"WHAT?" Michael jumped to his feet.

Ashtar looked around at the others and started to explain only after he saw no one else was going to do it. "It all has to do with the chemistry of a male Dilana. It is different from a woman's, naturally. His...seed, if you will, is more concentrated with matte's - reproduction cells - than a females. Matte's need to be stimulated before they will work. Imagine the molecules in a cold liquid. They are moving rapidly trying to sustain the cold. They are highly excited and they lose that excitement as the liquid begins to warm. Well, a male's matte's are highly excited when he is with his soulmate, and instead of them just slowing like a liquid, his matte's expand. During your first bonding, your matte's entered her body. Please keep in mind that matte's continuously expand inside of the female body until they are neutralized. This can't be done by just mating, it must be done by a sharing of the mind and soul. We have a ritual just for that. In it you will connect and share everything. After that, Rusu, will decide if she will be with child. This ritual is usually done right after the physical mating, but you have waited, which means that your matte's have expanded to an extreme size by now and pretty soon, her body will not be able to contain them. They will continue continue to grow and eventually kill her."

"Rusu? Is that our God?" Michael asked.

Ashtar smiled and said, "No, it is more of a philisophy than a person." Michael nodded.

They both had so many questions but they knew that this was no time to ask them. They had to do this ritual now!

Maria then looked at Michael. He saw tears spilling down her cheeks and he moved in to take her into his arms when he saw her eyes narrow. At him. "You! Again!" She yelled. Then she got up and began to pace, her arms flying wildly. "I knew it. I fucking knew it. I told Liz, I told her, and she didn't believe me. I said 'leave it to Michael to just wreck havoc on the rest of my life.' And now, I don't even know how long that will be! Because of you!" She said the last part looking at him once again and then she walked over to Michael and started slapping him; hard at first and then progressively weaker as her sobs began to take over.

Michael would have laughed at how cute she looked, if only the situation hadn't been so horrible.

Finally she crumpled next to him, having exhausted her anger, and allowed him to take her in his arms. She cried uncontrollably. Michael bent in and whispered in her ear to try to lighten the mood. "Hey it's going to be okay. Besides, aren't you the one who seduced me? And who's idea was it for chocolate sundae heaven?" He smiled when he heard a little giggle escape her lips, and squeezed her close. "Don't worry, we're tougher than this thing. We'll beat it, okay?" She nodded in response.

He looked up at the others, his face sobered and his voice turned hard. "What do we do?"

*****

The women had ushered Maria off to a room in the house and the had taken Michael to another. Despite their separation, they were still with each other, their thoughts lingering on the edges of each other's minds.

Sintama and Kisa instructed Maria to remove her clothes and then they dressed her in a sheer, sparkly white chemise. A crown of flowers was placed on her head and an amulet with some odd design was placed around her neck. Kisa told her the amulet was the Dilana's symbol for woman. All of this was done with a sense of urgency.

"Do you have anything partial to you that you can offer during the ceremony?" Lana asked her. Maria considered this for a moment and then removed the vile of Cyprus Oil from her purse and showed it to Lana. Lana nodded and said "that will be fine."

Maria removed her shoes as instructed and placed them in front of her bag. *I can't believe how calm I am for someone who just found out that their boyfriend's sperm was going to kill them.* she thought to herself, laughing bitterly. Then she heard Michael send her a mental wink from somewhere else in the building. *You sure are. Oh, and Maria? I love you!*

Maria was going send him her love when she heard something that made her momentarily freeze. She turned quickly on Disora. "What did you just say?"

Disora looked at her and repeated her words, a small smile on her lips. "I just said that I never thought that in all of my sixty-five years that I would ever, not only see, but participate in a Dilana marriage with a human."