A big, self-satisfied grin creases his face. "I made you something."
That shouldn't send as much heat flaring through my veinsas it does. I fight the urge to shiver all over, and my khui starts humming like it's on diesel fuel. "Oh?"
"Follow me." He saunters away from the group near the fire, heading back toward my hut. And since I'm a wildly curious sort, I follow.
It doesn't take long to see what he's so proud of. There's a freaking snake made of bones twisting along the beach. As I get closer, I see that the "snake" is made up of rib bones, all tied together and then sewn into a massive hide sheet made from multiple skins that acts as a floor. It's less of a snake and more of a tunnel. Alongtunnel. I could probably send a barrel through it, it's so large, and the length of it stretches from behind my hut all the way to the next one down.
I can't help it. I start to laugh.
He puts his hands on his hips and gazes down at the behemoth cage proudly. Valmir looks thrilled at his own efforts. "Impressive, is it not?"
"It's enormous!" I laugh even harder, delighted. It's the biggest animal cage I've ever seen, large enough to fit an entire herd of two-fangs. Makana and his entire extended family could hang out in there. It's a whole dog-run...for a creature the size of a rabbit.
Valmir's expression turns skeptical at my amusement. "Well, of course it's enormous. Your pet needs room to move about and stretch his legs. His cave should be a welcome home, not something that makes him feel confined. Cages like that are miserable."
My laughter immediately dies. I'd forgotten who he is and what we've come from. My memories of who I was in the past are scattershot and flimsy — like not knowing what the hellohanameans — and I've taken for granted that everyone is having similar issues. But Valmir knows he was a gladiator, andfrom what I've learned from the others, the gladiators were not treated well.
I've asked someone who's probably been in a cage to make one. I might be the universe's biggest asshole.
"Were...were you in a cage, Valmir?" I ask.
He scoffs as if I've asked something foolish. "Of course not. I just want your pet to be comfortable. You said make the best one ever, did you not?" He gestures at the dog-slash-rabbit-run. "Here it is, a spectacular, oversized,perfecthome for your new pet."
"Well...thank you." A new home should be blessed, my brain immediately tells me. Does that apply to animals, though? And blessed by who and what? I wait for the answer to arrive, and when it doesn't, I tuck this away withohanaas part of the puzzle that might make sense later. "Let me get Makana and we can try it out."
I head into the hut, scooping up my warm, furry little friend. He's eaten a bunch of cooked roots this morning, and when I hold him against my chest, he burrows there like it's his favorite place to be. Aww, buddy. With him snuggled close, I head back out into the cold. Valmir opens one end of the long, snaking cage and I set Makana inside. He's got a bad leg, so I can't imagine he's going to frolic, but I fully expect him to give it a good hop or two. Maybe check out the digs.
Nope.
Makana sits there like a lump. He doesn't budge from the spot where I set him down.
A few minutes pass as we watch him, waiting for him to move. Nothing. He looks pitiful and small, and I imagine his tiny blue eyes staring up at me woefully, as if begging me to pick him up again. "Maybe...maybe this cage is too open and he prefers a hidey-hole?"
"Maybe he's stupid," Valmir says.
"Or that. I don't know their environment, but this doesn't look like something he wants." I bend down and lift the trap door on the end of the cage — genius work for someone with just bones and leather ties — and put a hand out for Makana.
The two-fang immediately flings himself back into my arms, burrowing against my tunic once more. I pet his soft fur. "Maybe the warmth in the hut has spoiled him."
"Maybe he just likes you," Valmir points out.
"You think?" I wait for this to turn into the inevitable compliment. He's going to say something about how my little pet has good taste, or how I'm easy to fall in love with, and then we'll kiss like fiends...
Valmir gives me a sly look. "I did say he was stupid."
A laugh barks out of me. I should be offended, but his comment is just so classically Valmir — barbed as hell — that I'm amused I didn't see it coming. "Well, stupid or not, he can stay with me until he heals up. I guess all this wasn't necessary after all. He's made no effort to leave the hut, so I don't have to worry about him running off."
Valmir pats his bone monstrosity of a cage. "We can put the children in here, then."
I laugh even harder. It's a horrible thing to say, but it's also perfectly Valmir. "You are an absolutely horrible male."
"Quit laughing at what I say and I'll stop," he purrs.
"Quit being such a dick, pussycat, and I'll stop laughing."
"So cruelty amuses you?"
"No, of course not."
