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Saluda’s and D’unter’s wary eyes focused on Ginger’s scissors, snipping open and closed.
“Maybe now is a good time for that walk. We’ll help you, Protector,” D’unter said.
“Now is as good a time as any.” I propped one hand on D’unter’s shoulder for leverage and heaved as Saluda braced behind me. If I tipped over, I’d crush him.
I needed to do this so that Ginger would see me as a strong mate, protecting her and the residents of Tern. My legs wobbled but held, and my tender insides protested. With my teammates at my side, ready to help at a moment’s notice, I made my way across the rolling floor. Each step sent pain shooting up my healing leg.
Ginger snipped away. She flicked her hair from one shoulder to the other, lashing it back and forth like a jungle cat’s tail.
22
Crouched in the backof our small magma-lit cave the next morning, I opened the hooks on JayJay’s duffel bag and slammed stacks of folded clothes inside.
“Giant, stubborn Rock Dweller.” I swore under my breath. Dr. Ten hadn’t healed JayJay enough for him to gallivant around an enormous volcano as if he were invincible. And he shouldn’t be in the mentally taxing command center, volunteering to be thrown off his hoverbike again. Now I understood women who complained about men with hero complexes. The stupid oaf did nothing but put himself in harm’s way.
The clothes I’d completed stretched the seams of JayJay’s large bag as I jammed Sisip’s soft linobee shirt on top. How dare Sisip suggest JayJay meet with the wretched traitor responsible for banishing him from Yagras? If she didn’t watch her step, I would alter the shirt to fit Shaheel’s wings instead.
To the outside of the bag, I tied D’Argon’s boxer-style leather headgear. My trembling fingers itched to drag JayJay back to his sickbed. Cheeks hot, I jumped on limber legs from our room, ignoring the step. My heart’s desires grew harder and harder to ignore.
Whenever I was in JayJay’s presence, his intense gaze followed my every move, reeling me in, and the deep rasp of his voice lit up a hungry space low in my belly. But last night had been different. Our relationship had moved beyond medical treatment. If he suffered another serious injury… My heart clunked and stalled… I didn’t know what I’d do.
Maybe I’m stuck on Tern for a reason. Maybe we need to take care of each other.
An enormous bag of lunal leaned against the door to our room, so I hopped back inside to grab the heavy-duty clippers and knitting needles. Good. I’d have a distraction to keep my mind off JayJay today.
I skipped past smooth cylindrical mushrooms dressed in vivid orange lace skirts. They grew from the turquoise moss in seams fed from the magma far below. Dragonfly-type creatures fanned out across the ground, forming a glowing mandala where they rested their translucent wings. Beautiful.
I waved to the dark-skinned Boola on kitchen duty before finding a seat in the shared eating and work space. A couple of Nacers swung on the vine swings, dangling from the ceiling, their wings pumping behind them.
“Morning, Ginger.” Shaheel’s white Nacer wings fluttered, then settled, the splinted one a stiff triangle on one side, the other folded down her back.
I plunked my overflowing bag beside her table and picked up a leaf, similar to cabbage, wrapped around shredded mantu and cubed tinga. “Morning.” I sat beside her.
Her head jerked to the side. “What is all this?” She spread her hand over the bags of lunal weed and hides.
I’d experimented with a few things, but discovering the flexible weed could be knitted had significantly sped up the chain mail-making process. No more creating one ring at a time and crimping it shut through another.
Shaheel poked her beak into the bag of lunal. “And why are you in a huffy puffy?” She’d warmed up to me after JayJay had worn his armor, realizing my earlier offer to make her clothes had been genuine.
I tore into my wrap, chewing so hard my jaw ached. “JayJay’s with the representative from Yagras right now.”
Shaheel’s beak clacked. “Is he not the one bringing us the weapon to kill the hellsna?”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I have to trust him. Plus, JayJay warned us not to.” I swallowed the rest of my wrap and popped a cube of blue tinga that had fallen to the tray into my mouth. Sucking on the sweet, cucumber-like juice, I let my gaze travel down the food line, landing on Makir.
“Makir!” I waved him over to our table. He sat across from us in a grease-smeared jumpsuit. He must have come fresh from the temporary hoverbay.
“I gotta hand it to you, Ginge”—his long, thin tail wrapped around my waist, the fluffy tip swaying side to side—“I have a steady stream of parts coming in. All thanks to you.”
“I listened to D’ovey and put an idea in motion. That’s it. Nothing really.”
On the ground beside us, lunal soaked in mantu bladder baskets filled with javae. The astringent liquid softened the tough fibers until they were pliable enough to work. After pulling a long, coppery strand of lunal from the basket, I looped the weed around my finger and wove it over the largest knitting needle I’d brought.
“You can thank D’ovey, TeyTey, all the injured here and the enforcers on their days off for making it work.” My needles clicked against the steely fiber. So much slower than knitting with wool or a polyester blend or anything back on Earth, except for those mixes with long glittery strings.
Shaheel’s beak clacked. “Ah, that reminds me. I need to get a basket of tinga to D’ovey. He’s exchanging them for wow-ees.” She spread her splinted wing over the lunal again. “Then I’ll be back to help you with whatever this is.”
“Hey—” I shouted at her departing back. “Can you check whether the update I sent on JayJay’s health status went through?” Every time I moved within range, coms poured in from the Rock Dwellers and concerned townsfolk.
