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As optimistic as I'd been that night about making things work, it wasn't as though a switch had been flipped overnight, and suddenly I was absolutely okay with everything, with being touched and snuggled all the time - and as much as I did want to make it work, the trepidation didn't resolve overnight, and neither did my sensitivity, which was something that could only be accommodated or mitigated, not eliminated entirely.

The Tiaileng, though, were committed to doing their best to make it work as well as they possibly could. The next morning, I actually managed to wake up without anyone at all in contact with me - after they'd woken up before me, Daledonne and Serrivanne had stayed by my side, keeping the others from inadvertently piling on top of me. And shortly thereafter, at breakfast, they'd adapted the "rules" that had been set out regarding me based on what we'd learned the night before. Any sexual advances towards me, especially of the physical sort, would be completely restricted to the the sexual "sessions" that I chose to attend during the day, and would otherwise be entirely off-limits. They would still be able to encourage me to make contact with them, and maybe even initiate contact with me if I consented, but only if that contact was completely non-sexual in nature. It was also agreed that there would be a bit more moderation when it came to clothing - while the Tiaileng, due to both the warmth of their fur and the need to keep some exposed for photosynthesis, were never going to wear a tremendously covering amount of clothing, most of them were at least willing to take a step back from the all-but-fetish-gear from the day before. There would still be plenty of short shorts and exposed midriffs, and a few of them loved their outfits enough that they wouldn't be dissuaded from wearing them no matter what, but at the very least being around them would no longer be quite as overwhelmingly visually provocative.

The next week, though, was still a challenge - even if some of my worst fears had been mainly mitigated, there was still the matter of settling into such a different living situation. That alone was disjunct enough: a mansion that practically required a map and GPS to navigate, a tutor and conference room replacing the high-school campus, and my parents, friends, and classmates appearing on a screen, if at all, otherwise temporarily replaced by a sea of Tiaileng.

It took that much time, in fact, just to know the rest of the Tiaileng at the most basic level, through the continuing series of entourages. While I tried to keep them all straight in my head, it wasn't an easy task - as they were more homogenous overall, the difference between faces and bodies was generally subtler, and the disadvantage of going away from the previous ensembles was that I couldn't just tie a name to a particular look, like Arathlin and a particular type of school uniform. Because of that, even after meeting them all, it was only the ones I'd had really memorable interactions with that really stuck in my mind: Daledonne, Meccione, Arathlin, Erilanna, Katonnan, Envelie, and a few others. It wasn't that I didn't know the others, at least a little - I'd talked with them all, heard a few things about them, but with so many to learn about, it was still a sea of names and facts that I couldn't always manage to match with their respective faces. Oddly, though, none of them seemed to mind, and they all seemed happy just to be interacting with me, even if they had to correct me after I called them by the wrong name.

For all that I was concerned about it, though, the Tiaileng, regardless of the effort required on their part, by and large kept their promise. There weren't any more incidents, or at least none that reached the level of the one that had happened with Erilanna - while they weren't shy about encouraging me to make contact with them, or hesitant about asking whether they could with me, when it did happen they were universally meticulous about making sure the contact wasn't overly close or stimulating. In return, I was willing to make an effort, as gradual as it was, and while the contact usually wasn't much - holding hands for a while, familial sorts of hugs, letting one of them snuggle up chastely against my side for a few moments - it actual did begin to feel more comfortable, and more than that, something that was actually good, something that I could begin to accept and even enjoy. And each time it worked successfully, each time I made contact with them and didn't have a problem, didn't lose control or feel like I was being pressured into doing something I didn't want or wasn't ready for, made the next just a little easier, a little bit more welcomed. The Tiaileng certainly noticed that as well, and were less hesitant themselves in asking me to make contact with them.

It was true that during the first week or so, there were some days where the contact was too much, and I got nervous and immediately shied away. The Tiaileng I was with when it happened, even if their faces betrayed a slight disappointment, simply accepted my response and allowed enough time and space for me to cool down. On the days those incidents happened, though, Daledonne and Arathlin always seemed to accompany me that evening, and regularly proposed another "touch practice" session to try and get my comfort level back. As silly as the sessions seemed sometimes, it was hard to deny that they were working, and while making contact still caused more reaction than it would have for most people, it was becoming routine enough that contact with them in that way didn't spike up nearly as much as it had before. It certainly wasn't perfect, as a couple of weeks couldn't undo the years over which my natural predilections had developed, but I was beginning to handle it decently, and even enjoy their presence, as long as it wasn't too overwhelming.

And yet... somehow, it wasn't. The "entourage" system that the Tiaileng generally stuck with meant that throughout most of the day, the Tiaileng around me were kept to a manageable amount. Admittedly, the other part of that system, the part where I was constantly accompanied by a pack of Tiaileng just about everywhere I went, led to a little bit of static - being accustomed to having a good amount of time to myself, I did push back on occasion, and eventually a compromise was reached for an hour or two of "quiet study" time that I could spend alone in the mansion's inner-sanctum suite.

At first I wasn't sure it was going to be enough, but as the days went by, I realized that I was at least becoming generally used to just having the Tiaileng around around me all the time. Once I'd had a chance to meet everyone, and no one was eagerly anticipating my presence, there was much less of that uncomfortable sense I'd had of being the center of attention. Instead of being the entire focus of the entourage group, I was becoming more a part of it, and the Tiaileng around me were beginning to feel less like servants or obsessed stalkers and more like... well, like just acquaintances, and sometimes even friends. That change in dynamic, though, made a huge amount of difference - instead of feeling pressured somehow all the time, for attention, or touch, or something more, just feeling like I could hang out with them in that normal way made the whole situation feel a whole lot more relaxed, more natural somehow.

And the more I did things with them - studying, eating, reading, talking, hanging out on the couch playing video games - the more I got used to their presence, and when during the course of those activities one or another of them happened to snuggle up to me, I found that without even thinking about it I would accept it, or even return the gesture, at least for a while - it was still tough for me under normal, less-distracted circumstances to handle more than ten or fifteen minutes at a stretch, but it was at least an improvement. As long as it didn't go beyond that, in either time or contact, I began to appreciate the comfortable feelings it could produce underneath the anxiety and oversensitivity. On the few occasions it threatened to go beyond my comfort, one of the other Tiaileng always stepped in to keep things from spiraling too far out of hand.

Needless to say, even if I was becoming more able to handle the Tiailengs' level of preferred contact, the potential sexual aspect of it was still far too present for me to ignore. While the Tiaileng did, as promised, refrain from any more direct advances or propositions, they were still more than willing to sneak in regular innuendoes, or to "helpfully" remind me that while their own amorous intentions towards me were on hold outside of the regular sessions, that I was under no similar restraints if I wanted to initiate that sort of contact on my own - and that, of course, should I wish to do so, any of them were ready to immediately and enthusiastically respond in whatever way I wished. Some of the suggestions, in fact, went into more specific and certainly more salacious detail, which led to the occasional awkward, blushing moment, but such suggestions were quickly reprimanded by Daledonne or one of the others, and I nevertheless seemed to be able to negotiate through them without freaking out on the scale that I had before.

