"Yes," I snap. "I'm fine."
Mavyx grunts and scoops me up in his arms.
CHAPTER 12: MAVYX
No matter how much she might claim it, Ah-Lanah is not'fine'.
I seat myself across from her at the celebratory feast. Platters of cured meats and anything hastily readied from the stores to welcome Zylynn's new youngling lay between us. The dark of the night will soon be upon us. Small braziers are lit around the village to chase away the dim and the chilled air that comes with it. Zylynn and his son are seated close to our High Spear and Spearess - a place normally reserved for me as the tribe's second, but I do not mind it. Where I am now affords me a better view of Ah-Lanah and how she seems to refuse to eat this night.
She nudges a few foods before seeming to balk and then reaching for her cup of water. This is not Ah-Lanah's normal behavior pattern. She often eats with a great and healthy appetite. This can only mean that despite what she claims, she is still suffering from an illness.
Her eyes lock with mine across the foods and she raises her brows expectantly. Her expression is so clear, it is as if I can hear her words in my head.What?she seems to say,why are you staring at me?How is it that even a small gesture of her brow can convey so much irritation? I almost want to laugh.
I only continue my staring and raise my own brows in return, my eyes flicking briefly down to the untouched foods in front of her and then back up again.
Ah-Lanah huffs and plucks a small nectar berry from a platter and pops it in her mouth, chewing it at me with her eyes wide.Happy now?those eyes seem to say, and I cannot stop the snort that escapes me this time because this female is impossible.
But, no. I am not'happy now'.
I'm about to ask her - yet again - if she should speak to a healer. Even though I know she will no doubt refuse, when the female sat beside me - the one from the other tribe with pale golden hair, Skye asks, "So how many are you guys sending on this big search mission to find the other girls?" she takes a sip of water and pushes her hair behind her ears. "I take it the new Daddy over there can't go," she says, tipping her head toward Zylynn and his son. "And I assume you're going."
My attention is taken away from the conversation I've barely started when Ah-Lanah's back straightens and she stares at me, expectant. Does she not want me to go? Or is it the opposite - is she excited at the prospect of me leaving? It irks me not to know which way her mind might soar.
"How do you know about the Eastern Search?" I say, irritated as I down the fermented fylli juice.
"How else do us girls find out about anything around here?" she shrugs with a smirk on her lips. "Some of your warrior dudes were bragging, trying to impress us."
I throw a glare over at two of my younger males as they talk animatedly about our Temple with one of Zarriko's females, their skin-stars bursting and glimmering all over the place like they cannot contain their excitement over the one they call 'Tessa'.
"Were they, now?" My words come out as a growl.
"Is there something wrong with that?" Ah-Lanah snaps. "Shouldn't we be made aware of what's going on with the tribes? Aren't we a part of this whole thing, too?"
I stare at her and blindly reach for a piece of food from the platters between us. I've no idea what my fingers pick but I place the morsel in my mouth regardless. I do not answer her, I just chew.
She is right, of course. If the females are to truly become honored members of our tribe, they will need to be part of tribe discussions, and not treated like the lesser males who are expected to just follow orders. I glance briefly at Rynn. The fool is all too busy feeding his mate where she is seated in his lap. The position looks...appealing, and my eyes meet Ah-Lanah's again to find she is looking at me like the very last place she would rest her gorgeous, tailless rump is in my lap. I am in need of readjusting my loincloth at the thought, nevertheless.
"Well?" she demands, arching a brow. I find I cannot keep one side of my mouth from lifting at her expression. Such an angry little thundercloud she is. I smother my smile and clear my throat. It is only a symptom of my cursed heart-stars causing my attraction to the fire in Ah-Lanah, after all.
"It is... something that should be remedied, yes," I concede, filling my cup again.
"And are you going?" she asks.
Again, I look at her, and again I cannot tell which answer from my lips she would prefer. So, like a sulking youngling, I take a drink from my cup instead and jerk my chin toward the new father and son. "Zylynn will most likely go," I say, countering Skye's earlier assumption and guiding the conversation away from me.
"But-" Skye splutters beside me. "He's got a child to look after now. The guys we were talking to said that the search could last weeks. Surely, you're not going to force him to go?" She looks affronted, and I dare not even look at Ah-Lanah right now for I know she will be the same.
"I will not force him to do anything," I say. "He can choose to put down his spear and become a caregiver if he should so wish, but it is a path most Protector's do not choose. It is why many of the Elders are so happy this night." I gesture with my cup-hand at the group of Elders and caregivers fussing over the new boy. "They have a new Trixikka to raise."
"So he's just going to hand off his son for someone else to raise?" It is Ah-Lanah who speaks now, and the crease in her brow lets me know she is not pleased with my words. "Can't he have... I don't know,Paternity Leavefrom his duties for a while? Can't he go part-time warrior-dude? He's that boy's only parent."
I cock my head at her. I do not know what this...'pattern-y leaf'is, nor how leaves of any sort come into the raising of a youngling, patterned or not. "It is the way it is done," I say with a shrug. "Knowing Zylynn, he will not wish to hang up his spear. He will want to carry on protecting Tribe and Temple."
Ah-Lanah snorts and shakes her head. "And what about you?"
"What about me?"
Ah-Lanah presses her full lips together tightly. It is as though she is trying to keep words in her mouth that wish to fly free. I would very much like to know what those words are. Her gaze drops from mine and she surveys the food before us with a furrowed brow.
