Page 30 of Fall

“Lenna cold like ice.” He tightened his arms, evidently concerned by thefact that she was shivering so intensely. “No good.”

She’d finally learned enough of the language to realize that it didinclude similes, which was their primary method of describing feelings. “Ronestole blankets.”

He huffed in amusement and rubbed her back and her arms for a few minutesuntil she finally stopped shivering.

When she was able to relax, she adjusted her position so she was lyingmore comfortably against him. Feeling a wave of familiarity and affection, shepressed a little kiss against his chest. “Lenna warm now. Glad Rone here.”

He nuzzled her hair. “Glad Lenna here. Lennahome.”

She’d never been exactly sure what the last word he said meant. She’dheard it only occasionally, and Desh had told her he thought it meant home.

Her chest and belly started to flutter in a very strange way at the wordsand the hoarseness of Rone’s voice. No matter how much she appreciated him, itwasn’t like she could really fall in love with him. She knew he wasintelligent—probably the smartest man in this cave other than Desh—but hislife, his world, was so much smaller, simpler, harsher than hers.

This just wasn’t her home. She would always be a stranger here.

She’d known Rone for more than three months now—been his mate for morethan two. And yet she still knew so little about him.

For some reason, this fact bothered her a lot, so she sorted through hervocabulary in her mind for a minute until she was able to ask, “Where cave Roneborn?”

He turned his head to peer at her face, clearly surprised by thequestion.

She tried again, making sure she enunciated correctly, in case he hadn’tunderstood. “Where cave Rone born?”

“No cave.” He met her eyes and said a word she didn’t understand.

She frowned and shook her head.

He repeated the word twice and lifted up the covers so they were tentedabove them in the bed.

That she understood. “Tent,” she said, trying out the new word. “No cave.Tent.”

He nodded. “Tribe no cave. Walk always. Follow herds. Sleep tents. Fardistance.”

This made sense to her. From the little she knew about hunter-gatherersocieties, most were at least semi-nomadic, following their source of food asit migrated with the seasons.

Now that she thought about it, the Kroo must have prime real estate, tohave access to food most of the year round in this one protected location.

“Rone glad cave?” she asked, wondering if he missed his old life, his oldtribe. “Rone glad Kroo?”

“Yes. Rone glad cave. Rone glad Kroo.” He let out a long breath. “TribeRone born… hard like stone.” He patted his chest to make it clear where his oldtribe had been hard. “Kroo good. Cave good. Lenna good.”

She pressed another little kiss onto his chest, touched and amazed by thisclear evidence that she was one of the reasons Rone was happy here.

“Lenna born cave?”

She shook her head.

“Tent?”

“No.” She had to search for things in his world that she could compare anEarth city with. “Tent hard like stone. Big like mountain.”

His eyes widened. “Where?”

“Farther sun. Near stars.”

He was eyeing her soberly and with obvious astonishment. But he believedher. He might not understand the existence of a planet other than this one, buthe believed her. “Lenna fall here?” he asked, very softly.

The words struck her strangely, causing an ache in her chest. Finally,she nodded. “Fall here.”

---