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She shook her head. “That’s not what I meant. I mean it makes me sad that you feel obligated to sleep in the hall instead of a bunk.”

I sounded a comforting rumble. “You shouldn’t feel upset. It’s my own lack of fortitude."

“Fortitude? That’s silly. We spent an entire work cycle running around the station. When we got back to the ship, I took a shower and a nap.” She pointed to the boxes I’d stacked next to her door, then gestured to the rugs the crew had helped me lay down throughout the ship. “But you were busy unloading and placing things.”

“I’m used to laboring,” I said.

“Sure, but not after a horrible night sleeping out in the hall,” she said, leading me into her cabin. I was happy to see the nest was mussed, meaning she’d been sleeping there. “I want you to get comfortable and really rest for a while.”

I looked down at the nest. It appeared inviting, but the thought of laying down by myself didn’t feel good.

“Are you still fatigued?” I asked. “Do you need me to comfort you while you sleep?”

She looked confused for a moment, then grinned. “Yes, I’m still tired.”

I let her tug me down into the nest. I lay on my side and opened up an arm. After a moment of hesitation, she nestled next to me.

Pulling in a deep breath of her soft, natural, human smell, I ignored the ache in my scent glands. I was scared of doing anything that might upset her. We lay in silence for a bit. Despite my exhaustion, I knew I couldn’t sleep. I needed to stay awake to enjoy every submark of this moment.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

I jerked a little at her apology. “Why would you be sorry?”

“I basically forced you to have sex with me,” she said. “I lied to you about going into heat. Humans don’t do that, but at the time I thought you wanted me to pretend. Today I read about Talin culture and society on your ship’s unibase. You guys don’t approve of sex. When I realized that, the guilt was almost unbearable.”

“Would you show me the passage you read?” I asked. I couldn’t remember where it might say that, but I didn’t bother reading the unibase entry our species put out about ourselves.

She grabbed the information square sitting on the edge of the nest. Her lips pursed as she searched, then she turned the square for me to see.

Integrating Young Adults into Workplaces and the Military

Issued by the Committee on Adultlettes and Young Adults

Although it’s expected that young adults will engage in intercourse with each other, it should be closely monitored. While experimenting with sex and sexuality is natural, in such situations, accidental scent bonding is always a worry.

If two young Talins are interested in marriage, then they should absolutely be encouraged to engage in intimate acts. However, they should be warned that doing such a thing too often, even after the marriage contract has been filed, could result in the urge to scent bond. This should be talked about and adamantly discouraged.

Reading the passage made sadness well up inside me. This reminded me of the way I’d been lectured by the authority figures in my life any time I was found even sitting too close to another Talin.

“It’s not that we don’t approve of sex,” I said. “It’s that there is a constant concern about Talins becoming scent bonded.”

She tilted her head. “What is that?”

I had vowed to be as honest with her as possible, but I wished the topic wasn’t such a difficult one.

“In the past, we would scent bond with each other,” I explained. I pointed to the side of my face. “Talins have scent glands here that produce oil. We would rub our oil on each other and become addicted to our combined scents.”

“You would do this during sex?” she asked.

“Yes, but not exclusively,” I said. “But sexual activity is a common trigger for our scent glands to produce oil.”

“Is scent bonding so bad?” When I didn’t answer right away, she held up a hand with a frown. “You don’t have to answer my questions if they, you know, make you uncomfortable.”

I sounded a rumble of agreement. “I’m uncomfortable, but it’s important for me to talk about these things. You have made me realize a lot of what I thought was true might not be accurate."

Her eyes widened in surprise. “I have?”

“Yes,” I said. “Mostly that humans aren’t a low-intelligence species. I’m sorry I thought that at the beginning."