I’d wanted to stay so I could finish what I’d started - which was to wash, and dress Zyn’s wound myself before we got carried away with each other. But I’d been urged to go and speak to Rynn again about everything that had happened yesterday.
I’d already spoken to them all at length last night but…
‘Go. Zedyn can see to me,’Zyntarr had said.
I’d bit back my protest, not wanting to appear petulant. So, I reluctantly uncurled myself from around my man - but onlyafterhe’d glared menacingly at the Healer, turning him away so I could make sure I was fully covered.
The walk from Zyntarr’s hut to where the others tend to gather takes me past the center of the village. Evidence of last night’s feast with Zarriko’s tribe still out under the rising morning suns. There’s even half-eaten platters of food not yet disposed of. I’ve seen mornings after a feast before, and usually, there are a few Trixikka laying out here with their dark wings slung over their faces - obviously shielding their hungover eyes from the twin sun’s light.
But there are none today.
Zarriko’s tribe had been invited to camp here at the center of the village - not that I can see any sleeping. They’re all awake and milling about, or skulking around together, watching their surroundings. It makes me wonder if neither tribe felt comfortable last night. None of them seemed to have indulged in the strong fermented fruit juice that makes the world tilt and everything uncontrollably hilarious.
The night’s fires are dying - more smoke than flame. What flickers are left fighting on, are weak and fragile. Tyll is poking at one with a long stick, but his face brightens when he sees me. The stick, along with the dying fire are quickly forgotten.
“Miss Bea!” he cries, practically leaping over to me, his arms instantly wrapping around my upper legs as he hugs my hip. “Is Zyntarr well again now? I told everyone of how his chest mended itself right before our eyes! Can I go see him? I told everyone how my spear killed one of those scary creatures, too - look…”
The little winged boy’s words pour out of him so fast, with no pauses for me to answer his questions before he’s already moved on to showing me his spear skills - twirling and thrusting the toy spear that now sports a crack in the lifestone spearhead.
I chuckle, ruffling his hair, and acting suitably impressed. “Well done, Tyll. I have to go talk to Rynn and the others now,but I will find you when I’m done and we can go see Zyntarr together.” The little boy smiles up at me, his mouth sporting a couple of gaps where his hatchling teeth have fallen out, making way for his new ones. It makes me wonder if the Trixikka have anything like the tooth fairy. I doubt it. It might be a cute tradition to introduce for the boys.
I’m already a few steps away before Tyll’s flapping his little wings to catch up with me again. “Oh! I forgot! You need to tell Zyntarr that Kroyll is looking for him.”
“Kroyll?” I know most of this tribe, and the name rings a bell… I think… “The Crafter?”
I look to Tyll for an answer, but the little boy’s attention is already on some of the younglings from Zarriko’s tribe playing a game nearby. “The Craftsmale, yes,” he calls over his shoulder, already too entranced by the gameplay to pay me any attention. “He said he’s finished making what he has asked for.”
I frown, not knowing what that could possibly be.
* * *
“I understand. But, my brothers will not see things as we do, Rynn.”
I enter the High Spear’s hut, just as Zarriko finishes speaking. It’s dim in here, and even though Rynn’s is the largest hut in the village, when it’s filled with so many big Trixikka bodies and wings, it tends to make the space feel almost claustrophobic. People stop to look my way, and instantly, you can tell this isn’t a settled atmosphere I’m walking into. It’s a space filled with rustling feathers, twitching tails and so many skin-stars gathered at Trixikka temples, it’s like little neon signs saying they’re all hard at thought. There are a few of the ‘major players’ of this meeting sitting on animal skins in a circle onthe ground; Rynn, Zarriko, Mavyx, Ezryk, and Zarriko’s mute Second Spear - ‘Jaryk’. Around the walls of the hut, some other males from both tribes stand guard.
I’m happy to see plenty of women here too, though. Gwen, Tessa, Polly, Dove, some of the new girls - Delphi and Colette. Still no Mira. I haven’t seen her in days, the poor girl. Serena and Sophia are sitting together between their High Spear mates, both of them grinning and urging me to come sit with them, parting where they sit to make room for me in the middle. I duck my head and make my way over, painfully aware that there are eyes on me as various huge wings shift aside to make way for me. Gwen smiles and gives me a little wave, and I suddenly feel guilty for not spending much time with the girls who came all this way from Zarriko’s village.
“You may send anyone of your tribe who is in need of the healing tool,” Rynn responds. “We are not trying to-” he pauses and leans sideways toward his mate, Serena beside me. “What is this word you have taught me this last day, my love? Doorkeep?”
Serena grins and whispers back, “it was ‘gatekeep’.”
“Gatekeep! We are not trying to gatekeep these new resources. But currently, with my mate’s condition-” he pauses again to place a large hand over Serena’s stomach. “-we are in need of keeping the healing tool.” She’s not showing yet, but she is glowing - glowing, and tired-looking.
And now I feel guilty all over again for my panic attack, and for not properly checking in with her and how she’s doing. But, now we have the medi-scanner from Yix, we’re able to get a clearer picture on her health and that of their baby’s. We’d tried it last night - much to Rynn’s complaint. He’d been very reluctant for anyone to point the unknown object at her belly through fear of not knowing what it might do. But we’d eventually tried it, and on the little screen, it stated Serena and the baby’s vitals as well as a tiny scan image where we couldsee the little one in its early jellybean form. Rynn and the other Trixikka’s had been slack-jawed at what they saw. They had to be reassured that yes, the baby will look more baby-like as the pregnancy progresses.
Whether he or she will develop Trixikka wings and a tail still remains to be seen.
But now wecan‘see’.
“It’s a wonderful thing,” Tessa comments as she’s holding the medi-scanner, tapping at the screen and pressing all sorts of buttons. She was a medical professional back on Earth, so I trust she recognizes many of the words that pop up on that little screen - all being translated by the little translator tab behind her ear. Occasionally, the thing will emit a beeping noise that makes several of the Trixikka behind her flinch, their wings and skin-stars flaring in response. Some of them grip their spears even tighter. “And it should stay with Serena. She’ll need to be monitored. I’ll stay here with her, too. Just to keep an eye on things,” Tessa says, sharing a wink and a smile with Serena.
Rynn looks pleased at that.
Zarrikodoes not.
He looks at Tessa with an unblinking stare, his jaw ticking, and his skin-stars dancing at his temples. Sophia slips her hand into his, lacing their fingers together. It’s only then that he inhales and lets it all out again with a sigh. Bringing up their conjoined hands, he presses a kiss to the back of Sophia’s palm before muttering something into her skin.
“Tensions are-”
