Mercenary Hearts

A note on continuity: Most people who are writing fanfic in a fiction universe with ongoing information being published are sooner or later going to find actual canon conflicting with their fanon, as new stories/books/games/comics/products reveal more information.

I love the Halo Encyclopedia, but I’ve been naming Sangheili after their keep/state, instead of the tri-part surnames in the encyclopedia. And I have at least two Elite Minors who haven’t fallen on their swords because they didn’t get promoted by the end of their first campaign (N’tho, Ki ‘Chaz…). Or that most Sangheili never leave the homeworld, where I have every able bodied male who can pass the War Academy being drafted into the Covenant fleet. So….rather than go back through four published fanfics, this one, and five in progress, to change to the new canon, I’m simply going to say my stories are in a slightly alternate universe than official canon, and concentrate on maintaining an internal consistency.

That being said, other new canon info is adaptable. I know why Usze didn’t go by the swordmaster suffix ‘Tahamai in my universe, and I’ve got an explanation for Kusovai’s new first name too…which I’ll work into a story if I can.


Mercenary Hearts

Chapter the Third: Perchance to Dream


There was no moon in the sky, but Kya knew where she was headed. The stars shone brightly overhead, providing enough illumination for a Sangheili’s keen night vision, while a roaring bonfire on the beach sent its beacon skyward to mark her destination.

Kya had dressed for the occasion in a short sari, the closest thing she now owned to a breeding gown. Nerves fluttered in her stomach, and she took deep breaths to calm them. She had nothing to fear. She had been misreading Piro all this time, thinking the worst of him, when in fact he had been as kind to her as any of the medical staff on Shadow of Intent. She had no doubt he would be gentle now. The mating would be quick and civil and then…then…

Another child to call her own.

Such a gift was worth any price.

But the ghost of Toha ‘Sumai haunted the edges of her mind, poisoning her thoughts of mating with memories of degradation and pain, and there was something else churning in her gut, something about Piro that she could not put words to.

Kya slipped silently out of the cover of the trees, moving ghost-like across the dunes to the place where three fallen logs lay in a crude square shape around the fire pit. The fourth side of the square was open to the sea, where the reflected firelight glittered with the movement of the waves. Kya perched on all fours atop one of the logs, inhaling the spicy fragrance of smoke and the salt of the sea.

Her keen hearing picked up a movement nearby. A dark shape emerged from behind one of the dunes: Piro, his head bent low, dragging a carcass. A deer. He looked up and their eyes met.

Piro ripped a great chunk out of his prey’s haunch and trotted across the sand towards her. He had acquired a tunic somewhere, silk, red with purple trim to match the colours of his armour, and it was this he wore tonight. She had never seen him out of his battle dress before.

Kya felt a sudden flush of embarrassment as the warrior dropped to his knees before her, holding out both empty hands and the bloody chunk of meat.

“Piro. You do not need to court me,” she chided.

‘Kipaz lifted his hands to take the meat from his mouth so that he could speak. “Is it so wrong?”

She set her mandibles. “You do not need to pretend for my sake that breeding me is anything more than an obligation.”

“Is that really what you would prefer?” he asked quietly. “Simply to bend over the nearest log and have it over with?”

Kya was silent for a long moment. No, she did not want to be abruptly taken from behind. After her experience with Toha, she had no desire for sex whatsoever. But… “To have young, I must mate. I accept this fact. The sooner the act is done, the sooner we can put it behind us.”

Piro tilted his head. “There are ways to make it more comfortable for you.”

Kya frowned. “And these involve courting me, as though this match were arranged by our parents?”

The old Sangheili sighed. He pulled his mandibles together in a stubborn expression; she had the impression he would have folded his arms were it not for the meat he still held. “No. The rite is a selfishness, Kya. To make this evening more comfortable for me.”

His words took her aback. She had not imagined that a male might not be eager for an opportunity to breed.

Watching him, there in the firelight, she realized that she was the one being selfish. She knew so little about him.

So little, save that he had been kind to her.

“Do you not like females, Piro?” she asked softly.

“That is not a problem for me,” he replied, his voice quiet. His gaze traveled up and down her form. “You are very attractive.”

Kya, feeling suddenly both ashamed and embarrassed, dropped her eyes. “I have been thinking only of myself.”

“You were wronged by Toha ‘Sumai. That wrong was worsened when N’tho and I brought you to Earth. We did not ask your consent.”

