10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Aubrey

It was official, Aubrey had gone soft. When she’d been young, she’d spend all day hiking asteroids with her mother, which was not only an intense workout but uncomfortable as hell in their ancient space suits. She remembered sweat pooling in her boots because the moisture reclaimer wasn’t very good, and one especially memorable time, the waste collection bladder broke.

Never once did she finish one of those long days and not look forward to tugging on the suit the next day and doing it all again. She had boundless energy and an insatiable need to explore whatever hunk of rock they were prospecting.

Now, many years later, Aubrey had to stop and wheeze after only walking a few hundred yards. Even worse, they were going exceptionally slow.

“Can I carry you now?” Tarrian asked for the fifth time. She wanted to be annoyed, but that would be childish and ungrateful. Then he pointed out something she should’ve realized sooner. “The air isn’t as oxygenated here as it is at ground level. You might be having a difficult time compensating for it.”

“I’m an idiot,” she muttered. Running around on an asteroid or moon in a suit with constant, perfectly balanced air was different from going up a damn mountain!

Tarrian sounded a negative rattle. “You are not an idiot! This path is meant for Talins, not small humans. Struggle is inevitable.”

Leaning against him, Aubrey focused on evening out her breathing. She could see the next lift-carriage pad from here, with a line of Talins already queued up and ready to board. The path there was at a steep incline she could see with her naked eye, but that wasn’t the worst part. The path was narrow, with a sharp drop off on one side and no railing. It was one of the reasons there was a tether going from around her waist to Tarrian’s. When he’d first put it on her at ground level, she’d thought he was being overly cautious.

Turns out he wasn’t because this path was treacherous!

“It’s a good thing I’m not afraid of heights,” she murmured. The stitch in her side was easing and she didn’t feel as dizzy. Straightening up and meeting Tarrian’s gaze, she said, “I’m woman enough to admit I’m not going to make it without help, or at least supplemental oxygen.”

“Please, my perfect human, allow me,” he begged, purring loudly. Bending at the knees and opening his arms, he invited her to hug him.

It was hard to object when she was cold, having trouble breathing, and determined to make it to the top of Ancestors’ Belt.

Collapsing against his warm body, she let him pick her up. He rattled out a cheerful affirmative sound as one arm went under her butt and the other supported her back.

He easily lifted and held her weight. His long strides made rapid progress, and by the time they reached the pad, the next lift-carriage was arriving. She didn’t ask to be put down as they waited for everyone inside the lift-carriage to get out. Once the vehicle was empty, the line filed inside. With typical Talin orderliness, they filled the space from back to front. She and Tarrian were the last to load so they were right next to the door as it slid shut.

It wasn’t any warmer inside, but Aubrey was defrosting a little now that she was cuddled so close to Tarrian. The omnie with its nano-infused liner helped keep her core warm, but her face and hands were cold to the point of discomfort.

Aubrey was so engrossed in watching the world below get smaller and smaller that she didn’t notice no one was talking until they were halfway up this leg of the journey. The same thing had happened in the first lift-carriage. She wanted to ask about it, but she was afraid to break the silence.

She was burning with curiosity by the time the lift-carriage stopped and they could disembark. Because they were the last ones on, they were the first ones off. Tarrian kept a steady pace as he passed the line of Talins waiting to descend.

What Aubrey couldn’t believe was not a single Talin was wearing extra garb. A few had a wide strip of cloth wrapped around their torsos several times and tied at the back, the ends almost trailing to the ground, but other than that, there was no compensation made for the bitter cold!

Looking over Tarrian’s shoulder, she noticed the other Talins that had ridden up with them were pacing themselves so everyone maintained a set distance between each other. If she wanted to ask questions, it was now or wait for an entire other lift-carriage ride!

“Why is everyone so quiet?” she whispered, even though they probably wouldn’t have heard her if she spoke normally.

“Casual conversation while on the mountain is discouraged,” Tarrian explained. “You don’t need to worry about it because you’re human, but everyone else will be trying hard to maintain their silence.”

“So no one talks ever?” Aubrey asked.

“There are lectures that the monks give on meditation and the nature of Talin greatness,” he explained.

Aubrey had to bite her lip to keep from giggling. “Sounds about right.”

“It is right and enlightening,” Tarrian agreed. “Accendens are given time to converse with each other after classes, but outside of those parameters, everyone is quiet.”

“Accenden, that’s a neat title. I like it,” she said.

“Everyone’s expected to make the trip once in their life,” Tarrian explained. “Although it can be hard for Talins who live on colonies or space stations. There’s talk about building a facility at the base of the mountain for offworld Accendens.”

“This is a big deal,” Aubrey murmured. “This trip wasn’t easy to make happen, was it?”

“One of the monks was a cresh-mate,” he said. “She alerted me to the open spot and assigned it to me when I affirmed my interest.”

“I bet there was a long list of other Talins who should’ve gotten the spot first,” Aubrey said, starting to feel guilty. “I’m not even interested in meditation or stuff like that. I think I’ve been greedy!”

