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wear.”
    She lifted her hand and pointed to a storage unit. There were several generic bodysuits designed for men. He read a few packages and then removed a dark suit from its pack and started to put it on.
    It was an exceptionally snug fit, but as he breathed, it flexed with him until it looked almost comfortable.
    Avina wanted to look away, she really did, but the aura that she had nagged, negotiated with and used to sniff out candidates had just taken on physical form. That never happened.
    “What did you just do?” she stared as he moved around her ship like he owned it. Sure, she had brought him out before for conversation on long, boring voyages, but she hadn’t realised that he would be paying attention.
    “I reconstituted a body. I was energy before I was physical, and when the physical no longer served me, I gave it up. Living in the orb was fine until the day a new Aura Speaker was assigned to me, and I looked forward to being summoned to assist.”
    As she watched, he prepared tea and got her a bag of water. He handed it to her with a grin. “The tea will be ready in a minute.”
    She inhaled, pulled the mask away and scowled at him. “You mean, you could have become physical at any time?”
    “Certainly. Aura Speakers have been calling on me for generations. I enjoyed the occasional forays into the physical world.” He made the tea with expert precision, as though he had done it a thousand times before.
    She coughed again, and he reached over to smack the mask back over her face. He flicked some toggles, and she inhaled sharply and fell asleep.
     
    * * * *
     
    Unlike most of his kind, Utolian had never been content to drift through the stars, consuming their energy and speaking only with his own people. He craved a life with one of the ground-walking species, and so, he had built a body and lived amongst them, learning their ways.
    It took him four tries to find a situation where he could be the kind of being he craved. Flesh beings were locked into social structures that bewildered him. He had found a way to become king, and while he was not very proud of some of the things he had done, it had offered him the chance to embed himself in the orb to be passed from Aura Speaker to Aura Speaker.
    The Aura Speakers were some of the few physical beings that could see him in any form. It was a freedom that he enjoyed, and he had flitted through the generations until he landed in the hands of a woman that he could feel from inside the orb.
    From the first time she had summoned him, Utolian knew that he could live with this woman in the physical form and tie himself to her. Avina was brave, compassionate, witty and her body was curved in all the right places.
    He had always enjoyed experiencing all that a physical form had to offer and now was no different. His new body was excited at the prospect of a proper mate at long last. He had been alone for a very long time. That endless moment had just come to an end.

Chapter Five
     
     
    Avina felt like hammered hell. As she sat up, she heard a shift from the lav; apparently, her guest wasn’t a figment of her imagination.
    Now that he was physical, she wasn’t sure if she was supposed to remain formal with him. What she wanted to do was kick his ass, but it didn’t look like she would get the opportunity. She wasn’t sure she could kick that high.
    The bag of water was warm from contact with her body, but she didn’t care. She yanked open the tab and sucked furiously. She hadn’t been this thirsty in a while.
    “You are awake, Aura Speaker.”
    She snorted and kept going until the bag was empty. She coughed a little. “I am awake, Your Majesty.”
    “You may call me Utolian. My people have a new ruler now, and she is doing wonderfully well. I look forward to meeting her one day.”
    Avina shifted until her legs were over the edge of the bunk. “Is she a relative?”
    “No. I have never had children.”
    He handed her a steaming cup, and she inhaled the