“I’m a Sirret from the outcast dekes.” He nearly whispered the words, as if he were ashamed to admit this information. Ashamed or not, I wanted moreinformation from him.
“Do the rest of your people live close by?”
He shook his head. “We live in the mountain half a day’s walk away from here.”
Interesting. A mountain sounded like a nice safe place to live on a planet like this.
“Do all Sirrets shift into bears?”
“They wish.” A broad smile flashed on his face but was quickly replaced by another frown, as if he had momentarily forgotten to be ashamed of something.
“No, I am the only bear shifter. There are many in my dekes who can shift, but we all take different forms. No one from the main dekes can shift.”
That last bit of information seemed important somehow. There were two groups of aliens here, those who could shift and those who couldn't. It was interesting that the shifters were part of the outcast group. I wondered if there was any correlation there.
I ripped off another piece of fabric from the bottom of my pants and wrapped his leg with it.
“What’s your name?” His deep voice seemed to reverabate through me as I tied the bandage.
“Julie.” I looked up into his very earnest violet eyes. “My name is Julie.”
“Julie.” He repeated my name slowly, as if he wanted it to linger on his lips. I liked the sound of my name on his tongue.
“Are you from the other dekes, Julie? The Sirrets who live in the valley?”
An expression of sadness crossed his face at themention of the other dekes.
“No, I’m from a planet called Earth, where I was very rudely taken from my bed by some alligator aliens, one of which is still alive and probably wandering around the forest right now.”
The thought of running into my captor again made me shudder.
A big hand gently slid up and down my arm, drawing my attention back to the present.
“You do not need to worry about him, Julie. As long as I draw breath you have my word that no harm will come to you.”
Ok wow, that was an intense oath to make to someone he’d just met.
“What’s your name?” Knowing the name of my kidnapper and would-be protector would be nice.
“Orsu.” He said his name with a shy grin.
“Ore-sue.” I repeated. “It’s nice to meet you, Orsu. Well, except for the kidnapping thing,” I clarified.
“I’m sorry about that. I promise to take you back to your people tomorrow.”
He had an earnest look on his face that made me want to believe him. Not only was he a literal bear shifter, but he had that big teddy bear energy. Someone soft and cuddly who you could trust.
“Do you think you’ll be able to walk tomorrow?” I looked down at his bandaged leg, remembering exactly how much staggering he had to do just to get us to the cave.
“I might have a limp, but I’ll be fine. Are youhungry? I have plenty of snacks.” Orsu grinned and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Not right now, thank you. I ate some jerky that I found in your den earlier.” Speaking of his den… “Did you make that jerky or did someone else? It was really good.”
“No one makes better jerky than me,” he beamed. “I am the one who tends to the cookfire for the dekes.”
“Ah, so you’re a chef like me.” It was oddly nice to have something in common with this stranger.
“Chef?” He raised an eyebrow up at me.
