Chapter 21

With all of his questions about Veda's hopes and how she felt about kodes, Veda was starting to believe that Traze was leading up to something. Perhaps he would reveal that what Najol had said before was true… That he really was her kode…

But then he just stopped talking, so clearly that wasn't the case.

Initially, Veda thought she would be disappointed if Traze was her kode when he didn't seem to fall into insta-love with her. A small part of her still felt that way. But she had fallen so head-over-heels for him that she didn't much care anymore if he fell instantly in love with her or not. At this point, she just wanted to be with him.

She knew she couldn't force this, though. That wasn't how Ateran biology worked. If Traze wasn't meant to be with her, he wasn't meant to be with her. End of story. No amount of falling for him was going to change things.

And if she couldn't have him like she wanted, perhaps it was time to start withdrawing. She would need to make a conscious decision to keep herself focused on the expedition at hand and distance herself from Traze as much as possible.

It would be difficult, especially with how much Veda loved her time with him and the attention he provided her, but she consoled herself by thinking that her Ateran mate might still be out there. She might still be someone's kode. And when she found that person who was willing to love her unconditionally, hopefully she'd be able to forget about her feelings for Traze.

The usual hot air seemed to dissipate the closer they got to the mountain. When Traze stopped the caravan, Veda was actually shivering.

He wrapped his arms around her, rubbing her shoulders to keep her warm. "Do not worry. We have packed additional clothing. Come. I will grab you more to wear."

Well, if Veda wanted to distance herself from Traze, this certainly wasn't the way to do it. But she enjoyed his strong arms on her soft skin so much… How was she ever going to keep herself from falling more deeply in love with him? Every little thing he did felt like magic to her.

He helped her off Batair and then opened up one of the packs with extra clothing. He wrapped Veda in what looked like a thick fur coat and gave her some thick pants to go with it. She was already wearing boots, but he had extra socks for her as well.

She felt better immediately, and with the cold no longer nipping at her, she was able to focus on the expedition once more.

As Traze doled out more clothes, she walked over to the stream nearby to examine it. It was running steadily though still seemed to have a fairly low water supply. Veda walked along it, staring down into it, until Aldohr interrupted her.

"What are you doing?" he asked incredulously.

Veda would have no more of his attitude. "Doing what you should be doing… observing the stream."

Aldohr scoffed. "Do not deign to tell me what I should be doing."

Veda gritted her teeth. "I think that's exactly what I need to do since you don't seem to figure it out on your own. I mean, what the hell kind of scientist are you, Aldohr? You couldn't come up with any possible plan to save my life? It didn't cross your mind that a shuraa's fang might be an effective way to administer the healing sands?"

Veda was being ruthless, but she didn't care. She was tired of being doubted by Aldohr when she was clearly far smarter than him. He had been useless on this trip so far, doing nothing but slowing Veda down.

Before Aldohr had a chance to answer, Traze had walked up behind both of them.

"What is going on?" he asked.

"Nothing," Aldohr said before retreating.

Traze immediately turned his attention to Veda. "Was he disrespectful to you?"

"No more than usual." Veda shrugged. She wasn't too concerned with it. She was too busy trying to get into the right headspace to analyze this stream.

"I told you, you cannot just walk off," Traze said to her.

Veda felt herself get mildly annoyed. "And I told you I can't be expected to let you know what I plan to do at any moment. And I don't see why I should have to!"

Traze raised an eyebrow. "Well, why shouldn't you tell me?"

"Because I'm not… yours," Veda said it more bitingly than she intended.

But the thought did anger her. Traze tracked her like she belonged to him, but as much as she wanted that, she didn't. He didn't get to have it both ways. He couldn't be this protective over her knowing that it was never going to lead anywhere. It wasn't fair to Veda.

"Oh," Traze said blankly.

"Look, I'm sorry, but it's just the truth. I don't belong to you. I don't belong to anyone as of now, and I should be free to move about just like any of your warriors. I understand you're more fearful of me because I'm weak and because I got bit by the shuraa yesterday… but I'm not going to allow you to treat me any differently. To you, I should be just another scientist on this expedition. That's it."

Traze looked immediately hurt, though he said nothing. And Veda did feel bad for hurting him. But she wasn't wrong. She wasn't Traze's, and if she was going to distance herself from him, she had to finally put her foot down. She couldn't be followed by him anymore.

She continued to walk up the stream, and Traze still followed her but dropped the subject.

"What are you looking for?" he asked.

"I'm not sure," Veda admitted. "Any clue to what might be causing these low water levels."

She continued until they reached a small waterfall at the edge of the mountain. She finally saw it there, peeking out of the water's edge… a dam.

She knew it. She knew somebody had to have been messing with the water flow on purpose! Nothing else had made sense!

"There!" Veda pointed it out to Traze.

"What is it?" he asked, leaning over the stream's edge to the collection of sticks and brush that made the dam. It looked like a beaver's dam rather than one of the professional dams humans made back on Earth.

"On Earth, we'd call this a dam. It helps to restrict water flow. Someone must have made it here."

A few of the other warriors gathered around, and they all looked appalled.

