Chapter Eight

Darq

 

As we slogged along, my heart felt heavier than my feet. Every time I stole a glance at her, she seemed to be looking away. Rarely at me. Was I imagining the growing tension? “We are almost done,” I said. “There is one more hut, but we don’t have to visit, if you don’t want to.”

“No, Torg wanted us to meet everyone. We should follow the rules.” The kel hood framed her pretty face. She looked so cute, so appealing…so untouchable. What had I done wrong?

Three days ago, I’d had such high hopes. We’d meshed mouths, and she’d slept in my arms. The next morning, a gap divided our closeness, widening each day. Her smiles were rarer, she was very careful not to touch me, and when I did catch her gaze, she averted hers.

Torg had noticed and commented. “What did you say to your mate?”

“Nothing,” I answered. “At least nothing untoward.” I preferred to keep to myself I’d ignored his sage advice and pushed for a mouth-meshing too soon.

Sunny withdrew even more when the insects appeared. Sometimes she would seem to relax, but if one of them flew by, she would stiffen. If she was talking, she would stop and grow taciturn again. It was obvious she didn’t like them, but she wouldn’t let me kill them, either.

They had tiny red eyes that glowed in the night. They followed us everywhere. The one I had killed had bled silver when burned and had exuded an odor similar to a lightning storm. I suspected the insects had stowed away on the ship, although Sunny claimed to never have seen them before. I couldn’t imagine why she would lie, but I didn’t completely believe her.

“This way.” I motioned to a path leading to our last stop. We’d visited more than forty dwellings and had only this one left.

After two days of tiptoeing around each other in the cave, Torg had insisted I show her the camp and take her to meet the others. It had been no suggestion from brother Torg, but an edict from tribe leader Torg. Refusal was not an option.

Like testing the first freeze over a pond, I paid close attention to every nuance as we hiked through our village. I was a little nervous bringing her to meet Sural, Ignato, and Korbett, my tribesmen who’d drawn chits, but they merely congratulated me on my good fortune in winning the extra draw. Sunny became the most animated I’d seen in two days, warmly hugging the other Terran females, although she later remarked she’d hardly known them. She missed her own people.

I felt more comfortable once the reunions passed without incident, but wondering what I had done to cause the distance between us still weighed on me.

At our approach to the last hut, its inhabitant emerged to meet us outside.

“Greetings, Jaqor,” I said. “This is my mate, Sunny Weathers.”

“Welcome,” he said. “I’ve been expecting you.”

“Why were you expecting her?” I frowned.

“Korbett, Ignato, and Sural came round yesterday. I was surprised when you didn’t arrive.”

“We were settling in.” Acquiring a mate was big news. Belatedly, I realized men would have begun to talk if I hadn’t brought her around.

“I have something for you.” Jaqor disappeared inside and returned with a folded kel fur. “It is a mating gift.” He handed it to Sunny.

“Thank you!” She bestowed one of her brilliant smiles, like the kind she’d given me until recently. “It’s beautiful.” She stroked the fur.

“You’re very extravagant,” I said. Most people had given us mating gifts, but they were items of lesser value: knives, bowls, decorative figurines, beads, baskets, mats. Given the time required to tan a kel, the fur was very valuable.

“I hope to be able to introduce my mate to the tribe. Until the day arrives, I will celebrate the happiness of others. You’re a good man, Darq.”

“Thank you.” I ducked my head.

One of the silvery flying creatures swooped in low, and Jaqor reared back. “What is that?”

“Some sort of insect,” I said.

“They’re quite annoying.” Sunny scowled.

We exchanged a few more words and then we departed. My pack was full of gifts with no room for a large kel fur. Sunny hugged it to her chest. “Would you like me to carry that?” I asked.

“No, I’ve got it. He put a lot of work into this, didn’t he?”

“Yes.”

“I had no idea your people would give us presents. Jaqor was a very nice man. All your people were welcoming and pleasant.”

This was the longest conversation we’d had since before we’d meshed mouths. “Then, why don’t you like me?” I asked.

“I like you. Of course, I like you. Why would you say that? You’re being silly. Are we done? Let’s go back to the cave.” Her words poured out in such a rush, I knew they were false, and my heart sank. She scooted down the path.

What had happened to cause this awkwardness? We had started off so positive, I’d thought. I caught up with her and barricaded the way. “How can we be mates if we can’t be honest with one another? Something is bothering you.”

My guilty secret mocked my words, but I rationalized that while I had lied to Torg, my tribe, and all of Dakon, I’d never misled Sunny. That was the one honor I would not violate. “If you are unhappy with me, tell me so I can fix it. Did we mesh mouths too soon? Did I frighten you? Do you wish for a different mate?” I held my breath.

“Oh, Darq…no. Things were moving a little fast for me, but you are the man every girl dreams of.” She studied her boots before looking up. “The truth is like I said: you deserve better than me. I’m not worthy of you.”

It was the second time she had said that, but she was wrong. I did not deserve her. “You are the best female a man could have,” I said. “I cannot imagine having chosen anybody but you.”

