Loona and Naskia left with Nonah and Niall in the tank. Loona was feeling rather ganged up on after getting a dressing down from Naskia for upsetting Nonah and calling her a “thing”. Naskia even went as far as forcing her to apologise to Nonah. Loona was quite tempted to call it quits and just leave Nonah to live with Niall and Naskia but she had gotten curious to see what Nonah was capable of. She really did want Nonah to be happy.

Nonah was sitting on the bed Indian style with her t-shirt stretched over her knees. Niall was pacing back and forth in front of the pad explaining his bet with Loona.

“So if I can teach you to read and write then Loona will let you have a bit more freedom. Clothes and respect for your wishes, that sort of thing.” Niall explained.

“Yaaaaaay!” Nonah said bouncing on the bed. She really wanted to run up and hug him but she remembered the promise she had made to Naskia. “Thank you so much! You and Naskia are both so kind. It’s easy to see why you’re together.”

Niall ignored that the compliment and moved on.

“Naskia will be back for lunch in about 20 hours. We can fit in a lot of learning, some relaxation and food as well as a small sleep and then we can repeat the process when she goes out for her afternoon class.” Niall said. He was feeling good, focused and in control. No sign of the fear he had felt when Naskia had gone out without him previously.

Nonah smiled and rocked on the bed but didn’t reply.

Niall hit a button on the pad and the image of a multi coloured ball against a black background appeared.

“This is Earth, home of Humanity.” Niall said with an air of dignity and respect about his words. “It is home to over 7 billion humans, millions of plants, animal and bacterial species. Despite being much smaller than the Titan homeworld it is a lot heavier. This is due to the amount of metal it has and this makes the gravity a lot stronger. Everything on Earth is smaller than here. Humans are one of the biggest species on Earth. The biggest is the Blue Whale and would only come up to Naskia’s chest.” Niall explained.

“Wow. It’s beautiful…” Nonah said getting up and approaching the screen. “So planets are big balls? And they float in space?”

“Sort of…..We’ll go over that another time. I just want to give you some context.” Niall hit the pad screen and a second planet joined Earth. It was much bigger. The land was darker green and the seas were slightly darker. “This is Archavia; the Titan homeworld. It is 1.6 times the width of Earth and roughly 600 light years from Earth. It’s darker because the light from its sun is different. Archavia’s sun is older and redder so plants are a different colour; plants make their food from sunlight.”

Nonah studied the images taking in what Niall had said. She understood what he said but was totally unsure how you could eat sunlight. She added the only thing she could. “Earth is prettier.”

Niall laughed. “It is isn’t it?”

Niall moved on through some Earth features and then to the main lesson; the Titan alphabet. He went through each symbol with Nonah sounding them out and getting her to draw them on paper over and over again until he was confident she knew each one.

Niall was impressed at just how quickly Nonah picked up writing. She couldn’t form sentences or words but after a few hours he could name a letter and she would draw it. He had spurred her on with the promise of a human story. She really didn’t need encouragement as learning to read and get some freedoms from Loona was reason enough to learn.

After six or so hours they stopped and Niall had Nonah sit on the end of the bed while he put on the story. He told her this type of story was a film and this film was about a little lost fish. Nonah liked it a lot. She was very happy when the little fish got to go back home at the end. She felt certain connection with the little, lost fish. He was taken away to be a pet too and he had wanted to be free and go back to his Dad. Nonah had never known her parents.

While they watched the film they had some lunch of noodles and meat Naskia had made for them and chatted on and off.

“Naskia is such a good owner. She gives you all this stuff and tasty food and lets you tell her what to do. I wish Loona could be like her sometimes.” Nonah said talking with a mouth full of noodle.

Niall smiled. “I’ve told you before, Naskia is not my owner.”

Nonah was still confused by this. How did Niall not have an owner? “What is she then?”

“I suppose the best word would be girlfriend….” Niall said.

Nonah still looked confused.

“Partner, spouse, lover?” He went on.

“Ohhhh, like for making babies?” Nonah asked her dark brown eyes looking up into her mind searching for the answer.

Niall laughed uncomfortably knowing he could never have a baby with Naskia. Genetics aside how do you change a nappy the size of a truck?