“I would have come anyway.”

“That does not excuse our failure to ask your permission.”

His apologetic tone made her uneasy. “Why don’t we simply assume I said yes? You know what I desire, Piro—a safe place to raise my child, where no one cares that I have a Mark of Punishment, where no one will hurt me or my little one. For me to be on this beach now, pressing you to give me more children…now I have strayed into the indulgence of my own greed.”

“But you still want more young.”

The desire for children welled up in her, strong and fierce. “I cannot deny that.”

“Then let me put to you another bargain, Kya ‘Pomor. I will give you the young you desire, if you give me something in return.”


She felt her heart leap at the prospect of another child, but even as her pulse rose, her hands grew clammy with fear. What could Piro possibly want of her?

“What I ask…” The old warrior’s expression grew sad. “Is only that you pretend to enjoy my company.”

Kya bit down on her mandibles. Was it really so easy? “What will you ask of me?” she whispered, suddenly frightened. What strange tastes might he have? What bizarre acts might he expect her to agree to?

“Nothing a suitor would not customarily ask of his mate,” Piro said softly. “Though…”

Yes, here it came.

“I have it on good authority that a female who has had…ah, unpleasant experiences in the past…may enjoy breeding more if the male permits her to mount him.”

Kya snorted. She had only ever heard whispered rumours of such a strange position. “What sort of warrior would let a female dominate him?” The idea was disgusting. She would not have any children of hers sired by a weak-willed father.

Piro spoke with an edge of steel in his voice. “The sort who places his mate’s comfort over his own selfish pride.”

Kya’s mouth felt suddenly dry. Could it be possible that Piro… “Is it really more comfortable?” she heard herself asking.

“It allows the female control,” he replied softly. “How deep, how fast, when. If you fear to be at the mercy of another, you need not fear tonight.”

“And you know this because….”

His expression grew sad again. “It was favoured by my bondmate,” he murmured, his head bowed.

“Your bondmate.” Kya’s stomach twisted—was she forcing Piro to betray the female he loved? “Is she on Sanghelios?”

“She is buried there, yes.”

Kya felt a sudden relief that she was not treading on the boundaries of a relationship, and immediately on its heels came guilt. It was clear that Piro grieved the loss of his mate.

Well, he was several decades older than she was. Perhaps he did, indeed, know more about this matter than she.

Kya blushed. “I do not know how to…” Her voice caught. “How to mount a male.”

Piro offered her a tentative smile. “I can teach you, if you wish.”

‘Pomor found herself strangely nervous, as though she was on the verge of her first mating again. She had approached Piro because she had considered herself willing to pay any price for more children; she had expected him to simply use her and be done with it, leaving her with a fertilized egg, leaving him with a night’s pleasure. The notion that he might care about her comfort during the act made her feel shy. Why? Because it would be difficult to dismiss this night as nothing more than an insemination?

More importantly, why was he doing this for her?

“Why such concern?” she asked, driven to know.

“We are a family here,” he murmured. “Usze and N’tho will be helping to raise their young siblings, and I…I will of necessity have a role in their upbringing as well. A family should be on good terms with one another. There is no reason for me not to be good to you, Kya. We will be seeing much of one another.”

Kya smiled ruefully. “Am I overreaching to say you would be this kind to me regardless?”

Piro studied her. “No. You are not.”

She was lucky indeed, then, if she had found a male who was simply a good person. What did it matter that he was old, or that he had not fought other males for her favour, or that their mating would not provide her family with a political or economic alliance? What did it matter that she did not love him? He had fathered a fine son, and raised that son, and he would be kind to her and her children. She should stop questioning her good fortune.

Pretending to enjoy his company might not even be so hard.

“It is flattering,” she said shyly, “to be courted. It has been many years since I have had the pleasure.”

Piro raised the chunk of meat to his mouth and gripped it firmly in his mandibles. He held his hands out to her; they were smeared with the deer’s blood.

Kya did not mind.

She approached him and laid her hands in his. Slowly, she lowered herself to her knees, and, spreading her mandibles, she began to feed on the meat.

On the opposite side, Piro too was eating. Kya was convinced the rite had descended from ancient times, when a male sought to win a female’s favour by illustrating his skill as a hunter. The flavour of the meat, on the other hand, was new and exotic, deliciously flavourful, and very fresh. Piro could have asked for meat from the Humans, but Kya was certain that Piro had hunted this prey himself.