The scheduled "exploration" sessions, as the Tiaileng referred to the scheduled times to take care of all things sexual, were another matter entirely. That had been the tradeoff, after all - that in exchange for keeping things calm and controlled outside of them, the Tiaileng would be allowed to proposition me more directly when I attended one, and would also be allowed to interact however they wanted with each other in front of me.

That, of course, meant that it was the one part of the day that remained as a potential powderkeg in terms of my reactions. Knowing how strongly I'd responded to just being kissed when I wasn't ready, their propositions were verbal rather than physical, and none of them so much as touched me in that context without my consent. There were not, however, any restrictions on what they could show me, and the theme of "live Tiaileng pornography" became a regular part of the warm-up, to my mutual arousal and consternation.

You would think, given all of the various harem animes and Tiaileng porn that I'd watched, that I would have been fairly well-prepared for the display the Tiaileng put on during the sex sessions, but somehow it was the exact opposite. It certainly wasn't like the porn, for sure, but that was partly because that had been at a distance, a computer screen clearly separating me from the action that was taking place. I hadn't realized just how different it would be to actually be right there in the middle of it all, with things happening all around me. I would look one way, and then feel my face flush awkwardly as I ended up looking directly at a pair of Tiaileng enthusiastically going at it, realizing that I'd just been doing homework with both of them a half-hour before and not really knowing how to handle that disjunct. Then I'd try to turn away, only to find the woman I'd talked to at lunch about web scripting and database links spreading her legs and using her fingers to bring herself to complete readiness, while reaching out with her other hand and beckoning me forward. I was no longer just a detached, lusting watcher, but a confused participant thrust into the center, trying to reconcile what I saw and how I felt while both my arousal and anxiety spiked to the limits of what I could reasonably control.

It was too much, so many things I wasn't used to all happening at once, and I all but panicked trying to figure out where to go or what to do. The end result of it was that, no matter the come-ons around me, I couldn't find a way to even properly consider taking advantage of them, most of the time only getting onto the edge of the bed before that sense of being overwhelmed set in and I ended up virtually frozen there, waiting for things to calm down enough to consider what I wanted to do.

The Tiaileng, it seemed, hadn't figured out how to deal with me in that way any better than I'd figured out how to deal with them, and as they didn't want to provoke another problematic reaction, they stuck to the template of what had worked before. Because of that, the initial sessions progressed much like the first had: I watched for a while until my arousal was untenable, and then I accepted a helping Tiaileng hand to take me the rest of the way. I knew it wasn't everything that they wanted, but my climax transmitted its energy powerfully enough to them, and at least for the moment it seemed to give the Tiaileng what they needed - well, that and the especially cuddly communal embrace that usually followed immediately after.

Some of the Tiaileng, though, Meccione especially, weren't just willing to leave it at that. Meccione hadn't forgotten her claim - that she was going to be the first one to be fully intimate with me - and was relentless in trying things that might encourage me to go all the way during one of the sessions. She made a point of not only attending every single one that I did, but also finding some way to be front and center with me, usually on the bed itself, rather than somewhere on the periphery. And, being front and center, she wasn't shy at all when it came to proposing things.

Unlike Erilanna, though, while her approach was still direct enough, her timing was carefully and impeccably calculated. Even if she wasn't as much of a dedicated scientist as Daledonne was, she'd quickly picked up on the most important conclusion of the sessions: once I'd actually climaxed, for the half-hour or so while the afterglow slowly faded, that state of relaxation meant that I could handle a lot more contact than I usually could.

As a result, when she put her plan into place, it actually started when I'd thought the session was over. It had generally followed the routine that it had all the times before, although the post-climax reaction had been a little more abbreviated than usual. It was wrapping up the same way, and I'd already pulled my underwear back on and was about to jump off the bed and look for the rest of my clothes, but as I did, I felt a tug on my arm. When I looked over, I saw that Meccione was the one holding onto me, gesturing for me to come back onto the bed with her.

The curious thing about it was that unlike what she'd done before, nothing she was doing was directly provocative. In fact, she was just sitting there, already back in her underwear as well, a state that I was fast becoming more used to given that it was one that I'd been facing every night. Instead of proposing something salacious, with that sort of deviously aroused look on her face that I'd become familiar with during the sessions, she just flashed me a gentle smile, stretched her arms out to either side, and asked me for a hug.

Given the way I'd just been snuggled by half the Tiaileng who had been in the room, it hardly seemed like an unreasonable request, and one that I was fast getting used to, or at the very least getting less awkward at fulfilling. It was only once I had moved close to her, letting her wrap her arms around me as I settled in against her, that I realized that I hadn't actually gotten around to putting my shirt back on, and all of a sudden I could feel the softness of her fur across my chest and abdomen.

The sensation was immediately intense, snuggly and stimulating at once as the fur rubbed against me, close enough that I could feel the warmth of her body underneath. I felt things spike, a little, but the relaxation flowing through me was still enough to temper it. That tempering, though, was quickly tested when she suddenly leaned back flat onto the bed - and with her arms still wrapped tightly around my back, I went forward right along with her.

And then, just like that, I was on top of Meccy, my arms quickly flailing out to the sides to keep my weight from landing heavily against her, even as I felt her legs swing up to hook around my hips and additionally embrace me, while the grasp of her arms never wavered. It meant that even though I was trying to hold myself up, she was still hugging herself close against me, my chin resting near her shoulder as I could feel her presence along my entire torso. And, after a moment, I realized it was even more than that - her thighs were hugging my hips, which meant that the soft place my bulge was nestling in comfortably against was...

When the revelation hit, I was sure I must have been blushing instantly, and given the amount of anime I'd watched, I half-expected to instantly develop a projectile nosebleed and then immediately pass out. Instead, I just froze, my heart racing, as I felt Meccy nuzzle in against my neck.

"So... what do you think?" I heard her say softly.

"I, um, uh... we, uh, should... you, ah, you know how close we are, right? I, I don't think this is a good idea..."

"Why not? It's not like anything's gonna happen, right?"

"Huh?" Even with everything going on, it was surprising to hear Meccione conclude, in that position, that she wasn't intending to do anything.

"Hey, you might not know much about Tiaileng physiology, but I know plenty about yours. Like how I know that once you cum, there's this thing called a refractory period, which means that for a little while you actually can't get aroused, no matter what I do. Which is why I'm doing this now."

She was actually right - despite the situation, despite how... intense it felt to be right there against her, I didn't actually feel myself becoming hard.

"But... if that's not what you're trying to do with me... then what are we actually doing?"

"Hugging each other, silly!" I tried to protest that, but she quickly cut me off. "Yeah, yeah, I know it's not the typical way to do that, all right? Just, um, think of this as some more of your touch training. After all, from what I've heard, there are a couple of parts of this that scare you: the sex itself, but also just having that much close contact with your partner. And I get that - we can't exactly feel it in the same way, but with a lot of fur against sensitive skin, especially if you're sensitive already, it makes sense. So, maybe we don't tackle each of those parts at once. That's what I'm doing - showing you how it feels to be close like this, without anything actually happening. That way you can see that it's not crazy, or out of control, or anything like that. See? Just nice and calm, close and warm. And right now, from everything I can feel, you're handling it just fine."

