* * *
Kralik bent low over Caitlin’s white face and smoothed a stray golden tendril back. She was lying on a cot, now, back in the tent, after having gotten some medical attention.
He desperately wanted to kiss her but was afraid of hurting her face. The bruise was spreading.
“It’s a pain, isn’t it?” Caitlin asked softly, chuckling. “Maybe the Jao will finally stop beating on me long enough that we can—you know, Ed. Get laid, dammit.”
Kralik smiled. He’d been thinking exactly the same thing. When Caitlin had first proposed to him—okay, suggested that he propose to her—he’d agreed instantly because of his general attraction to the woman. But, once the situation settled into his mind, the more profane aspects of their new relationship had surged to the fore. To his loins, to be precise. Caitlin was gorgeous on top of everything else, even with her arm in a cast and her face bruised.
It had been . . . frustrating, to say the least. And still was.
But there was no point dwelling on the problem. It would be happily resolved, and soon, once Caitlin healed enough. Caitlin might be inexperienced, and therefore a little nervous about sex, but she’d made perfectly clear she was not reluctant. Quite the opposite, in fact.
“Something to look forward to,” he murmured, kissing her forehead. “But now that the dust seems to be settling, sweetheart, how about explaining this little bombshell you just dropped on everybody. What the hell is a taif, anyway? Exactly, I mean. In general, I understand it’s something like a junior kochan.”
Dr. Kinsey’s voice interjected. “A probationary kochan, would be more accurate. Or, better yet, a trainee-kochan.”
Kralik hadn’t seen him coming. The professor waved his hands apologetically. “I don’t mean to intrude though, if this is a private moment.”
Caitlin smiled up at him. “Private moment? In a tent jammed full of soldiers? Please, Doctor Kinsey. I’m not a prude, but—still!”
Kinsey chuckled. So did Kralik. She nodded toward a nearby stool, and raised her voice. “Have a seat. And I imagine everyone here would like to hear what you have say.”
Kinsey perched himself on a stool and waited until the people in the tent had gathered around.
“The origin of the institution of taif goes all the way back, in Jao history. It’s something of a necessity, if you think about it. There are still isolated groups of Jao slaves to this day, in Ekhat captivity. There were far more, in the time after the Jao rebellion began. So, from the start, the Jao were faced with the problem of what to do with newly freed slaves. In some cases, so far as I can determine—especially when the number of freed slaves was small—they were simply adopted into whatever kochan freed them. But marriage-groups are deeply innate in the Jao, and were so even among slaves. Personally, I suspect the Ekhat bred that into them, in order to keep their numbers under control.”
By now, he’d adopted his favorite professorial stance in the absence of a proper desk—hands clasped in his lap, when not gesturing with them right and left.
“You can see the difficulty. Breaking up a Jao marriage-group is even more traumatic for them than divorce is for us. So, the taif was created to resolve the problem.”
He paused, looking professorially alarmed. “You all understand, of course, that I’m simplifying grossly. No doubt the taif-institution was never ‘created,’ in the sense that one creates a machine. Rather, it would have evolved—”
“Cut to the chase, Professor,” Tully grumbled. “We’re not scholars. We’ll all forgive you any lapses into imprecision. Personally, I’d appreciate them. I’m a simple-minded grunt.”
Kinsey looked a bit startled, but recovered quickly. “Well, then. So long as it’s understood—” He hurried on, since Tully was starting to glare.
“The point being that Caitlin’s proposal fits us rather neatly into an already existing Jao custom. The only unusual aspect of it, in fact—other than the obvious one of applying the institution to a species other than Jao—is her proposal to have the Bond serve as the overseeing kochan. The ‘trainer kochan,’ if you will.”
Tully rolled his eyes. “Oh, great. Wrem-fa on a planetary scale.” But he didn’t really seem aggrieved.