As the chunk of meat between them dwindled, Kya began to eat more delicately. She did not want her flailing lower mandibles to catch on Piro’s. Piro, too, was gently scraping with his lower jaws, separating the meat into shreds that he could suck down his throat.

When the meat had dwindled to a small morsel—when their upper mandibles were touching as they gripped the meat and their lower mandibles softly rubbed tips as they ate—Piro released his grip on the meat, giving the remainder to her.

It would be rude to refuse. Kya quickly swallowed the last bit of venison down.

Piro responded by licking her muzzle, lapping deer’s blood from her snout.

She swayed at the sudden intimacy of his tongue traveling over her flesh. She gripped his shoulders for support, heedless of her bloody hands. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her, staining her sari with blood. She lapped deer’s blood from his cheek and realized she did not care about her clothing.

Piro curled his hands around the cloth hem near her throat. Kya’s breath caught. She flushed, waiting for Piro to remove her clothing.
Instead, he simply held his position. She dared to raise her eyes and found him watching her.

“Yes?” she whispered.

“Would you prefer to remove this yourself?”

She bowed her head, flattered by his considerate request. “It is all right.”

“Then…” He grinned sheepishly, the smile of a boy a fraction of his age. “Perhaps you would explain to me how it is removed.”

Her mandibles dropped. She stared at him.

He flushed.

Kya couldn’t help herself. She threw back her head and laughed.

And he joined her, wrapping his arms around her, laughing towards the star-studded skies.

When they rolled to a stop, Kya was more or less on top. Kya put Piro’s hands on the rope around her waist. “Untie this,” she whispered, her cheeks flushing purple.

“You had best be careful,” he warned her, teasingly. “I could have borrowed some of those Human “pants” from N’tho. You would never figure out how to remove them.”

“Why didn’t you?” she asked slyly. “Because it’s not nice to tease?”

“Because I would never figure out how to remove them either.”

She giggled unexpectedly. She clapped her hands over her mandibles, but Piro was squinting and smiling. He took her wrists in his hands and showed her the belt of his tunic.

Kya’s laughter faded. She undid the knot quickly, before her hands began to shake too much for her to finish the task. Then, tilting her head shyly, she opened the sari.

Piro settled himself on his back, raising his hands to stroke overtop her ribs. Kya closed her eyes. She did not want to watch him appraising her body. It was easier to pretend she was atop a young warrior who was looking at her with pleasure…

His hands settled on her hips and gently guided her into position.

She could feel him under her, strong and firm. The shock of his shaft so near to her made her eyes open. An alpha male—a powerful, virile, desirable mate—would simply have torn the clothing from her and…

A memory of Toha ‘Sumai passed through her mind and made her shudder.

Piro’s hands stilled. He tilted his head at her, making a questioning sound low in his throat.

Kya forced herself to remember that Piro was nothing like Toha, and in so doing, relaxed. She gripped his shoulders in her hands as she knelt over him. He went back to stroking her, now murmuring a soothing series of melodic sounds, like a song with no words.

No, he was not an alpha male. She wondered if an alpha male would ever excite her again.

Piro’s gentle touch was comforting, and it was agreeable to be close to him. She lowered her body down to his and found that he was warm, heating her chest while the fire warmed her back. She felt like a child again, cradled in her uncle’s arms. Part of her savoured the sensation of having someone hold her tenderly again.

Another, though, wondered how they would possibly get around to the mating which was the purpose of their meeting here tonight. Piro was clearly ready. Would he take her by surprise? She did not want him to, and yet she doubted she would ever be truly prepared to mate.

Then Piro reached into the tumble that was his clothing and retrieved a small jar. Kya watched him as he unscrewed the lid and gently set it on his clothing; the contents appeared to be some sort of thick lotion, clear in colour and with only the slightest hint of fragrance that seemed to suggest incense, something exotic yet light…

“What is that?” she asked curiously.

Piro flushed again.

“It is a salve to help with breeding,” he explained.

As a nurse, Kya had heard of this sort of substance; she had recommended it to females who considered mating painful. But she had never tried it herself. She had never felt the need.

“May I?” he asked gently.

Kya nodded. She did not know if it would help but at this point she would accept anything. She closed her eyes and spread her legs, trying to will away her fear, but no matter how she struggled to force her body to relax, she could not make her tension dissipate.

He touched her.

