“All right,” Zul replied. He covered his eyes and Crow did the same, repeating the count to ten.
“Ready or not, here I come!” the child called out.
Before the child could take a step, Zul crouched beside him and laid his hand on his shoulder. “Do you remember your mother’s scent?”
Crow nodded. “Uh-huh.”
“Now sniff the air like I taught you.”
His eyes closed and his face twisted in concentration, Crow took a slow sniff.
“Think about the smells in the air. Do you smell your mother?”
The boy took another long sniff, concentrated, exhaled, and inhaled again. His eyes popped wide open. “I got it!”
“Good. Now follow where the scent leads you.”
The boy sniffed again while turning in a slow circle. Watching him, Zul saw the moment Crow locked on to his mother’s scent.
“This way,” Crow whispered loudly and began to tiptoe down the sandy path.
The child paused four times in his search, sniffing. He altered his direction twice. As the three-minute deadline drew close with only a few seconds to spare, he called out, “I found you, Mama! I found you!”
Ursula smiled and welcomed her son into her embrace. “Well done, Crow. Well done.”
“You have to kiss me now, Mama.”
She grinned at him. “Of course, I do.” Then she bussed him on the nose. Before Crow could demand that she kiss Zul, too, she rose to her full height, dusted off her skirts, and said, “I think it’s time to head back indoors. It’s getting rather too hot out here for comfort.”
Zul shot her a knowing look that made her feel even hotter.
Chapter 10
Ursula retreated to her studio to throw pottery. Zul joined Bran and Gil in the library. He sat in a comfortable chair and alternated gazing out the tall window, thinking, and reading. The freedom he experienced in his new home felt fragile and precious. His former prime had treated him more or less as a dangerous animal: to be both respected and restrained for his unpredictable savagery.
Effective ventilation systems kept the bright sunlight streaming through the windows from overheating the room. After collecting his thoughts, he said, “I want to know more about Ursula.”
Bran looked up from the ledgers he was reviewing, and Gil set down the book he was reading. The triad’s Second gave him a considering look and replied, “What would you like to know?”
Zul decided to start with the difficult questions first. “What are her expectations of us? Of me?”
Gil chuckled and slowly shook his head. “You must bear in mind at all times that our beloved mate is not from Uribern. In her country?—”
“Country?” Zul echoed.
“Ah, first a quick lesson,” Gil said. “Earth, the planet Ursula is from, is divided into many nations and peoples who arefurther divided by a multitude of languages and cultures. Even people within the same nation are divided by regional customs, religious beliefs, and political preferences.”
Zul blinked at the complexity of Earth’s human population. “How backward.”
“Indeed,” Gil agreed. “However, humanity has a plethora of females, and those females are—with some genetic conversion—biologically compatible with Urib males. As you are well aware, Uribern suffers a desperate paucity of females in general and breeding females in specific.”
Zul nodded. That much he already knew.
Gil continued. “The culture in which ourelska’adirlived guaranteed females many privileges and responsibilities that her people call rights. From my research, I have concluded this has created both many advantages and disadvantages for both the males and females in her culture. For instance, females are expected to carry and fulfill the same responsibilities as males, such as securing employment to earn wages to cover living expenses, and still bear their young and maintain their households. Many, if not most, males in her homeland expect and rely on the income earned by their females.”
“Foolish,” Zul muttered.
“Ursula came to Uribern for employment, although she did not realize she was being sent here from Earth.” Bran frowned. “Humans are often duplicitous, especially their politicians.”
