Chapter 3

Kayla

Hai and I sat outside on the ridge that was dubbed lover’s lane, sewing and patching our clothes. I’d never seen them so happy before. Ashley had been delighted to use her hair cutting skills to cut Hai’s hair with the bone knife Brexl lent to us. Now they couldn’t stop running their fingers through the short tendrils on top of their head.

“It suits you.”

Hai turned to me as if they were coming out of a trance. They’d been so lost in their own happiness I think they forgot I was even there.

“Thanks.” They gave me a wide grin. “I looked at my reflection in the bathing pool earlier and I really liked it. It feels right.”

“I’m glad you like it,” I smiled back. It was strange, but somehow their short hair didn’t just flatter their face, it suited them in a way I wasn’t expecting, like their hair finally matched their personality.

“What about you? Do you have any news about your mobility device? Has Drovo made any progress on it yet?”

“Yes, thank god,” I sighed. “He finished the seat portion. He did a good job, but I still don’t know why it took him so long.”

“Maybe this is his way of flirting with you,” Hai suggested.

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t know how someone can interpret not following through on a promise as flirting.”

“Because boys are stupid, even big blue dryad shifter boys.” My friend winked at me and we both laughed.

“Stupid or not, I can’t imagine this is his version of flirting with me.”

“Suit yourself,” they signed.

“What do you mean, suit yourself? He’s NOT flirting with me.” I gave my friend an exasperated look.

“You believe what you want to believe, but I think that big goofy walking tree of yours is flirting and he might be making a fool of himself, but he definitely is flirting.” Hai insisted.

I was about to argue further when Tarak popped his head around the corner.

“May I interrupt your sewing?” The Savrix asked.

“Sure, come on up.” I invited him onto the ridge.

Orsu followed behind him and they both sat down in front of Hai and myself.

“I need your help,” he began.

Our help? It wasn’t every day someone needed the help of the only two women in the dekes who couldn’t walk a mile downhill without having to take a nap afterward.

“What do you need big guy?” Hai asked.

“Gab-bae is struggling with her pregnancy sickness and I want to cheer her up,” he confessed.

Gabby had been getting sick a lot lately. Poor thing couldn’t go within ten feet of the cookfire without having to run to a toilet.

“She mentioned something called larping last week. It sounded like something she enjoyed very much. Can you explain what this larping is?”

I had to hold back my laugh. Of course Gabby would be into larping.

“Larping?” Hai asked, also looking like they were holding back a laugh.

“It’s pretend fighting.” I cut in. “You use fake weapons and hit each other on the arms or legs and once you’re hit enough times, you’re out.”

“Oh, so my mate wants to spar with me.” Tarak looked thoughtful as he contemplated this.

“No, she does not want to spar with you. It’s like an event where you have two large teams, each one defending some land or a flag or something,” I corrected.

“How do you know so much about larping,” Hai looked at me with surprise.

“I dated a larper once. It was an interesting time in my life,” I explained.

“That sounds like something we should do at the kala,” Orsu added.

“What’s the kala?” Hai asked.

“It is an area we found seasons ago that is surrounded on all sides by stone. Animals cannot get inside. We built a ladder to get in and out of it as we please,” Orsu explained.

“Interesting. That sounds like a fun place. Depending on how big it is, it would be perfect for some larping,” I surmised.

“I can ask Drovo to make everyone rods to pretend fight with.” Tarak stroked his chin as he formulated a plan out loud.

“Can you ask Drondia if she has any colorful cloth pieces we can use as banners?” He turned to Orsu.

“I can do that,” the bear shifter nodded.

“No one say anything,” Tarak leveled us all with a stern look. “I will make an announcement tonight at the evening meal.”

We all nodded in agreement, and just like that, the larping plan was underway.

Drovo

“What do you need these rods for?” Surely I hadn’t heard Orsu correctly.

“We are going to pretend to fight with the females.” My fellow hunter stated again.

“We’re sparing with them?” I attempted to get more clarification.

“No, not sparing. Pretend sparing that they call larping.”

