1
SHAVISH
T he nightblooms, with their intoxicating perfume and luminous glow, light up the forest where the vines cling to the giant branches and climb trunks that stretch up with magnificent girth from the ground below. My wings hum behind me, thwarting my self-control with anxious anticipation. I am too old to be lighting up like a youth during his first mating dance. Too old to get my hopes up yet again. I try to remain aloof, schooling my features into a mask of disdain as I survey the surrounding woods.
Tomorrow night is the festival of Amheina, the crowning festival, the first of two annual festivals in which pixie males may seek a queen. Anticipation fills me. My hive has tried for many years to woo a female to join us, but every year we’ve failed to draw one in with our mating dance. I’d almost given up hope, but the seer affirmed that this would be the year we would find her. To say that I’m relieved would be an understatement. As it has been pointed out to us many times, our bachelor hive is older than others. Most males lure in a queen for their nest as early as their twentieth year, and most by their twenty-fifth.
I am far from twenty.
I grimace as the rising moon suddenly floods the woods with light, silvering every leaf on the tree so brightly that it temporarily blinds my sensitive eyes. No. I am not even twenty-five. This is my thirty-seventh year, and though I am the eldest of my hive, it is not by much, with the youngest of my brothers at thirty. Among our pixie brethren, who live close to a thousand years, we are ironically considered past our prime when it comes to courting.
Because of that, many within our woods have encouraged us to do as other bachelor hives and be rendered infertile to serve as castri to tend unmated queens. My skin itches in repulsion at the thought of a lifetime of service, making myself available to wait on females and used for their first sexual experiences until they find mates.
Being a convenience.
I can’t bear the idea, and I’m dismayed that Orel and Gwin have already resigned themselves to it. They have been taking turns trying to talk me into it over the last year as the pressure mounts to conform to expectation. Even the youngest of my brothers, Dazi, has given up and contents himself with his studies and various interests.
I refuse to let this be our fate. There is nothing wrong with our hive. We are strong, healthy males.
Sure, our colors are a bit plain compared to other males, and we tend to be more aggressive than our brethren, but I do not see these as faults. We can hide better and protect our nest better.
“You are brooding again, brother.”
I glance over at Gwin, his dark green wings fluttering as he drops to perch beside me on the rear balcony of our nest. Out of my hive brothers, he is my only sibling. His black eyes watch me expectantly and I feel a flood of affection toward him that comes across our hive bond. My brother’s expression lightens and a smile twitches on his lips.
“I am not brooding,” I argue. “I am merely considering options.”
Gwin sighs and gives me an impatient look, his brow plate arching expressively above one eye.
“What options are those, exactly? You do this to our hive every year. Every Amheina and Ehano, you are determined that it will be our turn. It makes you impossible to live with! When will you accept
that we are not going to be chosen?”
“I am not beyond hope!” I growl, my temper flaring. I already know where his argument is heading, and I do not have the patience to hear it tonight. Instead, I give my brother a confident smile.
“I have seen the seer.”
The other half of my brother’s brow plating shoots up as he stares at me askance. “The seer? You know what our responsibility is. Why would you visit the seer over something so trivial…?”
“It is not trivial,” I snap. “One would think that you enjoy the thought of being magically stripped of your mating pheromones and rendered unable to mate or breed the way you carry on about our so-called responsibilities to the queens.”
Gwin stares at me in shock, not unwarranted. Since the day my mother bore him, he and I had been close despite the five years separating us. We have battled other males to assert our territory and brawled together, protecting each other, but I do not recall a time that I raised my voice at him. His wings drop, and a scowl slowly forms on his face as the shock wears off. His arms cross over his chest, the plating over his chest and upper arms shifting with the movement.
“That is not fair, Shavish,” he says defensively. “You know I suffer as much as you every year. Do you think I enjoy the physical pain that follows an unsuccessful mating flight? Do you imagine that I like the way it makes my cocks feel like they’re ready to burst? Even the arms of our hive brothers do little to slake a mating burn. What of the endless disappointments? Or maybe you think I like being hounded by the elders whenever they see me flit by? I am tired of it.”
I feel a twinge of guilt but smother it under a scowl.
“I am not ready to give up, especially not when the seer has foretold that this will be our year.”
My brother pauses at that, his arms slowly dropping. The look that crosses his face is one of suspicion. “The seer told you that? Exactly that?”
My plates chime softly as I bristle in offense. “I am not Orel, who conveniently twists facts to suit him. The seer said that our female would await us in the great depths of the wood on Amheina.”
Gwin is silent as he considers this new information. He still doesn’t look pleased, but at least his scowl has lifted into a slight frown. He sighs and drops his head back as if praying to the stars above for strength like our sires do. At long last, he drops his head again to meet my eyes.
“Okay, Shavish. I will try one more time at your insistence, but I warn you that this is the last year,” he says slowly in an unyielding voice. “I will not dance for Ehano, nor for Amheina again if we fail.”
“We will not,” I say confidently. “I have an idea of where in the forest to perform our dance in search of our queen.”
“Do you agree to my terms?” my brother presses.
