"So, fess up," Skye pipes up, "what's wrong? Who do we need to beat up?"
There's a small murmuring of laughter but no one responds. Looking around, I can't help but think it's got to be me that prompted Mavyx to go and get help from Zarriko. My heartbeat picks up in my chest and I can feel my cheeks growing hot. I don't want to face this right now.
"I'm surprized Zarriko even allowed Mavyx to approach him considering their last meeting," I say, deflecting the conversation.
"Oh," Skye snort-laughs, "Trust me, your Mavyx almost got his ass handed to him the moment he landed."
Please tell me why my first instinct is to get mad at that statement? Has sheseenMavyx? The guy is huge and he can handle himself. He's theSecond-fucking-Spearfor God's sake! If these girls had only seen the way he'd decimated all his trainee's attempt to beat him the other day, then they'd understand - the man knows what he's doing.
I unclench my jaw and take a breath. Skye is still talking - something about the girls begging Zarriko for this girl's day today - but I'm apparently too wrapped up in coming to that idiot's defense in my head that I'm not following along. Why do I even care that she'd insinuated that one ofherbird-men could beatmybird-man.
Scratch that.
He'snotmy bird-man.
Urgh.
I'm so side-lined by my own thoughts that I hardly notice time pass us by at all and soon, day melts into evening and our visitors are invited to eat around the fire with us all.
The general mood is a pleasant one - even if some of Zarriko's guys are acting like they have their spears stuck up their butts. I guess they're not totally at ease being in the heart of a different tribe's territory. There's an imposing, scary-looking dude who hasn't said a word, but looks like he's about to rip the spine out of any male who might evendareto breathe in Gwen's direction. She doesn't seem to mind, though - even sits in his cross-legged lap, using him like a throne as she eats and drinks. The whole thing is kind of sweet - if you can look past the murder-glare this guy is throwing around. Skye and Chastity are talking to anyone and everyone - the current topic of conversation sounding like it's centered around genital piercings, with several Trixikka of both tribes declaring they would happily pierce anything the two girls want. This, of course, inspires another round of laughter. How much of that fermented drink have those two had?
Zarriko is deep in conversation with both Rynn and Serena. Tessa and Bea beside me are currently quizzing a couple of elders on their weird temple thing. The fire roars between us and there's plenty of food and drink.
I'm not hungry though. Everything I see in front of me kind of turns my stomach even though I was stuffing my face with the same foods just a few days ago. What I wouldn't give right now for a tub of mint-choc-chip ice cream and a glass of cold lemonade to wash it down with.
Embers from the fire are whipping upward into the evening air as I glance around the gathering again, my eyes moving over each face illuminated by the flames - some smiling, some serious, some thrown back in laughter. There's one familiar face missing, though.
It turns out, it is relatively easy to slip away from a group of people when their focus is on having a good time. Away from the central fire, the village is illuminated sparingly with smaller braziers dotted here and there, but mostly the huts are swallowed in darkness.
I can hear someone huffing like they're shifting something heavy and decide to follow the noise.
When I find him, Mavyx has his back to me. He bends at the knee, wrapping his arms around something large and hefting it up as he stands. It's only when he lays it down next to something similar that I realize he's shifting crudely-shaped rocks.
"Is this your punishment for going behind your High Spear's back and organizing a secret girl's get-together?" I ask, folding my arms and leaning my shoulder against the side of someone's hut. Mavyx turns, the stars on his skin going haywire when he sees me, making him look like he's been sprinkled with different colored glow-in-the-dark paint. I can't properly tell in the dark, but the effect makes him look a bit flustered and I can't help but smile at the thought.
Looking down at his hands, Mavyx fiddles with the strips of thin hide he has wrapped around his palms and knuckles. "It is what needed to be done," he says simply, before bending to shift another huge rock with a grunt, the muscles of his arms bulging and straining.
I'm quiet for a moment, standing here, watching him work. He's got his shoulder-length, dark hair tied in a knot at the nape of his neck. Somehow, he looks even more handsome than usual - but maybe that's the weird moonlight from the double moons and my stupid horny-brain playing tricks on me. "Is Rynn still pissed about it?" I ask, my voice a little hoarse and quiet. When Mav throws a confused look in my direction I realize the phrasing might be messing with the translator under my tongue. I step a little closer, out of the shadows of the surrounding huts and into the glow of the two moons high in the sky. "Is he still angry?" I clarify, wrapping my arms around myself. Somehow, I feel like Mavyx did this for me alone - going behind his leader and friend's back to bring the other girls here, and I don't like the thought of him getting in trouble for it.
Of course - it might not be for me at all. I'm just making assumptions here.
"Rynn was displeased that I had not spoken to him of my plans before executing them, yes." He bends to pick up what look like a hammer and chisel made from the pretty opal-like stone that glows when you touch it. "But the idea had come to me long after the twin suns had set and only those on patrol remained awake. My High Spear was not one of them, otherwise I would have told him of my plans." He thumbs his nose and shrugs before beginning to work on a large slab of stone, chipping away at it with his tools to better shape it for whatever its intended purposes are. With each strike of Mav's hammer on the chisel, the pretty 'life-stones' of the hammer and chisel spark with a brief light from the impact and I'm momentarily mesmerized by watching the strange luminous flashes from within the stones.
"Told him?" I hear myself say, before shaking my head. "You wouldn't have had to ask?"
Mavyx looks up at me quickly, a lock of his dark hair falling in front of his golden eyes. "He would have agreed that your-... thatall our female'shappiness is important, and if me grovelling in front of High Spear Zarriko for this meeting is what's needed, then it had to be done."
"Grovelling?" I find myself sitting down on one of the nearby rocks Mavyx has gathered for this little project of his. I hadn't even realized I'd been drifting closer. "I can't imagine you grovelling."
There's a flash of an exceedingly handsome grin on his face, but he doesn't look up from his work, the pulse of the life-stone tools illuminating him with each strike of the hammer. "Maybe grovelling is too strong a word," he says. "But I am not too proud to apologize for my behavior with the High Spear."
"Bullshit!" I laugh, the sound loud in this dark, quiet corner of the village and for a brief moment, even the weird alien jungle bugs cease their chirping.
He does look up at that. His eyes intently fixated on my face - so much so, that I can feel my smile falter. Averting my gaze from his brings his chest to my attention - not only the lit-up heart-stars, but those little colorful lights racing all over his muscles - particularly down his abdomen to disappear into his loincloth. I clear my throat, pretty relieved that we're in the dark and Mavyx won't be able to see how flustered being his sole focus can make me sometimes.
Mav seems to shake himself loose of something and his attention goes back to the stone he's chipping away at, squaring it off as best he can. "Your human choice of words is confusing sometimes," he admits.
"I guess," I agree, lifting one side of my mouth into a smile.
