“Fiona isn’t coming with us?” Tilly asked as Valeria returned to the pilot’s chair.
“No,” Valeria said, jabbing at buttons and levers. “Fiona is no longer a single lady. Dalk got his mate vision of her while he was in the Sea Sands.”
There it was again. Jealousy. Ashamed of myself, I mentally kicked it away. Fiona loved Dalk so much. She’d been so down these past two weeks without him. Now, he was back. And they could be together. I was truly glad for her that she was getting her happily ever after.
So was Tilly, her reaction unblemished with any of the same complexity surrounding my own. “Oh, that is wonderful!” she cried, clasping her hands together with delight. “I wish I could talk to her about it right now!”
“I don’t think you’d get much of a chance even if we weren’t about to take off,” Valeria observed with a slight snort as theshuttle lifted off once more. “Those two look like they’re going to be spending a lot of alone time together, if you catch my drift.”
We most definitely did catch her drift. Well, all of us but Oxriel, who immediately piped up asking for clarification.
“They will be busy mating, Oxriel!” Zoren told him, sending him a look that was about the equivalent of smacking him upside the head. Oxriel’s mouth dropped into an O of surprise, which he quickly closed with an awkward, growly little cough.
I didn’t pay attention to any other conversations happening on the ride. I was too distracted, my mind already with Gahn Thaleo and what would happen when we met once more.
He told me he’d be waiting for me. It shouldn’t have caused me such a flush of pleasure. Especially since I knew I had to end this thing with him. Or at least find a way to slow it down. Protect my rapidly growing, squishy human feelings. I’d never been in love before. I had no skills to survive the loss of it.
I’ll talk to him today.Maybe I could just be his first friend, instead of his first not-quite-friend-with-benefits.
That idea left me feeling deflated instead of relieved. Everywhere I looked, I didn’t like the possibilities that awaited us.
I still had some time to think about it before I saw him, though. When we landed in the bright aguir circle outside the mountain, he wasn’t there to greet us. I pretended not to be disappointed by this, instead smiling at Zaria and Arton as I hopped out of the shuttle. They’d just exited the main entrance into the mountain. It was probably just my imagination, but after a week away, Zaria’s pregnant belly already looked a little bigger. At her side, Arton was carrying a small basket.
“Hello!” Zaria said as all six of us from the shuttle approached the mated pair. “We were just heading to the brolka pastures to bring Linnet some moonbark and newly woven spinner silk.”
“The brolka? I haven’t gotten a chance to see them yet,” Valeria said. “What do you guys think? Wanna head inside or have a little walk?”
“I vote walk,” Tilly said, which didn’t surprise me, considering her enthusiasm for fresh air.
“Sounds good to me,” I said. A visit with grouchy Linnet was definitely a decent way to pass the time. Especially if I got to pet a baby brolka again. It would keep me from spiralling about seeing Gahn Thaleo later today. Which I was fairly certain I was already spiralling about anyway. “Is… Er… Is Thaleo here?”
Everyone stared at me. Shit. I’d called him Thaleo in front of everyone. Just Thaleo, not Gahn.
“Gahn Thaleo,” I corrected hastily.
“He was on a flight with Warrek and has not yet returned,” Arton replied. “We are still diligently tracking the borog’s burrowing progress.”
“How’s that going?” Valeria asked, and I noted the tension that entered Arton’s jaw, and the area around his mouth.
“We have not yet glimpsed the actual creature. Or creatures.”
“Creatures, plural?” Valeria asked. “There could be more than one?”
“Perhaps,” Arton said noncommittally. “We are having trouble making sense of the burrowing patterns. The entrances and exits of its burrows seem random and unpredictable, and they are very far apart. And there is little evidence of its heavy body walking between them. We have begun to wonder if two are making tunnels at the same time. Or if this particular one has become capable of burrowing extremely long distances without surfacing.”
“Well, that’s not good,” Tilly said under her breath.
“Definitely not,” I agreed quietly. It sounded like one borog had already caused a colossal amount of damage to this tribe. What the hell could two do?
“Keep me posted,” Valeria said. “If it comes down to it, I can start moving women, children, and the elderly out of here on my shuttle. I’ll get some info from Gahn Thaleo and make sure we have everything ready to do it at a moment’s notice if necessary.”
Arton merely grunted at that, likely not thrilled with the idea of his own mate getting ferried away in our weird vehicle out of their ancestral lands. But all the same, I detected a bit of grateful relief in the spin of his sight stars.
“We do not need to worry about it now,” Zaria said, placing a loving hand on Arton’s cheek. “Let us go see Linnet and the brolka.”
“Yes,” Arton agreed. “My grandmother has a rather indestructible way about her. It makes one feel like no bad can befall them when they are with her.”
I knew exactly what he meant. I had a sneaking suspicion that Linnet could survive just about anything these mountains threw at her.
