Knaleg: A Terraneu Novel (Book 3) (11 page)

BOOK: Knaleg: A Terraneu Novel (Book 3)
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Chapter
Twenty One

Five Months Later

Catherine smiled as she pulled the straps of her
bikini tighter. The grand opening of the swimming pond was to be held today.
The fabricators had worked hard these past months getting swimwear made for
everyone. That had been one rule all the members of both council’s had insisted
on. The citizens of the community that wanted to swim in the community pond would
be required to wear a swimsuit. Checking her bikini one last time, she pulled
her hair into a ponytail and tied it up with a matching dark blue scrunchy.
Knaleg was going to be here to escort her to the ribbon cutting ceremony, and
then later they were going to the six-month celebration dance together.

She smiled again when she thought of Knaleg. She had
yet to move into New Haven with him. Not because she wasn’t madly in love with
him, and planning on spending the rest of her life with him. They had agreed to
wait and take things slow. Everyone on both councils laughed that glaciers
moved faster then they did when it came to their relationship. Catherine just
teased back that it was
their relationship
to handle as they saw fit.
Everyone on Terraneu was unique and appreciated for his or her individuality.
She and Knaleg would get to New Haven when the time was right for them.

“Cat I am here.” Pulling a dress over her swimsuit
she hurried to grab a towel to meet Knaleg in the living room. If he got into
the bedroom with her they would never make it to the grand opening. Normally
she wouldn’t mind some sexy time with Knaleg, today however they had to be
there since the council members were going to be doing the ribbon cutting.

“I’m ready Knaleg.” She hurried to the curtain,
laughing when he was coming through at the same time. “Oh no you don’t! We are
going to make this ceremony.” Grabbing Knaleg by the arm she spun him around,
“I promised Amber I would help with the triplets.”

This had Knaleg laughing, “There will be over a
hundred people at the opening Cat.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulder, his
fingers slowly making their way toward the cleavage of her dress. “Amber will
have more ‘help’ than she wants...unless she brings those killer babysitters of
hers. No one will miss us.” His fingers were rubbing circles along the tops of
her breasts moving lower.

Catherine was tempted to just throw off her dress
and show Knaleg her surprise. He had never seen a bikini before after all but
she held firm. She had promised Amber she would be there. Turning into Knaleg’s
embrace she gave him an eager kiss, which turned into a lingering, passion
filled kiss. “I have to be there, I promised.”

His sigh was fierce but he said resignedly, “Okay,
but do we have to stay very long?”

Catherine burst out laughing at his forlorn tone.
“No, we do not have to stay very long.”

Grabbing her hand he practically ran out the door,
“Very well then. Let’s get there so we can get back.”

When they arrived at the swimming pond, Catherine
noted that all the members were already there with the exception of Mairi.
Absent-mindedly taking up the adorable Brennae into her arms, she asked
worriedly, “Is Mairi okay?”

 
“What?”
Amber had been busy chasing down Knadyn...or was it Knacayn? “Oh, Hello Cat. Yes,
Mairi is fine. I think that is her coming this way with Knollig.” She waved
distractedly toward the path that led to New Haven, and then hurried back to
chasing the crawling baby. When she caught him he let out a shriek of
frustration, flailing his little arms and arching his back to be put down.
Amber just laughed and gave him a huge kiss. “Here Knadyn, play with Cebat.”
She placed the baby next to the huge sacath and said,
“Cebat...Tabec...baby-sit!” Then she walked over to place her arm around her mate,
keeping one eye on the babies. Catherine had to laugh at what happened whenever
the sacath were told to “baby-sit”. Then she stopped laughing when she realized
she was still holding Brennae in her arms. Looking down wearily she saw that
the sacath were watching her with narrowed eyes, so she quickly...and gently,
placed Brennae on the ground next to Tabec and backed slowly away.

“I’m sorry Cat. I thought Brennae was already with
Tabec.” Amber apologized when she noticed her backing away from the sacath.

“It’s okay Amber. I must have picked her up when
Tabec was herding one of the boys.” Catherine quickly reassured her, “Tabec was
nice enough to let me hold Brennae for a minute.”

