He Knew, She Knew

Written for the Daily Flash Fiction Challenge with a word limit of 300.

The prompts: This story must contain the words velvet, ocean and race


He Knew, She Knew

He ran his hand down her velvet-like pelt, starting at her shoulder and coming to rest on her shapely hip. She would be waking soon and that would mean coffee stirred with tearful goodbyes. Such was the life of a starship captain.

He got up quietly and walked over to the window. The view of the copper ocean shimmering beneath the double moons was always startling. It was as if he didn’t have the ability to truly grasp the tremendous beauty before him, much less that of the beauty on the bed behind him. Words could be so inadequate sometimes.

That’s why we don’t use them. Her telepathic message wrapped itself around his neck like a warm scarf. He loved the way she did that.

“Good morning Thereon. Did you sleep well?” He asked, turning to let his gaze rest on her bare feminine back. She hadn’t needed to open her eyes to know where he was and what he was thinking.

He knew that she knew everything about him; and yet she still loved him. Such was the way with a race of telepaths. They accepted rather than judged. To them, personality idiosyncrasies are uniformly different; part of the beauty that makes each person unique and worthy of treasuring.

She sat up, letting her legs dangle over the edge of the bed. Her back was still to him. With a shy look over her shoulder, she wordlessly sent, I will miss you.

“I will miss you too.” He tried to hide the brimming sadness he felt but he knew … she knew.

She rose to meet him as he started past her towards the kitchen.

My ship is scheduled back in under a month. Will you wait for me?

“Maybe,” he lied with a smile. He knew, she knew.

Word count 300


http://www.jimdillingham.blogspot.com