The weight of this task might crush me under it.
I stand up and back away to give Kuret room. Thivoll's fur has relaxed some, but he stays where he's at. He's still running his hands through his fur even though it looks perfect, the light catching it in a fiery halo.
"Did he agree to help?" he asks me. I nod at him. "There was no doubt in my mind. You had him enthralled."
"What is he saying?" Kuret asks me.
A direct translation would be embarrassing, so I don't bother. "He appreciates your help."
It hurts to transition to Thivoll's language, but I need him to orient me. "Which way is our cave?"
"We aren't telling him that."
"Dammit, Thivoll. Help me out here."
"He can go to a nearby ridgeline or we could simply meet back here. The ridgeline is that way."
I turn back to Kuret. He looks amused again. "Thivoll says there is a ridgeline that direction you could look for us at. Or we could meet back here."
"I know where he means. That is a better place than this." He stands, his face twisting in pain from the movement. "I hope to see you again soon, Ree."
"I hope so, too. Please be careful."
"There is very little honor to be found that way," he tells me.
I pull a face and he smiles. "I will be careful with your women if I find them."
"Thank you."
There isn't anything left to say after that.
Kuret runs a hand slowly down one arm, his patterns flaring behind the stroke. I give him a smile and a wave. Then he disappears into the undergrowth.
I turn to Thivoll, who's body still looks like a cat trying to seem like it doesn't care and failing miserably at it.
Despite his nonchalant bearing, he's still glaring at Kuret like he wants to separate his head from his body. His face clears as soon as he notices me looking.
It pulls a chuckle from me and helps ease some of the tightness fear and guilt keep causing every time I let myself think about how impossible this all seems.
45
Thivoll
"That was surreal, Thivoll. He looked like a grayninja turtlewithout a shell and anorchad a baby and then threw glowing radioactive slime all over it."
My whiskers drop so low they brush my chest. "A what and a what? And why would radioactive slime glow?"
She trills. "Nevermind. He just sort of looked like a couple creatures from Earth mythology. Except as far as I know, they weren't bioluminescent."
"It's a fairly common trait."
"Have you seen his species before?"
"No, but the genali are always looking for something novel."
Conversation dies down at that point and we continue our original mission to find rope.
I take quick peeks at tens of hunter camps, none of them look like they would have what we need. As darkness closes in, I think maybe we are wasting our time.
