Page 81 of Planet Zero
She looked at the animal again. “Why did nobody tell me? I thought it was Wrennlins,” she mumbled.
“Oh, Addie,” Vircea guffawed, “Wrennlin tremors are felt all around like the entire world is rocking. These were Kivek taps, as if you can’t tell!”
“Well, I couldn't,” she said and looked at the Kivek again. It was digging a new hole now with its tailless behind raised up, presenting them with a pink butthole with a leaf stuck to the side of it.
Addie’s lips thinned. Then twitched. Then parted in a reluctant smile. She made such a fool of herself. She recalled the deadpan looks the men were giving her as she jumped around like a flea.
Laughter bubbled forth, spurred on by high-pitched snickers of Vircea and Qalae, by Oh’nil’s reluctant chuckles. And then she was laughing along with them until her sides hurt.
“I thought… and then the dirt… and it made me jump…” She lowered herself to the ground where Vircea had already flopped in a boneless heap.
“I’ve never seen anyone jump that high!” She dissolved into another fit of uncontrollable laughter, pulling Addie along with her, and the two of them rolled on the ground until they could laugh no more.
Finally, their amusement subsided and they lay on their backs staring at the sky. The Kivek disappeared inside its newly dug hole, uprooting and pulling the entire clump of grass along with it.
Qalae gave a small cough and erased all emotions from her face that, for a short time, came alive with animation. She was their queen again.
“I must go. The chief will need me at the assembly. Present yourselves without delay.” Head held high, she walked away, her right hand still in a fist that concealed the herbs she so earnestly craved.
Vircea also rose to her feet. “I better go clean up. This assembly business sounds serious. I wonder what the High Counselor has in store for us.”
Addie sat up. “I think we are going to celebrate the hunt.”
“We are. But there is more to it. I can feel it.”
She left, and Oh’nil followed. Addie was left alone with Zoark. He remained seated, never having risen to his feet in the queen’s presence in a blatant violation of the protocol.
Addie patted her hair to smooth it, suddenly overcome by shyness. He was looking at her strangely, with the intensity that was his trademark, yet different, like he’d just discovered something new about her. She supposed she’d made a fool of herself one time too many, and he now firmly believed her to be a lost cause.
“Is Vircea right? Do you think the High Counselor has something grand to say?” she asked Zoark in her awkward For.
“He better,” he switched to her language easily, his flowing accent music to her ear. At the same time, his use of her language reminded her of his time in the city. With the women…
She didn’t want to think about it. “This side of the mountains is different. The tribe will need to make adjustments.”
“It isn’t so much the place as it is what’s happening.”
“This Valley of the Stone Shadows has no green grass. Not much of it, at least.”
“No,” he confirmed without expression. He couldn't have known it would be the case, but he must have suspected.
“What is going to happen?”
A ghost of a smile touched his lips. “That’s what the High Counselor wants to tell us.”
“But what do you think, Zoark?” In the back of her mind, Addie wondered if coming here was a mistake if the tribe should have stayed put on the other side of the mountains.
Zoark rotated his head and glanced at the mountain peaks in the distance as if his thoughts ran in the same direction.
“We’re here,” he finally said. “We have to wait and see. But it’s true, this side has its challenges, and people have to stay alert.Youhave to stay alert, Addie.”
She slanted a look at the disturbed dirt where the stupid Kivek had emerged. “I do,” she said drily. “But I know what you mean. I understand. I’ve seen Gosors, and I take them very seriously. I haven’t yet seen marauders, but I take them very seriously too. I never even knew this land has marauders! I thought everyone belonged to a tribe.”
Another turn of his head. “There are always some that don’t. Remember Hoban?”
He managed to surprise her by bringing up the name from the past. “Hoban?”
“He had been one.”
