Page 99 of The Weaver

After teasingly trailing that finger down his chest, she took the knife he offered and stepped away to sit at the pond’s edge. The water was cool against her heated skin as she lowered her legs into it, making her break out in goosebumps.

Ahmya peeked at her mate over her shoulder with a smile. “Are you going to join me?”

Rekosh growled, and her eyes dipped to see his claspers pressed tight against his slit. She covered her mouth to muffle her giggle.

“Wicked, female. You seek to unravel me.” He strode to the pond and stepped in. Within a couple steps, the water was up to his pelvis, covering his claspers and slit. He turned and beckoned her with a curl of his fingers. “Come.”

Oh, she would later. She was sure of it.

Ahmya slipped into the water, letting out a slow, shuddering breath at the chill. With her feet on the bottom, the surface came up to her chest, lapping at her nipples. She grasped the stem of the nearest yellow blossom and cut it with the knife.

As she cupped the flower in her hand, staring down at it, shewas once more struck by a wave of nostalgia. “There is a flower similar to this on Earth.”

“Tell me.” Rekosh said.

“It’s called a lotus.Hasu, in Japanese.” Ahmya brushed her fingers over the petals. “It grows in muddy water, but its petals are the purest pink or white. It symbolizes overcoming adversity and reaching enlightenment. They only bloom for a few days.”

She set the blossom on the grassy bank and turned back to Rekosh with a smile. “Every summer when I was little, we visited my grandparents in Japan. My grandmother would take me, my brother, and my mom out to harvest lotuses. We’d gather the roots and the seed pods, which are what remain after the petals fall off.”

Ahmya cut off another blossom and placed it next to the first. “Often, my brother and I would sneak off and break open a pod to munch on the seeds.” She chuckled as she walked farther out into the pond, pushing aside the fan-like leaves. “My grandmother would scold us for not working, but Hirohito would always take the blame.”

Rekosh moved alongside her, keeping the spear before him. He chittered. “Ketahn would try to do the same when we were broodlings, but usually I could talk away our trouble when we were caught doing something we should not have done.”

She chuckled. “I can believe that. Seeing the way all of you interact, I would guess that you caused most of the trouble?”

“I do not know why you would think that, Ahmya,” he said, mandibles ticking up into a wry smile as he cast her a sidelong glance.

She didn’t miss the hint of mischief in his eyes.

Ahmya laughed and nudged his arm with her elbow. “So you were the troublemaker!”

“I did not make trouble. I made excitement and fun.” Hetapped his chest. “Moonfall Tunnel would have been boring without me.”

She cut another flower and held it out to Rekosh. “No wonder Urkot is the voice of reason. He’s just trying to protect everyone from yourfun.”

Rekosh took the flower in one of his free hands. “Urkot is not free of blame. None of us are.” He cocked his head, regarding the flower. “Maybe Telok is. He was very quiet as a broodling. Almost…timid for a time, though he always fought for us fiercely.”

“He’s still quiet, and still fierce.”

“Very much.”

“Why does he keep so much distance from everyone?”

“Telok…carries deep pain in his hearts that weighs upon him, heavier than any stone. I think he believes he must watch, must protect, so he does not have to face that pain again. But that can be a lonely duty.”

Sorrow filled Ahmya’s heart. She’d seen the lengths to which Telok had gone to protect them all. Maybe he wasn’t outwardly friendly most of the time, but he’d accepted Ahmya and the other humans into his tribe. Beneath Telok’s rough exterior was a vrix who cared deeply about his family, who would readily put himself in harm’s way to keep them safe, who could laugh and find joy amongst his tribemates…but he let his guard down so rarely.

She clipped another flower, which she handed to Rekosh. “I hope he can find some peace now that we’re all settling down in Kaldarak. That he lets himself relax and realizes he doesn’t have to do all that alone. That he’s never been alone.”

“I think he knows in his hearts, but it will take time for him to find that peace.” He twirled the flower by its stem. “You said you would gather the roots and seeds from lotuses. What did you use them for?”

“Food. We’d take home what we’d harvested and make a dishcalledrenkon no kinpirawith the lotus roots.” Ahmya smiled at him, though a bit sadly. “The last time that happened was when I was eight, before my mom died.”

Rekosh made a low, unhappy buzzing sound as he turned his body toward her. He brushed the backs of his fingers over her cheek before hooking her hair behind her ear. His fingers lingered there, caressing the round shell. “We will make many memories together,kir’ani vi’keishi. I will harvest plants with you, cook with you, tend flowers with you. I will teach you to weave and sew if you would learn it. Anything you would do, I would do alongside you.”

Ahmya’s chest constricted with a powerful wave of emotion that made her eyes sting with tears. Though her father and brother had been alive before she’d left Earth, home had never felt the same after she lost her mother. It had grown cold. And Ahmya had been alone.

Rekosh was offering all the companionship and intimacy she could ever have wished for. Was offering to share not just the moments of passion and heat, but the quiet moments. The mundane moments. And to cherish them all equally, recognizing how valuable each and every one of them were.

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