The sacath were completely harmless, until Amber or
Kniam told them to baby-sit. Then they turned into hundreds of pounds of baby
herding, man eating, nanny cat-dogs. If anyone dared to approach the exploring
babies, the sacath would set up such a snarling, snapping display as to
dissuade a person from any notion of touching them. The sacath would gently
“encourage” the babies in their explorations, and keep them safely near their
parents at the same time. It was many a council meeting that the triplets would
sleep curled up with the sacath. Who would have figured that they would turn
out to be such good baby sitters? Kneus and Gwen theorized that Tabec had taken
on a maternal role with the babies due to her pregnancy.

After the council meeting where it was decided to
let the sacath be permitted to breed, Amber had insisted that Cebat and Tabec
be fixed to allow for a pregnancy. After a couple of months of worrying that
the sacath might not be able to breed, Tabec had become pregnant. Catherine
knew when she moved to New Haven with Knaleg and the larger living domes that
she wanted a sacath of her own. Hopefully one of Cebat and Tabec’s would be
available. If they didn’t get one from this first litter, maybe they would be
allowed another? She wanted one for the companionship of a pet, and if she and
Knaleg were lucky to have children of their own...their amazing abilities with
babies! The only trouble she had ever seen came when the babies and the sacath
wanted the same toy. It was hilarious to watch the tug of war that ensued. A
twenty-pound toddler against a multiple hundred pound sacath...and the toddler
won every time. All it took was for a few tears to start and the sacath would
instantly relent.

“Hello everyone!” Mairi had arrived with Knollig and
her grandfather. “I hope we didn’t hold up the ceremony.”

“You are right on time.” Amber smiled at her friend.
“Kniam has been dying to get the ceremony over with so he can see my swimming
suit. I wouldn’t let him see it before we got here.” She had a mischievous look
in her eye that could only mean one thing. Kniam probably wasn’t going to like
her surprise. Now that Catherine thought of it with a sly smile of her own,
Knaleg might not appreciate the amount of skin she was about to show either!

Kniam raised his hand for silence and everyone went
quiet. He gave his speech opening the swimming pond, and then Kneus gave the
signal to start the lazy river. Catherine had seen the swimming pond before
completion at different stages of construction. It really was an impressive
undertaking. There was the lazy river that ran around the perimeter of the
whole site, weaving and winding its way around different levels of the swimming
pond. There was a section that was perfect for smaller children and beginning
swimmers. The deeper section would accommodate adult or proficient swimmers.
There were four waterfalls of varying size, and multiple exits and entrances
into every area of the pond. There was also additional grass and park like
areas for lazing around in the sun on the exterior of the water. They had even
let the gnowlers into the area to make sure they would be able to get to the
grass. It was a good thing they avoided the water. Amber was a gnowler advocate
ever since she had nursed poor Chewy back to health. She was adamant that if
they were in any danger from the water, they would have to come up with a way
for them to safely “mow” the swimming pond’s grassy areas. Thankfully it hadn’t
come to anything drastic, like “gnowler crossings”, or bridges. They avoided
the water like the plague.

“They had all enjoyed the swimming pond.” Kniam had
finished his speech and everyone hurried inside to find a spot to put their
towels and rushed to frolic in the water.

The council members both male and female made their
way to a section of grass next to the smaller children’s swimming area. Since
the triplets were too small to swim on their own and were the only children so
far in the community this area was nice and quiet.

“This will do nicely!” Amber beamed around at the
lounge chairs. “Is everyone okay with this spot?”

“It will be perfect.” Jen was busy pulling her dress
over her head. “With the lazy river flowing by we can stay in the shallows or
join the rush of the river as it goes by!” Jen had tossed her dress onto a
lounge chair and turned to Thian. “Race you to the water!” She took off running
not even waiting for him to get his clothes off. Soon enough he had joined her
in the water.

Catherine laughed at their antics as they splashed
around. She wasn’t even paying attention to the others as she took off her
dress and turned to place it on a lounge chair.

“Cat!” She heard Knaleg grind out. “What do you
think you are wearing?” She was suddenly covered when he draped a towel around
her shoulders. “You are practically naked!”

“What?” Catherine opened the edges of the towel to
show him her suit, “This is a bikini. It is perfectly acceptable swimwear.”

“It is not!” He argued pointing at Jen and Thian in
the water, “Jen is wearing a perfectly acceptable swimsuit.”

“That is a one piece, and Jen looks amazing in it.”
Catherine agreed, “This is a bikini and I always wanted to wear one.”

