47. Thivoll

47

Thivoll

I can tell she still feels the heavy weight of responsibility for her Silver, even after all we have done to protect the female.

She looks lost and depressed and I know I need to help distract her from whatever it is floating around in her overly-protective mind.

I doubt she would agree to any naps in the sun or laying under our covers.

Even I would be too distracted thinking of the other women we need to help, and they are only a vicarious responsibility.

Now that we have a way for her to exit our cave, I no longer want to risk her being with me when I kill hunters. There are safer outings we could take, but it's worth finding out if she would consider staying.

"We have a couple of traps we could set up near the entrance, but how about I go looking for more tonight?"

"Sure, but let's get her in the other small room first. I don't like how she's sitting out here like she's part of the supplies."

I move Silver as she goes into the room with our nest in it.

As I'm setting the chamber down in the back of the room, she comes in with a blanket. She drapes it over the chamber so only Silver's neck and head are showing.

I haven't really thought about how troubling it would be for a nearly hairless species to be without clothing.

"Should we dress her?"

Ree shakes her head. "I would really like to, but everything will be contaminated and we've already done enough to her in that regard."

I see her point. When I look over to her, she is absentmindedly scratching at the back of her hands and forearms.

A thrill passes up my chest and quivers along my whiskers thinking of how beautiful they will be if those portend coming changes.

"I assume you are going to have scales there soon?"

She looks down at what she's doing and pulls a face. "Likely so."

"I'm sure they will look just as beautiful as your others, my Ree."

She sniffs. "We'll know soon enough. Let's get this cave better protected."

I growl. "I would rather you remain here."

She ignores me and grabs an empty pack, then rechecks her pockets to ensure she has a medkit and rations before moving over to me and extending her arms.

I huff out a breath.

This is one of those moments where I realize that one of her most attractive traits is also one of her most annoying ones. I love all the ways she is exotic, but she is just as willful as a manticorid female.

Which is of course why I can't trap her here.

The pang of fear that thought brings urges me over to her, but not to lift her just yet. I push my muzzle into the base of her neck, loving the feel of her new scales against me, and take a deep breath of her intoxicating scent.

I want to move her back to our soft bedding, but we go out into the night.

We spend some time ensuring we didn't leave any scrapes or other evidence of our habitation on the rock face or at the base, then lope off into the thick forest.

With Silver ensconced in our nest my heart is much lighter. In fact, I've never felt so alive or hopeful, although there are dozens, if not hundreds of hunters on the continent.

Space station work was reliable, but I'd trade it without another thought for the exhilaration of leaping rock to rock with her legs holding me tight.

I had the occasional encounter with a manticorid female who was passing through the station, but never once imagined the utter delight I would find here with my precious Ree.

Her thoughts must have been far heavier while I was pondering this because she lets out a long sigh.

"What's bothering you?"

She hums. "Do you think the genali will just keep taking women from my planet until we're all gone? You have Sentinels and have lost half of yours."

I wish I could assuage her fears, but I doubt she wants lies.

"You're barely past primitive. Humans have no natural defenses and are easily captured. You weren't popular until recently despite all of that and I never knew why, but your metamorphosis explains it. I assume you died too easily before to make it a worthwhile investment."

She makes a pained keening sound. "Is that why they started taking your women, too? Would your people help us?"

My breath catches.

Maybe she's right and they found a way around the confinement sickness, but there's no way of knowing.

It would surprise me if they figured out our biology. We don't really understand it ourselves and most of our technological advancements for many generations have been toward that goal.

I hate delivering more bad news, but I never see Session agreeing to assist her species.

"I doubt it. It seems like it's only a matter of time before we move away from our sleepy, peaceful pursuits to revisiting the might of a lost era, but I think it might drive us into extinction to protect even our own system. We waited too long, I'm afraid."

"Well, maybe they will change you in ways that work to your advantage. I know I'm nowhere near as fragile as I once was," she comments.

It's hard to imagine a species being more breakable than she is, but I know better than to voice that thought as she continues.

"They said we were the most durable of harem options. With testing data to back it up. From what I gathered, we are some sort of sport package for more rigorous use, but with the shiny packaging a discerning buyer has come to expect."

