked Warwyn regardless of how it looked. He could even get used to the beard if it wanted to wear one, though he had been really glad when it said it didn't want that.

Warwyn set about making the new campfire and soon it was lighting up their cave and spreading its warmth. Warwyn threw down a folded sleeping bag beside Orion and used it as a cushion while it leant its back up against Orion's large frame. Orion purred deeply as he grew ever sleepier. He had used what little strength he had and needed to rest as much as he could. Warwyn sighed contently. Just as Orion was about to nod off Warwyn softly said:

"You called me Zuuva." Orion stirred blearily.

"Did you mind?" Orion was almost afraid to hear the answer. Even though he knew what the answer would be, he still feared that it might not be so. He unknowingly held his breath.

"No… Ziwa." They both smiled and Orion let out a relieved breath. With such two simple words his mate had agreed to the roles they each would have in their relationship. There would be no power struggles or needless fights for dominance between them. Warwyn had acknowledged Orion as the dominant partner. They sat in companionable silence and soon Orion nodded off to sleep.

Sorry it was a bit short. It just felt right cutting it there.