Knaleg was working hard to keep her covered, and she
was just as determined to get the towel off her shoulders. Finally losing her
patience she slapped his hands away, “Really Knaleg. It covers everything
important and I don’t see why you are making such a big deal about it.”

Kniam and Amber had been watching them, laughing as
they argued over her suit.
”Knaleg...let Cat wear what she wants...” Kniam advised his brother, only to
end on a yell, “Amber! What in the...” he couldn’t even finish his sentence he
was so dumbstruck.

Catherine stopped in her attempts to get covered and
looked at Amber. She burst out laughing at the look on Kniam’s face. Amber had
on a similar version of her bikini. Only Amber’s was a string bikini and fire engine
red.

“Do you like it?” Amber smiled wickedly at her mate.

“Do...what...?” Kniam couldn’t even form a coherent
sentence.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Amber knelt down and
started working on one of the triplets, getting the baby quickly out of its
onesie.

“Amber...” Kniam had struggled to regain his voice,
“You are not staying out with nothing but a few triangles and stings hiding
your...” He looked at the others still around them, “hiding your...”

“Hiding what Kniam?” Knollig couldn’t help but prod
his brother. Mairi had already taken off her dress revealing a modest one
piece. Laughing at his brother’s predicament he held Mairi’s hand and together
they went into the water.

“Really Kniam...Knaleg....” Kneus laughed as he
knelt on the ground to play with the triplets. “You really need to work on your
women skills.”

“Says the brother without a female.”
 
Knaleg snapped back.

“Don’t take your bad temper out on your brother!”
Catherine defended Kneus, “If you don’t stop with this attitude I will just go
back to my dome and not attend the dance with you later!”

Sensing that she had reached the end of her rope
Knaleg tried to make amends, “It’s not that you don’t look amazing Cat, because
you do.” His eyes burned a trail from her exposed cleavage, past her toned stomach
and down her body. “I was just taken by surprise. I’m sorry that I reacted
badly.” He pulled her close then sighed, “Let me get ready and we can enjoy the
water.”
 
Undoing his pants and pulling
them down his legs it was Catherine’s turn to yell out.

“Knaleg!” She had expected the long, baggy board
shorts she was used to seeing on Earth. He was wearing some type of Speedo.
“What are you wearing?” When he turned around, Catherine couldn’t bite back the
burst of laugher that escaped her. He wasn’t just wearing a bright yellow
Speedo, but a bright yellow Speedo
thong
! Now she knew where the term
“banana hammock” came from.

“This is what I was told the males wore on Earth
when swimming.” Knaleg frowned fiercely at Kneus, “Is this not correct?” His
worried gaze swung back to her.

“There is a wide variety of swimwear for men.”
Catherine stopped laughing, not wanting to hurt his feelings. Kneus on the
other hand was laughing like a loon.

“You look amazing. I wouldn’t change a thing.” She
hurried to make him feel better. He really did look amazing with his rock hard
body shown off to perfection.

Knaleg wasn’t convinced and it didn’t help that
Kniam had taken his pants off and was wearing a modified board short. “Really
Knaleg. Think about the impression you are giving the children.”

Amber looked up from her spot with the triplets,
“Knaleg...I mean...” she took a deep breath eying the sight of Knaleg in the
thong and gave Catherine a meaningful smile...”Kneus that wasn’t very nice.
Kniam, stop teasing your brother.” Averting her eyes back to the triplets
playing on the grass, she barely held back her laughter.

“I will just have to leave and get a better swimming
suit.” Knaleg moved to pick up his pants.

“No Knaleg...I brought a replacement suit for you. I
just wanted to see if you would really wear the thong.” With a flick of his
wrist Kneus tossed a dark blue suit at his brother.

Knaleg caught the material and disappeared around a
tree. When he came back he had the shredded thong, and was wearing the modified
board shorts. The rest of the day was spent playing in the water, riding the
lazy river around the swimming pond and napping in the sun. A few of the
couples had even happened upon little privacy pods built behind the larger
waterfalls. More than a few of them had come away from that area a bit
disheveled. Now the showers located right next to those areas made sense. Kneus
had thought of a few wicked surprises for the adults to find. Finally it was
time to get ready for the dance everyone made to return to his or her dome to
prepare. Mairi and Knollig had agreed to watch the triplets, with the help of
the sacath. There were a few couples that would check in on them through the
night, with Amber and Kniam promising to make it home early.

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