Chapter 1 - Zyntarr
Xadyn flew Bea to the meeting with Zarriko’s tribe this day.
Had I gotten to the female’s hut earlier, I would have been the one to offer her my wings.
My blade slices cleanly through the belly of the frizikki I am to gut while my good eye is trained on all those around us. Specifically, all those around Bea. I do not like these meetings with Zarriko’s tribe. I do not think my High Spear and Second Spear are particularly fond of the arrangement either. But we do things to keep the peace. This, I can understand.
When I was a youngling, with barely enough flight feathers to soar, and not yet wearing a skin of scars, a Trixikka from another tribe was treated with the tip of your spear. Feasting alongside them would have been unthinkable. But that had been under High Spear Rynn’s father. His son is a much more sky-minded male than his sire could have ever been. Rynn is open to new ways. Rynn sees potential. Rynn sees the good in this collaboration to keep our human females happy.
He sees all these things, while all my one remaining good eye sees is…her.
And how the more of these meetings she attends, the more chance one of Zarriko’s males has of igniting his heart-stars for her, or persuading her to change tribes for a time. Maybe even forever.
The bloodied blade embeds into the rings of the tree stump I am working on with a satisfying ‘thunk’. My fist, slick with the animal’s life essence, stays around the hilt for a breath or two while I watch Bea with the other females, willing away the thought of her choosing to leave my tribe. My tail flicks behind me.
I wish she had chosen to stay back at the village like Polly, Delphi, and Mira. Polly elected to stay with her mate, the male, Aloryk, who is flightless after a nasty-sounding mimyckah attack. Her sister-female, the one they call Daffy, has stayed too. And although I may have only one good eye, even I can see that her decision was in part because of the lamewing male, Jaxyn. He has been spending all the daylight the twin suns send us with her, and I do not think the female minds it. Mira - one of our newest females - is either too afraid, or too stubborn to leave the confines of the female’s hut.
Either way, their absence has not gone unnoticed by Zarriko’s males - especially the absence of two newly rescued and unmated females.
My one eye has seen them counting.
My one eye has seen them scouring our group for the missing females.
My one eye has seen them whispering angrily with one another.
It has also seen a lot of Zarriko’s males pay my Bea too much attention. And it makes my feathers prick uncomfortably.
Not that she is really mine in any capacity other than in my wildest of dreams. In those dreams I am the fiercest of Protectors. Perhaps even being chosen for Second Spear. I have two, keen eyes, and a body not marred by scars. In my dreams I am a male worthy of her, and the Goddesses choose me for her mate.
It is a shame all this only ever happens in my mind.
Sighing, I reach for the hefty cleaving blade to better hack at the blessed animal’s bone. Beneath the frizikki blood coating my forearms, I see my excitable skin-stars shooting up and down with the movement. Sometimes they encounter one of my scars and they seem to fizzle out into nothing as if the marked piece of skin were a pit that the skin-stars fall into and never return. I keep myself busy at these meetings with preparing food. If I do not, then it is likely I may break the jaws of every male who dares to come and talk with Bea.
Even now, I cannot help but cast glances out to keep my good eye on her to make sure she is safe. I wish Daffy and Mira had come this day, then at least the attention of the males would be spread out to two other females as well. Grunting to myself, I start to quarter the carcass. I cannot really be angry with the females. It is their choice to stay behind, and my High Spear is nothing but fierce in his defense of the females and their choices.
Stoking the cookfire, I add the meat to the pot - along with a generous pinch of a personal blend of spices. It is a blend that I have tweaked a little here and there after observing how well my Bea enjoyed the meats I have prepared for her before. She seems to like this particular recipe the most, so I’ve taken to keeping a small soft leather pouch of it with me at all times so that I may feed her the flavors she enjoys.
“Why did they not bring the other new females?” I hear hissed close by. I don’t even need to look, I know every voice of my fellow tribesmales, and this voice is none of them. It must belong to one of Zarriko’s Protectors.
“Their High Spear says there were females who chose to stay at their village,” another voice answers. I do not turn in their direction, instead, I continue to chop sweet-root for the pot. Bea likes sweet-root, so I made sure to have some for this day. “I think they should have used more force to bring them,” the male continues, apparently unaware that his words are being carriedby the breeze. “We cannot allow these females to think they can pick and choose when it comes to being gifted to a male as his mate.”
I slow my chopping.
“I agree, brother,” the other voice says in a hushed tone. Straining to hear the rest of his words, my good eye finds Bea. She is already looking directly at me, but averts her gaze as soon as our sights meet. Her cheeks flush as if in watching me, she had been doing something wrong. I slowly chop the sweet-root in front of me, wanting more than anything to tell her that she can watch me all she likes. I would perform all manner of tricks, tasks and movements should it guarantee those pretty eyes are always on me. “I have tried to force my heart-stars to ignite with all of them,” the voice behind me continues. “It is not happening with any of our females, and I have given gifts to all of Rynn’s too. I am telling you, we are angering the Goddesses by bowing down to the female’s every whim-” I frown to myself at that. The females are gifts themselves. Of course we cater to whatever wishes they may have. I have seen how Ah-Lanah gave life from her own body - if anything, the females are more Goddess than anything else that walks these lands. It is our duty to keep them protected and happy.
“I agree,” the other male whispers. “And I am starting to get to the point that I would even take theboring one.”
I freeze.The boring one?My eyes dart around all the gathered females. To Chaz-Titi, Gwen, Skye, and Tessa. To the two new females who came along with us this day, Leona, and Cole-et. None of the females are boring, what in the name of the Goddesses does he mean?
One of the males chuckles. “Yes. Even her, shy as she is. They say she is helping the Carers of Rynn’s tribe with the younglings, so she would be useful as a mother even if she is meek.”
Oh.
They are talking of my little Bea.
They are talking of my little Bea, while I have a sharpened blade in my hand.
Chapter 2 - Bea