And, somehow, I was - although if I hadn't been in that particular state, I wasn't sure what would have happened with me. In that state, though, I could handle being mobbed by a sufficient grouping of Tiaileng that hardly any light could even get in between them, so perhaps it wasn't as surprising that it worked out. Meccy, at least, wasn't really moving very much, but neither were her arms and legs showing any indication of letting go, and her embrace really was comfortable enough that after a moment of wavering my body gave in and relaxed back against her. She must have sensed from my relaxation that she'd won the argument, as her grip on me loosened as well, her arms moving over to gently stroke along my neck and back, almost like she was petting me. It felt... surprisingly nice, actually, and despite the anxiety of the position still lingering somewhere in the back of my mind, I could have sworn that I almost began purring against her.

"Mmm... see, not bad at all, right?" she said after a few minutes. "And you know, that's really all there is to it, what we're doing right now. Sure, there's a little more movement, and one more very particular type of close contact to add into the mix, but as far as sex goes, this is about as close, physically, as it's gonna get. Once you get used to an embrace just like this one, you'll see that going from here to actual sex is so incredibly easy it'll feel like second nature before you know it."

"However," she said, feeling me tense as my thoughts started to go down the path her words had inspired, "that's something to consider for another time, right? I mean, if you want to try going that little bit further, just say the word - you should be pretty close to recovering your arousal, so if you do want to try something, we're so close that we could be going at it literally within seconds. But if not..."

I felt her embrace loosen, her arms and legs falling away from around me, although a moment later I felt her hand dart down between us, the back of it brushing against my bulge as she moved it against her own crotch before pulling back. It was enough contact, though, that I could feel myself beginning to stir against her.

"There - I'm all ready for you, if you want. If you do, just reach down and slide my panties to the side, then just push in gently and let your instincts take it from there. And if not, well... well, I suppose should have figured as much." She finished her sentence, sighing slightly, as she took in the fact that I'd already bolted upright and darted to the foot of the bed, where she found me kneeling several feet away with my hands covering the crotch of my underwear and a thoroughly discomfited look on my face as I realized how far away I still was from being fully comfortable with what she'd proposed.

That was also just about the point where I realized, looking around in consternation, that the other Tiaileng who had been in the room hadn't left, like I'd assumed, but were instead clustered all around the bed, apparently watching intently. I'd been sufficiently overwhelmed trying to deal with Meccione that I somehow hadn't noticed their presence, but now that I had, for a moment I felt supremely embarrassed. A moment later, though, I realized how silly that was, especially given that it had only been some minutes ago that the same Tiaileng had been having enthusiastic, explicit sex right in front of me without even a hint of shame.

In fact, more than embarrassing, I realized in that moment that it actually felt downright surreal, like some parallel world where everything was upside-down and backwards, where having other people seeing you naked, or even having sex with someone, was the height of polite decorum rather than the other way around. And yet, at the same time, that realization actually somehow made things more manageable. Or, at the very least, it meant that I was able to do something instead of being rooted to the spot.

"Um... maybe another time, then?" I said to Meccione, and while she looked ever so vaguely disappointed, she still seemed more than happy with what had transpired. And, for that matter, she probably had reason to be - as odd as it seemed, she had been the one who had managed to get closer to me than anyone else at that point.

Plus, whether or not she said it out loud, she knew the significance of what had just happened: in getting me that close, she'd overcome one of the last major barriers to my being comfortable with with the closeness necessary for sex. And, deep down, I knew it as well - now that the Tiaileng knew it was possible, they, and Meccione especially, would encourage that kind of embrace more and more each time another session came around. And in such a close position, with the transition to actual sex both imminent and easy, it would only be a matter of time before my desires overcame my anxieties and arrived at that most intimate of connections.

That being said, though, the realization that I would soon be on the cusp of such a thing led to its own unique brand of anxieties surrounding the notion of actually having sex with Tiaileng. Actually considering sex, there were of course the usual worries: could I get it up and get it in the way I was supposed to? Once I did, could I actually last? Could I make the person I was with happy, beyond just the energy I would be giving them?

All of that, though, paled in comparison to wondering just what, exactly, would actually happen to a Tiaileng if I came, not beside them, but actually within them. Just having a single hand in contact with me when I came had been enough to make a Tiaileng light up like a christmas tree, so I couldn't even imagine what it would look like if I came while inside, and in full contact, with one. Was it even safe? It was concerning enough that even though I was so close, I found myself trying to avoid it, trying to pull away from each embrace before things got to the point where I might come face to face with whatever might result from such a close climax, emotionally or otherwise.

And yet, despite all that, with every time that I "practiced" with Meccione, I knew more and more that it was something I wanted. The more comfortable I got, the more every interaction with them was no longer clouded by my anxiety about what would happen with them, the more the attraction I had for them came up from where they had been buried my my unease. I quickly realized how accurate Meccy's words had been during our first evening together - how they had all been selected to be attractive to me, and vice versa.

The more I started consciously thinking about it, the more I realized that there wasn't a single Tiaileng there who didn't do something for me in that way. Even with the more normal clothing, it wasn't like their figures were at all hidden, which meant that I often couldn't stop myself from staring at certain features - while knowing all too well that the Tiaileng were aware of where I was looking, and made a point of adjusting their postures or positions to encourage my gaze as much as possible.

And every time that attraction started to kindle arousal, coupled with the knowledge that said arousal could turn immediately into sexual contact with only a word or two towards any of my Tiaileng companions, I could feel my desires starting to outweigh my fears. Eventually, I knew, the Tiaileng and I would both want the same thing, and whether or not it was to differing degrees, I would be intimate with them soon enough. And when that time came, we all had to be prepared for the consequences of what would happen when the energy that I had was discharged into one of them in the most direct and emphatic way possible.

The thing that no one talked about, though, was exactly what would happen when I did. Even the relatively hands-off variety tended to result in a rather impressive light show put on by whichever Tiaileng happened to be in even minimal physical contact with me. What would happen if I was fully against them - or inside them - was still an open question. I could only assume, though, that whatever could happen wouldn't actually be dangerous, as it seemed to be something that the Tiaileng, given their encouragement, were wholly unconcerned with. If there had been a problem, I was certain that Daledonne would have brought it up, but the only issues that arose were the times, rare and growing fewer, where my anxieties got up to an uncomfortable level for my Tiaileng companions. Whatever their limits for handling my "problematic" energies, for the ones they favored, it seemed that no amount was considered to be excessive. Nevertheless, it was still something that I wondered about, and that unknown meant that I kept procrastinating when it came to intimacy, even once I was getting to the point where I could comfortably stay in Meccione's near-naked embrace for at least a time approaching the normal length of Tiaileng sex before the sensations overwhelmed me.

