26. Amanda

Chapter 26

Amanda

" I believe you should ask Xax to help you plant your spore," Gerain said after he'd disappeared into the purple foliage. "He's one of the best when it comes to cultivating spore younglings."

"Alright." I nibbled on my lower lip. "How long do you think he'll be gone?"

"He'll do this quickly," Floosar said. She lifted the basket she'd left when we went for the spores. "When he presents you with meat, what do you intend to tell him? He's like my brother, and I wouldn't want to see him hurt."

"I'll accept his meat," I said.

"You do know that our gods will have the final say in this," Gerain said, chiding me. The humor had left her eyes, replaced by a touch of sadness. "It would be wrong to accept his meat and then have to give it back."

"I have the final say in what meat I choose." I was going to be firm about this. I didn't care what the gods decided. They weren't going to run my life.

"I feel the same way," Floosar said. "I can't imagine the gods deciding who I'm supposed to mate with. I want to follow my heart."

Since she hadn't fallen in love with anyone within this clan, we needed to take her on a tour of the others to see if anyone sparked her interest.

"I hope you're not put in a position where you must defy the gods," Gerain said.

They were locked inside crystals and trees; I wasn't worried about them.

Gerain leaned near, lowering her voice. "You could, naturally, accept other meat before you decide which meat you prefer most."

This place was so different from Earth.

Or was it? On Earth, I could accept flowers or candy from a guy but that didn't mean I would marry him. And I could sleep with various men before I decided who I wanted to be with.

"Is accepting meat like getting engaged?" I explained what that meant on Earth.

"No, not quite." Floosar laid her hand on my arm. "You can accept meat from many males before you decide which meat you prefer best. All kinds of meat, that is."

I was grateful she'd just told me Xax was like a brother to her, because I didn't want to think she'd sampled his meat.

My laugh spurted out, and the two females joined in .

"Meat is wonderful," Gerain said. "Be sure to try as many cuts as possible before settling on one."

"Once someone's mated, do they still sample other meat?" I asked, having fun talking about sex using this interesting term.

"Not often," Gerain said. "It's not forbidden, but if the gods have guided you to your fated mate, why would you want to keep sampling other meat? Theirs will always taste best."

Floosar nodded sagely.

"We must go, but we'll stop by tomorrow to deliver some samples of what we can bring you from the forest," Gerain said, hefting her basket. "No payment will be necessary yet. We give this from one friend to another. Xax's meat offering will be applied to the larger amounts we'll collect once we've decided on what you need most."

"I want to sample tea," Floosar said. "And I'm curious to see if you'll be able to obtain milk and sugar to heighten the experience."

"I can't wait to share my first blend," I said.

With that, they took their baskets and left, striding back down the trail through the woods we'd taken to reach the meadow where we'd collected the spores.

Turning, I stared around my tea shop. I loved it so far, but I wanted to make this as successful as possible. I was no baker, and even if I was, I didn't have the ingredients to make anything other than meat and vegetables. What could I use instead of the usual offerings in my tea shop?

After rolling a stump out into the sunshine, I sat to think about it. Some villagers worked around their shrooms. A few males returned from the woods with haunches of meat braced on their shoulders. They gathered near the firepit and while some began to slice the meat thinly, others started a fire where they must intend to smoke it.

Since I loved beef jerky, I wandered over to the fire.

"Can I help?" I asked once I'd stood nearby for a few minutes. It wasn't like I could brew them some tea. I didn't have a way to heat water, let alone mugs or leaves. I'd ask Xax where I could obtain things like that soon. Businesses took time to build, but I had a feeling mine would creep along at a snail's pace.

"You can slice." Flashing me a quick smile, Bork pointed to a hunk of meat lying on a smooth wooden board and handed me a knife. "I appreciate the help."

"Of course." I dug in, cutting the meat as thinly as I could while he did the same beside me.

Cresar scooped up a pile Bork had already prepared and started laying the strips over a strand of vine suspended above the smoke coiling off the fire. He dusted them with a spice that sent a sweet-savory scent into the air.

"Can I get some of that?" I asked, pointing to the container. "It might work well in my tea shop." I could steep it later in our shroom and try it. If it tasted good, it could be my first offering.

"Sure," Cresar said, holding out the container.

"Do you have more? I don't want to take all your supply. "

"We have a lot. We grind three kinds of bark and combine them. I can show you the trees sometime if you want. They're not far into the woods."

I grinned. "Thank you." I turned to Bork. "Tell me more about meat and its meaning here."

"I assume you mean how meat relates to courtship." He watched me cut a few more slices before nodding his approval.

"Yes. I thought your gods selected your mates."

"It's rare for a god-given mating to occur. If it does, both of them will display a mark on the back of their hand. If they don't, they will choose someone to be with."

Kind of like back home where some marriages were love-matches while others were more of a friends-to-lovers relationship.

"Where do they get the mark?" Maybe something similar to a tattoo served as a wedding band among Zuldruxians.

"It appears when the couple is ready to mate."

"It just appears? How is that possible?"

He extended his hand toward me, nudging his chin toward the back and the star-shaped symbol etched there. Like a tattoo, it had been inked in black.

"Someone did that for you, right?"

His smile lifted, but it appeared sad. "Someone did. My mate. When we met, matching symbols like this appear on our hands."

"I don't understand."

His gaze fell to the backs of my hands lacking any design. "When you meet your fated one, you'll know. You'll see."

Maybe Xax wasn't my fated one, then, since neither of us had symbols like Bork's.

My throat was suddenly tight, and my chest wouldn't stop spasming.

I liked Xax. He was kind and thoughtful and cute.

I didn't want a symbol to appear on my hand for anyone else.