Tarrian sounded a soothing purr, making it the first rattle or rumble he’d sounded since starting this journey.

“You don’t need to feel guilty, my Aubrey. You deserve to see the mountain as much as any Talin, maybe even more because you’ve experienced real hardship. This place manufactures a pale comparison of what you survived.”

She blinked at that statement. It was an odd way to say she was as tough as any of these shirtless, shoeless, not-gasping Talins. Tarrian’s words made her anxiety melt away and had eagerness taking its place.

“Thank you for this gift,” she whispered, nuzzling her face into the strip of exposed skin at the base of his neck. “I couldn’t ask for anything better!”

Tarrian

By the time they reached the top, Tarrian was starting to feel the strain of moving at such a high altitude. It didn’t stop him from carrying Aubrey, but he did slow down. The final hundred steps to the monastery were the hardest, and by the end, he breathed out a sigh of relief.

He hadn’t been tempted to purchase an Accenden Sash before, but now he wanted one for the trip down so he could use it to strap Aubrey to him.

“Welcome, Tarrian,” Salfrin said, rushing up to him. She wore the same Accenden Sash he’d seen on many Talins going down, but her sash was wrapped in the traditional, complicated pattern of a dedicated monk. “This must be your human, Aubrey. I’ve been reading about humans since you contacted me, and I’m very concerned about her stay here.”

Of all the things he expected, this wasn’t one of them. After taking a few steps away from the stairs, Tarrian lowered Aubrey to the ground and struck his chest. “Greetings, Salfrin. It’s good to see you again, my old friend.”

Salfrin struck her chest in return. “Greetings and welcome,” she said, then launched back into her earlier worries. “After reading how badly humans respond to temperature changes, I think it was foolish to bring her up here.”

“Do I have to sleep outside?” Aubrey asked. “Because if we can go inside, out of the wind, there’s no problem. We brought a second omnie to be a blanket.”

Salfrin made a few beats of a startled rattle before she remembered herself and silenced her backplates. “You can talk!”

“Um, yes?” Aubrey said, clutching at Tarrian’s arm. He could see from her expression that her anxiety was getting the better of her. Although Salfrin hadn’t said anything that should’ve caused distress, Tarrian understood and knew that, even with the carefully calibrated medication she took, sometimes her anxiety got the best of her. “I know I shouldn’t, but you started talking so I thought it would be fine, because you were worried, but I wanted to make you less worried and…”

Her words trailed off as she looked helplessly up at him. “Help?”

Pulling her against him, he regarded his cresh-mate. “I’ve taken proper precaution so Aubrey will be fine for the next few rotations.”

Salfrin looked at Aubrey. “You’ll be inside. We sleep here as we did in the cresh, sharing large rooms. This isn’t a place of warmth or softness, little human. This is a place to understand our most basic instincts and overcome them.”

Tarrian started to assure Salfrin that Aubrey was stronger than she looked, but Aubrey spoke first, surprising him.

“Then it’s a good thing I’m here, because everyone needs a little warmth and kindness in their life,” she said and stepped away from him, holding out her arms to invite a hug.

“Is this an invitation to clutch, which I read about?” Salfrin asked. As she spoke, she sank to her knees, almost as if she didn’t realize she was doing it, and opened her arms. Aubrey stepped in close and gave the woman a hug, holding her tight around the neck.

“Humans like to clutch people they like or think are in distress,” Tarrian explained. He didn’t like it when Aubrey hugged other Talin, but it was something he’d learned to get used to. “Sometimes they do it when they haven’t seen the other person in a long time or simply because they enjoy it. You can clutch her back, but gently.”

Salfrin slowly wrapped her arms around Aubrey, and an involuntary soothing rumble came out of her.

“How is she so soft?” Salfrin marveled. The sound of a large, deep gong ringing somewhere in the monastery startled Aubrey into letting go, but Salfrin didn’t release her hold. “It’s nothing to fear, adorable human. That is the sound for the evening gathering.”

“You must release her, or we won’t make any progress,” Tarrian pointed out, keeping tight control over his possessive instincts to not rip Salfrin away from Aubrey.

With obvious reluctance, Salfrin let go of Aubrey and stood up. “Both of you should join us for the evening gathering. I could carry Aubrey if she’s fatigued from the journey up here. She could also sit in my lap, so she isn’t exposed to the cold stone floor.”

“That’s nice of you, but Tarrian’s my Talin,” Aubrey said, grabbing hold of his hand in both of hers. Her claim on him calmed all the parts of him that wanted to claw Salfrin to pieces.

“I’ll care for my human, as is my duty and my right,” Tarrian said, marking a clear boundary.

Salfrin didn’t make a rattle or rumble, but Tarrian could tell she was disappointed. “Very well, follow me.”

Aubrey put her mouth to his earhole as he picked her up. “What are we doing?”

“We are going to listen to a lecture, eat the evening meal, and then meditate,” he answered. “Welcome to the Ancestors’ Belt Monastery, my Aubrey. I hope you enjoy sitting quietly for long periods of time.”