A large pafeldae jumped from the hometree’s canopy to intercept Viola as she began her descent.
“Not today, bitch!” Viola screamed, grabbing two fistfuls of her psydaggers and throwing them at the creature. “Die mother fucker!”
I yelled her name and stretched my vines as far as I could in an attempt to re-ascend the hometree and rejoin the battle on myluwaeri’sside.
There were times when the world came to a halt, and others when it rushed by, unable to keep up. This was the point at which everything seemed to come to a halt.
As I struggled to regain momentum and locate the appropriate vines to return to the canopy, all I could do was watch the battle unfold without me.
Viola swung onto the back of the pafeldae, her plasma swords drawn, and stabbed it along its back, splitting the deadly creature in half.
The two halves, no longer alive, fell to the ground, leaving Viola to hang by her travel belt, blood splattered all over her.
“Viola!” I screamed, not caring if I gave away our location to a nearby predator; anything that tried to attack her again would be killed.
I had already failed her once by leaving her side and allowing her to be attacked; I was not going to let that happen again. They’d have to take me with them.
I scrambled to her position after finally reaching the level, my vines screaming in pain from the strain.
“Viola,” I called out as I swung over to her and wrapped her in my arms, twisting my two feeder vines around her and securing her to my body. “Are you hurt?”
“I don’t think so,” she mumbled, pressing her head into my chest and breathing deeply as she clawed at my skin with her nails. “At least, I can’t tell right now because my adrenaline is pumping so fast.”
“I’m sorry I went ahead.” I buried my face in her hair and inhaled her scent, unconcerned about the pafeldae blood soaking into my leaves. “I didn’t mean to put you in danger.”
“It’s okay,” she muttered, her breathing finally calming. “No one would have known it was there.”
“My worthless brother should’ve known,” I snarled. “How could he have a pafeldae living in the top of his own hometree?”
“Perhaps something really happened to him?” she murmured, closing her eyes against my chest as her breath gradually calmed. “The only thing I know for certain is that I’ll need new weapons.”
“We’ll get you new weapons,” I shook my head and laughed, unable to believe that she was concerned about losing some weapons rather than her own health and safety. “Whatever you want, they are only material things that can easily be replaced by some of our hometree’s energy.”
“Good.” She unhooked her belt from the limb above, giving me complete control of where we were going. “Let’s see what’s going on with your brother and then go home.I’d like to get all of this filth off of me.”
With my luwaeriin my arms, I returned to my brother’s guest entrance and pressed my hand against the bark, demanding entrance.
The double door swung open, revealing a frail Rynez sitting on the ledge of his Giving Pool. His blue was an ashen-gray, and his vines drooped along the floor, lifeless.
The circumstances caused my heart to sink from the top of my throat to the floor of my stomach.
How could both myluwaeriand my brother be in such bad shape?
Had I somehow enraged the Mother Tree, causing her to fail to protect those I cared about?
“What’s the matter, Brother?” I asked, rushing to his side with myluwaeriin my arms, refusing to let her go until I knew everything was safe. The last thing I needed was for her to hurt herself any further, especially since we were so far away from our hometree and I hadn’t had the chance to check on her with my own two eyes and vines. “Tell me why you appear so sickly. You should be at your prime.”
“Would you like to know why?” He chuckled, his gaze shifting away from his Giving Pool. “I became too curious about the unknown device that I discovered along our border and decided to bring it back here so that my hometree could investigate it.”
“Do you still have it?” Viola inquired excitedly as she attempted to climb out of my arms, but I refused to let her. She let out a low growl and snapped her head in my direction, her fiery gaze locked on mine. “Why won’t you let me down?”
“Because you’re not welcome here,” Rynez growled, attempting to stand but failing due to his weakness. “Outsiders are not permitted on this planet.”
“But I’m not an outsider,” Viola countered, jerking her head into the air and crossing her arms. “Zyre’s hometree confirmed it, claiming that I am hisluwaeriand have been adopted by your Mother Tree.”
“You lie,” Rynez huffed as he scanned my hair, pinching his lips as he noticed the lack of color and pointed to my bare strands. “If she were yourluwaeri, you’d be blooming like a fruit tree in the spring.”
“There’s no need for us to lie,” Viola countered. “And we aren’t the ones you should be concerned about, especially after I was just jumped by a pafeldae and had to defend myself. On your property. Jumping from your hometree.”
