“It would surprise me if you did,” she said, following him as he went to find where K’kaen and Eleri had gone off to. He was surprised to see Ailairi with his pichari in a makeshift enclosure, the giradey male sang softly to the creatures who responded in kind with an atonal cooing. When Ailairi noticed him, he lifted a feathery limb to point to the last remaining enclosure, which S’samph took to mean he would find Eleri still there.
K’kaen sat blocking the doorway of the enclosure and held a single claw up to his lips, his frill rippling with amusement. S’samph’s frill flattened with a mixture of concern and confusion as he poked his head into the doorway to find his mate fast asleep against a hay bale with a clear countdown timer flickering on her wrist interface.
“Is she well?” S’samph asked in a hushed tone. The air was filled with a familiar fragrance that he couldn’t quite place.
K’kaen’s tail flicked in amusement. “Can’t you smell it? She found somey’yeli. That timer isn’t going to wake her.”
With K’kaen’s reminder, he was able to place the distinctive floral scent he hadn’t encountered since S’kasia had given him some in the refugee camp to help quell his ongoing nightmares. Eleri seemed much more at peace than he ever had with the flower’s effect. “She shouldn’t sleep here,” he whispered to K’kaen.
“Why not? Isn’t it safe enough with me sitting here?” His friend asked. “S’kasia did tell me she has trouble sleeping at night. She must have given her they’yeli.”
“Go to Indras,” S’samph whispered back, trying to disguise his irritation that he hadn’t been the one to find her, “I will stay with her.”
K’kaen stood up and brushed some feathers off his pants. “She makes strange noises in her sleep, you know.” His tail flicked back and forthwith his own self-amusement, knowing full well S’samph had no idea what his mate slept like, even though they’d shared the same roof the night before. The fact that K’kaen knew something he didn’t about her was always infuriating. S’samph chose to ignore the bait and instead pushed past him to sit beside Eleri instead of in the doorway. Once K’kaen was gone, and he was certain she was deeply asleep, he placed a hand on the small of her back and felt the weight of her breath.
CHAPTER 21
ELERI
It had been a week since her conversation with S’kasia, and Eleri felt lighter somehow. She thought having others know the secrets of her brother and crumbling family would be her undoing, but the secrets no longer stung in the same pointed way. She visited S’samph every morning, although it was clear with his superior healing capabilities, he didn’t need much help from her. The wound was scarred over with a darker yellow flesh than the rest of his body, but it didn’t look out of place among the other scars crisscrossing his torso. Now he just argued with her as she tried to drill him through physical therapy exercises.
“If you don’t stretch the muscles properly, you won’t regain your full range of motion. You’re also due for another dose of regeneration solution.” She pressed his shoulder back into the correct position, and he hissed at the stiffness.
“I have healed from injuries before without this physical therapy.”
“When you were a hatchling, perhaps?” The question was meant with levity, but it only succeeded in raising S’samph’s frill.
“I am not so old now.”
“Thirty-six standard years? Seems old enough to me.” Eleri adjusted his grip on the resistance band. “Push against the tension.” He was only a few years older than her thirty standard years, but some days she felt older still. They still hadn’t talked about the interrupted holocall and S’samph coming to her defense. She wasn’t sure what she should say, if anything, but it felt unfinished, the patter of white noise in the background of all their conversations.
“Tell me something of yourself to distract me from this ludicrous exercise.” He grunted as she pushed against the band to increase the resistance.
“What do you want to know?”
“Have you always wanted to be a healer?”
“Not always.”
“That isn’t a real answer, Eleri.”
She laughed. “Do the exercise properly, and I’ll tell you all about my career journey. Like your sister said, it’s nine levels of shell under the first layer. We’ll do the injection at the end.”
“S’kasia told you such a thing?” S’samph leveled her with a glare but adjusted his grip to do the exercise as directed. The skin above his eyes rippled with concentration and the end of his tail curled up.
“She did. I wasn’t offended. To be honest, I’ve never heard anyone describe me so accurately.” Eleri nodded and then tried to decide the best way to answer his original question without turning it into a sad story.
“Most people who live on Gaia don’t have much. For a time, my family was comfortable as anyone could be on Gaia.” She pressed a palm flat against his chest, moving the muscle in a more functional way. “If you want to live a comfortable life, there are only a few careers available. I was fortunate enough to have a formal education, which opened doors for me. I’m grateful for that at least. But it would be a lie to say I never dreamed of other things. Who doesn’t from time to time?”
“And you became a healer.” S’samph took a break from the exercise, rubbing his injured shoulder with his opposite hand.
“A nurse, yes. A healer for humans.”
“What impractical thing did you want instead?”
The question wasn’t unreasonable, but she stilled. It was an obvious follow-up to the conversation, but she didn’t quite know how to form the answer into something concrete. She directed S’samph back to his exercises before puzzling together something of an answer. “I never really had the luxury to consider that.”
“Why not?”
