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I grabbed one, still wonderfully warm and soft, and bit into it. While I chewed, I caught J'avet watching me. Then everyone else. I deliberately swallowed and took another bite.
When I didn't die, the others started to eat.
If Selvia and the others noticed, I saw no sign, their expressions were closed doors. That in itself made me uneasy, but the bread was so tasty I put the reservations aside for now.
I finished my roll in about three seconds and grabbed a piece of fruit from the basket Danec had passed around, but which now sat at his feet. It looked like an apple, but with bright orange skin.
"Any idea what this is?" I asked.
Danec had one of his own on the palm of his hand and was examining it with careful curiosity. "I have no idea. It must be native to Calig."
Landu still stood back from us, but he had one of the strange fruit as well. He bit into it and chewed happily.
"If it's safe for him," Danec said, "it should be safe for me." He bit into his and nodded his appreciation of the taste.
Before I tried mine, I asked, "What did they mean about the symbiont?"
Danec swallowed in a hurry and coughed a couple of times.
I patted him on the back and waited for him to regain his breath.
"Some of our people chose to accept a symbiont to be their host," he said finally. "Others of our people…"
"Didn't like the idea?" I finished for him. I wasn't sure I blamed them. I wouldn't want to be a host for, well, anything. "So there's a parasite of some kind living inside them?" I whispered.
"Something like that, yes," he agreed.
I eyed the closest Iri, a woman around my own age. Like the others, her breasts were bare, but her hair was shorter, the ends cut ragged. I suppose they didn't have access to a hairdresser down here. Maybe all they needed from the IF was a few good pairs of scissors. Somehow, I thought there might be a bit more to it than that.
I bit into the fruit. Juice flooded into my mouth like a bite of honey, but not as sweet. While I chewed, I watched the Iri woman for some sign, any sign, of a worm, or slug, or whatever might share her body. Nothing rippled under skin, or burst out to announce itself. She looked like an ordinary alien, with silvery skin.
"This fruit is good," I said. I ate it down to its core and tossed the remains in the direction of the trees. It wasn't chocolate, but I could happily live on that and bread for a few days.
"Yes," Danec looked like he might say something, but he just tossed his core in the same direction as mine and grabbed another.
"Are you all right?" I asked.
His eyes widened, but he looked toward the ground. "Um…"
"Okay." I crossed my arms over my chest. "Out with it."
"I…You and Slek—"
I grimaced. "You heard that?" When he nodded, I grimaced harder. "Sorry, I thought you were asleep."
"I was. And then I wasn't."
"We didn't mean to wake you." Especially like that. We should have crept off into the bushes or something.
"You didn't," he said quickly. "It's okay, it's not about that." He blinked slowly. "Did you choose him?"
My breath came out in a rush. "No," I said quickly. "I would have told you if I had." I understood where he was coming from though. If I'd woken to find him with his hands down the pants of another woman, I'd assume he'd made up his mind too.
I licked my lips. "It's just… I needed… And wanted… I still want to see where we go." I put a hand on his arm. "I'll understand if you don't feel the same way. If you want to find someone else."
"I don't want anyone else," he said in a hoarse whisper. I had noticed he'd hardly glanced at the Iri's bare breasts, at which some of the evacuees hadn't stopped staring.
"If I have to share you with him, I'll do it. But—"
