WARREK

The journey back from the Elders’ Cave has none of the lightness of spirit that our original journey did. Har-loh cries as she hugs Rukhar one last time, and her weeping puts everyone on edge. The sleds are packed, and Rukhar and Shail ride on the one Vaza pulls. Mine is loaded down with food and supplies, and my light-spear is now in Taushen’s hands so he can guard the ship. Bek is at the front of our group this time, determination stamped on his face. He is ready to leave and get his mate away from this place.

The females are all bundled up with furs and snowshoes, Rukhar is hugged one last time, and then we leave. I remember on the first trip, Buh-brukh chatted with Suh-mer all the way here, but there is no lively chatter now. Kate walks alongside Harrec, her small snow-cat cradled in her arms, and Suh-mer walks to the side of my sled, quiet. She still carries her light-spear, though, and keeps it ready at her side.

I do not like how silent she is, though. It is not like her, and I want to hear her cheery voice. So I encourage her to speak, even if it means breaking my own silence. “Tired?” I ask.

Her cheeks flush a darker shade, and she shakes her head. “Just thinking about a lot of stuff. Am I quiet? Sorry. I guess that seems odd.”

“What do you think about?” I ask, shifting the sled handles in my grip. It is not heavy, but I slow my steps so she does not have to walk as quickly to keep up.

“Just about those people in the pods,” she says with a contemplative expression. “If they know they’ve been kidnapped, and if there’s a reason why some people are being picked more than others. If they have families back home that miss them. If they’re going to freak out when they wake up here and realize they’re never going to see another summer. Things like that.”

Never see another…ah. Her name means a warm season. I have only realized this just now.

“And then I wonder about the alien dudes,” she continues, her snowshoes crunching in the snow. “Like, are they going to blend in with our tribe, or are they going to be all macho alpha male and try to mess things up? Are we going to have to split up? Because I kind of like the village and toilets. I can’t imagine not having them. Well, I can, but I don’t like my imagination to head in that direction. I try not to think about that sort of thing, if possible. And we’ve got the only healer, and what if they decide to split off from us and decide that they need the healer and…” She blows out a breath. “And stuff like that. Worst-case scenario crap. Basically, I’m running scenarios in my mind because I don’t know what’s going to happen. And…what if Brooke and I resonate to those aliens in those pods? What the heck do we do then?”

My hands clench on the handles, and I feel a surge of jealousy at the thought. “Did you feel a pull toward any of them?” I try to keep my voice mild, but it is difficult. Suh-mer is mine. I do not want her to resonate to another. Now, more than ever, I am glad she is traveling back with me. Let them all resonate to each other back at the ship and safely away from her.

“A pull? No. If anything, I kind of wanted to shut the lids and pretend we never found any of them.” She gives me a rueful smile. “That’s terrible, isn’t it?”

“Not at all.” I feel the same way. We had enough females for all unmated males. Why bring more and upset our tribe’s balance? Then again, I suspect these people had no choice in the matter, just like Suh-mer and Buh-brukh and the others did not.

“But I’m just being a baby, I think. Everything has felt so unsteady ever since I was kidnapped that I was hoping the tribe would be the stability I needed. Now it turns out that everything’s going to change again. And I’m sure they didn’t choose to be kidnapped,” she adds, echoing my thoughts. “And whatever life they have here is going to be far better than anything as a slave. I think I’m just panicking and hoping that if I think about it hard enough, some sort of perfect solution will show up.”

I chuckle, because that does sound like her. “It is not our job to come up with a solution,” I tell her. “That is the chief’s worry. All we are tasked with is to tell him what has happened.”

“Yeah, but it’s got to suck being the chief with all these changes. If I were Vektal, I’d run screaming into the hills and never come back.”

“He would not do that,” I reassure her. “It is great responsibility, but he has a strong heart.”

“Glad it’s not me,” Suh-mer agrees. “I’m happy being a tribe peon, thank you very much.”