NSFW

Part I:

RAKKA

continued

In the bay, the burrells and Grunt celebrate the marriage of Kasumi and Tetonbaum. The burrells have known Tetonbaum for years—as the constant tag-along brother and half though he is, beloved of the Soterios-Sousan children when all were alive…

Now he is wed to his Human bride Kasumi Goto…even if for only the duration of his freedom, what it will take in terms of time to reunite Casnar with Braith, before Merce'des demands their fee of the high th'ane.

Grunt brings out an unmarked crate full of bottles with a heavy dark liquor inside. He sets this down among the burrells who gather to see what he is about to share as he gestures in the general way one associates drink, toast, good cheers.

Even a krogan knows the universal sign language for drinking and mirth after special occasions…

While the burrells are handed bottles of the contraband Grunt has brought with him from Tuchanka, Garrus walks among the di'leans and avoids being inspected by the harsh beaks and frilling crests of the animals, dropping small pellets from his belt's case into the water and food bowls Ylyssus had helped the burrells set down for their mounts while these beasts adjust to their new temporary housing. Garrus dodges a claw as one of the rookers becomes curious about the case on his hip armor.

Miranda and Thane still tend to stowing away Casnar and Ylyssus in the crew cabins and the medical lab of the ship…

Tetonbaum and Kasumi have completed their ceremonial circles and he and his bride close the bay to further secure the ship from those waiting outside on the desert sands between Umay and the Mier. Tetonbaum kisses her hand as she turns to him when the ramp door finally clamps secure and the bangs of the locks resonate throughout the hold.

Kasumi smiles wanly at him as he lowers her hand. "Teton, I would like to go back to the cabin and lay down…I'm a little flushed and I've had enough attention to last me for the rest of the day…Will you come, keep me company?" And the sadness in her eyes bids him do whatever she desires at that moment. He nods slowly and lets her lead him to the entrance to the rest of the ship.

"I will go wherever you wish of me, Mitan'cela."

She shakes her head some as they walk passed the burrells opening the bottles, drinking the ryncol that Grunt sips with a quiet toasting of the bride and groom, now husband and wife passing by.

The burrells notice them and raise their drinks—if they have these in hand—nodding and speaking congrats to Kasumi and Tetonbaum in Rakhïken. They all realize Tetonbaum is doomed, in one way or another, so why call him out for his foolhardiness, getting married to some alien woman?

Garrus looks among the heads of the burrells at Grunt who turns his saurian grill towards the turian among the di'leans tasting and digesting tranquilizer pellets in their food and water…Grunt signals to Garrus with a nod that all is done, and takes another sip of his ryncol.

In the connector, Tetonbaum stops and gazes down the passage towards the front of the ship, wondering where Thane, Ylyssus, Casnar, and Miranda have gone off to…

He feels he might be missing something important. He sees no one in the tube, nor hears anything besides himself and Kasumi…who turns at his having stopped and pulls him by his clothes towards her, "…Teton…"

"Kasumi," he hesitates, "…Maybe I should check with my brother—" She rises on the ball of her foot and kisses him, silencing away any further words. Pulling back, she takes his hand and leads him down the connector, turning towards the crew section as Tetonbaum dotingly follows.

Miranda looks up from administering a shot of sedative to Ylyssus's arm and falls completely still and quiet. She listens to the sounds of footsteps outside the room, the door sealed and locked.

As Tetonbaum is led by the door—behind which Miranda hides with a sedated Ylyssus—his hand tugs Kasumi to a stop as he pauses next to the door on his left, and turns his head to look…

The smells trouble him.

"Teton," Kasumi has seen the look before, when Tetonbaum gets an itch about something. Part of the wonderful qualities about the high th'ane, much to be preserved…

He has an uncanny ability to notice things that shouldn't be and to quickly distract him—for she, too, has a feeling that what is behind that door is not for him to see—she tugs back on his hand, "…You continue to drag your feet. Don't you want to tuck me into my bunk?" She pulls more and Tetonbaum reluctantly takes his attention away from the closed door to heed her desire.

She puts her arms around his waist and walks backwards with him attached to her hips, Tetonbaum grinning at her neediness.