Hot rage fizzles along my spine and I have to stop running in case I slam us into a tree.

"They told you that?"

She snorts out a breath. "Thivoll. They showed videos and everything."

Her voice sounds flippant but she's trembling.

I crouch down so she can get down but she doesn't budge. She's making sniffing noises and her trembling gets worse.

"I'd like to hold you," I tell her.

"No. I'm fine. I want to get back to Silver and get better protections in place."

So stubborn.

I do as she asks, though, and pick up my pace. The sooner we're done, the sooner I can comfort her.

The first place I take us is back to where I killed the two idiotic fighting genali. I smell numerous other prey species around the area, but as I suspected, none of them were fooled by the amateur trap laying of the hunters.

Ree helps me disassemble two traps before we return to the one that worked by a trip trigger.

It ends up being useless.

I had assumed the genali blood in the air was from the two hunters in the camp we have been avoiding, but another hapless genali squelched right into the trip wire.

I hear Ree retching and decide not to get any closer. From the way the slime is laying, their pack and weapons are completely bathed in their gray blood.

I've had to wash enough of that out of my fur in streams over the last few days that I'm not inclined to investigate.

All the careful stalking, listening for threats, and communicating with gestures gives a sense of nostalgia for our early, much more awkward interactions. I push my whiskers forward just thinking about it, then shake my head when I think of how much has changed over such a short period.

Not to mention just how odd it is that those are going to be our early relationship memories.

No matter; as long as she's mine then those are unimportant details.

We spend most of the night adding a few more items to the pack on Ree's back, but not nearly as much as I would like. Few hunters are using traps, unfortunately.

When they do, it makes them more reckless and easy to sneak up on.

I avoid engaging except for a few times. Not only because she is with me, but also because most of the hunters seem far more capable and aware of their surroundings.

While I would have liked to have the opportunity to take more risks and as a result, clear the field of threats and increase our supplies, it is still a night well spent.

Ree looks more relaxed as we near our nest and I'm glad we took the time away. The fresh air is healing, especially when it isn't punctuated by venom-induced screams and gunshots like it has recently.

It's entering the first stages of pre-daylight and we are on the opposite side of the plateau from our cave.

I'm taking a bit of a detour toward what smells like a large body of water. From the scent I can tell we are getting very close.

There isn't enough rotting vegetation in the mix to suggest a bog and a reliable water source is always worth investigating. It's rocky and although I'm still enjoying our outing, I'm tiring from all the leaping.

The forest abruptly parts to reveal a cove, with the moon reflecting off of the water of the larger lake behind it. Ree makes a small sound of appreciation.

I agree with her. It's beautiful.

Something about moonlight glinting off of water must be universally appreciated. I walk us closer to the edge of the water, pulling in the complex smells of aquatic life and vegetation over the roof of my mouth.

Ree talks to me in a hushed whisper. "I can feel the scales now, Thivoll."

"How extensive are they?"

"On the back of my hands, but not my palms. My fingers are oddly thick on the top now. Then the scales go around my wrists and end halfway up my forearm."

I purr. "I look forward to exploring them."

"I'm glad you like them, but it's really strange for me."

I empathize, but I also love the look of them against her lovely white-pink skin and they make the indigo and orange of her mane look so much richer.

I hear a small sound out in the water, something about it pulling all of my attention. I stare out over the lake, but don't hear it again.

"This place feels really creepy all of a sudden, Thivoll. I don't like it."

I'm not sure what she means exactly, but get the general idea and agree with her. I can't hear or smell anything, but it feels like we're being watched.

"Let's go home."

It's almost light by the time we get back to our nest. I come to it from the top side and as I break over the ridge, I smell a strong male musk.

A growl starts up in my throat and I can feel Ree tense. I'm not sure if I should leave her up here while I go investigate, then decide it's best for her to just stay with me.

We climb down silently and I position Ree behind me as I stalk into the cave, my claws unsheathed and ready.

The smell of the male is much stronger and I'm on high alert.

A few steps in and it's clear they aren't in the main chamber. Nor in our nest room. I check the other exit, but it is empty.

That leaves Silver's room.