It took only a moment for Fleetfoot to bring up his 'condition' once more.

"Your body desires mating," she pointed out.

Looking away with embarassment, Ashûk growled, "I... desire it as well."

"So do I," she murmured. His head jerked back sharply and he fixed her with a startled look.

Was that what he was smelling, then? There were so many odd feelings and needs stirred by this female, he couldn't categorize them all. He thought her scent was simply... well... just her. He'd assumed his reaction was to her in general, not anything with a purpose. Such as a mating musk.

Now that he knew what it was, his own need became more desperate. Alarmingly so. Perhaps she reacted to his musk, for hers seemed to strengthen in proportion to his.

"How is it done?" she asked curiously. "Among your kind?"

Stricken by the question, he could only gape. He had never actually witnessed a forced mating, much less a consensual one. In all truth, he hadn't even seen a male with a female. All pleasures were managed by one's own hand, or taken from another male, willingly or not.

Her open and honest curiosity made him gather himself and answer. "I have not seen it done with my own eyes. We were told... but... I have not done it."

"What were you told?" she pressed.

"How it is done by force," he said quickly, wincing.

"It is a start," Fleetfoot said. "Tell me."

Swallowing, he took several deep breaths. "I am... to lie atop you." A shiver shook his body briefly as his mind embarked on lurid fantasies of mating with Fleetfoot.

When he hesitated too long in continuing, she said contemplatively, "The wild creatures mount the female from behind."

Another image flashed into Ashûk's mind, and he grunted. Releasing her hands, he dragged his fingers through his hair, trying not to see himself covering her like a warg in heat...

"When you say it is done by force," Fleetfoot continued, seemingly oblivious to his struggles, "the male is atop the female. How is he atop the female?"

Hauling himself back to the conversation, he gasped, "Uh... could be mounting from behind, I suppose. I... was told it was done face-to-face. So the female knows who... what..." A bit of his passion dulled at the recalled instruction. It was a tactic to increase the fear, heighten the terror. The Uruk-hai were so dreadfully hideous, so monstrous in appearance, that forcing the females to see what assaulted them increased the impact of the assault.

The position was as much a part of the weaponry as the Uruk bodies were.

"If that is how it is done by force," Fleetfoot reasoned, "and from behind is the way the wild creatures do it, then we must find a different way. Perhaps if I am atop you?"

Ashûk's gut reaction was to resist even the suggestion of allowing another to take the dominant position with him. One just did not give up their power like that. But looking at her... he realized it was a matter of trust. Could he trust her in such a position? Was he willing to be submissive... even for such a reward as this?

There was, to his surprise, no debate over the answer.

"Yeah," he said, nodding, "that would be different."

"All right then," she said brightly. "We will try that. Lie down."

His face went slack. "What... now?"