I still don't know how long I would have reluctantly held off if things had stayed on that slow and steady course, but it was actually a mistake, and a habituation, that on one particular day brought it immediately to the fore. Meccione wasn't able to make it to every session, but we still had our practice sessions the four or five days out of the week that she was there. By the second week of practice, it had already become something of a routine, and I was conditioned enough to expect it that once everything was done, and she stretched out her arms and beckoned me into her embrace, I went over without a second thought.

So, when I went to one of the sessions a few days later, and saw her on the bed, I wasn't at all surprised by her presence. And after I stripped down to my underwear, when I saw her open her arms and beckon to me in the usual manner, I went over to her and allowed her to pull me down into the usual embrace.

Except, all of a sudden, I realized that her motion had thrown me off. All the previous practice sessions with her had happened after I'd climaxed, when I was winding down and there wasn't any real possibility of sex actually happening. That time, though, I hadn't actually done anything yet, and none of my arousal had been previously diffused. There was also the difference that Meccione was completely naked this time, leaving only the thin fabric of my boxer briefs between the contours of her folds and an erection that was abruptly straining outwards to meet them. Suddenly, I could feel their outline against my tip, the way they nestled close around it, her wet warmth permeating through the thin barrier. Just like that, I was closer to her, to any woman, than I'd ever been before, and while my anxiety suddenly spiked up, my arousal was pressing forward, faster and more immediate.

"W-wait," I stammered, trying to pull back for a moment, but there wasn't any real enthusiasm to the motion, and Meccione's arms wrapped securely around my back had no trouble keeping me in place. "I, um, I think we're doing this too early..."

"Are you sure?" Meccione's voice sounded, soft and close, in my ear. "Because to me, it feels just right..."

"Well, I mean..."

"Are you uncomfortable?" she interjected, as I felt one of her hands come away from my back for just a moment, and a slight rustling coming from someone moving on the bed off to my side.

"N-no, it's just..."

"You're not ready? Except... you are, aren't you? I can feel how comfortable you are like this, how much this is arousing you. I can tell that you can handle this, that you want this just as much as I do, and if that's the case, then there's no excuse not to move forward, is there? There's no reason any more for anything to stand between us..."

As she spoke the last sentence, I felt a pair of hands running gently along my waist, teasing the waistband of my underwear away from my skin, expertly freeing the fabric from around me, and then it was only a matter of moments before they were tugged the rest of the way off entirely. Suddenly, I could feel the soft feeling of the fur on her thighs against me - and the intense warmth of her nether lips as my tip nudged forward against them, marveling at the way they didn't so much yield to my presence as curve snugly around and almost grab hold of my tip, as though they themselves were trying to coax me deeper within. It was so intensely close that I could actually hear myself gasp audibly in response to the contact, and my initial instinct was to pull back, to back off the intensity, but her legs were already moving up to hook around my hips, and once again the motion had barely any determination behind it. It felt good, incredibly good, and while I didn't really want to pull away, I was still afraid to go further, even right there on the brink of it.

"I... I don't know if I can do this..."

I felt her hand run along my back, in what I guess was supposed to be reassuring. "Of course you can. You're already most of the way there. Just let yourself push forward a little, and we'll be completely together, simple as that."

"I-it's not that, it's just... I've never done this before, and I don't know if I, if I might hurt you, or screw this up somehow, or..."

"And it's okay to feel all that, but... none of those worries matter. I can guarantee you that nothing you're capable of doing is going to hurt me in any way, save from letting your anxiety get ahold of you - and I know that once you're inside me, once we're doing this, anxiety is gonna be the last thing on your mind. And trust me, at this point, there's literally no way you could fail to satisfy me."

"I don't-"

"Think about it. You know how this works by now, right? Whenever you cum, so do we. Even if you put it in and climax on the spot, it's going to feel amazing for both of us. Just being like this, feeling your closeness, drinking in your arousal, has given me so much already. Plus, that sort of worry, about whether you can perform or not, doesn't even apply to us. It's not like I'm going to leave you because the first time wasn't absolutely perfect. I'm assigned to you - that means I'm committed to you, no matter what. If it's not the best, then we'll just come back tomorrow and do it again, and again after that, until we're both completely satisfied. There is nothing to worry about, and I'm going to show you that there's absolutely no reason, or desire, for either one of us to hold back..."

I felt her hand running along my back again, but this time it was far more directed, resolving into a smooth, deliberate stroke down along the contours of my spine, her touch instilling a pleasant little shiver that followed the motion the way to its base. As her hand settled there, a slight, coaxing pressure against me, all I wanted to do was let myself move along with it. I could feel my anxiety spasm in my chest for a brief, stuttering moment, until it gave in and melted away before the arousal that overwhelmed me. It was, then, with a strangely paradoxical sense of relief that I let my hips rock slowly forward. Or at least it was slow until the sensation of her fully enveloping my tip darted back up my spine, at which point I bucked forward somewhat less than intentionally and was suddenly all the way inside.

It felt completely different than how I'd imagined it would. Of course, those imaginings hadn't exactly been well-informed, as a hand was obviously different, and for all its explicitness porn couldn't really show what was actually happening inside someone. So my notions had been vague: warm, wet, flesh that stretched around you as you stroked against it. Except it wasn't just soft, smooth flesh, but also muscle encircling its entire length, which meant that her insides didn't just stretch around me, but actually felt like they were grasping onto me, kneading and massaging at my shaft in seemingly a dozen different chaotic directions at once. Even so, after a moment I realized there was a distinct pattern somewhere underneath it all - and when, after a few seconds, it moved to a completely different one, I realized it wasn't an automatic response, but something she was doing intentionally. All of a sudden, the leisurely, stop-and-go pace of Tiaileng lovemaking made a lot more sense - if Tiaileng guys did anything similar, even when both partners were seemingly at rest, there was a lot more going on inside than met the eye.

It felt incredible, to be sure - too incredible, perhaps, especially as it was one sensation among many. I could still feel her fur rubbing as she moved subtly against me, her hands roaming constantly along my back, her short muzzle nuzzling in against my neck. Whatever she was doing inside, it seemed, wasn't only affecting me, at least from the sound of it - even though I wasn't doing anything but just lying there, against and inside her, I could hear her calling out softly. I wasn't quite sure what it was - not really a moan, but something high-pitched and very, very Tiaileng, alien yet unquestionably an exclamation of wordless happiness.

I knew I was supposed to pull myself up a little, at least enough so that we could be face to face, instead of facing into a pillow with my chin resting against her shoulder. The feeling was so intense, though, that for a moment I was almost afraid to move, because doing so would have caused me to give in then and there - and while I knew from what she'd said that it would be okay, it felt so good that I didn't want it to be over, at least not yet. Even then, just staying still nearly wasn't enough with the way she was massaging against me, and I'm still not sure how I managed not to burst from the intense sensation a few seconds in - and had it not been for all of the previous practice with her getting me more used to feeling some of it, there's no question that I would have. With it, though, I managed to just barely hold on, although my breath was coming quick and heavy by the time I managed to prop myself up on my elbows and actually look at her.

