Page 16 of Mazorium Buys a Human

“Hush, my sweet baby,” she sang, her voice high and tight with fear. “Hush, Nadia or there’ll be trouble maybe.” When Nadia didn’t stop crying, she blinked rapidly as if fighting off tears.“Honey, we’ve only got each other and you’re not making it easy on me.”

She didn’t know I was standing in the hall outside the sleeping quarters. I had paused, debating about fetching her another meal, when she’d started singing. Her badly rhymed song gave me insight.

Humans were pack animals. She was meant to be with others to help her look after the youngling and herself while she recovered. Without helpmates, she was spiraling.

It all made sense now. She needed me to be her pack!

She went completely quiet when I walked into the room. She watched my every movement, as if getting ready to jump up and do my bidding. She was treating me like a master instead of a caregiver.

I was going to rectify that!

Sinking to the ground next to the nest, I sounded a comforting rumble. I noticed she tended to relax when I rumbled, even though she called it purring.

“I’d like you to teach me how to hold Nadia,” I said.

She stared at me as if I’d spoken a language that wasn’t programmed into her INT. Was her worry and lack of rest causing her to have cognitive issues?

It would probably be best to speak slower and explain my intentions. “It’s important that I know how to properly care for both of you. Being able to care for Nadia includes understanding how to hold and feed her. When I studied under Biological Surveyor Lakormun, she taught me how to handle delicate creatures—including the offspring of malnicits.”

“Malnicits?” Mika asked, looking much less concerned.

I held up my hands, cupping them together. “They were so tiny I could fit ten of them in both hands during hatching season. The rotation I spent with Lakormun, we had to hatch many of themand raise them manually to re-populate their numbers on the colony planet of Rona.”

“That was nice of you,” she said hesitantly.

Nice? What an odd thing to say. “It was necessary. Malnicits were immensely important to that colony's ecosystem. But that’s not the point of this information. I’m trying to convey how much practice I’ve had with handling small, vulnerable creatures. I’m confident I can care for Nadia.”

Mika went still and kept staring at me. I couldn’t judge her emotional state from her facial expression.

“Let’s start with feeding,” I suggested. “Is she hungry now? I could shape the nipple and feed her while you hold her.”

My suggestion must’ve been a good interim step because Mika relaxed a little and nodded. There was a bag of milk balls in the bed with her. I plucked one out. Thankfully, I’d bought much more than I thought we’d need because my first attempt at shaping a nipple ended with me puncturing the milk ball.

“This is a task more suitable to your small fingers,” I grumbled, getting up to dispose of the ruined and leaking milk ball. When I returned, I could tell Mika was trying hard not to laugh. I sounded a rumble of amusement.

“I broke several when I was a kid and wanted to help mom with my youngest sibling,” she admitted.

“So I’m less coordinated than a human child?” I teased.

“I wouldn’t put it like that,” she said quickly.

“You don’t need to, I said it for you,” I pointed out. “Let me try again.” I plucked up another milk ball. This time I did a better job of it.

“Will that work?” I asked, holding it out to her.

“Almost,” she said, holding Nadia with one arm and reaching out to twist and shape the nipple to a slightly smaller and more tapered shape. I watched closely so I would do better next time.

“That should be perfect,” she declared.

“Do I press it into Nadia’s mouth?” I asked, staring at the cub’s upset face. As we’d worked with the milk balls, Nadia’s cries had gotten louder and more troubled.

“Try running it along the corner of her mouth. She should latch on then,” Mika explained. She held Nadia while I gently brushed the tip of the milk ball nipple against the corner of the cub's mouth. She turned her head and sucked the nipple between her lips. Both little hands came up, one touching the milk ball and the other grasping at my upper thumb.

I watched her suckle, fascinated by her tiny features and the feel of her delicate little hand on my thumb. The milk disappeared rapidly, and I was hugely disappointed when there was nothing left of the milk ball but a shriveled husk.

“We’re not supposed to feed her two in a row,” I lamented, even as she kept on sucking on the empty milk ball.

“Don’t worry, we’ll be doing this again soon enough,” Mika said. I could tell she was trying to sound humorous, but instead the words came out tired and flat.