“I will clean up in the river while I await the arrival of the rest of my crew. Shefira.” He bows at London and then turns and walks away.
“I’m going to take this back to our tent.” London holds up the clay implement. “We’ll be right back.”
She and Zander depart as well.
“Come, let us sit.” Without removing my tail from around her waist, Zara and I move to one of the carved wooden seats near the fire. “How was your visit with your tribe sisters?”
“Good. After what happened to me, we needed to spend the time together. It really kind of hit us how lucky I was you guys found me. It could have been so much worse.” She shudders.
I do not want to even consider any other outcome.
“How is your arm feeling?” It is the closest I can get to acknowledging what happened between us in her tent without asking outright if Zara regrets what we did. I am not sure I could handle her saying yes.
“It constantly aches, but most of the time it’s better than not.” She bites her lip. “What did Alik mean when he said their healer can repair it?”
“I am unsure.” One of the things we trade with the Bohnari is kanet. It is nothing more than a basic plant that grows deep in the forest, but according to their healer, they use it for healing. Except it is entirely useless as nothing more than vegetation on Tavikh. “But I will take you to their ship when it arrives if you wish. If the Bohnari can do something to heal it, I believe it is a good thing.”
“You’ll come with me then?”
The hope in Zara’s eyes is nearly my undoing. The fact that she wishes for me to be at her side means everything to me. “Of course.”
She loops her arm around mine and leans her head on my shoulder. “Thank you.”
As we sit there, more and more tribespeople arrive—including the elders, who tend to stay near their own group of tents—and soon the midday meal is well underway. Her tribe sisters and their mates join us and the females talk and laugh with each other. Alik sits with several unmated warriors. I observe him several times watching all the mated humans, and the same look I’d witnessed earlier crosses his face, but when our eyes meet, his expression clears.I sympathize. They do not worship the same goddess as we do, but I pray to Deeka that their males are able to find their own mates.
Slowly, people finish eating and drop their vessels off at the fire for washing. Throughout the meal, Zara has touched me often. Not all of them feel purposeful. Often her thigh would brushagainst mine. Or her arm when she leaned forward to speak to Remi who sat on my other side. Whether intentional or not, each touch sent pleasure straight to my cock.
I have just emptied my vessel when a sound reaches me. Conversations halt and heads lift toward the sky. A shadow appears through the clouds growing larger with every beat until, at last, it breaks through to expose the Bohnari ship. All eyes observe it as it floats through the air, drawing closer to the earth, until it disappears behind the trees outside of the village borders to land in the large bari field that lies beyond.
“Whoa,” Zara exclaims. “That was nothing like the ship that brought us here.”
The human’s transport ship is more than three times the size of the Bohnari’s, but that is because the smaller of the two is built for only a few warriors. She would be even more surprised to see Alik’s shuttle. It is sized to hold only a single warrior.
“I wonder if they’ll let us have a tour,” Eloise says. “I’m curious to see the inside.”
As someone who traveled the stars before crash landing on Tavikh, it makes sense that she would be interested in the interior workings of the Bohnari vessel.
“I’d be down for a tour,” Remi proclaims.
“Me too,” the shefira says.
“I want to visit their med bay,” Sage adds.
The only one who remains silent is Maeve.
Zara chuckles. “Sounds like we might all be making a field trip.”
“’Field trip’?” That is not a term that translates.
“It’s an old Earth thing. It was when a group of people, usually students—children—traveled together to visit a particular place.”
“I see.” It is an interesting custom of humans to come up with odd names for things.
Alik approaches and comes to a stop before Zander. “I will greet my brothers and return with them.”
Zydon rises. “I will accompany you if that is all right. I have been looking forward to speaking with Horek again.”
“He will be glad to see you.” With a fist to his chest, Alik turns away and he and Zydon head for the main entrance of the village.