She had been attractive before, but in that moment, surrounded by arousal and sensation, she was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen, human or Tiaileng, her wide blue-green eyes sparkling back up at me and her muzzle beaming an ecstatic grin - not that weird, desperate look that you see in porn, just unbridled, genuine happiness. Her expression, her embrace, everything was so beautiful, so perfect, that I just wanted to melt, to let everything that felt so good overwhelm me. And my body, for once, was in agreement, although not in a way that was particularly smooth or subtle - all of a sudden, it wanted more, and my hips responded, working back and forth in quick, trembling thrusts.

It wasn't a performance that, thinking clearly, I would have been particularly proud of - I probably only managed for a few seconds, a half-dozen thrusts at most, before the combined sensations rapidly overwhelmed me, and even a last-ditch effort to stop the motion and pull back left me well past the point of retaining control. My hips just shuddered back down, a little more forcefully than they had before and momentarily beyond my conscious control, and then as the sensations completely overtook me I all but collapsed back down against her, able to do nothing more than moan into her chest-fur and hold her as tightly as I could as my arousal burst through into climax.

As it did, though, my vision was suddenly bathed in intense, uniform blue, so bright that it managed to shine clearly through eyelids that had involuntarily clenched shut as the maximum intensity of orgasmic sensation flowed through me. Even though I could do little else in the throes of it, I was surprised enough that I opened my eyes, to see her fur glowing bright enough to light up the room. Then her own climax hit, and for a moment I couldn't breathe, but not from the way she was hugging tightly against me. If her insides had grabbed me before, all of a sudden they were clamping down along every inch of me, at the moment I was the most sensitive. The feeling exploded through me almost like a shock, but in a way that felt a thousand times better, and the intense pressure and sensation around me made my ejaculation impossibly stop midstream as my entire body was wracked by a secondary wave of climax that I hadn't realized men could even experience.

After a moment, though, it resumed faster and more powerfully than before, the tension pouring out of me in a pleasant rush, and for a few blissful moments everything was snug and warm and strangely, intensely blue. Even as my own climax subsided with a pleasant shiver, I could still feel Meccione's orgasm playing out around me, although it was distinctly different - her inner walls would relax, trembling rapidly against me for a few seconds, then clamping down for a few seconds more before easing back again. Each time it clamped down, though, there was a moment of intensity against my suddenly oversensitive shaft, and each time it did I honestly wondered, gritting my teeth from the feeling that wasn't pain but to intense to really be pleasure, if the feeling of it would somehow, inexplicably, send me back over the edge. Her justification from before, though, proved to be true - now that it was done, after those few brief moments of additional intensity all I felt was spent, although in the best possible way.

As her orgasm finished with one final squeeze, as the light coming off of her faded from blinding to a subtle, gentle glow, I could feel myself finally starting to recede inside her. When I tried to pull back, though, her embrace didn't waver, and she pulled me back down, her face close to my own as she spoke for the first time since we'd started.

"Stay," she said, and that was more than enough to keep me there, her hands moving up along my shoulders and neck, resting against my cheeks, and guiding me down towards a waiting kiss, passionate and tongue-heavy in the Tiaileng fashion.

Even as he hands left my back, though, others reached over to replace them, more and more touch and Tiaileng fur surrounding me. I could feel the usual blush returning as the realization finally hit me - while the intensity of what I'd experienced with Meccione had blocked out everything else in favor of focusing on us together, it had actually played out in front of an entire Tiaileng audience: Daledonne, Envelie, the rest of my entourage and several more, all of whom were now cuddling against whatever parts of me Meccione wasn't already occupying in the traditional post-orgasmic cuddle. This time, though, they weren't predominantly silent - instead, there were at least a dozen voices, congratulating me, praising me, thanking me for finally going through with it. It was bizarre, and in any other context I would have been embarrassed enough to burn a hole straight through the floor, but at the moment I was feeling so good that to my surprise, I realized that I couldn't care less. It was just Tiaileng doing what they do, incomprehensible weirdness and all, and I just snuggled happily into their combined warmth, though Meccione's predominated the most of all.

It was only when things finally calmed down, and Meccione finally released me from both her external and internal embrace, that I could turn to see the rest of them. Unlike before, when most of them took off unless they wanted to watch Meccione and I practice, everyone was still there, cuddling happily together in an intertwined circle all around me on the bed. To my surprise, even now that the last vestiges of arousal had faded, every single one of them was still glowing well enough to be seen in a room that was brightly lit enough to cover up the normal tendrils. I pointed it out to a still dazed-looking Daledonne, who took a few seconds to seemingly comprehend it; in fact, as I looked around, it looked like all of them were just as thoroughly spent and satisfied as Meccione was, still hugging one of my arms as she snuggled up happily against my side.

"Huh... yeah, that's... interesting," he replied, shaking his head afterwards as though trying to clear it. "Have to say, I wasn't quite expecting that. The energy you put out... I think everyone was at maximum capacity from moment one. I'm not sure what happened to the rest of it, but I think we... re-emitted it, maybe? The readings from this are going to be fascinating, that's for sure..."

True enough, once they'd had a few moments to shake off the residual effects of their climaxes, the Tiaileng were suddenly an energetic, bustling cloud of motion all around me, tidying up and tracking down clothes, dressed and ready to go before I'd even managed to get up enough energy myself to track down where they put the underwear they'd pulled off of me. And then, a few minutes later, we were all marching off towards the banquet hall and dinner, as I, still feeling halfway dazed, watched as they talked and gesticulated animatedly amongst themselves in between their oddly obsessive efforts to continually thank me for sleeping with one of them. Meccione, for her part, seemed to be savoring her experience as the first among them to be with me, and attached herself to my arm for most of the rest of the evening.

The dinner conversation, of course, was entirely focused on recounting what had happened in excruciatingly specific detail, leaving me to stare red-cheeked down at my food. The only part of the conversation I really paid attention to was that between Daledonne and Envelie. She'd brought a tablet to the table with her, and was apparently looking at the data from the session as the numbers were crunched in realtime, brainstorming conclusions about it as the initial analysis came in. Apparently, Daledonne's earlier analysis had been basically correct about what had happened, even though it was apparently a new field of research - there were few if any cases thus far where Tiaileng had been individually exposed to more beneficial energy than they could immediately take in.

According to the new data, at least, once the maximum threshold had been reached, the excess energy had simply flowed through and poured back out all around them, the flow-through causing them to act almost as relay beacons retransmitting the energy over a larger area. Which meant that while part of the reaction, such as the sympathetic orgasms, had taken place in a similar radius to the previous encounters, the actual energy emission had managed to cover the entire mansion and grounds, and deliver energy to all of the Tiaileng within. If there had been any question of my energy actually providing for the whole batch of Tiaileng, the data had apparently resolved it, but there were plenty of others for me to wonder about - including, first and foremost, what all of it would mean to my relationship with the dozens of Tiaileng assigned to me moving forward.

