Sarah nodded her head and Talia gave her a tight hug. “It’s ok. It’s better to let it out than to hold it all in.”
“My tina would always tell me if you don’t deal with your emotions, your emotions will deal with you.”
“Wise woman,” Fatima commented.
I closed my eyes and enjoyed the feeling of the warm water on my aching feet. “I wish Julie were here,” I sighed.
“We’ll see her again soon. If the guy she’s with is half the fighter as the rest of the guys are, she’ll be safe,” Anusha comforted me.
I nodded my head in agreement. The alien who’d taken Julie hadn’t looked angry or mean, he’d looked just as confused to find us as we’d been to find him. I didn’t think he'd hurt her.
“Mmm, the food smells good,” Beatrice sniffed the air and smiled.
“Well you’ve all washed and been given new clothes, so we can head back to the main cavern for the evening meal,” Drondia suggested as she gathered the large cloths we had used as towels.
We made our way to the cookfire and I couldn’t hold back my smile when Tarak’s jaw hung open as he took in the sight of me in the traditional clothing of his dekes. He coughed and cleared his throat to cover his obvious approval of my appearance. Then he grabbed a flat bread and ladled some seasoned meat and vegetables on top and walked toward me.
“Nahrul prepared a meal for the dekes. Will you sit with me while we eat?” Tarak handed me the flat bread and pointed in the direction of a cluster of low tables and the males sitting on the floor surrounding them.
“Nice, you guys basically have chabudai tables.” Taylor observed as Brexl approached her with a filled flatbread.
“Cha-boo-di-e?” Sarah asked.
“Yeah, they’re short legged tables used in some Japanese homes. My grandparents used a chabudai table. I always liked using it whenever we visited them.” Taylor’s eyes grew shiny with unshed tears. It was going to take us all a long time to come to terms with the fact that we would never see our families again.
“Thank you.” Taylor straightened her back and returned to her normal confident self as she took the flatbread from Brexl’s hands.
I turned to Tarak who was anxiously awaiting my reply. “I’d love to sit with you.”
His face lit up with an infectious grin. “Come, over here.” He directed me to a table with four cushions on the floor. I sat on one and ate my flatbread over the table. Tarak joined me after he set down two cups of water for us.
Taylor sat with Brexl and soon every woman had been served their dinner. Most of them were served by the males of the dekes, who I think had already developed crushes.
Kayla dropped her cup, causing it to splinter and crack. “Damn it. At least it was empty,” she sighed.
“No need to worry. Drovo took the wooden cup into his hand, where it appeared to absorb into his skin. Then he produced a brand new cup with no cracks at all.
“Thank you,” Kayla once again looked amazed at his abilities.
Drovo wore a smug grin as he held the cup away from her and said, “Let me refill that for you.”
Talia was giggling as she sat next to Sozu as he changed the color of his skin to look like a rainbow.
“That’s so cool!”
Sozu’s mouth curved up in a shy grin, “It’s no big deal.”
“You’re very talented.” Sarah commented as she looked at the floor beside her table. Jax had drawn a very impressive picture of her using just chalk.
“Maybe you can teach me to draw like that.” She smiled at him with rosy cheeks.
“What’s your name, by the way? I don’t think I’ve heard you talk yet.”
Jax suddenly looked panicked as he looked around the room to the other guys.
“His name is Jax.” Rhaz spoke up. He had been sitting alone against the wall. “He can’t talk.” The honey badger shifter stared everyone down as if he were daring us to say something mean about Jax’s inability to speak.
“And thank the goddess for that,” Lumod broke the awkward tension with a joke. “If he could then I wouldn’t be the smooth talker of the group anymore.” He winked at the young Sirret, who smiled back at him.
