Page 69 of Tanin's Treasure
Garnet nodded her head, like she expected to hear him say so. “Anything else? Anything personal?”
He thought back. Frowning. Trying to recall something that wouldn’t sadden Garnet further. “She had a flower. Not sure where the seed came from. But she kept it alive with the solar lamp we used to keep ourselves alive. No sun on Rik-Vane. Had to use the artificial kind. It was a white flower. Didn’t really have a scent. But sometimes, when she was tending the flower… she looked almost peaceful.”
Garnet was starting to smile. “What happened to the flower?”
“Trampled. She killed herself while I was gone. When I came back, someone had already raided our shack for whatever they could take. The flower was a smear on the ground.”
She looked sad again. He was glad he didn’t tell her about the state of his mother’s body. Garnet didn’t need to know that. Organs were just as good for credz on Rik-Vane as anything else. But that was part of his history he didn’t want to touch Garnet.
“What kind of flower was it?” She asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Would you recognize it if you saw it again?”
“I would.” He didn’t hesitate. He couldn’t even guess what planet that flower had come from. On Rik-Vane, he was shocked there was any plant life at all. Maybe it had come in stuck to the mud of someone’s shoe. Maybe someone ate it and shat out the seed. There was no way of telling. But he would recognize that flower again, if he saw it.
“Did you ever think about looking for the flower yourself?”
“Why?”
“I don’t know… To, like, carry on your mother’s memory?”
“I remember my mother. I don’t think a flower would help.”
“No, that’s not…” Garnet trailed off, frowning.
Tanin reached up, pushing back her hair. “To be honest, I never understood why my mother cared about that flower the way she did. Maybe she just liked something pretty to look at. Maybe it reminded her of my father. I don’t know. But whatever softness inside of her called to her to care for that flower, it wasn’t passed on to me. I didn’t feel any regret when I saw that flower dead.”
“Of course, not.” She shook her head. “Who cares about a flower when your mother is right next to it? If you ever find that flower again, will you show me? I want to see it.”
Tanin wanted to ask why. To ask what she would gain from it. But she was smiling at him again, her eyes sparkling with the idea of sharing something with his mother. He didn’t understand. He hadn’t really given that flower a single thought before he brought it up to tease King Gissrn. That was the only reason he even remembered it now.
But he couldn’t deny her something so simple. Especially when it was extremely unlikely he’d ever come across that flower.
“I’ll tell you,” he promised. “If I see it.”
Garnet beamed. So pretty. So happy. Over such a little thing.
“Thank you,” she said, sweeping her arms up and around his neck. Being careful that his quills didn’t cut into her forearms. He even consciously pulled on the muscles along his scalp, the ones that would raise them if he was ever attacked, picking them up further.
Garnet started in surprise when she saw the movement. “You can control those things?!”
“Of course, I can. They’re a part of me, aren’t they?”
“So’s my hair, but I can’t control it.”
He looked up at the delicate strands. Brown with that hint of red that tempted him so. They were much smaller and softer than his quills, begging him to run his fingers through them. But he was almost afraid to try, worried he’d catch those delicate strands on his rough skin, his knuckle claws, and pull them out. Would it hurt if he did? If his quills were pulled out, it would be agony, and it would result in bleeding. If it was bad enough it would even form a scar that wouldn’t allow a new quill to grow.
How would she react if he grabbed a fistful of that soft hair and pulled. Tugging her head back. Exposing her throat…
“I looked up your species on my combot last night.”
He looked back down, focusing on her eyes again. “Did you now?”
“I did,” she nodded. “Is it true that males have a mating dance?”
“Yes.”