By the next day, though, I was surprised to discover that things actually felt closer to, well, normal than they had before. There was a part of me that had been a little afraid of what would happen once the Tiaileng realized that I was finally, actually okay with having sex with them; that once I had shown I could handle that ultimate intimacy, and all the close contact it entailed, that they were going to be all over me, especially during the sessions. So it was somewhat to my surprise, then, that the knowledge seemed to have nearly the opposite effect. Before, during the sessions, there had been an unspoken tension surrounding it, and, concerned whether they'd be able to be with me fully, apart from Meccione's gambit those anxieties had translated into increasingly effusive encouragements. Now that I'd actually gone through with it, though, now that they knew that relations with them were no longer a matter of if, but of when, everyone seemed to relax overnight about the whole situation.

As I'd still been processing things, and wasn't quite ready to dive back into it, at the session the next day I hadn't managed to do more than the usual "helping hand" I'd done before, but the Tiaileng around me still seemed more than content, without even that sense of vague yet desperate disappointment that had been slowly building. Now that they knew that it could, and would, happen, suddenly they seemed willing to be more than patient, although I could guess why - now that I'd actually done it, and knew that I could not only handle it but enjoy it immensely, my arousal and eagerness were quickly beginning to crowd out what lingering anxieties that I had.

It was no surprise, then, that when Laraley spread out on the bed a couple of days later and welcomed me into her intimate embrace, it only took a moment for me to wholeheartedly accept it. The combined sensations were still incredibly intense, and even a hastily-attempted effort didn't do much to keep me from the point of no return - at most, I managed to last perhaps a thrust or two more. Not that it mattered, though, as she unsurprisingly came a split-second after I did, the world instantly flooded with bright blue as we rode out the shared climax together. Wrapped up in Laraley's embrace, when the others clustered around, it was even easier than before to let their closeness surround me in a cocoon of warmth, enjoying the way that they cuddled against me, relaxed and content to bask in that close, communal afterglow. The lights had been set a little lower than before, and even when they were no longer glowing, there was still a faint light between us. As I looked down at what I could see, I realized that this time I was the one who was glowing: unlike before, where I could make out the individual tendrils of energy, within that shared embrace they were so fine and plentiful that they seemed to blend together into a diffuse glow that played across the fur of every Tiaileng surrounding me.

It was only when the afterglow had fully faded for a while, and my sensitivity began to return, that the soft Tiaileng fur surrounding my naked body began to move beyond comfort and back towards troubling levels of overstimulation. Luckily, the other Tiaileng were adept enough to pull back once they sensed that my sensitivity was becoming an issue, but Laraley lingered for a few minutes more, and while I nevertheless eventually felt the need to pull away, that feeling was still accompanied by a hint of reluctance that hadn't been there before. Although I knew I was doing far better at that point than I ever had before, I still wanted to be there, with her, even if it was for a longer amount of time than my body could currently handle; and knowing that, I rapidly became much more enthusiastic about wanting to figure out how I could handle being close with her, with Meccione, with all of them, for as long as I could convince my body to allow it.

The Tiaileng, upon seeing my renewed enthusiasm to work with them on being closer, were eager to help out, and were more than happy to snuggle in by my side for as long as I could take. And I found, more and more, that the amount I could take was increasing significantly. It helped that due to my recent experiences, I was even more in tune with the pleasurable side of it, and that made it easy to focus on those feelings and let the comfortable nature of them drown out the unease. The oversensitivity, admittedly, was a trickier issue, but bit by bit, the more time I spent around them, the more I became habituated to the feeling of their fur against my skin, and that managed, at least a little, to turn down the volume of sensitivity for that type of contact. I still couldn't handle it indefinitely, but as long as the Tiaileng weren't moving around too much, I was able to cuddle up to them for a little over a half-hour at a time, more than twice what I'd been able to handle before, and even more when there was something else going on to distract me sufficiently from focusing on it.

Even more than that, though, I began to realize that the thing I'd feared the most from it, that it would lead me to the out-of-control fate that eventually befell my parents, wasn't going to happen. True to their word, the Tiaileng never went beyond cuddling, at least outside of the bedroom - and neither did my reactions to it. Their presence, their touch, wasn't causing me to go crazy in either direction - I wasn't freaking out, but I also wasn't tearing off my clothes and bending the nearest Tiaileng over a table or something. It just felt... warm, and happy, and I was content to simply enjoy the feeling of them snuggled up to me, without being tempted to go any further.

In fact, even when it came to the bedroom, and that especially close contact, things were still ultimately in control. When I did go all the way, which was happening more and more frequently, the jerky, nervous motions from before had mostly gone away as my confidence level increased, and I was beginning to settle enthusiastically into the sensual, unhurried Tiaileng approach to sex: no desperation, no frantic motions, just relaxation, unbridled happiness and uninhibited pleasure.

Once I was able to handle things a bit more, and not only began to tolerate but enjoy the regular Tiaileng presence alongside me, things between us went from the vague tension and confused interactions from before to something that began to feel much more in sync, more the way that I felt it was supposed to be between people. There were still the occasional moments when something particularly Tiaileng happened that took a little bit of extra calm to handle, but those were generally dealt with easily enough, and helped along even more by Daledonne deciding to ensure that the tutoring curriculum, at least initially, would include a heavier focus on Tiaileng physiology and socialization.

It was interesting stuff, covering everything from the comprehensive Tiaileng sexual response cycle to their particular brand of photosynthesis that differed significantly from that of Earth's plant life (although, to my consternation, none of them seemed to have a readily sensible explanation for their pointy, crystalline teeth).

The more I learned about their photosynthesis, though, the more a certain question kept nagging in the corner of my mind, until, a couple of days into the photobiology coursework, I cornered Daledonne as he was tending to something in the gardens.

"Can I ask you a question?" I said, although I already knew the response - aside from a very few topics he was oddly reticent about, he was always more than willing to expound at length on anything else.

"Sure, of course!" he replied, nodding as he set down the trowel in his hands. "Anything you like."

"Okay, well, I was wondering... why do you guys need us so much? As opposed to, you know, just the sun?"

"Hmm?"

"I mean... I know why you say you need us, because of energy or something, but... is that really why? After all, you've got photosynthetic fur, and I know you can get energy from that - coming all this way in those ships, over years or decades, without any other species to feed off, and you made it here just fine, so... what is it about us that's so different than what you can get otherwise? What's so different about it that you came all the way here just to seek it out?"

"Well, that's a good question, and one that's a little tricky to answer, but I'll try. Let's see, what's a good metaphor for it... well, I spoke to an older gentleman this one time, and he was talking about growing up in a time when the microwave oven was just coming into popularity. Before they existed, he said, you couldn't imagine why you'd need one of the things, but once you had one, it seemed nearly impossible to live without. So, I guess that... actually, that's not a very accurate analogy at all, maybe it was back before we'd met any other species, but... how to describe it, then?

"Hmm... well, again, it's not precisely accurate, but there was a human psychologist, by the name of Maslow if I'm not mistaken, who came up with what was known as a hierarchy of needs that every sentient being is trying to achieve, and once each one is met, they then fixate on the higher ones. The first ones are the basic needs - life energy, shelter, things like that, and until you have them, all your thought and purpose is fixated on achieving them. Once you have them, you can then look to loftier goals, such as additional education or improving your lot in other ways. Then beyond those necessities you head into the realm of other things to appreciate - art, culture, beauty, culminating in the transcendent realization of your complete potential as a thinking, feeling being.