He did not waste time groping her, squeezing her ass, drooling over her. He laid one finger right on her most sensitive place and kept it still.

Kya gasped as she felt the sudden shocking moisture of the salve right on that place.

Her first thought was that Piro was wasting no time.

Her second was that it was good.

Her back arched in sudden, instinctive reaction to the erotic stimulus. Piro moved his finger ever so slightly and suddenly her back was arching again. She had to struggle not to groan.

“Do you like it?” he murmured as he moved his hand so slowly, so slightly.

As if her reaction was not obvious! Her eyes flew open, and she saw that he was watching her questioningly even as he continued to stroke.

“Is it bad?” he asked her gently.

She shook her head as she struggled to suck air into her lungs and calm the burning need inside her. Every time she thought she had control of herself, his finger would move just a little and her body would be begging for release again. No, it wasn’t bad. It was too good. What would he think of her if she came before the actual mating even began?

“Are you fighting it?” Piro whispered in her earbud.

She bit down on her mandibles, hard. Piro’s left hand trailed her lower jaw, coaxing her mandibles apart.

“Don’t fight it, Kya.”

She snorted. “What would you say if…”

He moved his finger against her and she lost her words.

Kya sucked in air and tried to finish her sentence. “Say if I came right now?”

“I would say I am glad to see you happy.” He nuzzled her neck. “Would you like that, Kya?” he said gently.

It wasn’t fair. He asked the question while intensifying his caress. Of course she liked it. Of course…

Kya closed her eyes and let her mind drift even as Piro found a rhythm, rubbing decadent circles against her. She remembered her childhood dreams of her future husband: strong, handsome, a mighty warrior, a devoted mate. She imagined that fate had brought her that male as her mate, and that he was caressing her even now.

She moaned as his touch struck a chord—yes, she liked that sensation. She liked those short, fast movements. Her mate read her response and continued doing that, and Kya…Kya arched her back, her breath panting in and out, her hearts thundering, until he slipped his left finger inside her. The combination of sensations proved too much. Kya threw back her head and came hard.

Her male stilled his caress, though he kept his finger within her. She tightened around him as she lay her head on his chest and let her breathing still. He lapped her cheek gently.

She imagined her fantasy mate whispering to her. “Well done, my beauty.”

Kya stirred. She clenched her muscles on Piro’s finger. It felt good, but she wanted more. She bunted him insistently with her muzzle.

‘Kipaz smiled and withdrew from her.

Kya moaned, voicing her displeasure at his absence. She felt empty inside, hollow. She wanted to be filled, to be fulfilled.

Piro put his hands on her hips—one hand on either side—and guided her into a position that would give her what she desired.

She sank onto him, trilling her mandibles as he entered her. The weight of her buried him to the hilt as she settled herself atop him.

He showed her how to move and before she knew it, his hands had fallen away and she was doing it herself, moving against him of her own free will. By the Rings, she was experimenting—wriggling around to found what felt best, because nice was no longer enough to satisfy. And when she found the position she liked most, she indulged herself in it, and Piro’s hands rose again, to her shoulders this time, urging her on. He drove his hips upwards to meet her, and she squealed because somehow he had made it even better. She focused her pleasure-blurred eyes on his face; his eyes were closed, but from the look on his face he liked it too….

“Lela’ra,” Piro moaned.

Kya did not know the word, though Piro said it over and over again. She pushed it out of her mind; who cared what he was saying? It was what he was doing that mattered, and what he was doing was good.

Until Piro elaborated.

“Lela’ra…my wife,” Piro whispered, and suddenly Kya understood. Piro did not feel her, see her. In his mind, Piro was mating with his long-lost partner. Kya realized that Piro’s relationship must have been one of love, not merely mutual benefit.

All he asked was that I pretend to enjoy his company—not to feed his ego, but to preserve his fantasy.

Suddenly Piro’s eyes opened, and Kya realized that she had gone still, and he had noticed. He blinked, as if waking from a dream.

Kya turned her head and licked his muzzle, then whispered in his earbud, “Please continue, my handsome mate.”

Piro closed his eyes and renewed his movements, a smile back on his mandibles, a smile that soon became open-jawed gasps, as his excitement drove him to a place where he could no longer form words.

As for Kya, she no longer needed to pretend to enjoy his company—the pleasure that sent her cry spiraling up towards the stars was very, very real. After one last gasp, Piro’s shout joined with hers.