"An Ateran made this?" Najol asked, horrified.

"Yeah, they must have," Veda answered him. "I don't know why… But they must have."

Traze looked furious. Despite Veda's determination to keep her distance, she could not help but want to comfort him. She put a hand on his shoulder.

"Look on the bright side of this. Now we know that whatever has been happening to the water and the healing sands was done on purpose. It's not something occurring naturally. That means you can probably fix whatever is affecting the healing sands."

Traze nodded. "Yes… Yes, I hope so. But I do not know why anyone would do this."

"And this small contraption could not be the reason the healing sands were so depleted," Najol pointed out.

"No, this small dam alone would not be enough to stem the flow through all your rivers and streams… But maybe this shows that more are out there. We just need to find them."

Traze nodded. "We will disassemble this one now and search all the streams on our expedition for more."

"I will help you to destroy it," Najol volunteered.

Traze nodded.

"But that water… It's going to be freezing," Veda pointed out.

"It is alright. We are equipped to deal with the temperature change. We will be fine."

It did appear that the Aterans could handle the cold a lot better than Veda could. They were wearing significantly less clothing than she was. Still, she knew that jumping in that stream would be anything but comfortable for them.

But Traze and Najol stripped down and jumped in anyway.

It was incredibly easy for them to destroy this dam, as it was just a bunch of individually stacked twigs and leaves. They tore it apart in minutes and watched the water level in the stream flow higher. Veda smiled to herself. Even though she hadn't found her Ateran mate yet, she was so happy she could actually be of service to the Aterans. Her observations were helpful, and the things she did were making a difference. She was proud of that, and for that reason alone, she was happy to have crash-landed on this planet.

As soon as Traze got out of the water, he was shivering. Veda opened up the extra clothes pack and pulled out a long, thick, towel-like cloth, rushing it over to him. Someone else handed Najol something to dry off with.

"Are you alright?" Veda asked Traze as he shivered.

"I am fine. Thank you for what you have discovered," Traze said. "You do not know what you have done for the Living Sands."

"Of course, I'm happy to help," Veda assured him.

He stepped away to dry off and get dressed, and as Veda turned around, she ran into Aldohr once again. She took in a deep breath and prepared for his color commentary.

But it never came. Aldohr looked down at the ground, seeming a little embarrassed.

"He is right. I did not suspect that anyone would ever consider interfering with the Goddess Eana's gifts, but I was wrong. If you are right and there are more of these devices, you may have saved many lives by leading us to them."

Veda was completely taken aback by his acknowledgment of her.

"Th-thank you, Aldohr," she stuttered out.

He nodded and stepped away, apparently not having much else to say.

As he did, Batair walked up to Veda, panting at her excitedly as he rubbed against her thigh.

"Would you look at that, Batair? I even won over Aldohr." She laughed and rubbed behind his soft, black ears.

Veda had never felt more important in her life. All her years as a biologist on Earth, she usually spent her time being disregarded and disrespected by men who believed they knew more than her. She had never commanded even a quarter of the respect on Earth that she had in the small amount of time she'd been on Atera.

She still questioned if fate or destiny or whatever was real, but a small part of her thought that even if she couldn't find her Ateran mate, maybe she was still meant to be here on Atera. Maybe her job here was to help the Aterans and have their unanimous appreciation and love, even if she didn't have a mate.

The way she felt right now, she'd be okay with that because she was still appreciated and cared for, and she was making a difference. What more could she ask for than that?

After Traze dressed, he announced they'd be sleeping here for the night.

"Everyone, build your shelters. We will be sleeping two to a tent tonight for warmth," he told everyone before walking over to Veda.

"You will be sleeping with me," he said to her, not giving her a chance to protest before he opened a bag and began pulling out a large, thick tarp with metal poles to build his tent.

"Uh, wait a second," she muttered from behind him. "I'm not so sure that's a good idea."

"Well, I am quite sure," he told her. "You will not be sleeping with another Ateran, and you cannot sleep alone. It will get far too cold after sundown. You will be unable to sleep if you are alone, and you will need much rest as we hike up the mountain tomorrow."

"Well… Maybe Batair can sleep with me," she continued to argue.

"Batair will be sleeping with both of us," he said, as he started running the poles through the thick tarp.

"You're not being fair about this. I can decide where I want to sleep for the night. I just told you. You're not the boss of me."

Traze turned around quickly, his face flush with anger.

"I am the boss of this entire tribe. I am the warlord of the Living Sands, and I will say who you sleep with. And you will sleep with me. Is it really that terrible for you to think of spending a night with me?"

Veda heard pain in his voice when he asked that, and she felt bad. That really wasn't the problem at all. She didn't mind sleeping with Traze. She would definitely want to sleep with him rather than any other Ateran.

But at the same time, it was difficult for Veda to continue to be in such close proximity to him. Traze didn't understand. He didn't get how human emotions worked. He couldn't process that Veda was falling more and more in love with him every day.

And she wasn't about to explain it.

"Fine," she said begrudgingly, not offering an apology.

"Fine." Traze did not offer one either.