"As to how that relates to us... without that other energy, with just the basic energy we get from photonic radiation, we're stuck in the middle rungs of that hierarchy: capable of meeting our own needs and creating the technology necessary to maintain us, but sealed away from those higher levels. Without that energy, there's something that's just... missing, at the very core of us, not something that's perhaps crucial to our basic survival as a biological organism, but something that's of impossible significance to the development of our inner and emotional selves. Most humans call it their "soul," but I don't mean that in a religious context so much as a metaphysical one. Without it we can function, and have basic feelings at least, biological ones like pain and fear and touch and orgasm, but without that energy flowing within us we can't expand it in the ways that lead to those higher things, like forming imagination or creating art or appreciating the beauty around us.

"And that's a muddled, incomplete analogy too, so let me put it perhaps as simply as I can. Without a species with your type of emotional energy to be paired up with, our world would be essentially black and white, functional enough but still missing something that's absolutely key. With you, our world is suddenly filled with vibrant color, and the difference is so immense, so profound, that it would crush us to our very core to go back to the monochrome place devoid of that beauty.

"That's why going onto a colony ship is seen as a sign of bravery and hope, but also of grief in what must be left behind as a sacrifice to that necessary progress. To make them work for such a duration, pairing up with species that are more demanding of resources has never been possible, so the voyages have always been without such luxuries. While it is true what I said before, that regular sexual contact was crucial to keeping the closely-packed populations in line without conflict, it was perhaps only an ancillary reason - the primary reason is that absent other energy, the sensation of climax is the most vivid thing we are capable of feeling, and without it any such expedition would quickly descend into despair. Whatever energy we might create from such a thing, though, we consume it ourselves long before all but the barest hint of it can emanate beyond the boundaries of our bodies. If there are enough Tiaileng in proximity, all climaxing at nearly the same time, you can almost feel it; a ghost, the faintest shadow of that energy, a tantalizing hint but only barely enough to sense, let alone take any comfort in. It would be like a tiny, flickering candle trying to illuminate a tremendous room; barely even noticeable to all but the keenest eye. In comparison, even an average human would be a glowing, radiant beacon, clearly visible to all contained within, and you, perhaps, might even be something akin to a sun, bathing us all in perfect illumination. Out of all the species we've encountered thus far, yours is the one that puts out the most of that key energy on average, and the only one we've seen that contains outliers like yourself who presage so much more. And that's why we cherish you so much, why we want to make you happy, why we want to prevent the war and death that was threatening your numbers and long-term viability before your arrival, why we just want to hang onto you all and never let you go. Perhaps it is true that we don't need you to live, from that basic, biological standpoint, but it is being with you that in the most fundamental way makes life worth living."

It was a far more forceful and comprehensive answer than I'd expected, and for a moment, I just stood there, stunned. I'd known that the energy people put out was important to Tiaileng, in some vague sort of way, but I hadn't realized that it extended to a nearly existential level for them.

"I, um... wow. I... I'm glad I can help, then."

Daledonne smiled back in response. "Don't sweat it - I didn't mean for that description to put some burden of importance on your presence here. To put it more simply, people are the enablers both of our joy and our potential, and just being here, with us, is enough. Without that energy, at all, we made a living on our homeworld, but space was just a limitless and untouchable expanse. When beings with some of that energy came to us, we advanced, and now we can take to those stars, with science and technology enough to end wars, and feed and power entire worlds. Now that we're here, with the full energy that you share with us, I wonder if perhaps we will become capable of things that are beyond even our current imaginings..."

A moment after he finished talking about it, though, he started, looking like he'd just realized something about what he'd said, and before I could even say anything else quickly changed the subject to something completely unrelated. It was... odd, to say the least, especially since he hadn't seemed to say anything that it would make sense to be evasive about, especially since the module on Tiaileng physiology provided a much drier, more technical, but basically equivalent explanation the next day.

Whatever Daledonne's thoughts on the matter, though, and despite his comment about burdens of importance, it nonetheless made me think a lot more about what my presence truly meant. At first, it had seemed an obligation: assignment, taken insanely to its logical extreme. Then, it had felt like some strange sort of demand - on my time, on my touch, on my ability to have sex with them. Now that I was less caught up in my own worries and preoccupations, now that I was really present with them every day, the more I wondered just how much everything I saw in their behavior really was due to my presence. Their pursuits probably weren't all that different than they'd been before, growing up and getting energy well enough somehow from their human parents and siblings, but their interests were striking. Every single one of them was into something creative: playing music, doing art, writing stories, programming video games. A few of them were even trying to get an improv group of sorts together, including Daledonne, who was a surprisingly capable actor along with his other scientific pursuits. Knowing what I knew, watching it all play out before me, I couldn't help but wonder whether any of it would be happening if it wasn't for me being there for them. It was a little strange to think of myself, just some guy, as a muse or a catalyst for creativity, but at the same time, it made every day, whatever I was actually able to make of it, seem somehow more meaningful.

In a way, I think, something about that motivated me as well, and now that there were less things to worry about, I settled back into my studies, the culmination of my high school career, in earnest. Admittedly, it also helped to have a tutor and a whole entourage of Tiaileng offering up constant help and encouragement. It certainly made the study sessions feel more interesting, and even more so when it came to the sections on Tiaileng, although that had its unusual moments as well - while it was probably helpful, it's not often that you learn about a species' sexual response cycle by having one of them contrast the information in the textbook with the different things you might have felt when you were with them the previous day!

It did, however, give me a better sense of what was going on during the sessions, and what some of the things actually did - like I'd thought, the internal massaging I'd experienced was done as much for the woman's sake as for the man's, as the process both created more direct stimulation and built up the tension that was released as part of the female orgasm. Tiaileng penises, apparently, were capable of performing lesser but nonetheless complementary motions to further increase the arousal, although that part I hadn't yet managed to experience in practice. While conceptually I was okay with trying some things with the Tiaileng guys assigned to me, and while I'd tried a couple of times to do some sort of frotting-type thing with Serrivanne, we couldn't seem to get the positioning quite right to make both of our shafts match up and stay that way without slipping off to the side. Both times had ended up resorting to mutual masturbation of sorts, and while I was sure that Tiaileng ingenuity would eventually figure it out, there were more than enough Tiaileng women demanding my attention in the meantime to keep me busy. The guys, interestingly enough, didn't seem to be horribly disappointed, although that was partly due to the fact that I ended up feeling a little guilty about it, and tried my best to tolerate extra-long cuddle sessions with them to at least partly make up for it.

Now that I was getting back into some sort of normal routine, even if it did all take place with a bunch of Tiaileng inside of some crazy mansion, it was beginning to feel like... well, like my real, regular life again, instead of a strange vacation to some alternate reality. Things that had seemed like such a challenge before were fast becoming things that were simply a part of my daily life. It was simply a fact of existence now that I would go to sleep and wake up with Tiaileng snuggling against me, and their presence during my waking hours was far from fading into the background, but even the regularity of their touch was becoming a comfortable constant. Crazy though it still was at times, it was a life that I was finally ready to accept.