“So how did she become your girlfriend?” Nonah asked progressing down the next logical line of questioning.

“She bought me as a pet. I was taken from Earth against my will so I wasn’t just going to do as I was told. I was able to prove I was smarter than her and she agreed to give me some freedoms. We spent a lot of time together and at one point or another, feelings developed. So we’re just like any other couple really…except she’s much bigger than me.” Niall said explaining his odd relationship out loud for the first time.

Nonah laughed and looked a bit shocked. “You’re smarter than her?”

“Yeah. Is that so hard to believe?” Niall said.

“She’s a master! They’re super smart. They know everything. You can’t be smarter than her.”

Niall grinned realising Nonah equated knowledge to intelligence. “It doesn’t work like that. You can be smart and not know much. You’re smart. You’re picking up a language in a day.”

“Yeah but you can’t be smarter than Naskia. Loona says Naskia is the smartest person she has ever met.” Nonah said finishing off a sliver of something that looked a lot like beef.

“Tell you what. You ask Naskia and see what she says.” Niall replied feeling confident.

After the film they returned to the morning’s exercises. Niall was keen to use repetition as a tool to drill in shapes, symbols and sounds into her. Nonah was progressing faster than Niall had anticipated; she seemed to have an innate understanding of how the Titan language worked. She had been speaking it for at least 17 years so that definitely gave her an edge. Niall was running the video recorder on the pad so he could review lessons and plan the next day’s activities. He was already running out of ideas for this lesson.

Both Nonah and Niall eventually grew bored of work and moved on to exercise. Niall was keen to show off just how independent he was and climbed down to the floor. He was surprised to see Nonah did the same only a lot faster than he did. She had grown up in this gravity and spent many hours as a child climbing, it came as naturally to her as walking.

Niall was also taken aback to find Nonah was a lot faster than him. He was in good shape and over half a foot taller but Nonah was very fit and could use the weak gravity to bound further forward with each step. She was running at 20 miles an hour easy. Niall could just about manage 15mph. After Nonah won in various challenges the two settled down to sleep. Niall, ever the gentleman, gave up his bed and slept in a sock on the floor. Nonah was very grateful having never slept in something so comfy and was soon fast asleep.

“Awww look at you two cuties, all worn out.” Naskia said smiling through the front of the tank.

Niall stretched and frowned at being woken with such a patronising tone. Nonah on the other hand bound out of bed and leapt straight to Naskia’s shoulder to hug her cheek.

Naskia fell back on her ass with surprise and giggled. She cupped Nonah with a finger to return the hug.

“You’re so lovely Nonah. I’m going to see if Loona would swap you for Niall.” She giggled.

Niall was out of bed now and looking grumpy. He’d only been asleep for a few hours and really wanted to keep sleeping but the two giggling girls were not going to let that happen. He sighed knowing not many men would complain about having such attractive company all to themselves.

“Who’s smarter? You or Niall?” Nonah blurted out desperate to hear the answer.

“Why I am, silly.” Naskia giggled some more wanting to tease her grumpy partner.

Niall raised an eyebrow. His face wasn’t usually emotive so this simple act was enough to tell Naskia she’d successfully hit a nerve.

“Liar!” Nonah shouted pointing a finger at Niall. “He told me he was smarter than you so he’s not your pet.”

Naskia looked at Niall and decided not to push this. She only had two hours before she had to go and she didn’t want Niall in a mood the whole time.

“Ok, ok. Niall is smarter than me. He can do sums faster in his head and he always wins arguments. He’s not my pet because he’s actually lovely and sweet despite pretending he isn’t.” Naskia conceded noting Niall looked happier.

She leaned her head over the table towards Niall. “Now can I get my hello kiss?”

Niall smiled unable to resist her and approached her full, ruby lips and kissed the lower lip dead centre. He ran his right hand from the edge of her lip to the centre as he did so feeling its warm surface and rubbing each little ridge with his fingers. It was a habit he had gotten into and he knew Naskia loved it. He did it without thinking now.

“Awww you are both so nice.” Nonah clapped from her perch on Naskia’s shoulder.

Naskia smiled and leaned back up. She extended a hand for Niall. “C’mon, time for lunch.”