"Little Meile, my dear wife, you are acting most silly."

"I want to take advantage of every opportunity to be alone with you," and her words are so sincere, Tetonbaum does not second guess her.

Thane is nowhere to be seen, but he is watching and paying attention to everything Kasumi and Tetonbaum do.

Once inside their private cabin, Kasumi begins to undress and Tetonbaum stands with his arms at his sides, enjoying the sway of her hair and the reveal of her skin as she bends and turns a graceful dance, only to remove her clothes…She starts to pick up her items and straightens to look at him questioningly, "…Aren't you going to disrobe, Teton?" she asks as he looks from her to the bed.

He hides the unpleasant thoughts in his head about making love to her in the cramped confines of the bunk, his feet hanging off the end of it when they rest.

He needs more room to please her the way he wants to.

Kasumi touches his waist. "Disrobe, Teton…Help me forget what's to come."

"I will make you forget whenever I have you in my arms, Little Meile." He cups her cheek and kisses her forehead, then proceeds to disconnect his sashes.

Kasumi turns with a lingering gaze with his while he draws off his tunic, and she folds her clothes, heading to a console by the bed end and setting her belongings atop it.

As Tetonbaum removes his sash and pants, Kasumi arranges her clothes distractedly on the top of the console, and underneath, she opens a drawer to put away the omni-tool she wore on her arm…Her hands locate inside the drawer the syringe that Thane has instructed Miranda leave for her, hidden under more items and cloths…She wraps her fingers around the glass syringe and brings it up to hide in front of her chest, between her naked breasts.

As she turns, poised and controlled of herself as ever she is, she moves towards the bunk while Tetonbaum's back is to her. Setting his own clothes and items on a desk, Tetonbaum hears her slip into the covers of the bunk and turns to see her with both her hands on the blanket over her lap. Gathered around her slim waist, pale skin like a moon's glow in the dull room, the wool seems to envelop her. "Do you know how envious mithras whisper to me of you, Little Meile? Of your beauty," he crosses to her and touches her chin before his hand smooths over the shape of her hair, curved above her ear, "…Your gracefulness…Your laughter." Kasumi arranges herself more comfortably on the bed, making sure not to disturb the hiding spot of the syringe in the side of the bunk, hidden among the covers. And as Tetonbaum stands naked before her, she hastens to turn back and focus on him, looking up from his waist with its small outer belly button, up over the mounds of hard muscle in his abdomen to his swollen chest of smooth red, blue, and purple pectorals…

He is beautiful, a god himself amongst Drells…and hers…So long as she may keep him alive.

…But will he forgive her after she does what she is about there in that cabin with him?…Will he ever trust her after this?

…Unlikely…Her eyes well with tears. Tetonbaum misunderstands why she is suddenly tearing-up and bends to kiss her eyes. "Teton," she says breathlessly as his lips try to cure her of her sadness, "…did you mean what you said about your love for me…never letting even death part us?" He takes a firm but gentle pinch of her chin and holds her in such a way she may only look into his sapphires.

"Of course, Little Meile. Death will never part us, even when I die and my flesh is long gone from this kosme…I will always love you and what you have given me these past years together…Free me, you have, my dearest love…I give my soul to you…"

This only causes more tears to tumble down…Kasumi kisses him back as he connects with her lips and tilts his head to move closer and pull back some so he does not take all of her breath away. They kiss more fervently, his hands on her cheeks as they move to and fro, finding and leaving the warmth of their unique skins—until Kasumi is so faint with the passion of his mouth and tongue she must break to command him: "…Teton, I want you under me…Sit so I can be on top this time."

He raises his head from her breast, straightening forth with the physical symbol of his arousal and willingness to conduct himself as she wishes him to…Kasumi moves over but not in the direction away from the syringe. She gives him space to sit and Tetonbaum is more comfortable this way, his weight sinking into the end of the bed by the pillows. His erection juts up high enough to bump against her belly as she lifts her thigh over its tip to straddle and sit in his lap. The heaviness of the appendage rests against her skin as she places her hands on his head and slides her fingers down to the sides of his face, gazing into his mesmerizing sapphires.

