“Call for him, you’ll see.” I assured her.
“Jellllleeeee!” Kayla called out, and the bafilo shifted his fur to its natural purple color and wandered in our direction with his small tail wagging behind him.
“Jelly!” A bright smile spread across Kayla’s face and she ran to the beast.
She gave him a big hug, and Jelly nuzzled against her.
I gave Jelly some food and water and looked him over for any wounds. When I found none, and when he’d finished eating and drinking, I hooked his harness around him and signaled that it was time togo. A flash of disappointment shone on Kayla’s face. Her gaze shifted from the harness to me, then back to the harness again. She caught me looking at her and hid her disappointment behind a bright smile. Was she weary of traveling? I’d have to remember to suggest more breaks on our journey.
“The ship isn’t far from here, maybe just a quarter of a day’s walk. With any luck, Taylor and Brexl will beat us there.” I had no desire to spend the rest of the day wondering if my dekes brother had made it through the night or not. He was strong and capable, sure, but he was still just a male. It would be hard for a predator to kill him, but not impossible, and I had no doubt he’d give his all to protect Taylor from harm.
“Ready when you are,” Kayla called out from her bench seat.
We traveled until the sun was high in the sky and I suggested a break to stop and eat. Once Kayla was settled on a fallen log, eating some dried meat, I settled down beside her with some meat of my own.
“Is your seat still comfortable?” I attempted to start a friendly conversation. “I can make adjustments if you want.”
“It’s very comfortable, thank you.” Kayla grinned and took another bite.
I spied a dying plant next to the log. It wasn’t getting the amount of sun it needed to thrive. I pulled some energy from the surrounding plants and willed its stem to grow taller and its leaves to grow wider. As a result, the tight bud on the top blossomed into abright purple flower with petals the size of my hands.
“You have a strong connection to the plants.” She said it as a statement, not a question. It was probably obvious to everyone that I had some kind of connection to the planet life of Valo Prime.
“Yes, they’ve always been with me, but even more so after I shifted.” I agreed.
“What’s it like? How exactly are you connected to them?”
Kayla picked up a dead leaf and examined it as if it held the answers to her question.
“It’s the singing, mostly.”
“The singing?” She looked surprised by my answer.
“Yeah, the trees sing, the flowers laugh, the leaves whisper, and I listen. I’m not sure how it works,” I admitted. “I just know that I can hear them when others cannot.”
“Singing,” Kayla said, more to herself than to me. “What do they sing about?”
“Everything.” I laughed. “They like to tell me the gossip of the forest along with which predators are nearby.”
“Gossip? What kind of gossip do trees have to share?” Kayla’s eyes were wide with delighted curiosity and I couldn’t hold back the smile that crossed my face.
When the six of us were first exiled, I felt shame like the rest of them did. Well, everyone but Axon, I’m not sure he ever felt ashamed. But then again, neither of his parents died, and they both assured him overand over that his shifting didn’t cause the stiffness. The rest of us didn’t have parents around to give us such assurances. We were left in the bleak darkness of sorrow with no one to blame but ourselves, and we did so because the Savrix had told us the deaths of our mothers and sisters were our fault.
I would have never believed that one day I’d be sitting next to the most beautiful female on Valo Prime, telling her how my shifting worked.
“Well just this morning I was told that a certain male tree had tried to connect his roots to a female tree for the third time this week and she denied him. Their guardian tree told him if he tries to lock roots with her one more time, she’d block the sun from his leaves.”
“Oh, that is good gossip.” Kayla’s eyes twinkled with delight. “What’s a guardian tree?”
“Guardian trees are the oldest and tallest trees of the forest. They watch over the younger trees that surround them, giving them advice and encouragement on how to weather life’s storms and how to grow tall and strong like them.”
“Interesting. What are the trees singing about right now?”
“This one is singing a song about an annoying bird that keeps pecking her bark for bugs.” I pointed to the tree closest to us, and Kayla chuckled.
“This one is singing about a rodent that’s made a den in the hollow at the base of his trunk. There are three baby rodents that live there now and he says they never stop talking.”
Kayla laughed out loud this time, not holding back her joy of my little stories.
