Pulling my lip into my mouth, I chew on it for a moment, getting my thoughts in order. “I don’t want to abandon those we care about so hear me out…”
I tell him exactly what I’ve been considering, what my intuition is screaming is possible. The idea is crazy but everything about Earth and being stranded here has been a little crazy. Yet I know,I know,that if Krellix and I can make it work, and find a way, so can everyone else. We can do it together. If we all seek the same goal, we can succeed.
So many couples have already been brought together—human and naga. If two different species can find love again and again, those same two species can be friends too. We’re not all that dissimilar, after all. The naga’s origins prove that. They were made by ancient men to empower and adapt humanity, even if the aim in the end wasn’t a good one. Why not try to reshape things into a better outcome? At leasthere,on Earth, far, far from the front-lines and the war with the Ketts, we can strive for peace.
After I pitch my idea of making a formal alliance between our species—between the camp and him and his naga friends—I also tell him everything that happened after my arrival at the encampment. What’s been going on with Olivia, Benjamin, and Quinton. What happened to Graft. And Krellix shares with me what happened in the forest with the newborn nagas—withKodyx and Nepsh—and how they’ve been rooting out the ones that have been bloodthirsty while helping the rest learn how to survive. I realize how important it is, now more than ever, to come together, what with the influx of beings needing guidance.
If Krellix is mentoring Kodyx and teaching the other nagas that have just woken—including keeping the few females among them protected as much as possible—and I’m helping the refugees, we can use each other for everyone’s benefit. Refugees and newborns alike need examples to follow. Leaders.
We discuss it as we head outside to look out over the edge of the cliff together. The landscape is vast and at this vantage point I can see not only the military encampment but other spots where there may bemorecamps and people. People that might need help. Among the trees directly below, I see the track marks of a badly landed spaceship. To my left and beyond the mountains north, there’s a large cluster of smoke trails, and another to the east. I peer into the valleys and spy what appears to be even more spaceships. Past that there seem to be rolling hills and fields where the terrain truly flattens.
“No wonder why you come here,” I whisper. “It’s beautiful and…” I try to find the word as I take in everything.
“Interesting?”
“Yeah. There’s so much to see.” I pace the curving cliff edge around to the other side of the plateau. “I can even see Zaku’s mountain from here, I think. That one?”
Krellix nods. “Yes. This view is one of the reasons I have always loved this spot. I could stare down at the world for hours and imagine the activity within the forest below. From here, I could see all of my home, my territory, at once but from so far away.” He shakes his head and narrows his eyes. “It issss an odd notion that I feel the same as I did back then peering down upon it now.”
“Why?”
His chest puffs out as he takes in a deep breath. “It still feels like home.”
I slowly smile up at him. “Because it is. You’ve lived here all your life, haven’t you?”
He turns and considers me, everything about him gleaming in the sunlight. “Now… I will live here with you.”
Shifting forward into his welcoming embrace, I rest my head on his chest and breathe him in—that earthy, comforting scent. “I’m hopeful. For the first time in a long time, I’m hopeful. Really hopeful.”
His hands run up and down my back, pressing me more firmly to him. “Me too, my female. Me too.”
Something dark gathering on the horizon catches my eye. It seems too wispy to be night encroaching. “What’s that you think?” I point to the gray mass forming in the distance.
Krellix looks where I’m pointing. He’s quiet for a long moment as his eyes narrow. “Clouds.”
“Clouds?” I ask, reminded of the puffy outlines of spaceship exhaust that sometimes blot out the sun. “Are they something to worry about?”
He shakes his head contemplatively, his hair drifting over his shoulder. “They are rare. They bring rain with them. The last time I saw them gather… There was a lot of rain.”
“Rain? Water from the sky?” I state more than ask, amazed at the prospect of seeing such a wonder. “We can fill all the water containers, we can resupply the camp with water!” My mind starts racing and I take a step away, intending to start back down the mountain then catch myself and look back at Krellix.
To my surprise, he smiles down at me. “We will head back though I wissssh to keep you to myself longer. Your people need you?—”
“Our people. Us. Both humans and nagas needus, Krellix.”
“Us,” he amends, sliding a strand of my long black hair over my shoulder. “If you think it is possible, then it must be.”
“Our home is possible.” What’s in store for us will be demanding and difficult, but the end result will be one hundred percent worth it.
“Our home, our people,” he repeats. “And—” his gaze sharpens on the clouds “—In the meantime, I am anxious to see you wet again.”
I laugh as he slides past me to take the lead.
As the clouds form to our left, and the blue skies slowly vanish into evening, Krellix and I trek back down the mountain and toward the encampment. And when we re-enter the forest, nagas appear on either side to escort us the rest of the way home. Kodyx arrives behind me and the one I assume is Nepsh flings himself from branch to branch above. The others are the smaller, less formed nagas that I accidentally released—though they’re all more colorful and more developed than before.
It makes me wonder what else is hiding under the ground and if there are more nagas waiting to be freed…
That will be a problem to face tomorrow. Today, I’m introducing nagakind officially to the encampment and begin my campaign.
