Page 144 of Moon Chosen

“Your eyes aren’t changing. Turn your face to the sun and raise your arms. Hold your palms out and open, like this.” Nik did an exaggerated demonstration.

Mari mimicked him. “Okay, I’m doing what you’re doing, but it’s not working the same with me as it does with you. Maybe I can’t do it.”

“Of course you can! Absorbing the sun is simple compared to calling down sunfire, but you have to accept it, Mari. And that means you have to accept the part of yourself that belongs to the Tribe of the Trees.”

Mari dropped her arms then. “That might take some doing.”

“Not if you think about it like this—if you weren’t part Companion, Rigel wouldn’t have sought you out and chosen you to bond with. That’s not hard for you to accept, right?”

“Right.” Mari drew a deep breath, spread and lifted her arms again, opening her hands and turning her palms up. Then she stared up at the glowing ball of fire in the sky and thought,I accept the part of me that gave me Rigel. By right of my blood, fill me.

Heat and power sizzled into her body through her palms, causing her to gasp.

“That’s it exactly! Well done, Mari!”

Mari looked at her bare arms, fascinated by the detail of the swirls and patterns that glowed up through her body as it absorbed the rays of the sun and began changing heat into energy.

“It feels incredible!” she said.

“Your eyes are glowing like you’ve harnessed pieces of the sun in them. You have a gift. I’ve only seen a few people be able to absorb sunlight as fully as you do. Mari, there is so much the Tribe could teach you about yourself!”

Reluctantly, Mari dropped her arms and turned her face from the alluring sun.

“I’m not going with you,” she told him.

“Okay, I understand. But don’t close yourself off from an entire world that you could be a part of.”

“You said you’d only tell me the truth. So, tell me truly, Nik, would the Tribe completely accept me?”

Nik stared at her, and Mari could see warring emotions in his eyes. Finally, he answered, speaking with reluctant honesty. “I don’t know. The Tribe has never had to accept anyone like you. I don’t know what they would do.”

“Thank you for telling me the truth.”

“I’ll never lie to you, Mari.”

Their gazes met and held until Mari felt a nervous fluttering in her stomach. She was the first to look away.

“Come on. Let’s get you to the creek. I need to go back to the burrow. Sora will have the girl there by now, and she needs my attention.”

Nik slid his arm around her shoulder, which felt oddly intimate to Mari, though she told herself sternly that that was silly. She’d been this man’s Healer. She’d seenallof him, for days and days. It hadn’t been awkward then. Why should it be awkward now?

Mari wrapped her arm around his waist and they kept walking.

They made better time than Mari had anticipated. Nik was visibly invigorated after he absorbed the sunlight and even though walking was difficult and slow, it was possible. Mari led him to the southern part of Crawfish Creek, where the eastern bank wasn’t treacherously steep. They crossed very carefully, and Mari breathed a huge sigh of relief when Nik stepped firmly on dry land.

“You can find your way back to the Tribe from here, right?”

Nik nodded. “Right.”

“Okay. Well. Good-bye, Nik.” She started to turn away from him, but he touched her hand, stopping her.

“Mari, may I see you again?”

“Nik, let’s not make any plans or promises. You’re a Companion. I’m an Earth Walker. Being friends is not natural for us.”

“It was for your mother and father.”

“That’s different. Galen loved Mama.” The words came out of Mari’s mouth before she could stop them. She felt her cheeks flush with heat. “I didn’t mean anything crazy like you’re supposed to love me. I’m just saying that Galen and Mama were different than us, and that’s a good thing because their relationship cost that Companion and his Shepherd their lives.”