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Her smile is so casual that I can’t help but be drawn in. “Let me get some shoes and a jacket.”
I hastily dress in warm clothing, scrounging amongst what there is in the hut that passes as clothing. R’jaal is too lean for me to wear his tunics, and I have to admit that clothing hasn’t been on my mind very much the last few days. I’ve barely left the bed between resonance and surging depression. As I dress, I hear a murmured conversation between the women, occasionally punctuated by “It’s the best!” from one of the little boys and the occasional “K’then, don’t eat that!” from a mother.
I pull on my old fur poncho over the one tunic I have, pull on my terrible skirt, and tug on a pair of boots, wrapping the cord around the legs to keep them up. I feel like I’m in a Halloween costume when I step out. “Sorry,” I say, plucking awkwardly at my skirt. “I don’t have better clothes yet.”
Lauren waves a hand at me cheerfully. “Don’t worry about it. Someone’s going to have extras. Someone always does.”
Hannah eyes me critically. “No offense, but you might be close to my size before I had J’hann.”
“It’s the best!” J’hann pipes up without even looking our way.
“Yes, baby. You’re the best,” Hannah replies, automatic. “I bet I can dig through and find you something. Give me a day.”
“You don’t want to keep it?” I ask awkwardly. “I don’t mind waiting. R’jaal said he’d help me.”
“There’s no way these hips are fitting into my old tunics again,” she says in a cheerful voice, slapping her backside. “Luckily my mate likes junk in the trunk.”
“It’s the best!” calls out her little boy.
“Darn right,” she says, winking at me. “That one is his father’s son.”
I look over at the two boys. One has a long braid and the other has short hair, but they both have four arms and pudgy little figures. I don’t know who they’re supposed to look like, and I really hope there isn’t a quiz. “That’s great. Real great.” God, I sound like an idiot and I can’t help myself. “Just great.”
We stare at each other for a moment before Lauren brightens again. “So you said R’jaal is helping with the ancestors? They’ll be staying for a while, then?”
I lick my lips, wondering how much I should share. “I think so? They made it sound like they couldn’t go home if they chose to come here.”
Lauren looks sympathetic. “That’s terrible. We all know what it’s like to not be able to go home again, huh?” She glances over her shoulder. “Don’t eat that, baby.”
The shorter haired boy puts a pebble down with a guilty expression.
“Can we really call them ancestors?” Hannah asks, glancing over at her son as he chases a crab down the beach. “I get that their race was the progenitor for the island clans, but ancestors seems…strange.”
“Cave people sounds kinda insulting.” Lauren looks over at me. When I don’t pick up the conversation, she turns back to Hannah. “What do they call themselves, do you know?”
“The People.” She shrugs. “Just like everyone else. We’ll think of something. Maybe Tia will have some ideas. Rem’eb moved into her hut, you know. Well, it’s not really her hut. I’rec built it for her when he thought they would resonate, but he ended up resonating to Flordeliza and she didn’t want to move into his old hut. He moved into hers instead.” She puts a hand to her lips and whispers. “It was a whole thing.”
“I bet.” It’d probably be more scandalous if I knew who she was talking about. “You mentioned Tia? How’s she doing?”
“Hard to say.” Lauren moves over to the kids, squats down next to her son, pulls something out of his mouth that looks like a dead shrimp, and then wipes his face with her sleeve. “Wait for your dinner,” she tells him, then comes back to us. “They’ve been staying in her place and not coming out much, what with the whole resonance thing.”
I rub a hand over my throat, where I’m still feeling the vibrations of my resonance. “Mine hasn’t stopped yet.”
Hannah waves a hand at that. “Don’t worry. Sometimes it takes time. Daisy and O’jek took no time at all, but others take a lot longer.”
“Our second round took no time at all,” Lauren says with a dreamy look on her face. Her hand goes over her belly, which seems flat to me. “I’m hoping for a girl this time, especially after seeing how cute Noj’me is.”
I manage a smile at that. “Do you think you guys could show me where the ancestors are staying? And Tia? In case I’d like to visit later.”
“Oh sure,” Hannah says, moving forward and taking my arm in hers. “We’ll walk down the beach and I’ll give you the deets.” She leans in. “Now, gossip tells me that you were a librarian back on Earth? Did you have anything to do with ordering books? Did you by chance ever hear of a book called In Search of a Hero? It was supposed to be a big release in 2015.”
