Page 136 of Tempted by Celestial Bodies

He leads me to a separate section of the village, where I stop in my tracks. Nerves coil in my belly. This is where the non-hybrid, fully alien butterfly insectoids live.

They almost never show themselves to outsiders. I wasn’t allowed to meet them when I was here as a teenager. As far as I know, Dad’s never even seen one. Jalus does me a rare honor to bring me here.

Several of them take flight when they see us coming, and several more freeze in place, watching us warily.

I know I shouldn’t stare, but I can’t help it. I’ve only ever seen pictures of these creatures. They’re smaller than Jalus, maybe half his wingspan. Their central bodies are segmented, pink-furred to resemble the moss that drips from the trees, with six long, thin legs ending in handlike appendages. They have huge, faceted eyes and tubelike mouths.

“Should we say hi?” I whisper.

“I already greeted them,” Jalus tells me. “They speak in scents, not words.”

“Does…does my scent say anything to them?”

Jalus chokes on what might be a suppressed laugh. “Don’t worry. They can tell you’re not able to alter your scent at will. They won’t hold your fear against you.”

“I’m not afraid.”

“Of course.”

Stars. What if he’s been able to smell every thought I’ve had all day? What else does he know that I couldn’t hide?

Maybe there’s still time to jump off this tree branch.

He leads me straight to a large overhang of moss, where three of the butterflies are resting in the shade, slowly fanning their wings. I wait, silent, as he kneels and fans his own wings in response. Uncertainly, I kneel next to him.

“They want to tell you a story,” Jalus says at last.

“All right…”

“This isn’t for entertainment, you understand. Old Kin tell tales for education, to pass down knowledge.”

I nod. “I’m listening.”

He closes his eyes, inhaling deep. “Long ago, in the time before humans descended from the sky, there lived a youth named…um…Scent of Berries After Rain? I’ll call him Berry. Right. So Berry was very fond of food, maybe too fond. He found a sort of delicious fungus that only grows on fallen trees, and he ate all of it without taking any back to the colony.

“He wanted to make more grow, but fallen trees are hard to find, and this fungus would not grow anywhere else. So he decided he would fell a tree purposely. He went deep into the forest where no one would see him. He took a sharp-toothed swordbeak skull and began to saw the wide trunk.

“It took him weeks to even cut halfway through. The whole time, he could sense the tree crying out, begging for him to stop. But every time his heart was moved with pity, he remembered those delicious fungi, and his gluttony urged him to keep working. At last, he weakened the base of the tree so much that he was able to topple it.

“It crashed into many others on the way down, damaging their branches. These trees felt the loss of their sibling and the pain of their own injuries. They cried out to Berry’s colony, but Berry told them it would result in plenty of mouthwatering food for them all, so they chose not to punish him.

“The trees were angry that these people, whom they had fed and protected for millennia, would ignore their plea for help. So the next time Berry alighted on the ground to check his fallen tree, searching for the fungi he craved, the trees puffed out a poisonous scent that made Berry fall asleep. Then they sent out their roots to drag him into the depths of the earth. Berry was never seen again. But his colony apologized to the forest and promised they would never fell a living tree.”

My jaw is hanging open by the end of the tale. “That’s it? The trees killed him? Stars above, that’s dark.”

Jalus slowly rises from his crouch. “It happened a thousand generations ago. The Old Kin tell every child to remind them why we must respect the trees. Because if we don’t, the trees will fight back.”

“Do you think…” I put my hand to my mouth, the very thought sickening me. “Jalus, do you think that’s what happened to the eleven ambassadors who disappeared?”

His eyes are solemn on mine. “I don’t know. Nor do I know what happened to you last night.” This time, hedoestouch me, the barest brush of his fingertips across the scratches down my arm. I shiver involuntarily. “But I’m certain that if your father continues to send offworlders to cut down trees, it’s going to upset the delicate balance that makes it possible for us to coexist on this planet.”

“Dad isn’t the sort of person who just accepts ‘no’ as an answer.” I gulp, imagining his face if I tried to explain all of this.

Both of us are quiet as Jalus guides me up into the canopy for our flight home. My thoughts spin in circles. If the Old Kin’s warning is true, cutting down the trees will result in some kind of chemical reaction that will intensify the poison in the air. That’s not good for anyone who lives on this planet. Yeah, maybe humans could get better protective equipment and still cut down as many trees as they like, but the resort’s business would be ruined, and…

And every village like Jalus’s would suffer. Maybe die.

I can’t stand by and watch that happen. But nothing I say will stop my dad from doing what he wants. He’ll just send more and more people, push harder and harder. It will take total devastation before he’ll accept defeat.

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