“Put it away,” Gus pleaded.
That drop would fast track Caius’s healing, turning what should have taken hours into mere minutes.The price, however, was the tree’s lifespan.Her oldest and dearest friend.The first Tuann tree she’d nurtured.The one that had brought peace to her soul, quenching her loneliness after an eternity of thirst.
The tree’s branch tipped, that dewdrop clinging to its flower for one poignant second.Gus made a raw sound as the drop fell.
Down.
Down.
It splashed onto Caius’s forehead, absorbing instantly.His cheeks flushed with improved blood flow.The wounds on his torso began to heal right in front of their eyes.His bruises faded and his breathing steadied.
As fast as he recovered was how quick the tree withered.Its branches becoming brittle and dry.It flowers shriveling.Leaves falling one by one.
Gus crawled forward to press her hands against its trunk in a futile attempt at replacing what was lost.
It wasn’t enough.Her pool much too small.The tree’s needs far too great.
The choko tree blocked her attempt, brushing the only branch still remaining against Gus’s cheek.A final goodbye.
The words “Don’t go” remained locked behind her lips.Unsaid but not unheard.She felt the tree’s joy.Its lack of regrets.Death wasn’t something its kind understood.For them, there were no endings.Only new beginnings.
The branch withered.But not before making one last offering.
A seed.Its child.
She took it, tucking it into her pocket.She rolled to her feet, stepping back to watch her friend’s end.Its essence gone.Locked in Caius and the seed she’d received.
An explosion came from the perimeter.
Throwing a glance in that direction, Gus knelt beside Caius.“Now, look here—I’ve sacrificed an awful lot on your behalf so it’s about time for you to wake up.Otherwise, you and the boy will die.”
Gus probably would too, but she doubted he cared about that.
Caius’s eyes opened.He rocketed from unconscious to conscious in an instant.No down time.No, where am I?Or, what’s happening?Just a fully alert Tuann who was looking at her as if deciding whether her life was worth preserving.
“Finally,” Gus said, composing herself.
She made no offer of assistance as Caius sat up.Slowly.Gingerly.His forehead creasing in confusion at the lack of pain.Frowning, he swept a gaze over the forest, taking in trees that would be as familiar to him as en-blades and synth armor.
When he was asleep, Gus had missed how attractive he was.Now that he was awake, it was inescapable.Unpleasantly smacking her in the face every time she got a glimpse of that annoying expression of his.
Structurally, his features were symmetrical.Though a little too sharp.The small imperfection making him that much more intriguing.Perfection and boring beauty giving way to something with personality and character.
The way he carried himself read playboy.There was a cockiness that had probably gotten him into trouble more than once.Gus bet it was the reason for that nick in his eyebrow too.
But there was more to him, Gus sensed.His roguishness a mask for something else.Something real, if treacherous.And maybe just a little lonely.
“You poisoned me,” Caius said.
“I sedated you.”
There was a difference.
Caius finally looked at her.
Fear tried to crawl up the back of Gus’s skull before she suppressed it.There were scarier things in this universe than an upset Tuann.No matter how deadly that Tuann might be.
“You were emotional.I thought some time out would be in everyone’s best interests,” Gus explained.
