“Stalactites! I’d love to see that cave!”
Axon chuckled at my response. “We’ll go after breakfast then.”
The way he smiled at me made my heart race. That was another feeling I had to sort through. I did like Axon and he might like me, but he might just want to be friends. I didn’t know for sure. He hadn’t really indicated that he’d want more than that.Stop,stop, stop. I chastised myself. None of that mattered. I was going to wait for luminescence and that was final.
“What’s for breakfast?” I asked.
“Fresh ramirei meat with nuts and berries.”
“Fresh ramirei? Did you catch it this morning?”
“Yeah, I woke up early and wanted something to do.”
“I’ve noticed you’re a morning person. No matter how early I get up, you’re already at the cook fire,” I commented.
Axon shrugged. “I’m a light sleeper. I can’t seem to sleep in, even if I wanted to.”
“That’s too bad.” I loved sleeping in.
“I’m used to it.”
“I’ve gotten the sense that you can generally hear everything around you way more than the other shifters can. How far does that ability go?”
Axon stopped what he was doing and closed his eyes. I tried to listen to the world around us as he did. The rain was pouring down, but from in here, it sounded like a light trickle. The fire crackled, and the tiny stream made a small bubbling sound as it flowed over the rocks.
“In one of the far away tunnels,” he began. “there are two mice sharing a piece of food. I can hear their teeth cutting through the morsel, and if they were closer, I might be able to hear their whiskers cutting through the air as they ran.”
“Wow, that’s impressive.” Here I was justlistening to the rain and the fire.
“I bet you can hear bigger animals like the jagwas from a mile away.”
Axon smiled and looked at the meat again. “Yeah, they’re pretty loud.”
“What about the rain? Does that bother you?” I would think the sound of rain would be unbearable for him.
“It does at first, but I get desensitized to it after a while.”
Axon served me the cooked meat on a plate of leaves. He sat down across from me and scooted close enough that our knees were almost touching.
I suddenly become aware of how loud my chewing must sound to him and started chewing my food much slower and softer.
Axon’s vision was not great from what I’d been told by him and the others. So sometimes he could have a far off look on his face, like he did now. However, once I started chewing much slower, he looked at me with the corners of his mouth turned up in a knowing smirk.
“You don’t have to do that.”
“Do what?” I tried to play it off.
“You’re trying to eat quieter. Don’t.”
“It’s just you and me in here. Surely the sound of me eating isn’t very pleasant for you,” I argued.
“I like the way you eat. There’s a softness to the way you chew.”
“Really?” I found that hard to believe. “You’re not grossed out by the sounds people make when they eat?”
“I didn’t say that,” Axon laughed. I liked the way his pointed elf ears rose and fell with each exhalation.
“Some people sound downright disgusting when they eat. Lumod is the worst of them all. He could be eating dry grains and still find a way to make a slurping sound, but I’m used to it. I guess I’ve gotten desensitized to it over time.”
