Wreeta cursed and muttered something under her breath while she started to jog the perimeter of the property in the other direction. This left Cassie alone in front of the central post with an aching arm. She made a questioning hand sign in S’samph’s direction but suspected he didn’t understand.
“Fire whenever you’re ready.” He gestured to the post. Cassie pressed the trigger, and her shot went wide, splattering S’samph in the arm. The sound of Wreeta’s amused trilling filled her ears as her stomach lurched. Unlike Wreeta, she never had any particular intention of ‘accidentally on purpose’ hitting S’samph with a null shot.
“Well. That’s one way to learn the lesson.” He wiped at the dark pink stain on his outfit and then muttered something about humans Cassie couldn’t quite catch from the distance. “If you look at me when you’re shooting, you’re going to target me.”
“Sorry!” Cassie said, but she realized the voice didn’t carry very far. She’d have to ask Örim if there was a way to adjust the volume.
“Try again. Look at your target, not at me.” S’samph gestured to the central post again. Cassie lifted the null gun again and fired at the central post. Her shot went wide again, but at least S’samph was able to duck out of the way before she splattered him again. After three more wide shots, Wreeta finally returned from her lap.
“Let me help. I owe you something from the general store anyway.” Her feathery hands came around Cassie’s arms. “You’re too open with your body. Face the target and aim. I’ll show you first.”
Wreeta picked up her null that she’d left lying in the dust. She turned her body, lined her chin up with her shoulder, took aim at the post nearest to where S’samph was standing, and fired. The pod hit the post before S’samph had a chance to dodge, splattering him on impact. His frill rippled slightly, but he said nothing.
“Now you try.” Wreeta made a series of chirps and fluttered out of Cassie’s way. Cassie aimed again and still went wide.
“It takes practice.” Wreeta fired again, but S’samph had moved well away from all the posts. “I wasn’t able to fire a pulsar accurately for several months.”
Even if Wreeta meant to be supportive, it wasn’t what Cassie wanted to hear. She didn’t have several months. The Aviarist could arrive any day, and then where would that leave her? Her body tensed as she loaded in another round of hydropods, but the shots were even more off target. S’samph watched from the far end of the field but made no commentary as she tried and failed. Finally, as she was about to load a fifth set into the null, S’samph lifted a hand into the air.
“Enough for today. Too much sun for humans is dangerous.” S’samph started to collect the target posts. “We’ll practice again tomorrow. Leave the nulls under the shade.”
But I haven’t hit a single one.The hand signs missed the camera and went unspoken. S’samph approached then with the posts under his arm. He towered over her, a reminder of just how small she was compared to anyone who might want to do her harm.
“No one without training can fire a pulsar gun true the first time they try. You are too tense. The tension makes you recalibrate your shot at the last moment. We’ll try again tomorrow.” S’samph carried the posts off toward the awning-covered storage area where he kept all the training equipment, leaving Cassie and Wreeta behind in the sun.
“You should have seen the first time I fired a pulsar gun. It wasn’t even a null. Lucky, I didn’t take someone out.” Wreeta twittered and shimmied her tail feathers. “Don’t mind S’samph. He has no sense of humor, but you’ll be firing a pulsar gun in no time. Now, if I remember our bet, I owe you some sweets.”
“I don’t need sweets. It was an accident.”
“You should have seen his face. Worth it. And I’m a giradey good for my feathers. You won the bet.” Wreeta chirped. “Next time you want to go into town, let me know, and I’ll come meet you. Or even better, I’ll get you something during the Moons-filled Night Festival. You are going, aren’t you?”
“I don’t know,” she said.
“Well, you have to go. Everyone goes. You’re not supposed to be alone anyway, and the whole security team will be there.”
“What is it?”
“Only the best festival, okay, only one of two festivals really, but this one is the best. Usually, it’s held in Indras since they have more space. Lots of good food. Dancing. Music. Fucking under the stars, if you’re into that.”
The thought of doing something like that with Örim sent a rush of heat through Cassie’s already flushed body. She didn’t know the first thing about fucking anyone, but when his face flashed into her mind, her heart beat faster, even though she was already breathing hard from all the exertion in the heat.
“I will ask.”
“Good. Then I’ll get you something nice there.” Wreeta brushed a feathery hand over the top of Cassie’s head, feeling the sweat beading from her scalp. “Even here? Humans lose water everywhere. It’s amazing you’ve survived as a species as long as you have.”
As they approached the awning in the distance, Cassie realized S’samph and Örim were already there in conversation. S’samph’s tail lashed from side to side while Örim tapped at his wrist nodes in a gesture Cassie had come to recognize as anxiety or discomfort. When Cassie and Wreeta reached the shade of the awning, both S’samph and Örim reached out to hand Cassie a hydropod without pausing their conversation.
“Nothing for me?” Wreeta asked, shifting her feathers behind her back in mock offense. Embarrassed by the overprotectiveness, Cassie accepted both hydropods before anyone could make more of an issue out of it. She was thirsty anyway and burst the first one between her teeth, letting the lukewarm water rush down her throat.
“Pulsar guns aren’t safe. Statistically, there are thousands of self-inflicted injuries and deaths every standard year. I can send you the reports if you don’t believe me.”
“Why are you concerned about self-inflicted injuries and deaths?”
“Many of them are accidental.”
“It’s a null. It has no pulsar capability. I’m not sending Cassie home with a loaded pulsar gun.” S’samph grabbed the null gunfrom Cassie’s hand and shot himself in the shoulder with a grunt as the dyed hydropod exploded on his clothing.
“But the intention is to train with a real pulsar gun eventually.”