“Pretend sparing.” I stared at him flatly with my arms crossed over my chest, hoping he’d pick up on my confusion.

When he didn’t say anything more, I continued. “And this will cheer up Gab-bae?”

“Tarak thinks it will,” he replied.

“Do all the hu-man females like this larping?”

Orsu shook his head. “Kayla and Hai said they’ve never larped before, but they didn’t seem opposed to the idea. Besides, Tarak is going to ask everyone in the dekes to join us.”

I ran a hand down my face. I’d never heard of anything so ridiculous in my life, but I understood Tarak’s motivations. If I knew of something I could do to make Kayla smile, I’d do it too, no matter how ridiculous. Other than giving her the one thing she wanted most, that is. I inwardly winced at the thought of my own mistake.

He wants us to all go to the kala tomorrow.

“Tomorrow?” This would move my plan to reveal the completed moving chair to Kayla up by a few days.

“Yep. Can you do it? Can you make twenty-four rods by then?”

“Yeah, I can do that.” Making the rods would be easy. Worrying that Kayla might not like what I’ve made for her, not so much.

I spent the rest of the afternoon making rods and finishing up the moving chair before I headed to the evening meal.

I dished up a flatbread topped with meat and spotted an empty seat next to Kayla. I debated sitting with her until Hai filled the empty seat. Fatima and Beatrice sat with her as well. The four of them were laughing about something and I longed to know what it was. I wanted to make Kayla laugh instead of frown.

I sat next to Brexl instead. He looked at Taylor with a longing gaze. He hadn’t even realized I had sat down next to him until I spoke.

“How was your extended hunt?” Brexl nearly jumped at my words. He tried to recover with a cough, but he still said nothing.

“Your hunt. How was it?” I repeated.

“Oh, my hunt. It went well. I killed four ramieri elk and a jagwa.”

Making five kills in two days meant nothing to Brexl, but if anyone else had made the same amount of kills they’d be bragging for days on end. He was lethal, that was for certain.

Brexl had been quiet and shy before we shifted at the young age of thirteen seasons. He had lost both parents early in his life, and the stiffness took his grandmother. When we were exiled, he looked to his grandfather for support, but he turned his back on the young shifter. We’d all lost a lot when the stiffness swept through our original dekes, but I think Brexl lost the most. What precious little he had left slipped away from him like sand through his fingers.

I had lost a mother and sister, but my father remained, as did two of my younger brothers. I still saw their faces in my dreams. My brothers tried to accompany me when I left with the others to begin our exile, but my father held them back.

His eyes had shone with tears, but he had looked to the Savrix with fear and made no move to comfort me with any last words of guidance.

I did not blame him, though. The Savrix was a harsh male, no one dared to oppose his rule, and my father had two other sietlings to think about. At the time, we thought we were walking out into certain death, and if Drondia and Karo hadn’t come with us, that probably would have been the case. But the elders led us through the forest and helped us find safe places to sleep at night until we stumbled up the opening at the bottom of the mountain that eventually became our home.

“May I have everyone’s attention,” Tarak’s booming voice cut through my thoughts.

The room grew quiet, and all eyes turned to the Savrix.

“The newest members of our dekes have not yet seen the kala. We will take a trip there tomorrow.” Hushed murmurs spread throughout the cavern.

A sly smile spread across Tarak’s face and he waved his hand requesting everyone’s attention once again.

“Everyone should come prepared to fight because when we get to the kala, we will do a larping!”

Gab-bae’s jaw hung open in shock. “Did you just say what I think you said?”

“Yes my mate, I have spoken with Kayla and Hai about the larping you mentioned doing on Earth and we have made a plan to do a larping tomorrow.” He gave her a wide grin. and she giggled.

“You are the most thoughtful mate a woman could ask for.” With heavy-lidded eyes, Gab-bae stood up and kissed Tarak. He wrapped his arms around her and deepened the kiss.

“Get a room!” Hai shouted while Sarah looked away and played with the hem of her skirt.

Eventually, they broke their kiss, and everyone cheered.

I looked over at Kayla and wondered if she’d be as happy as Gab-bae was now when I presented her with her moving chair.