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counseled last year. They hadn’t made it into the Confederacy. Their government had been unable to accept the Treaty conditions, and the people as a whole were territorial and ingrained with a superiority complex that made contact with multiple species nearly impossible without aggression. It had been a terrible loss—for them, for the Confederacy and for Asler’s career. But it wasn’t a choice he regretted.
    The humans, though, were different. There were hot emotions under their cool skin. And not all areas of their skin were cool. He could feel the hot points of her hardened nipples even through his chammiss robes. Her eyes, too, seemed to pierce him with heat.
    She was biting her lower lip. If she’d been Inarrii he would have comforted her by drawing her into a kiss, a taste of her silken lips. He would stroke her mind and body until she could relax enough to be calm. But she was human, and he could feel her confusion and fear in a complex tangle of emotions. That she seemed to have a hint of interest in him must be ignored in the face of what they would have to go through together to attain the truth. So instead he opened his mind to hers, took her to a place he knew and loved.
    Red haze drifted around their bodies as they stood entwined on the black sands of his home. Clear water lapped at their feet, but it was mostly obscured by the red morning fog.
    She pulled away from him with a gasp, her eyes no longer angry, but open wide with shock. He held tightly to her arm to keep the contact open, smiling when delight filtered out the surprise.
    “Where are we?” Her mental contact seemed as soft as a whisper to his senses.
    “My home, or part of it.”
    Her eyebrows rose to meet the short bangs of her hair. “An alien world. I’ve wanted to see one all my life.” Her eyes scanned the waters, the red fog and the black sand. “Is it always like this? What is this red stuff? And you have two moons…” Her voice trailed off, then her shoulders drooped. “I’ll never really see this. They’ll take away my space privileges, tie me to some land desk, even if I am found innocent.”
    This fear he could not dismiss. He knew she believed it was true, and that perhaps her culture would require it. Unlike his people, they could never know what she truly believed had happened, only what they were told.
    “That may be. But we have to reveal the truth, Susan, all of it.” He slipped into the use of her primary name; titles were meaningless mind to mind.
    “I don’t know if I can—I don’t know if I can do it, see it all again.” She lowered her eyes. “I don’t want to. They hurt me in too many ways to talk about. They beat me badly, and—”
    He stopped her. “Trust me. There will be no pain.” He raised her chin. “We cannot stand to see pain in others. Inarrii must protect, heal.” He stroked her cheek. Her emotions assured him that she spoke the truth, that she feared experiencing the pain again.
    She shivered, and a slight hint of the woman trapped inside the victim peeked out of the solemn expression in her eyes.
    “Walk with me.” He slid his hand down her arm to clasp her hand. “Let me show you part of my world. There is time.”
    They stepped closer to the water until her feet touched the clear waves and fingers of reddish mist grazed the edge of her pettan. “It’s so warm,” she murmured.
    “Most of my world is water, dotted with thousands of islands like this one. My home is only a few ridges away. I come here when I need peace.”
    They walked for a moment; she studied the landscape, and he watched her.
    “It is peaceful. The sand is so soft. I’ve never seen black sand, but I know there is some on Earth, near volcanoes.”
    He pulled her to a stop and knelt, drawing her down to the sand. She hesitated slightly but then sat near him, following his lead as he grabbed a fistful of sand and let the particles trickle through his fingers.
    “Inarrii are a sensual people. We prefer to