To Sleep in a Bed of Deer - 1. To Sleep in a Bed of Deer

The screech of a bird stopped Narein in his tracks. His tail fluffed out in alarm, his triangular ears swivelling toward the sound. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. A fiery red Cervidas with tiny antlers was waiting for him at the end of the dirt road, her slender fingers poking at a phone as she leaned against a towering tree. Skye was right where she’d said she would be, and relief flooded Narein’s chest. He’d half expected her acceptance of the date to be a prank.

Why would she want to walk through the woods with me?

He prayed he hadn’t taken too long practising in front of the mirror. His stutter improved with practising, but if Skye was bored or upset with him for being late, no amount of preparation would help.

Narein took a breath. As a Giin, cousin to the best known clan of Faro explorers, he had been exploring space before he could even talk. He’d faced down giant aliens and walked across toxic planets with his segal. There was no reason to be so fearful of one interaction.

Gathering his courage, he approached Skye. His heart skipped a beat as the Cervidas looked up, her eyes brightening. Her fur continued across her face, a shallow muzzle ending in a small black nose. Narein paused in his approach, drinking in the sight.

“Good morning,” Skye said, slipping her phone into her robe.

“Good morning,” Narein replied, focusing on speaking clearly. He felt a little hesitant, but a small surge of happiness washed over him as he gazed up at her. “You look… You look good.”

“Thanks.” Skye’s tail flicked at the compliment, and it took Narein a moment to remember that was a good sign in Cervidae. “So… you wanna start walking?”

He bobbed his head, motioning for Skye to lead the way. Narein was happy to have her show him around, even to a place he’d already been several times, as he didn’t know the area around the lake as well as a native of the planet. Maybe she’d point out something he hadn’t seen yet.

They walked in silence for a while. Narein didn’t mind; every moment they spent in silence was one less moment for him to ruin everything with his stutter. It had happened several times at his segal's interstellar restaurant as he struggled to take orders in a variety of languages. The last time his stutter had gotten the better of him in front of a customer, he had fled to a friend’s house nearby. It was there he had first seen Skye, trying to save a bird she’d found during her daily jog. A short conversation followed, Narein fumbling for words as they carried the bird to a healer.

Most of their later conversations had been through text. He came up with several excuses, that his segal wouldn’t let him leave the diner, that he was tired after work, anything he could think of to avoid having to speak to Skye over the phone or in person. But if he was really falling for her, then he needed her to see who he was, stutter and all.

Water gurgled quietly ahead of them, a creek feeding into Loch Eaghenry. Narein breathed in the scent of damp wood and sunbaked rocks. His shoulders relaxed as tension drained out of them. He’d been excited to share the peaceful lake with someone he cared for. Skye was no stranger to the loch, but she hadn’t seen the waters through his eyes. The loch was his happy place in a chaotic galaxy- he loved the way the waves soothed his worries and washed away the grime of the diner- and it only seemed right to share that with someone he was fond of.

He shook that thought from his head. The Cervidae didn’t fall in love as fast as his people did. The Faro bonded out of necessity, their lives spent with one other individual.

Narein couldn’t push that onto Skye.

A sudden bleat startled him and his head jerked up. A red Cervidas was watching them from a distance. Narein gulped at the sight of a naked male Cervidas, standing there in his bipedal form, seeming to size Narein up.

Narein clung to Skye’s hand, trying to figure out who the buck was. Competition? A random Cervidas who stumbled upon them? He met the buck’s gaze, fighting the urge to blink. Suddenly, the other Cervidas was gone, racing back to the lake on cloven hooves.

“I hope you don’t mind,” Skye spoke up, her tail drooping in the only display of shyness Narein had ever seen from her, “but I let my herd know we were heading to the lake. They decided an early morning nap near the water was just the break they needed.”

His heart sank. It had taken him months to work up his courage to finally ask Skye out on a date. Fears of rejection and ridicule had challenged him, and he’d managed to overcome them all. His friend had pointed out that if Skye felt the same as he did, then his stutter wouldn’t matter. And with that encouragement, Narein had made the call.

'Is this just an early spring stroll to her?'

Sure, a nap would be nice; his plan had been for the two of them to rest together after their walk. The Cervidae certainly took their sleep seriously- the four somni they took during the day were almost sacred to them. He’d just forgotten that Cervidae slept in herds, not in pairs.

“It… it s-s-sounds great…,” he said, his fur puffing in alarm as his stutter slipped out.

He’d spent hours practising, days preparing to talk to Skye, but everything was falling apart.

'I never should have tried… now she knows I can’t even talk right.'

Next would come the insults, about how he had been born from an incubator synth, how his segal had been forced to retire from exploring because of him…

But Skye didn’t even know his segal. His mind was just being mean again.

A hand slipped into Narein’s, and he looked up in shock.

“Don’t worry,” Skye said with an apologetic smile. “My herd can be a bit of a pain, but I’m sure they just want to make sure you’re good enough to court me.” Her tail tucked behind her. “I know Faro don’t usually cuddle together, but I thought you’d enjoy the experience. Just the two of us cuddling unshifted on a bed of deer.”

“I like that thought,” Narein said, looking down at their entwined fingers. “This is probably one of… one of the safest things I’ve done. But, why is your friend naked?”

“Cervidae usually cuddle naked. But don’t worry,” Skye said with a smile, “you don’t have to get naked for this somnus, and my herd is going to be in their quadruped form so you won’t see anything. The whole idea is a break from the day, and for that, you have to be comfortable. No one is going to be upset if you don’t follow all our traditions.”

Narein let out a relieved breath. There were things that were reserved for the person a Faro was bonded to. Being touched in their four legged form was one of those things. Nudity, public or otherwise, was a close second. But he could put cultural norms aside for Skye.

As they made their way toward the water, a small hut appeared. A Cervidas’ arm stuck out of the entrance, morphing into a slender brown leg, a hoof where the hand had been just moments earlier. A rustle sounded from within the shelter–the herd must have finished shifting into their four-legged form. Narein shivered in anticipation as Skye released his hand.

The buck they had seen earlier was standing next to the hut, still in his bipedal form, a grin on his face. Narein looked away, staring out over the calm lake instead.

“Hey losers, get in. It’s nap time!” the buck called, before ducking into the shelter.

Skye’s grin was apologetic as she vanished into the hut. It took Narein three deep breaths before he followed the Cervidae.

The space inside was tight, warm. Three deer were laying in a short triangle, leaving space in the centre. Most of the space was already taken up by Skye. Unshifted, she held out a hand to Narein, helping him into the middle of the small pile.

“What do you think?” she whispered.

Narein leaned against one of the deer, watching in wonder as the buck repositioned his head to lay across his legs. He met Skye’s gaze, giving her an uncertain smile.

“I thought we were going to spend time a…alone together,” he said.

“Well, there’s always next time, right?” Skye laughed, nuzzling Narein’s muzzle.

Narein echoed the laugh, leaning into Skye and letting the warmth of the somnus spread through him. Wrapped in Skye’s arm, he nestled deeper into her body, his eyes fluttering close as the sedate mood soothed him. This wasn’t so bad.

After all, he’d always wondered what it would be like to sleep in a bed of deer.