I thought I saw concern on her face, but I wasn’t sure.
“Yeah,” I said. “Our women are very independent, and if a man ordered us about, he’d be dropped so fast his head would spin.”
“I do not understand your words,” Surkah frowned. “You would harm him?”
“No.” I chuckled. “But if my husband ordered me about and treated me like anything less than his equal, I’d leave him.”
Surkah gasped, and I could have sworn that the Maji males did, too.
“You would leave your mate?” Surkah asked, and I could have sworn she had a hint of horror in her tone because it was plastered all over her face. “Really leave him?”
“Well, yeah. Long before the wars, humans got divorced, separated, or just disappeared all the time. It’s not a big deal; people change their minds.”
“Not Maji,” Surkah said firmly. “We mate for life.”
Nothing is for life.
“What if Mikoh cheated on you with another woman?”
“I do not understand.”
“What if he had sex with another female?” I clarified.
Surkah blinked. “That would be impossible. His loyalty would be to me, and my scent would be imprinted on him from our first mating as he would know going into the mating that I am his intended. He would never want another female because he physically would not be able to respond to her sexually; another’s scent would irritate him, and he would become aggressive towards a female. He would not harm her, but he would force her submission until she learnt her lesson. We may not like one another right now, tiny one, but once we mate, we will never part, not until death.”
“That is … crazy.”
“Is it?”
I nodded. “It sounds like your species has a chemical bond with your partners.”
“What does that mean?”
“Well, when Mikoh … mates with you, he’ll become addicted to you … your scent … right?”
“Well, yes, and I to him.”
Yep, so different from humans.
“So, do you all wait until you mate before you have sex?”
This prompted another laugh from the males and an eye roll from Surkah.
“No,” she said. “We can share our furs with another until a mating.”
“Then how does the intended thing work?” I questioned. “Why hasn’t Mikoh become addicted to another Maji female?”
Surkah shrugged. “None were his intended.”
“Yeah, but what if he got addicted to another Maji female?”
“Then she would be his intended and rightful mate because he would not be able to part from her, but as that has not happened, I remain his intended. Sometimes a bond happens without knowledge, but most of the time, a male or female will feel the connection to their intended and will the bond to occur. Mikoh already feels a strong connection with me, so our bond will snap in place fast; it can happen before we share furs if it’s strong enough. Besides, if Mikoh found another intended, my father and brothers would kill him for dishonouring me since he made the offer to be my intended when I was born.”
I widened my eyes as I looked at Mikoh.
“How old are you?” I quizzed.
I knew he wasn’t human, but he looked twenty-five years old, if even that.
“I am two hundred and three years old.”
My jaw fell open. “Get the fuck out of here.”
“No.” He frowned. “You cannot make me leave.”
I laughed at him because he took what I said literally.
The shipmaster nudged him. “Sera said their lifespans are greatly shorter, so she is probably surprised at your age.” He switched his eyes to me and asked, “How old are you?”
I shrunk under his gaze and murmured, “Twenty-three.”
“You’re a minor?” Surkah asked, her surprised lacing around her words.
A minor?
“No, on Earth and especially during these hard times, anyone aged fifteen and up is considered an adult. I’ve never known anyone to live past sixty-five years. Many years ago, some humans could live to one hundred years of age but not anymore. People in the thirties are middle aged. If you make it to sixty now, then you’re considered really old.”
My father had made it to fifty-nine.
“Maji are minors until our fortieth year,” Surkah informed me. “I won’t enter femalehood until then.”
Holy Almighty.
“So, you’re nearly forty?” I asked, my shock obvious. “Forty years?
Surkah nodded.
“Forty Earth years?”
“No, Ealra years. Your orbital period of the star you call ‘sun’ is three hundred and sixty-five days for one year; the orbital period of our daystar is seven hundred and thirty-four days for one year.”
One Ealra year was two Earth years, give or take a few days. That meant Surkah was eighty Earth years old.
Holy crap.
“You look incredible for forty. Seriously, you look like you’re eighteen.”
I thought she was a kid when I first clapped my eyes on her, for Almighty’s sake.
Surkah smiled widely. “Thank you, but forty is very young in Maji culture. Technically, I am still a child.”
I gestured towards Mikoh. “So, you can’t marry him until you’re an adult?”
She bobbed her head. “Mikoh does not want to mate me until I am at least one hundred years of age. He thinks I am too young right now, but I cannot share sex with another male unless he is my intended. Mikoh does not wish me to be in pain, so he has agreed to mate with me as soon as I am of age.”
“You’re going to have to explain that,” I said with a shake of my head. “Why do you want to get married straight away?”
“Because I fear the pain of my uva.”
“Your what?”
Surkah gleefully laughed. “This has turned into a schooling lesson on the Maji way.”
She looked delighted to be teaching me the ways of her people.
“When a Maji female reaches femalehood, her uva contracts for the first time. It means her body is now able to carry offspring and feed the young after birth.”
“Oh!” I said excitedly at finally understanding something. “You mean you’ll hit puberty? Human women have different stages of puberty but overall it means your body creates new hormones that help the growing body and enables a woman to bear children.”
“Then yes, my uva is to Maji females what your puberty is human females. Does your puberty cause your body to hurt until you mate and fall pregnant with offspring? I can’t remember if it is the same for humans.”
I frowned. “Uh, no.”
“You’re lucky!” Surkah stated, her brows furrowed. “We females feel great pain once our uva contracts. It is why our females are so sexually active and why our males have a high sex drive to tend to our needs during the period when we go into heat. Only pregnancy sates the uva, and once the uva contracts, a female must fall pregnant or the pain does not stop. It is why females all mate so not long after the first contraction, having a mate around for whenever we go into heat means we feel no pain.”
“You’re telling me that when your uva contracts, you and Mikoh will get together and you will have sex … uh, share your furs, like horny animals every single day until he gets you pregnant? Pregnancy will be the only way to sate the uva?”