Part 4 - Alternate Ending
           My knocks on Naia's door echoed dully throughout the hallway. The double doors had turned out to lead through not a single hallway but a network of sub-corridors and multiple floors that managed to fit forty cabins - in Hrasi terms, enough for eighty people. 'last door on the right' turned out to be the door at the dead end of the last hallway on the bottom floor. A defense engineering masterpiece - nobody who hadn't lived here for weeks would be able to find their way around.
           There was no response from the other side of the door. I rapped only slightly more insistently, feeling a little guilty; I didn't want to wake them up. It was probably something equivalent to two or three in the morning, but Naia had said that I should come to her if I needed anything. There still was no response, so I hesitantly pulled on the door handle, which slid open easily and silently.
           "Naia?" I called, stepping in quietly, "May I come in?" I spoke in English so I could speak softly and not have to worry about proper Hrasi enunciation. There was a low purring sound but nothing else, so I closed the door discreetly behind me and moved in further, eyes adjusting to the light.
           Naia had decorated her room as would befit the daughter of a human; she had made it feel completely welcoming to an 'alien' eye such as mine, whereas the rest of the carrier I found vaguely unsettling. The walls had been white-washed in a Caribbean villa style, the ceiling was a low ocean-blue dome, and her entire floor had been tiled with stones or artificial stones that had strange sigils intricately etched into them.
           Though the light was dim, she had several shaded lamps with light filters over them, casting very dim, mellow shades of green, red, and yellow about the room. Spartan metal tables and chairs that'd been bolted down for safety concerns had conveniently-placed fabric covering their bolts and screws, giving the place a more hospitable look. The bed was on the opposite side of the room in a safe, recessed niche. A large furry bulge lay under the sheets on the bed.
           I softly picked my way past Naia's couch, dresser, and other furniture to hover over the bed. It was a large affair with translucent cream curtains that I slowly pulled aside. Inside, I found myself looking down on Naia, who was entangled in a full bodily embrace with that Eshera Hrasi, and had buried her muzzle deep in the crook of Eshera's arm. Both were purring contentedly, deep in a trusting slumber. Probably was some adolescent's most erotic fantasy, but due to the situation I was in my mind had pretty much been jarred 'out of the gutter'. Well, mostly.
           "Naia," I whispered, bending directly over her ear, "Naia! Wake up!" She didn't so much as bat an ear at me. I risked a touch on the arm. "Hey Naia, wake up, I need to ask you a favor." She dove her head deeper into Eshera's arm, ceasing to purr long enough to mumble incoherently. I pulled her back gently by her ruff. "Naia, wake up!" Naia slid open an eye, saw me, and was quickly awake.
           "Hello, Aaron… What are doing in my room?" She spoke softly, slowly untangling herself from Eshera, but wasn't quite silent enough. Eshera was roused as well, although she rolled on top of Naia and mumbled a sleepy complaint. Naia purred back, then rolled Eshera onto her back. The younger Naia made cooing, appeasing sounds to her, then began licking her face and neck. After a minute or so Eshera was out again, purring like a freight train, and didn't notice when Naia pulled away to face me.
           "Um, hello Naia," I whispered, already backing out of the room. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake her up too. I'll leave. I didn't mean to intrude upon you - I thought you couldn't hear me. I'm really sorry." Naia looked at me and smiled.
           "Aaron, it's okay. Stop running away, I don't mind. Just surprised to see you standing over me in the middle of the alternate shift, that's all." She sat up in her bed and scooted over to Eshera, then patted a newly empty spot on the edge of the bed. "Here, come sit. Did you want to see me about something?" I looked her up and down.
           "I really shouldn't; it wouldn't be decent. Thanks for the offer to, though." She rolled her eyes, endearingly human.
           "It's okay, Aaron. Come on, I don't bite. It's just talk." I conceded, gliding over to sit beside her. Naia wrapped an arm around me and pulled me into her lap so I was facing her, straddling her thighs. That it made me uncomfortable to be that way with someone I'd just met seemed to only make her enjoy it more. I was beginning to see an admittedly lighthearted mean streak in her otherwise innocent personality. "So, Aaron, what do you want to talk about?" She leaned forward and hung her arms around my neck, cocking her head to the side inquiringly.
           "Ah, I wanted to ask you… ah, where I'm supposed to sleep." She stifled a grin.
           "Is that it? Where's Amara?" The million-dollar question, that was. And a twist of the blade in my conscience.
           "I'm not exactly sure: not here. That's a separate matter I want to ask you about tomorrow. Suffice it to say that I don't think she's going to be here tonight. Besides, she said she sleeps with Maura."