Naskia carried Niall through to the kitchen and Nonah made her own way down to the counter where Naskia had placed Niall. Naskia opened the fridge and placed a stack of meat, something cheesy looking and bread on the counter. Nonah eyed the car sized block of cheese longingly. She had never tasted it but it looked and smelt amazing. Loona regularly ate it but would never offer her any despite knowing Nonah would watch her eat it.

Naskia unwrapped the block and then moved on to the meat. She looked over to the pair of humans to start a conversation and caught Nonah with her jaw hanging open gaping at the cheese.

“Well go on then sweetie.” Naskia said turning a palm up in front of the cheese to indicate to Nonah what she meant.

Nonah’s eyes widened and her cheeks released a torrent of saliva in anticipation.

“For me?” Nonah asked pointing to herself.

Naskia smiled at the sight of Nonah slowly approaching a cheese block many times her size. “Just try to leave some for me ok?”

Nonah didn’t even register Naskia’s joke. She just dived at a corner of the cheese block and bit off a chunk from the edge and chewed it, running her tongue around her mouth to fully taste the delicious cheese.

Naskia giggled as Nonah fell down on her back chewing on a chunk of cheese she had ripped off with her hands. Niall was just observing her behaviour, making notes in his mind as he usually did.

“You can have as much cheese as you want, whenever you want. Just ask.” Naskia said. She was genuinely trying to be nice to Nonah but she couldn’t help but smile at the thought of Nonah’s perfect figure being destroyed by cheese.

Naskia carefully cut a few thick slices off the end of the block. Nonah didn’t stop eating despite being rather close to a very sharp knife. Naskia placed the cheese on the bread with slices of meat in between another layer of cheese and bread. She then placed it in the oven to let it toast.

“If you think normal cheese is good just wait until you try melted cheese.” Naskia said.

Nonah looked up from a pile of cheese crumbs. “What!?”

The group ate their meal at the table with Naskia sitting on the floor. Nonah loved the melted cheese and went as far as pulling a long string from Naskia’s toastie. Most of the conversation was between the girls who giggled and nattered away happily with Niall quietly munching in the background. Naskia cleaned up and returned with some fruit for dessert.

“So what did you guys get up to today then?” Naskia asked popping a small red fruit into her mouth.

Nonah was very expertly using her fingers to peel off the skin to get at the juicy flesh inside. Niall had long given up trying to skin fruit and he was too proud to ask Naskia to do it for him.

“I learned the alphabet.” Nonah said looking up from her fruit.

“That’s pretty good; can you say it all without missing any?” Naskia said quite impressed.

Nonah nodded vigorously. Her long, wavy hair was tossed about as she shook her head up and down. Nonah giggled as some of it ended up getting coated in fruit juice from the chunk in her hands. She simply sucked the clumps of hair clean and carried on talking. “Yup! And I can write them all too.”

“Seriously?” Naskia said to Niall.

“She can. She’s a quick study this one.” Niall said with just a hint of pride. He was trying to hide so he didn’t appear to be too emotionally involved.

“Wow. Now I’m really impressed. You humans can learn quickly. Suppose you live such short lives you pretty much have to. Can you spell?” Naskia asked.

Nonah shook her head, carefully this time. “No not yet.”

Naskia pondered for a second popping more fruit between her lips. “I bet you could spell your name. You know the sounds. Try it and see. I’ll give you a treat if you can….”

Nonah’s eyes lit up with the thought of more tasty things. Niall stepped forward with a concerned look on his face.

“Ladies let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.” Niall chimed in.

“Bah don’t listen to him.” Naskia said placing her hand down in front of Niall. “Give it a try. You can do it.”

Nonah thought for a second before opening her mouth.

“Nnnnnnnnnnnnnoooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh” she said sounding out the word.

Niall and Naskia watched fascinated by the processes Nonah was going through simply to spell out her name. Niall was worried she might take a confidence knock if she failed.

“N?” Nonah asked with one eye closed and her nose scrunched.

Naskia smiled and nodded.

“Noooooooooo.” Nonah continued for a few seconds before scratching her cheek with a dainty finger.

“O?” She said.

“Very good.” Naskia said with just the hint of a patronising tone.

“Well the next letter is the same sound as the first so is it N?” Nonah asked.

