The new Leveler posed a problem: Indel refused to speak. Since the two had awoken, roughly at the same time, Nala had gathered a great deal of water.

Indel was quiet.

His injured friend must have held great importance for him.

As the day progressed with Indel so agreeable, Nala’s enthusiasm for giving aid waned as well. She gave Indel the greater majority of the water because he was King, but he could barely sit up enough to swallow it.

When Nala tried to aid him, Indel eased her aside so that he might stare at his friend.

Nala understood. It was unheard of for a Summoner to examine or meet eyes with a Leveler for long. Unfamiliar with the tell-tale signs of a female Leveler, she’d tried to use Summoner habits, shapes, sizes, markings to guess. Nothing on the exoskeleton hinted at it. But now, now Nala knew. Female. The new Leveler was female and so enticing that Indel never looked away from her, not even for a moment. Indel had boasted before about being groomed by females honored and fortunate enough to receive his interest. It stood to reason that he’d carried a groomer with him to stave off the anguish of the mating spell until his arrival at his destination.

The second Leveler was in poor shape, what with the cracks all over her armor, but considering her importance, Nala resolved to treat her well. That proved a difficult task because Indel’s friend scorned her.

Gathering enough paste to make food for both of them was a grueling task, made all the more difficult because Nala longed to return to their sides as quickly as she could.

When she came back to find them gazing at one another, she held her peace.

She handed Indel the greater portion, and again Indel pushed Nala aside and offered the new guest the food instead.

He was so careful—so careful with the Leveler female, far more careful that he’d been with Nala. Nala’s skin itched. It felt so dry it nearly burned but it was foolish to be upset. She had no reason to be woeful. The king had his charge and obviously held affection for her.

Rather than leave the new Leveler on the ground, Nala decided to gather up hay and leaves to offer her a soothing resting place for her back.

The Leveler refused Nala’s touch with a flinch and a vocal gag. Each attempt Nala made was met with a hiss. Nala didn’t say anything back. Both lovers were silent with her there. Both stared at one another, and both barely ate of the food.

At the very least, Nala thought Indel would accept her food and water and save her the insult.

The day was tense, but by the evening, the second Leveler’s scales began to shed.

She can even shift stages at will... Nala marveled. She’d blamed the mating season for her own change but it wasn’t something she’d called on. Summoners could no longer will the stages to come. It was no surprise that this Leveler could.

Each scale which fell away brought fresher skin with it, healing most wounds, albeit crudely. This Nala acknowledged. Shifting forms left everyone renewed. If it was so easy for Levelers, no doubt this one would continue the shift until she was in her third stage—prime for mating.

That was what Indel needed. A lay. A proper lay. Rather than bear witness to the new Leveler’s beauty—that Leveler’s tail, Nala took great interest in the floor whenever at rest.

She considered giving them privacy for a time. No doubt Nala’s lay had left Indel unsatisfied. The new Leveler might have been better skilled. Wandering around the barn in the dead of night was near suicide but Nala thought to risk it rather than bear witness to a real lay, a better one as Indel had complained even this morning that Nala’s secretions were too few. A mate who wouldn’t be so foolish as to lie on her back like a stupid Earther.

Standing at the doorway, staring out at the setting suns, Nala tried to understand how one day could change her emotions so entirely. What she felt this morning and what she felt now was such a great contrast that she worried for herself. At this rate, she’d drown herself in the river by nightfall.

The first sun, Tjave, and the second, its slower and brighter brother, Pojn, dulled in the distance. Before Tjave rested for the day, Nala sent out a prayer to their long-forgotten gods.

“What am I to do with them?” she whispered.

There was no reason to ask. Indel’s body still ached and his groomer was here. No doubt they would want to commence somehow.

Suicide and night predators be damned, Nala couldn’t bear the thought of staying.

“Na’am...”

The word left Nala’s hearts pounding against each other. Was he calling her? Or...or the new Leveler? There was no movement save for her heaving chest.

“Na’am?” Indel repeated.

With such gentleness in Indel’s voice, Nala dreaded turning. She did so, however, ready to accept whatever Indel asked of her.

She should have answered, but the word ‘Mana’ would be too telling.

“Come here.” Indel extended his hand to her. “The pain reaches to my very neck. Give me but a moment.”

Nala stared at him, confused and slighted. She would have taken it for mockery but Indel shifted the gunnysack covering to the side to show his meaning.

His member, no longer pink, was red and full.

One glance at Indel’s groomer showed Nala the new Leveler’s curious eyes—the only place visible due to the exoskeleton on her head. The newcomer was confused.

Nala’s body swelled with pride. It was a foolish reaction but to get such a request instead of the Leveler was an unexpected thing.

A smile in place, Nala hurried to kneel by the hay.

“No, Na’am,” Indel cooed. “Undo your robe.”

And show my tail...? All interest and possible secretions faded. Now instead of foolish pride, she felt like a plaything. Indel was agreeable—Indel was never agreeable without reason.

His fingers in Nala’s hair, Indel leaned in and whispered, “It aches. Please have faith in me. I need you close for tonight. In the morning we’ll be gone otherwise.” Indel reached down for the rope that held Nala’s gunnysack robe closed. “Give me this thing, I beg of you.”

Staring up into those gray eyes, Nala decided one thing; she would allow no regrets upon Indel’s parting. No regrets for herself. Her lack of trust made her skin dry—made it difficult for her king to penetrate.

Letting out a deep breath, Nala stood, shed the robe, ignored the other Leveler’s gasp of disgust, and knelt with her hands on the ground.

It wasn’t that far from the hay but even moving that much proved a chore for Indel who made a great deal of groans as he dismounted to kneel behind her.

With each second that passed on her hands and knees, Nala hated herself. She hated it even more because she didn’t have the knowledge needed to make this a better memory to keep.

She glanced at the groomer-Leveler’s feet rather than witness any disapproval in a possible gaze. The new Leveler’s stage-shift was nearly complete, though her clawed hands took longer to shed.

Indel’s presence at Nala’s back drew her focus.

The king touched her, the dip of her back, then lower to her stump of a tail.

“If you prefer your groomer...” Nala began.

“I prefer you, Summoner.” Easing back on the hay, Indel pulled her along. “Come, your body is dry. Lie by my side.”

Nala settled in with him, upset leaving her body to burn.

“But you’re in pain,” Nala protested.

“You do not know much about a lay,” Indel whispered. “A secreting body means it’s pleasurable for both. I wish to romp with you, not injure you. Come. Rest here. Rest close to me.”

And so they remained until night took them. In the darkness, Nala stared at the groomer’s glowing eyes for some time before she lost most of her own vision. Summoners weren’t as well suited for the night, though some could practice themselves to be.

Nala closed her eyes, her body pressed to Indel’s, but when she heard the groomer shift and rustle, she said nothing. When Indel slipped over her and fell to the ground, no doubt to join his own kind in a proper lay, she said nothing.

She wasn’t sure when Indel connected with the other Leveler in the night, though she did know they were both lying as they did. At each groan and whine, she waited, shame robbing her of even the power to look.