I must make amends.
My Polly wades into the riverwaters without thought and I follow along behind, keeping near as she dunks her whole body beneath the fresh waters. A plume of red clouds surround her as the clay is dislodged from her skin, and soon, her beautiful mishi flower hair clings to her head with the weight of the waters.
“Polly,” I say to her, wading closer. She does not look at me, though. At first I think she is watching the other females - the ones who had been caught up in the clay battle - as they bathe close by, each with an accompanying male to ward off any interested dentixxi. Then, I wonder if she is watching the younglings, laughing and splashing their vexed Caretakersdownstream. But no, her focus is unfixed. She is looking at nothing.
I… do not like this.
“Polly?”
She finally looks to me and seems to shake the daze from her head. “What? Sorry, I…”
Her words trail off and do not pick back up again. Crouching in the waters beside her, I do not care that my wings will be waterlogged, or that my bindings will need changing as I reach for my mate, pulling her into my lap here in the river. “What is it, my Polly? Have I upset you by being away from your side for so long?”
“What? You?” her nose scrunches adorably, but there is a pause between that and her‘no, you haven’t done anything’that makes me think she is not telling her full truth.
“It is alright for you to be angry with me, little mate. I left you all dirty,” I say, my hand rubbing at the covering on her knee. “And not in a fun way.”
She blinks at me, and I can clearly see when her mind realizes I am talking of making a mess of her with my seed. She shoves at my chest, but I can see the smile she is trying to fight.
She isnotwinning that fight.
“My PJs are all wet,” is what she says instead of acknowledging talk of my seed. She plucks at the covering on her top half and it slaps back to her chest with an oddly arousing sound. With how her coverings are now sodden, they mold perfectly to her curves. The sight is mesmerizing and inspires my cock to swell.
My Polly peers around my wing, oblivious to my staring and says something about regretting not taking her ‘PJs’ off before ducking into the waters. Glancing at over my shoulder now, I follow her line of vision where my High Spear is circling his Zahreenah in the protective cage of his wings so that she maybathe uncovered. There are also half a dozen males currently fighting each other in the shallows for the privilege of providing the same protection for Chaz-Titi. It is the same every time my friend wishes to bathe in the riverwaters, and, like always she cheers the males on, this time, still covered head-to-toe in mucky clay.
“Woo, c’mon now!” she bellows before putting fingers to her mouth and making a shrill whistling sound. “Is that all you got? Y’all haven’t even ripped each other’s loincloths off!”
I turn to my Polly where she is still cradled in my lap. “I…” She looks at me and I swallow. Such a precious gift I have been given and I cannot even give her privacy to bathe like the other females. “When my wings are healed, you will be able to bare your body in the waters.”
Polly’s brows furrow and she looks back to the others. “What? No, I-” She shakes her head. “I wasn’t complaining about that, I just…” She sighs before leaning her head on my chest. “I’m just a little tired, I think. Can we go back to the hut?”
My Polly does not talk as I carry her from the waters. I half expect her to complain and demand that I put her down, but none of that is forthcoming, either. So, I continue to carry my mate back to the village, with riverwaters dripping down my body, and her still in her wet coverings. It bothers me a little that she does not fight me on this. Normally, when I try to carry my mate, she protests about dropping her.
When we are perhaps half the way back, we are met by Xadyn who is carrying Daffy and her injured ankle. He is followed by five other males who are all jostling for position behind, presumably to be the next lucky male who gets to hold the new female. “Brother!” Xadyn greets, his face split into a wide, proud smile like a youngling after his first successful flight. He looks to my mate and bows as much as he can with a female in his arms. “Female Polly. It is a good day, is it not? I am showing our newtribesfemale the riverwaters.” His face falters a little before he continues, leaning forward to say, “the others are still unsettled,” as if it were a great secret.
“Can you blame them?” Daffy scoffs, grinning at Polly. “It’s all a bit insane, right?”
My mate is stiff in my arms. “I…”
“I’m only not in a ball, crying with the rest of them because my life was already a giant shit-show, so this is either a fresh start, or the cherry on top of a fuck-my-life sundae, you know?” Daffy says, shrugging at my Polly, but my mate does not respond. It is like she is frozen.
The reaction is a curious one, but my Polly is very tired this day, and I still need to make it up to her for leaving her side for so long.
Chapter 25 - Polly
She doesn’t remember me. Of course she doesn’t remember me. I don’t know what I thought was going to happen but it’s like my whole body locked up when coming face-to-face with my half-sister.
The last time we met, we were both teenagers. We’ve both changed a lot since then.
And, of course, I’d be the one to remember who we are to each other. To her, that one encounter was just with a sad girl who was a compulsive liar - or whatever our dad spoon-fed her to get her to believe him. I’m also not the one who ended up with a famous husband and a spot on a national reality show. It was kind of hard to escape her face when the show was at its height of popularity.
I never watched it, though. I never wanted to witness her perfect life.
I was also kind of scared that Dad would show up as a supporting cast member every now and again since the whole premise was to follow these people around in their day-to-day lives. And, I know a lot of these types of shows are set up to look like this is their normal life, but I know if I caught even a glimpse of my dad’s easy smile on my TV screen, he’d be able to sell whatever the network were pushing because my father is a master in leading a double life.
But seeing her now,here.
I’m finding out my flight, freight or freeze response is to lock -the fuck- up.
