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“I must.” His deep voice reverberated down my spine.
A few lawnmower-like laughs came from behind me. When it came to fulfilling his obligation to watch over me, JayJay was very thorough. I spun around and waved a quick goodbye to the remaining Rock Dwellers. “Hush, traitors.”
“Rematch?” Sannit called out.
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
“Let’s go.” JayJay tugged me through the doorway.
“Bye.” I waved my hand high over my head as a gust of cold air sent my hair flying. “Jeez, King Kong.” I shook my hand free from JayJay’s and repositioned my thumb inside the mitten he’d jammed on. Back to his dickish domineering, it seemed. “I’m coming already.”
I trudged over the frozen ground. The moon patterned the blue snow’s dips and furrows with dark shadows, making it difficult to assess the depth, and I slowed to a Frankenstein-esque lurch.
Far ahead, JayJay abruptly stopped, retraced his steps to me and handed over the leashes. Hatless and gloveless, the moonglinted off his smooth head and turned his skin silver. Blue snow fell around us, disguising the path under its thick veil. Grunting, he started down the trail again, this time with much smaller steps than his regular stride.
“I would’ve gotten home just fine on my own,” I muttered, Charz and Pika jerking against my sore arms.
He eyeballed the dogs, who now had me bent forward as if I were reining in a pair of stallions. Disloyal little beasts. They settled like perfect angels when he took the leashes back. Have at it. I’m not going to complain.
With the trail broken in front of us, even I had to admit that walking came much easier, especially for little Jack Russell legs. “Thanks for packing down the trail.”
Our breaths swirled like smoke, the snow crunched in a steady rhythm, transforming the night into something inexplicably peaceful, and I found my annoyance at JayJay dimming.
“JayJay?” My voice rose over our footsteps.
He grunted.
“Why do you and TeyTey and her younglings all have double names?”
“There are seven districts on Yagras and we both come from Nara. It’s customary on Nara to say a name twice. It’s meant to bring long life.” A smile softened his square jawline, as if he was recalling a fond memory.
“And Ginger…is that a common name on Earth?”
“Sort of. Depends where you live a little too. It’s actually a spicy root that grows in the ground.” A cold wind circled us, blowing the flaps of my hat until they smacked my reddened cheeks. “I have a special order for a coat that will need more linobee. Do you know of any other spots? I don’t want to over-hunt the same area.”
The crunching continued, and he didn’t respond for the longest time.
“Linobee will swarm if not regulated. Don’t worry for them. The enforcers have told me about tracks in the Starry Mountains.” He turned to face me, poking absently at the hole in his pants he’d still not brought me to repair. “It’s very cold there. I’ll bring you back what you need.” He spun to face forward again, breaking the trail as if he had the final word—no contest.
The peaceful moment shattered. Yes, it would’ve been nice to have more furs magically show up and skip all the hard stuff. But the hard stuff was part of the adventure, and I hadn’t traveled all the way to Tern not to see it.
“Listen, King Kong, I can handle the cold, and I don’t need a man assuming he needs to do things I’m perfectly capable of.” My body warmed as my anger built. “If you need to accompany me because of your obligation to Geo, you can come—”
Partway through my tirade, JayJay stopped, and I nearly walked into his backside on the narrow trail.
“—Otherwise, I’ll speak with the lead enforcer and have her program the coordinates into my wristport.” I should’ve just asked Sisip in the first place.
I pressed a finger to his chest. Even buried under a mitten, I could feel how muscled he was. When I looked him in the eye, a wild fervor leaped there before he shook his head and locked down the emotion. Did no one ever say no to this guy? He dug at the snow with the toe of his boot, his commanding composure broken. The ridge on his forehead dipped and straightened as if he were fighting an internal battle. Or maybe he was as unused to touch as me?
“I’m coming with you,” he belted out before carefully stepping around me. Then he resumed his small, steady steps to Geo and Makir’s.
When we reached the covered porch, JayJay squatted and petted each eager dog on the head, then he grunted a quick goodbye before jogging away into the cold, dark night. Theabsolute silence he left me in roared in my head, even louder than his thundering voice.
I muttered to the dogs, “Maybe I won’t tell him when I leave to go trapping this time.”
5
Ashovelful of snowlanded in the growing pile to my left as I cleared the areas of the worksite the mech-dozer couldn’t reach. The workday had just begun when a notification from TeyTey pinged, alerting me to Ginger’s imminent departure. I sighed. The interruption complicated an already full schedule.
