I awoke from my nap with a slight jerk of my head. I was still in the tub. Judging by the temperature, I hadn’t been out for long. As I opened my eyes, I found a pair of deep, golden eyes staring back at me intently. 

“Hani?” I asked. 

Those eyes widened slightly. I couldn’t see her lips, but judging by the way her face crinkled, she was smiling.

Judging by our position, she was seated on the edge of the tub, allowing me to use her thighs as a pillow. Either she’d removed her underskirt at some point, or she’d hiked it up to keep it out of the water. Probably removed. She really didn’t strike me as the sort who cared what I saw.

Just what the hell did that mean?

The obvious answer was sex, or at least, intimacy. I’ve been around long enough to know that there’s a difference. The only problem was, I really wasn’t sure how to ask her what she was after. All we had were gestures and body language, and that didn’t work if I couldn’t see her. I supposed I could just full send and let nature take over, but my gut told me that would be a mistake. Something told me that she wanted something in particular, and if I guessed wrong, it would cost us something down the line.

Whatever the case, I needed to get over this language barrier, and fast. 

On a whim, I took her hands in mind and pulled her gently towards the water. She resisted for a moment, unsure, but when she realized what I had in mind, she slid in behind me, by back resting against her chest. Bare legs slid past my hips as she rested her heels on my thighs, locking us together.

The Goddess mentioned that Hani’s people were telepathic, but that they had to form a link. Skin on skin contact is one of the most primal forms of bonding known to the human race. If you’ve ever been at the hospital with a newborn, both parents are encouraged to let the baby rest on bare skin to facilitate the formation of that parent-child connection. 

Skin on skin is intimate, comfortable. It’s the sharing of warmth and familiarity, and of vulnerability. In short, it’s a bond. So, I nuzzled up against Hani as close as I could, closed my eyes, and did my best to focus on the image of the Goddess in my head and the idea of giving Hani what she wanted. 

Translating words into raw idea is hard. Like, really hard. Language shapes so much of our perception that it can actually warp the way we see the world. Stripping away the shapes and sounds of words into something that could be understood without them wasn’t something I’d ever done before. It took a few tries before I felt something flicker at the corners of my consciousness. Surprise, maybe? 

Hani fell back in shock as she recognized my attempts to communicate my feelings. Since she had been supporting my whole upper body, I tumbled backwards too. Instinctively, I twisted around to get my arms under my body before I could hit the ground, realizing an instant too late that A: I was in the water and therefore in no danger of busting my head open and B: the only thing immediately below my face was, once again, Hani’s lap. 

We both suddenly went very still. I screwed my eyes shut and tried to focus on the image of complete darkness. I hadn’t looked, and I wasn’t going to. I kept my face under the water, too, as if to say “if I have shamed you, all you need to do is hold me here.” Maybe being seen wouldn’t bother her, but there’s a difference between being seen and being seen. Lots of cultures treat nudity as an ordinary, everyday thing, while still maintaining strict taboos about casual sex or intimacy. 

Once again, I felt flickers of foreign thought at the corners of my mind, like formless movement spotted in the corner of your eye.

I thought I detected flickers of recognition. She knew what I was trying to convey. That was a start. But she was also of two minds on the matter. Well, more like three. Part of her was deeply embarrassed, to the point where she seriously considered pushing my head under the water. I got the mental image of little bubbles rising to the surface. Part of her wanted to pull me to the surface and wrap her arms around me, to let me know that it was okay. She knew I hadn't meant anything by it. 

But then there was the part of her that wanted to part her legs just a little, just to see what would happen. That part, she tried to wrap in iron bars of self discipline, but I felt the muscles in her legs twitch, just a little. 

What the hell, might as well. In for a penny, in for a pound, as they say. If I was going to drown, doing it with my head between some lovely thighs was a good way to do it. 

I hadn’t intended to transmit that last part, but apparently, that was all it took for those iron bars to rust away into nothingness. 

Hani gripped the edge of the tub and lifted herself out in one fluid motion. I’m not a complete dumbass. I kept my eyes closed, even as she took my face in her hands and guided it towards her nethers. There wasn’t much in the way of taste or scent, both of us being fresh out of the bath, but I knew my way around the neighborhood enough to get to work. 

It was exactly as much fun as you might imagine. Her legs clamped around my head so tight, I couldn’t escape if I wanted to. I managed to get my knees under me, freeing up my hands to explore the rippling muscles of her back as they arched and bowed. It wasn’t hard to find her rhythm, not as our thoughts grew closer and closer. 

She came with a gasping, ragged scream that was shockingly loud, even through my fleshy earmuffs. Her entire body seemed to spasm, her nails digging furrows into the flesh of my shoulders and back, until finally, she went limp. 

I eased her down into the water, her body draped across mine, until the only thing I’d be able to see was the top of her head. Only then did I open my eyes.