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“Gotcha good, Uncle JayJay. Watcha doin’ out here all by yourself?” YimYim ducked under the water, jetting through the gentle current before I could retaliate.
“It’s like that, is it?” I wiped any levity from my voice and fake-stomped toward a hose coiled along the pink earthen wall. With as much stealth as I could muster, I turned on the faucet, lever in hand, and leaped toward him. “Now who’s the boss?” I drenched him with cold water.
“No fair!” YimYim screeched as he scrambled to get away, his smile so big he choked down mouthfuls of water.
The see-through door separating the courtyard from the kitchen snicked over small wheels as it unfolded. TeyTey loomed in the opening, arms crossed. Her dress billowed, and the purple linnea leaves on the patterned fabric fluttered the same way they would if caught on a breeze at home.
I blocked out a sudden longing for Yagras brought on by the matching wrap tied in an intricate twist over her smooth head.
“JayJay, get in here this instant and say hi.”
I stood, limp hose in hand. Guilty as charged.
TeyTey turned on one foot and marched back into the kitchen. “Unmated Rock Dwellers—unbelievable. I’ll have to teach them all manners so they can find females.”
I ducked my chin and shrugged at YimYim before following.
YimYim spun toward the pool. “Manners are overrated.”
He had that right.
My mouth watered. Rich roasting mantu and tangy graneth bread flavored the air. “TeyTey…” I opened the cooler and placed a bottle of hiscus wine inside to chill. “Thank you for inviting me. I was only getting a breath of humid air.”
TeyTey juggled an armful of spiky black tubers. Her forehead ridge jumped at my excuse, but she let it pass. “JayJay, if that’s hiscus wine, you’re forgiven.”
I suspected she wouldn’t mind if her wine was a little warm, judging by the eagerness in her voice, so I returned to the cooler and poured her a container. Sure enough, she took a long sip and sighed.
TeyTey put on gloves before removing the spikes from the tubers. “Ah, here they are.”
An icy blast blew through the front entry, but it did little to chill me as Sully motioned Ginger into the warm dwelling.
My mind grew foggy as she approached, so I ducked behind a tall plant to avoid looking stupid. Most of Ginger’s straight white hair hid under a warm hat. In my imagination, my fingers threaded through the strands, and they were as soft as clouds.
Ginger hugged a wet YimYim, patting him on the head even though he was her height. “TeyTey, it smells soooo good in here.” They embraced next, and YimYim rushed back to the pool.
When will she take her hat off and reveal her pretty hair? I smothered a cough. What the blant was going on with me? I did not need a female who caused me to abandon reason whenever she neared. A leaf tickled my nose.
Sully kicked off his snowy boots. Water pooled on the geothermal floors where they stood. He walked to TeyTey’s side and wrestled against her solid hold on the oven door. “Bish, sweet TeyTey, just a morsel…”
Sully and TeyTey’s teasing drifted into the background as Ginger removed her coat and hat and hung them on the ball hook dangling from a ceiling chain. Her black forehead hair cut straight across her eyebrows and framed the amber, green and gold of her eyes—a sharp contrast to the otherwise silver-white length.
Pink tubes encased her legs, highlighting the small mounds of her calves, and as my gaze swept up to the fabric sheathing her body, my mouth went dry. Brown leather crisscrossed in a vee at her neck and flared at her knees and wrists like a tunic. Little animal shapes were punched out along the hems, and a sparkly pendant hung from a gold chain around her neck, nestled at the top of her—
I forced my chin up.
Wide-eyed, Ginger scanned the home while she snapped pictures on a handheld device. I swore her eyes narrowed as they landed on the plant I was staked out behind.
“This is breathtaking, TeyTey.” She walked through the folded door to the courtyard, and her slender fingers glided over the same plant mine had lingered on a moment ago. “Oh, drat.” She bit her puffy lower lip. “I forgot my gift outside. It’ll have turned into a popsicle.” She rushed to the front entrance then returned, rubbing her arms vigorously after foisting a giant plant similar to the one by the lazy river into TeyTey’s arms.
TeyTey ducked her head between a gap in the leaves. “Thank you. This will look beautiful by the lazy river.” Then Sully scooped the plant from her arms.
“Ginger?” TeyTey playfully shoved Sully away from the oven when he snuck up behind her again. She reached in and pulled out the roast mantu, shielding it from Sully’s wandering fingers. “YimYim has lost his lovely mittens. Do you have any more?”
Ginger clicked a picture of TeyTey and Sully. “Dang. No, I don’t.” She pursed her lips. “And shoot… I’ve used up all the linobee pelts.” Her pink tongue darted to the corner of her mouth. “Oh, I know, after our hoverbike lesson, I can fly to the rocky outcrop and do some trapping.”
“Bish, TeyTey. I’m hungrier than the elite guard after a battle with the hellsna. Let me have a little taste.” Sully’s mention of the hellsna jolted me from the camouflaged position I’d been using to track Ginger’s every move.
Flashes of my old life, where I’d once held a role of prestige now forced the hole in my heart wide open, emptying it of any sense of self-worth. I’d spent my entire adult life responsible for protecting Rock Dwellers from hellsna on Yagras.