Naskia smiled. “Clever.”

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaah.” Nonah sounded out a few times before settling on an answer. “A…..N.o.n.a. Nonah.”

Naskia clapped. “Nearly right. There’s an H on the end but that’s very good for a first try.”

Naskia pulled out a chocolate bar from her bag and broke off a bit and gave it to Nonah. “That’s all for you. Your prize.”

Nonah grasped the chunk of chocolate with both hands and fell back on to her rear. The chunk of chocolate nearly weighed as much as she did. She immediately started to naw at it with her front teeth determined to eat all of it.

Naskia smiled at the cute little girl and popped a bit of chocolate in to her mouth. “You’re a really clever little girl. Either that or you have a really good teacher.”

Niall puffed out his chest quite pleased with himself. “Why can’t it be both?”

Loona sat at her desk reading an article. Nonah was asleep in her tank. She had spent every day for the last week apart from one with Niall and every day she had gotten a little bit more precocious. Refusing to take off t-shirts or questioning commands Loona had given. It was grating on Loona but she enjoyed spending time with Naskia. She had sat up late one night talking with her and stayed over in the spare room. The two were starting to become good friends. She also appreciated Naskia cooking meals for her in the evenings as Loona couldn’t cook to save her life.

Loona was munching on some soft cheese on biscuits as she read the article. It was prep for a trip she was going on. A short work placement to get some on the job experience. She had just bitten into another slice of cheese and biscuit when she heard a soft tapping noise. She looked round to see Nonah standing on the second floor of her tank trying to get her attention. Loona got up and opened the lid of the tank. Nonah looked up the length of her owner’s body. Despite being on the second level of her tank which was on a table she was looking directly into Loona’s flat stomach. Her slinky vest top revealed a few feet of bare midriff.

“Yes Nonah?” She asked.

“Can I’ve some cheese please?” Nonah asked trying to be as cute as possible.

Loona raised an eyebrow unsure how she felt about Nonah interrupting her to ask for food when her dish was full of tinned human food already.

“Humans can’t eat cheese. It’s not good for you.” Loona said not lying; she didn’t know if Nonah could eat cheese or not.

“Yes I can. Naskia always gives me cheese all the time.” Nonah replied.

Loona crossed her arms across her chest surprised at this bit of information. “She spoils you.”

“By spoils me you mean gives me a bit of her food that’s so small you wouldn’t notice?” Nonah remarked.

“You think I’ll be inclined to give you a treat when you’re being cheeky?” Loona frowned getting annoyed at Nonah’s almost constant talking back.

“Pleeeeeeeease. I’ll be good. Just a little bit?” Nonah pleaded.

“You’ll be good anyway!” Loona told her.

“I’ll be extra good. Please, please, please.” Nonah repeated.

“Ergh fine here.” Loona said scooping Nonah up and carrying her over to her desk. “There you go. Just don’t make yourself sick or anything?”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Nonah beamed.

Loona smiled happy to see Nonah being a bit like her old self.

“Well you’ll be happy to know you can have all the cheese you can handle for the next while. You’ll be staying with Naskia for the next few days.” Loona said expecting Nonah to bounce about with joy.

“Awww. I’ll miss you. Where are you going?” Nonah asked with a mouth full of cheese.

“Just a trip for my course. I’ll be writing some articles about a new colony world.” Loona said slightly touched.

“When I can write properly can I come and help you?” Nonah asked.

At thought crossed Loona’s mind. She picked up the cheese and moved it away from Nonah and set a graphite stick down beside her. “Write something for me. You’ve been with Niall a week you should be able to by now.”

Nonah scuffed her feet and looked down at the floor. “Niall says I’m not allowed until he says I’m ready.”

“Niall doesn’t own you. You don’t do what he says, you do what I tell you. C’mon, there’s more cheese in it for you if you do.” Loona said.

Nonah picked up the stick and wrote one of a few words that she had asked Niall to teach her specifically.

CHEESE

Loona burst out laughing and took a few seconds to get a grip on herself. She picked up the cheese and set it back down beside Nonah.

“Very clever little girl. Very clever. You’ll be checking my spelling for me in no time at all!” Loona said to her very happy pet.