That wasn't to say that things were entirely perfect, or that my nature had changed entirely - I still cherished the alone time that we'd agreed on as a much-needed break that allowed me to recharge my ability to handle their constant presence, along with the quick breaks I managed to sneak away for otherwise (or, rather, quickly inform my entourage and then scurry off) when I really needed them. And while interactions were generally smoother overall, now that the Tiaileng could see that I was more comfortable with things, some of them were pushing the envelope of what we'd agreed upon, although usually not intentionally in my presence. There had been more than one instance, though, when I'd decided to duck into a room off one of the labyrinthine hallways for some alone time, only to find it already enthusiastically occupied.

That, in turn, had led some other questions about Tiaileng sociology, when I'd found Miruvona and Nessaoreth in a room by themselves - or, at least, it had appeared that way until Lucrannon's head had popped up between them. When I'd asked, though, Envelie had been quick to head off my questions, stating that of course Tiaileng respected the human social mores as they related to incest, and that things such as acts directly between parents and children would never be allowed to happen. Siblings, though, were expected to be close, especially twins that reached sexual maturity at the same time, and there were no restrictions about sharing details of their intimate lives - including sharing a favored sexual partner between them. Miruvona and Nessaoreth had then, as soon as they found out about my question, offered to share being with me at the next session, and while I had demurred - at that point, focusing one just one person during sex was already just about as much as I could handle - I was fairly certain that Will would have gone berserk if he'd learned what they'd offered. It was only when I thought about him, though, that it really hit me: it had been well over a month since I'd seen him, or any other human for that matter, face to face.

Now that things were getting back to normal, and other considerations were more regularly coming into my thoughts, the sense of missing my friends and family was definitely coming more into focus - while with all of the Tiaileng I was hardly lacking for companionship, there was no question that there was a certain void that an awkwardly formal remote teleconference a few times a week, watched by a phalanx of Tiaileng behind me, didn't exactly fill. That sense of normalcy, though, wasn't only my own - this time, when I asked Daledonne about having my family come to visit, he enthusiastically agreed on the spot.

"Yes... I think it's definitely time for that. Before, of course, I was worried that their presence might... remind you of certain things, and perhaps set back the progress of your acclimation. I think we can say, now, that such an acclimation has been completed, and even slightly faster than my own initial estimates. In fact, I think a change of scene would be useful soon as well, although it's a bit trickier to arrange transport for fifty Tiaileng on short notice, so for the initial visit we should probably have them come to you. And, perhaps, they won't be the only ones arriving - now that things have settled down, I think we can move on to the next phase that we talked about before - you know, gradually ramping up the amount of Tiaileng to be here with you. At this point, wouldn't you agree you're capable of handling just a few more new faces?"

I actually did - now that I was used to having Tiaileng around, and since there was now a fairly steady amount of Tiaileng around me at any given time with the entourage system, all it would really mean were a few more faces around the dinner table, a slightly bigger pile of Tiaileng on the bed at night, and some more people to get to know - and since they were certain to be similar to the Tiaileng already assigned to me, that was something I knew I would look forward to.

With that agreement, things were set into motion on the teleconference that night, and the next morning a couple of unrelated Tiaileng showed up to borrow some of the mansion's limousines - of course it had limousines - to pick up my family, friends, and attendant Tiaileng at my old house and ferry them to my new one, and to bring in the additional Tiaileng that had somehow been retroactively assigned to me.

Knowing I would finally be able to see my friends and family again in person, I had a hard time focusing on my studies as I waited for them to arrive, anticipating all of the crazy stories I would have to tell my friends - at least assuming I could get them alone. I'd talked to them a little in the interim, but there were plenty of things that didn't translate well over texts, and that I certainly wasn't going to relate on a conference call with my parents in the room.

By the time they were due to arrive, the sun was already beginning to set, and I, along with the entirety of my Tiaileng companions, waited along the top step of the grand front entrance to watch as they pulled up the long driveway. Oddly, though, there was at least one more limousine than there had been before, designed with the unusual mix of smooth curves and sharp angles that signified a native Tiaileng vehicle. Flanking them, in fact, were what I thought were some sort of Tiaileng military vehicles, or at least as close to them as they had - squat things that rode on a cushion of air, with the strange clusters on top that I knew emitted the various dampening fields that diffused and suppressed every type of firearm and laser-energy weapon known to man. It was for sure an odd thing to see accompanying a handful of additional assigned Tiaileng, and from the murmurs that arose all around me, I wasn't the only one wondering about it. Even Daledonne, off to my side, suddenly seemed oddly preoccupied, although the look on his face wasn't one of worry, but a subtle expression that I couldn't quite figure out how to parse. He didn't engage in the speculation the others were doing, though, and in fact he only said one single thing, just before the limousines came to a stop in front of the mansion.

"It's too soon... isn't it?"

It was at that point that the doors to the limousines swung open, even as the other vehicles moved to what I assumed were some sort of tactical positions, the arrays on top lighting up in a coruscation of indicator lights that shone brightly enough to see amidst the fading sunlight. Out of the first limousine emerged the group I expected: first my human and Tiaileng parents, and then Emma and Mirracai, Zalman and Tesekorri, Will and Ingotheen. As they emerged, they looked around in puzzlement: at the mansion, at me flanked by dozens of Tiaileng, at the other limousines and vehicles, and the people who were emerging from them.

There were about a dozen all told, three from one of the limousines and nine from the other. The first three were about what I had expected: three Tiaileng, all women just about my age, dressed in the crop tops and shorts typical enough of a Tiaileng high schooler, and looking just as surprised to see the other group next to them.

The others were Tiaileng as well, but considerably different - there were four women and five men, all of them at least several decades older, their serious expressions and poise instantly setting them apart. Even if that hadn't been enough to differentiate them, instead of the sort of casual clothing my Tiaileng parents wore, or even the business suits that some adult Tiaileng had taken to, these were wearing what almost looked like military uniforms, albeit with shorts and short sleeves in Tiaileng fashion. While most of them were wearing uniforms of white and grey, with silver metallic accents, the one worn by the woman in the middle was composed of a bright, shimmering material that looked strangely familiar, although I couldn't quite put my finger on why as I looked over at them.

After a moment, though, it finally hit me just where I'd seen that uniform before. Not at school, not at the assignment center, not anywhere around town or in person. Rather, I realized, I'd only seen it on TV, on the news, when someone was reporting on some treaty signing, or diplomatic event, or the staid findings of some international body. And it wasn't the thing worn by the functionaries, or guards, or anyone like that, which had been more like the uniforms worn by those around her. No, this had been the uniform worn by the people who'd been standing up on those podiums, the people stating the findings or signing the treaties side by side with the heads of state from every major nation on Earth.

It was, I realized with equal parts curiosity and consternation, the uniform of the Tiaileng Governing Council.

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Author's notes can be found here: https://www.sofurry.com/view/888684