The moment he comes—when he comes—she sees his sapphires brighten in the centers and darken on the edges…It is truly a most spellbinding thing to witness.

Kasumi raises herself and begins to lower onto him, and Tetonbaum supports her hips by his hands giving and taking with her weight and effort to enjoy the initial descent onto his length.

He closes his eyes as her heat collects him and he withstands a tremble that threatens to rush through him from her contact.

He feels her lips on his brow scales and eyeridges, his nose and hard upper cheekbones…She kisses him down to his tebris and along his jaw before she brings her lips to his, and their tongues touch. "My mitan'cela," he whispers into her mouth, "…you make a drell open his mind to all that I have missed…( I love thee )," he utters again in Rakhïken, Kasumi's omni-tool no longer translating as it has been discarded in the console drawer.

Kasumi crushes her breasts against his chest as she moves her pelvis forward, rocking on his lap, and Tetonbaum's hands, strong and wide, heat her skin as he caresses her shoulders, down to her waist, up her back, into her black mane. She leans firmly into him, her eyes cast downward and gazing at the mattress, there by the side of the bunk the wrinkles in the covers where she hid the syringe.

Tetonbaum leans back to hold her while he gazes at her face, seeking why she is not talking to him.

"Little Meile, enjoy me in this moment…Be here with me…"

Kasumi brings her eyes up and Tetonbaum, for once, sees such shame in the soft, proud brown eyes he has known since he found her in a broken cell in Chiata…

He sits up more with her connected to him and turns his head some to smile at her and assure her—everything will be okay.

"Go ahead," he whispers, "…I will always love you." Her eyes widen at him. She takes the syringe away from his neck, and Tetonbaum prevents her with his hand.

"How did you know?"

"Kasumi," his fingers take the syringe from her, "…I am a high th'ane and no one, not even you may deceive me."

He turns her and lays her on the bed, discarding the syringe by setting it on the desk at the head.

"Before you put me to sleep, my love, let me please you…My wife, my soul," Kasumi arches as he moves back inside her, "…My whole being…"

In Navigation, Thane closes his eyes and shakes his head, removing the mic set from his teness.

"I love you, Teton," Kasumi whispers as he rocks her to a shuddering climax between the three…Tetonbaum kisses her brow as he extends his hips towards her, moving her up in that cascading waterfall of orgasms as she grips his arms, digging her fingers into his muscles…She opens her eyes to watch him come with her, and both of them sigh with the release.

When they are still, their eyes only gazing affectionately at each other, no words spoken, Kasumi realizes the time has come.

Casnar's chest rises and falls serenely as Miranda adjusts the glass cover over his form and sets the stasis mode to contain him in an endless cycle of sleep…for until the time comes to waken and free him.

Kasumi observes Tetonbaum guide her hand with the syringe to his arm.

"I do not hold it against you, my love…I know you only do it because you have love for me, too much to let me go to my end."

"Teton," Kasumi whispers, "…I want to keep you safe. I don't want you to be murdered by those th'anes, and you were going to give yourself willingly to them."

He smiles as he withdraws the needle with her hand from his dark red skin. "Promise me," he inquires softly, "…when you decide to wake us, you will bring up Casnar first, Little Meile," Tetonbaum places the syringe on the console to his right, fully expended of its narcotic promise, "…then rouse me with a kiss from your wondrous mouth, your wondrous loving eyes are what I wish to wake to." He lays down on the bunk, gazing up at her.

Kasumi's smile starts to fade as the light in his sapphire eyes begins to brighten at first, then diminish…A strange glaze rapidly frosts over the once vibrant eyes with a terrible dullness. "Teton?" She breathes his name, "…Teton?…" He lays still, his heavy frame motionless on the bed as she leans her weight upon him, her hands on his shoulders, shaking Tetonbaum to see if he is conscious still. "Tetonbaum?"

Tetonbaum joins his half-brother in the medical lab, his body reposed like a saint composed by Kasumi's own hands under the glass cover of a second healing pod.

She sets the stasis mode and turns slowly from his serene face, the great lids closed over the gorgeous sapphire eyes.

Kasumi looks to Miranda and Thane.