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Island…destroyed?
First woman he’d seen?
She’s right that he’s had a life before me. It sounds like he’s had a whole hell of a lot of life. My mind spins. “This is a lot to take in.”
“I know. It’s jarring to hear about because you’ve been so connected, right?” Her gaze strays ahead, to where Rem’eb is being passed over to Set’nef. “It makes you feel all kinds of strange, possessive things you have no right to be possessive over. I get it. I really do.”
“But…you’re happy here? On this planet?” I feel like I have to ask.
Tia gives me another strange look. “That’s like asking if I’m happy with water, or food. I need it to survive. There’s no way to get around it, so there’s no sense in being happy or unhappy, is there? It’s just life. You take what it hands you and you roll with the punches, and you make the best of things. I wish I had a better answer for you, but that’s what I’ve got.”
I offer her a weak smile. “It’s more than what I’ve got, so I appreciate it.”
The smile she gives me is genuine. “If you ever want to learn some herbalism or how to knit, I can hook you up. Knitting does wonders to calm your mind.”
“Right now? That feels like a lot of knitting.”
“Oh, it is.” She laughs. “So much knitting. But it’s all needed, right? So no one will mind if I knit a scarf.” Tia pauses. “Or thirty.”
I laugh, too, and it feels good. Hearing someone else’s perspective on the situation helps me stop spinning my wheels, even if only for a moment.
Twenty-Four
R’JAAL
I hear T’ia and R’slind laughing, and my tail twitches in irritation. Did T’ia say something to her to make R’slind upset with me? I have felt off all day, ever since I went to kiss her this morning and she turned her face away. My heart has ached even as my khui has sung and sung, demanding that we mate.
Have I offended my female in some way? I want to drop to the back of the group and talk to her, ask her if she needs me to carry her.
Ask her if she needs me.
But the others are looking to me for guidance, and I must lead them to another hunter cave before night falls. Then, tomorrow, we will return to the village. There has been no sign of pursuit, no sign of any ancestor following us. The only unusual thing we have passed is a long stretch of snow trampled by what look like hundreds of metlak feet, coupled with metlak refuse scattered across the land. They are heading into the mountains, though, and we are leaving them behind. I must tell the others about this, but for now, they are no more or less a threat than the ancestors who might even now be tunneling under us, seeking to recapture us and bring us back to their strange domain.
I will not let that happen.
The ancestors are good travelers…for the most part. Set’nef and his brother trade off carrying Rem’eb. I can tell that Set’nef is fascinated with his new surroundings, but Tal’nef watches his brother more than anything, and I suspect if Set’nef was not here, Tal’nef would have stayed behind. Noj’me is full of endless questions…most of them surrounding the “great oracle.” She is eager to see it and to meet H’rlow and M’dok who are the most familiar with its workings.
T’ia remains at the back with R’slind, and they talk for most of the afternoon, their voices too low for me to hear. I am glad to hear them getting along, but I am also envious, because I want R’slind with me, at my side. I want her smile. I want her hand in mine.
I push our group hard all day, putting as much distance as I can between us and the fruit cave. I scan the skies for A’tar the drakoni, but there is no sign of him. If they are hunting for us, they are not looking in this direction. When it begins to grow dark, I steer our party towards the nearest hunter cave, which we reach when it is dark outside and the snows are purple with moonlight. We pile into the cave, a much smaller one than yesterday’s, and T’ia sets to making fire again. Her hands tremble and she drops her strikers, gasping and clutching at her chest.
Then I hear it—her resonance song. She stares at Rem’eb, who has been silent and glowering through this entire journey. He resonates back to her, and glances down at his chest, then sighs. “You can untie me,” he says in a resigned voice. “I am not leaving her.”
“Do it,” T’ia says. “We have to trust him at some point.”
I make the fire as she unties Rem’eb and they go out to the front of the cave to talk in privacy. The brothers settle in close to the flame, along with Noj’me, and push their feet towards the warmth. To my surprise and pleasure, R’slind moves to my side and slips her cold fingers into mine.