“Agreed.”
He blows another sigh from between his teeth. “Very well… Just let me break the news to Orel.
You know how the two of you argue these days. He will never be convinced otherwise. You, however, get to pry Dazi from his hole.” He says the latter with a smirk, but I bare my fangs in an answering smile, not daunted in the least.
“Leave Dazi to me,” I agree easily.
Gwin gives me one last searching look before nodding. His green wings spread wide, and he hops into the air with a wild hum as his wings flutter, carrying him away in search of Orel. I watch him go, a triumphant smile still lingering on my lips.
It was easy to agree to his terms with the words of the seer backing me. My wings flutter again. It is all I can do to keep from flying among the trees to search her out now, flashing my mating colors.
The only thing that keeps me inside the nest is the knowledge that I would waste my energy stores prematurely, and that a lone male has no hope of attracting a female.
I need my hive brothers all on board, but it is easier said than done. Over the years, our relationship has become more and more fractured, our hive’s bond strained. We rarely spend time with each other outside of our most intimate moments, and even those as of late have had a touch of desperation to them before they faded altogether. We need a mate to save our hive in every sense of the word. Without her, we would continue to slip out of harmony with each other, and eventually our hive would be dissolved as we joined the queens’ nest as castri.
I drop down from the balcony into our nest, my wings fluttering to slow my descent until my feet are firmly on the floor. With haste, I make my way to the lowest level of the nest, where Dazi keeps his office. I tap two thick claws on the door and wait patiently for him to answer.
From within, I can hear rattling around and the irritated buzz of Dazi’s wings as he makes his way to the door, not even bothering to hide his irritation. The door opens a crack as my youngest hive brother glares out at me.
“No.”
My brow plates slam down. “You haven’t even heard what I have to say.”
“I know what you are going to say,” he rebuffs me coolly. “I have no interest in another mating flight. I tell you every year, and every year you insist on dragging me out. No. No more. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have an elixir I am working on…” The door begins to close, but I block it with my foot.
“You are going to hear me out even if I have to haul you out of there,” I return, the temperature in my voice dropping noticeably.
The door swings open, and he steps out to confront me. His wings are buzzing angrily as his plating bristles, the edges moving to make an aggressive rhythmic chiming sound. It is sharper than the light sounds he makes during times of affection, and I know it’s intentional, to put me in my place. He hasn’t welcomed my touch in four circles of the moon and has made no secret of it. It pains me greatly to see him so hostile, and I know the tension between us through our hive bond pains him as well.
“Excrement of Zaba, you just won’t quit!”
“Never,” I growl in agreement. A calculated smile curls my lip. “What if I make a bargain with you…”
Dazi bites off whatever he was planning to say and cocks his head, regarding me through narrowed eyes. Spreading his wings to block the doorway, he gestures impatiently with one hand.
“This had better not be a waste of my time.”
“I will agree to never mention mating flights… on one condition.”
His lips thin, and I almost suspect he is going to slam the door in my face, but to my surprise, he sighs loudly. “Go on. I’m listening. What do you want?”
I can feel the twitch of a smile trying to form on my lips and squash the impulse. I have him hooked, but he is terribly temperamental about anything he considers to be even slightly smug.
“All I am asking is for one thing: one last flight,” I say delicately. I can see his jaw tightening and know he is going to refuse me. I need to sweeten the deal, and fast. “Moreover, if you agree, when we acquire our mate, I will leave you to your peace. You can lock yourself in here for the entire interim of our lives without complaint from me.”
The delicate antenna protruding out from two plates high on his brow tip my way, but I give him a guileless smile. He is suspicious and trying to read me, but he will get nothing but sincerity. My offer is genuine. Dazi’s glare shifts into a puzzled frown when he realizes this.
“What makes you so confident that there will be a mate?”
My wings lift as I shrug. “Why shouldn’t I be… when the seer confirmed it?”
Dazi purses his lips thoughtfully. I can see he’s intrigued.
“If I agree to this, you will not only cease hounding me and will leave me alone when I am working, but you will also volunteer to assist when asked.”
I bite back a groan. I absolutely loathe being trapped in my brother’s office. Still, if we get our queen, it will be a small sacrifice. “Agreed,” I grumble.
“Very well,” he says mildly, and the relief that fills me from those two little words almost sends me reeling. I maintain enough focus to know that I need to beat a hasty retreat before he changes his mind or adds more conditions. I try not to look too pleased as I quickly turn to walk away.
“And one more thing,” he adds just as I turn.
I groan. I knew it! What more could he ask? I glance back at him in inquiry.
“If we do mate, you will not hog her to yourself. You will allow her to keep me company here whenever she wishes. I want equal time with our queen. This is not all about you, after all.”
I am offended that my hive brother would even suggest that I would try to keep our queen to myself, although I dislike the idea of my female lingering for hours on end shut away from me with him. Still, the terms are fair.
“Agreed,” I say stiffly and return his nod just before he steps back into the room. The door slams between us once more. I stare at the door, a grin stretching across my face.
Everything is going according to plan to reunite our hive once more.
