He wasn't sure but he must have blacked out from sheer pleasure. When he came to his senses, Providence was laying gasping at his side, while Dagaa soothed her with kisses to her shoulder and cheek. She looked disheveled and exhausted, the remnants of tears streaming down her cheeks.
Terror struck Madhava. He'd hurt his mate.
Providence then smiled languidly at him, lighting up his world.
Madhava cradled into her side, sandwiching her between him and his friend. Providence's hand drifted over both of them as she smiled sleepily, drifting in and out.
"Thank you beautiful." Madhava whispered before succumbing to sleep himself.
8 A Rock and a Hard Place
Providence
A goofy grin was plastered to Providence's face as she sat at the table eating breakfast between Madhava and Dagaa. She was deliciously sore in unmentionable places. The fact she wasn't walking bow legged was a miracle.
"We have a meeting with the Foreign Relations' Committee." Dagaa said to Madhava as he took a bite of the crispy fried arvina.
Providence swiped a piece off his plate with a cheeky grin as she popped the juicy meat into her mouth.
"Hey you little sneak." Dagaa declared with mock offense, his hand striking out to tickle her.
Providence squealed, squirming in her chair.
Madhava grinned as he reached over and brushed his thumb across her chin, wiping off a bit that missed her mouth.
"Okay" Madhava replied.
"Foreign Relations' Committee, what kind of foreign relations?" Providence asked as she took a sip of the Cadi version of coffee they called propero.
"We have been contacting other species and have heard back from one called the Agurtzane. They have apparently located the Toufik planet, which is closer to their quadrant of space. Anyway the news they shared is not good. That is what we are going to discuss today." Dagaa explained.
"What's going on?" Providence asked.
Providence recalled the story Bird told her about the storms and volcanic eruptions on her planet. She liked the Toufik, they were a studious, good natured people. The plight of their planet hit home. Although Earth was doing fine when Providence was abducted, it did have its issues. Scientists insisted global warming was taking its toll on the blue planet, along with the fact Cila and Zer had alluded to rescuing humans from some perceived future disaster.
"The Agurtzane probes have confirmed that the Toufik planet is not doing well at all. Cadi needs to decide how we are going to proceed."
"Can I come along?" Providence asked.
"You are not a regent or a member of the governing council, but seeing as we are, and you're officially our Prime, I imagine it would be allowed." Madhava conceded looking thoughtful.
Dagaa, Madhava and Providence entered the council room with several of the other regents. Providence took a seat next to Giselle at the edge of the room.
"Morning." Giselle nodded in greeting.
"Good morning."
"Can you believe the Agurtzane found the Toufik?"
"I don't know how hard it was, but it had to be like finding a needle in a haystack." Providence replied.
It was still hard to imagine finding alien life at all, yet in the span of a month Providence had met four species, and if she ever met the Agurtzane, they would make five.
Kagan stood and everyone quieted.
"Good day. Today we have gathered to discuss recent communications, pertaining to the Toufik, which we have received from the species our Foreign Relations Committee has been in contact with. Dagaa would you like to bring us up to speed?"
Dagaa nodded to Kagan and the assembled regents as he stood.
"As you all have been apprised we have been in contact with the Agurtzane, from the Delta 7 quadrant of galaxies. They are a species our ancestors were in contact with before the war. Based on the limited records we were able to pull from the Jurou Biljana ships, we felt the Toufik came from an area not far from Delta 7. The Agurtzane were kind enough to send out probes when we communicated our brethren's plight."
"Recently the Agurtzane probes located the Toufik planet and report the conditions are indeed as bad as we suspected. Unfortunately they were not able to determine how long the Toufik have, but according to their preliminary estimates it's maybe a year at best before the planet becomes entirely inhospitable. So the issue before us today is, how do we plan to proceed with this information?" Dagaa sat back down.
"The Toufik have aided us faithfully and were instrumental in bringing about the end of the war. As your Daimio I recommend that we plan a rescue mission over the next several months." Kagan stated his position.
"We barely have a dozen ships. Do you suggest we risk what few we have?" One of the regents asked.