           "Not anymore she doesn't. Not unless you find someone else you're more interested in, and telling her that would probably crush her. But you do have a point; as the lord in your relationship it's your responsibility to provide her with any sustenance and shelter she needs, which means getting your own cabin, which means a job… But for now? Huh, I don't know. Whoever'll have you is fine, but the only two men on the pilot's roster are bond-mates, and asking a female would be construed as a sexual offer." She stopped to grin at me. "Sounds better and better, huh?"
           "Just great. Maybe I should just find an empty room, or ask Maura." Naia's expression went serious.
           "If you asked her she'd take huge offense; bad idea to proposition someone whose bond-mate you've just stolen away, especially somebody with a temper as short as hers. She might hurt you. And sleeping alone… You don't have a cabin, for one. Also, to a Hrasi that'd be a sign of weakness. Bad idea." She perked her ears up. "No, I have a better idea. Why don't you stay here and sleep with us? It'd be a sure sign of power and rank if the rest of the pilots woke up to find the scents of three females on you. I don't think Eshera would mind lending you the use of her pheromones. How about it?" I pulled back on her arms.
           "No thanks… What if Amara came back?" Naia narrowed her eyes at me.
           "We're friends; She wouldn't begrudge me your bedside. Listen, I know you're trying to be polite, but it wasn't much of a question. Just slip out of those clothes and get between us. Try not to wake my Eshera up, alright? No, don't argue, it's for your own good." I was slow to remove my clothing, sitting on her calves awkwardly. After a few seconds she ran her hands down to my chest and began deftly undoing my shirt.
           "Hey!" She paid me no heed, throwing off my shirt and then quickly slashing full line rips through both my shorts and underwear. I backed up off her, but she caught my legs between her thighs and tripped me, using the opportunity to pick off the rest of my articles of clothing, leaving me with my birthday suit. "What's wrong with you?" I complained. She grinned and pounced on me, pawing my mouth so I couldn't yell out.
           "We're going to wake up Eshera," Naia whispered amusedly. I shut up and stopped struggling. "Better," she approved, "Now get under those sheets!" She dragged me back to the top of the bed and put me in, playfully roughhousing me, then snugged herself beside me. She rolled me atop her and put my my hands onto her neck and chest. "I'm assuming you know how to give a girl a massage… I'm going to make sure you reek of the two of us by tomorrow morning." I looked at her warningly.
           "Hey, listen, I'm not about to do anything serious. I don't like being even this serious. You're way too young." She lost a lot of the mirth in her look.
           "For a human, maybe. Not for a Hrasi. Been a long time since I met someone interested in me. Hrasi think I'm an ugly abomination for my ears, and humans think I'm the sexiest thing they ever saw. But even they're only interested in my body. Last time I had a human servant I had to kill him because he couldn't keep his hands from wandering around in my fur. You're the first male I've met that even showed a passing interest in who I am as opposed to what I look like."
           Her voice grew gradually more withdrawn, more resigned. I was still very uncomfortable, but now I felt guilty too. "Sorry," she said more quietly, "I didn't mean to say that all at once like I just did. Never mind, alright? Just stay here: you'll always be welcome. Don't mind the bitter fool who's trying to make you feel sorry for her, I'm just lonely."
           I held her up to my face, studied her. She was incredibly beautiful; with Amara not present I could freely admit to myself that Naia was much better looking. To a human, anyway. But I wasn't about to turn out Eshera or Amara, and I needed Naia to be my advisor, not my lover. I started kneading her neck and her top left nipple hard. She took a sharp intake of breath, then melted in my hands. "Knew you'd see it my way," She purred. I didn't contest her - too much of a strain on my conscience.
           "I'm still not going to," I told her, "I don't give a damn what you say, either. You'll thank me for not doing it some day." She looked up at me sedately as I moved down to work on her next row of nipples.
           "I didn't think you would. It's okay; you finish me, I do the same for you, then the same with that sleepless lump Eshera. Ought to be enough of our musk to put the fear of god into anybody you meet."
           "I can't believe I'm letting you make me do this. Amara's going to be so mad. Maura's going to be so mad… I'm a dead man tomorrow." Naia chuffed as I finished her chest and flipped her on her stomach to work on her shoulders.
           "Shut up, human," She mock-growled sleepily, "And do it lower… Uhn, no, to the left… Hhrrrrn, that's it…." I had her asleep in under a minute. Trying to be quiet, I slipped off her and rolled in between them, face down in the bed. Eshera felt the depression and moved on top of me, murring Naia's name. No sense in correcting her…
          
           End Part 4