Chapter 36
Kate
After making the walk of shame back to the others we all decided it was getting late and we should begin to think about shelter and dinner for the night rather than continuing on our journey.
“Should we just go back to the pod to sleep?” I ask.
“We can,” Rennek tells me. “If that would make you an Allison more comfortable this evening, but the rest of the nights on Elysia will be spent in the wilderness--tonight will be our last opportunity to return to the pod.”
“No, I don’t want to double back,” Allison says definitively. “I’d rather move forward, not back.”
And even though Allison was so assertive in her response, Rennek looks to me for my answer.
“Yeah, no. That makes sense. No reason to make the same trip twice, especially if we are going to be roughing it from here on out,” I tell him. “Plus, it’s not like the pod is super luxurious or anything.” He studies me a moment or two longer, like he is trying to make sure I’m not just taking one for the team. I smile to assure him it’s fine and he nods before getting to work.
“We will eat our evening meal here before going down into the trees to sleep for the night,” Rennek tells us. “I will hunt and return shortly.” He gives me a hard and happy kiss before bounding down into the trees.
“Is there anything I can do to help with the hunting,” Allison asks Da’vi.
“No,” he says curtly. “Tonight, you work on fire. If you are successful, then tomorrow I will begin to show you how to track,” he tells her.
Allison gets to work and I sit and watch the world around us. I stare off into the direction of the ocean. The sun, which appears to be the same color as Earth’s sun… if perhaps only slightly larger in the sky, starts to dip towards the horizon.
Rennek is back in no time with the carcass of… I don’t know… a little ugly bear or something. He flicks his hair back and holds the creature high to show me. I give him a thumbs up and try not to be too grossed out by the thing, after all I’m going to have to eat it.
Da’vi helps hold the ugly bear while Rennek works to skin it. Allison watches the process closely… I try to look literally anywhere else. A lot of chopping starts happening, so I examine some rocks, and a leaf, and the bottom of my boot, and then the leaf again. I’m vaguely aware in my peripheral vision that Rennek makes a long cut down the center of the animal.
“Wait,” Da’vi directs Rennek, who looks confused by the halt in their work. “You. Remove the offal,” he commands Allison.
I look up in shock. Allison is quick to step up though. Rennek moves hesitantly aside and I see him shake his head at Da’vi. Da’vi’s scales flick and he refuses to meet Rennek’s gaze. And even though this is likely the grossest part of the whole thing, I watch. I feel like it’s my only way to support Allison. Solidarity.
She struggles a bit at the neck and Da’vi grunts at her… I’m not sure if it is meant as encouragement or disapproval. Her hands slip, but she adjusts her grip and rips the guts out. She is bloodied up to her elbows and her clothes have gotten a little dirty as well.
“Now you will bury it,” he tells her.
“Great job Allison!” I beam, clapping. I mean… someone’s got to give her credit. She nods in acknowledgement but her eyes stay on her task. She and Da’vi descend down the side of the plateau which we originally came from. I stare after them for a bit.
“Your assistance, my goddess,” Rennek calls to me. His hands are as filthy as Allison’s. He motions to a water pouch and I open the lid and pour it out over his hands.
“She wants this?” He nods after Allison.
“It appears that way,” I shrug.
“Hmph,” he grunts, kissing me atop my head before getting back to work.
The rest of the evening my thoughts are consumed with our time in space and here in the wilderness. In space I felt like I needed to step up, but here on Elysia? I don’t know, I don’t feel the same sense of urgency to perform. Part of me wonders if I should be more gung-ho about learning all this survivalist stuff Alison has been trying to pick up on. But another part of me is starting to relish being taken care of. I’ve never had this before--not with a boyfriend and not even as a child with my family.
So... I let Rennek carry the pack, and I let him start the fire, and put a blanket around my shoulders. I even let him feed me a little bit as we sit around eating dinner together. There will be plenty of time to learn all this stuff, I think to myself. It’s not like we’re going anywhere anytime soon. Right now, I’m just going to bask in the attention and care Rennek is giving me.
Allison, on the other hand, sits a few feet away struggling to make her own fire by rubbing two sticks together. Is that even real, I wonder? Did Tom Hanks do it that way in Castaway? I try to remember, but end up thinking about Wilson. Da’vi sits a ways off, his back to us all, eating ugly bear.
“Allison, it’s getting chilly. Why don’t you come sit with me?” I offer.
“No thanks,” she mumbles without looking up.
“At least eat,” I tell her, but she completely ignores me this time.
Another twenty minutes or so goes by. Rennek stares at Da’vi’s back and huffs a few times. Finally, Rennek gets up and stalks over to Allison.
“You must eat now. Darkness is fast approaching. We will leave to find a resting place for the night soon. There will not be another chance to eat until morning,” he tells her this sternly--probably taking a hard stance under the assumption she might refuse. She stills briefly before throwing her sticks angrily away. She finally pulls herself to her feet and grabs some ugly bear meat. But, instead of sitting with us by the fire she goes and sits alone--staring off towards the ocean. I watch her.
Rennek returns to my side. Wrapping his arm around me, he hugs me against his body. I know he can sense how much this distance Allison is creating bothers me. It’s pointless, I’ve spent so much of my life in self-imposed isolation. Now that all this has happened to us--the abduction and everything since. Life has really been put into a different perspective for me. Why waste time being unhappy, or alone, or struggling when you don’t have to?
Sure, Allison doesn’t have a big sexy gargoyle to take care of her--but she has other humans… she has me. I can’t hunt for her or anything, but I can hear her out. I can listen to what she is going through and be there for her. She doesn’t have to be alone in this.
“It’s time,” Rennek says, giving me one final squeeze before standing and extinguishing the flames. The sun has already sunk and there is only a bit of light left, peeking at us from the horizon. We rinse our hands and faces with some water from one of the pouches Rennek carries and we all take a bathroom break before we slip back below the canopy and onto the branches. The light is even more faint here, so I rely on Rennek to hold my hand and show me the best footholds and we move from tree to tree.
Soon we approach the wide branches that Rennek and I… enjoyed… earlier in the afternoon. I notice it seems a little warmer under the trees compared to the mountaintop, so Rennek spreads a blanket on the branch and we lay on top of it. I watch Da’vi yank a few vines until they hang with greater slack from a branch above. He twists them around one another a few times in a braid like motion and climbs inside. He has made a little makeshift hammock. Allison takes a blanket from her pack, wraps it around her shoulders and leans against the massive trunk of the tree.
“First watch,” Da’vi calls.
“Wake me when you require rest, my friend,” Rennek tells him. Da’vi grunts his acknowledgement.
Slowly the last warm light from the sun fades and we are surrounded in darkness. Rennek holds me close to him and the warmth of his body chases away any chill that might threaten to make my slumber anything less than comfortable. I snuggle into him and can’t help but smile against his muscled chest. I try to look up towards the sky. I want to see the stars on this new world, but the trees block much of my view and before I can find a tiny prick of light peeking through the leaves, sleep whisks me away.