She flinched as one of the insects flew close to her face. The wings fluttered rapidly, and its single red eye glowed. I snatched it out of the air and smashed it on the frozen ground then remembered she’d requested I not kill the insects.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “For the insect, and whatever else I’ve done.”

“It’s not you, it’s me.” She swallowed. “I apologize if I made you uncomfortable.” She shook her head. “I…need time.”

“All right.” I nodded. I could wait. We tromped up the path, and though my pack, heavy with gifts, sagged, my spirits felt lighter.

“Thank you for showing me the camp and introducing me to your people,” she said. “Cabin fever was starting to set in.”

“You’re getting ill? You should have told me when we visited Stovak, the healer. Let me get him now.”

“No, no.” She chuckled. “I’m not sick. Cabin fever means feeling antsy after staying in the cave so long.”

“I understand. I get like that, too.”

A blast of wind tore the hood from her head, and her hair went flying about her face. I took the kel from her so she could pull the hood up and tuck her hair back inside. The extra fur would come in handy; in the chill draft, I smelled snow.

“Starr has been telling me about the village and the computer. She says her friend Andrea goes every Moctad to check messages and order supplies. That’s tomorrow, right?”

“Yes.” Moctad was the fifth day of our eight-day week.

“I’d like to contact my family. Would you take me to the village tomorrow?”

I wanted to fulfill her needs, make her happy, but each encounter with others was fraught with peril. Andrea had been there when the three men of my tribe had drawn chits, but I’d walked away empty-handed. “If it doesn’t storm.” I sniffed the air again. “It’s not prudent to travel in a blizzard. We could become lost or die of exposure,” I said.

She peered at the cloudless cyan sky. “Fair enough.”

* * * *

For dinner, I stuffed a phea with dried dough and nuts and roasted it. Among our mating gifts was an assortment of sweetened treats, which I served as well.

“You are such a good cook,” my mate said. “You could be a famous chef.” I appreciated her words, but her hearty appetite was praise enough. “I’m going to gain weight if I keep eating like this.”

“Don’t say that,” Starr cautioned. “He’ll stuff you like this phea. Men here like their women plump.” She paused. “But, it’s one of their most endearing qualities.”

Sunny looked at me. “Is this true?”

“You are perfect the way you are.” We did like our women with some fat on their bones since it provided insulation from the cold.

“So you’re saying I’m too skinny?”

“I didn’t say that.”

Sunny and Starr put their heads together and laughed.

I suspected those two could create mischief. They’d gone to the bathing cave together and returned chattering and giggling like two kits. Although Sunny had protested the killing of the insects, she had chuckled when she related how one of them had fallen into the hot spring and expired.

“I’m supposed to maintain my weight for the show.” Sunny took another bite of the meal I’d prepared.

“Good thing you don’t need to worry about that anymore,” Starr said.

“Uh, right.”

“What was it like doing a reality show? How did you get started?”

“My sister Stormy did it first. I was in many of the scenes, and viewers loved the dynamic of the two of us, so Apogee Productions recruited me.”

“That’s right! It was called Stormy and Sunny’s Excellent Adventures until your sister left the show.”

“She got pregnant and couldn’t do the adventures,” my mate replied. “Skydiving isn’t recommended for pregnant women.”

“And then you dropped out to come here.”

“Uh-huh.” Sunny bit into one of the sweets.

“So how did it work? Did you have a regular shooting schedule? Did cameramen just follow you from location to location?”

“The producers would decide where to send me, and then they filmed every aspect, from me getting ready to go, through the adventure itself, and then afterward. When I first joined the show, my contract specified six months of filming per year, but, over the years, more and more time was added, and it became almost ten months.”

“That’s quite a commitment. You had production people with you all the time?”

I listened, trying to comprehend. Many of the words eluded translation. Terrans’ lives were completely different from ours.

“Yeah. Cameramen, sound people, makeup, producers, directors.”

“That sounds intrusive.” Starr waved at an insect.

“You have no idea,” Sunny said. “It’s weird. Having people and cameras dogging you is intrusive, but you forget they’re there after a while. That’s usually when you slip up and say something you regret later.”

“I don’t think I could get used to it.” Starr frowned as the insect made another pass. “What are those bugs? They hardly look real, more like insect robots.”

Sunny coughed and covered her mouth.

“So, your job was to let people watch you?” I asked.

She nodded.

“Doing what?”

“Different things.”

“Like working on a pig farm?”

“That’s right.”

Starr wrinkled her nose. “I remember that episode! Was it as bad as it looked?”

“Worse,” Sunny replied. “Fortunately, I was there for only a week, just enough to get some good footage.”

“And you had no say over where you went?” Starr asked.

“None. According to my contract, Apogee Productions has full control. I have, uh, had to go wherever they sent me.”

“So, your contact ended, and you came here,” Starr said.

“Uh huh,” Sunny mumbled and bit into another sweet macha.

“How long was your longest assignment?”

“A year,” she replied.

Starr tilted her head. “You didn’t get any time off for an entire year? What about your contract? Didn’t it spell out work time and nonwork time?”

My mate stopped chewing. Her gaze shot to the insect hovering near the ceiling. “Yeah, what about my contract?”

“Sounds like they took advantage of you,” Starr said.

“It does, doesn’t it?”