The many voices talking all at once made it almost impossible for Nadirah to follow. She did catch bits and pieces, though.
“He is unnatural and should be eliminated.”
“Do you think this potion would work on Yasmin? She hates it when we leave her at the sitters for our biweekly sojourns.”
“What a pretty man. Do you think he can make strong harimau babies?”
“How do we know this military that hunts him won’t follow him here?”
The latter repeated often enough that Nadirah wasn’t surprised when Johan held up his hands and shouted, “Quiet. I hear your concerns. You fear our sanctuary will be found, but rest assured, we were not followed.”
“What if they implanted a tracking device in him?” someone yelled.
“He says he removed it,” Johan reminded.
“Could be he removed a decoy,” argued the same person.
The comment pinched Johan’s features. “I guess that could be a possibility, but even if someone is tracking his movements,don’t forget, we are mighty and have powerful friends protecting us.”
“I am more worried about exposure,” growled Zafira. “Look at how careless he’s been. There are videos of him on that freighter everywhere. He’s being actively hunted. We should have killed him back at the ruins.”
“And then we would have been ignorant about this threat to our existence. You all heard. This general of his sent people to collect artifacts relating to the harimau. He already knows we’re here,” Johan emphasized. “Forewarned means we can take steps to protect.”
“Protect how? By scattering and going into hiding again?” Zafira huffed. “I have to wonder if that would even work. This general has deep pockets, and with today’s technology, it’s getting harder and harder to keep our existence secret.”
“Perhaps it’s time we stopped concealing our presence.” An older woman stepped forward, uncaring of her nudity, all of them comfortable in their skin. “With all the cameras and surveillance, not to mention how quickly things can go viral on the internet, perhaps it would be wiser for us to get ahead and reveal ourselves. Control the narrative.”
Sounded reasonable to Nadirah, but to the gathered group, it caused an uproar of arguing. As they shouted at each other, she filled Phoenix in on what had been said.
To her surprise, he nodded when he heard what the older woman said. “She has a point. It would be a lot easier for us to stay safe and out of the clutches of people like this general if people knew about us. While some might advocate for us being locked up, there are more, I think, that would protest ill treatment. We live in a time where there is public support to allow people to be their unique selves.”
Nadirah bit her lower lip. “Assuming they aren’t convinced the harimau are dangerous. The media does like drama.”
“A fair point.” He raked fingers through his hair. “Looks like the meeting is breaking up. Did they come to a decision?”
Nadirah had overheard enough to shake her head. “Seems the ambush will mull over what they’ve learned before rendering any kind of verdict.”
“Meaning I might still die,” Phoenix said bluntly.
While she wanted to reassure, Nadirah couldn’t lie. Their fate rested in the paws of the harimau.
As Johan joined them, he looked grim. “You stay while we discuss.”
And by stay, he meant in the jungle, but at least not sleeping on the ground. To Nadirah’s surprise, a mini village existed in the boughs of some of the biggest trees. Houses built by the twisting of branches with fronds woven to create walls, making them practically invisible at quick glance.
Before being taken to a room for the night, they were invited to a feast. Fruits and vegetables, along with some rice, for those in human skin. The tigers, the younger ones mostly, were served fresh and still bloody haunches, which they gripped in their jaws and trotted off with for gnawing.
While those gathered kept casting them curious looks, no one addressed Nadirah or Phoenix. Hence, when the meal ended and Zafira said, “I show you room,” Nadirah eagerly followed.
A climb up some carefully placed nodules on a tree brought them to one of the tree habitats. Inside the cozy nest, what might have been a rough and bumpy floor had been layered with a woven carpet. A duvet cover, stuffed with fronds, acted as a bed.
A bed large enough for two.
A nervous Nadirah tried to avoid looking at it, but it consumed most of the space.
“What’s wrong?” Phoenix asked. “I don’t think we need to worry about being murdered overnight.”
He misconstrued her source of agitation.
