Page 2 of Cozy Prisons
Damn it, not again!
Chapter 2
Nataly
A split second before she was going to impact the dirt, strong arms grabbed and lifted her into the air. Soft dark blue sky filled her vision as purring hit her ears.
Blinking, she looked into the face of the Talin who’d saved her from a nasty fall.
It was Daxus. He had the same basic build as all Talins, tall, muscular, with keratin plates covering his body. Talins didn’t really have noses. Instead there were two nose slits above their thin-lipped mouths. It took some getting used to, but Talins didn't have facial mobility, so they never smiled, smirked, or frowned. To show their emotions they rumbled and rattled, like the purr he was sounding now. The purring was meant to be a comforting sound for her.
Unlike any other Talin on Arise, Daxus was blue. Most Talins were some shade of red, orange, or gray-silver. Daxus’s color made him stand out, but so did his soft nature. She’d neverheard him raise his voice, even when alarmed. He had to be the calmest Talin she’d ever met.
“Thanks for the save,” she murmured. With him present, her heartbeat slowed and the panic attack retreated. “You can put me down. Were you heading to the party? We could walk together.”
Daxus sounded a negative rattle with the overlapping armor plates that ran down his back. This rattle was quick and sounded like someone slapping a hand on their thigh. She’d heard it a lot since coming to Arise.
“You don’t seem well,” he said, purring again. “I’m taking you to the healer.”
She tried for a laugh, but it came out sounding sharp, so she gave up. “I tripped, that’s all. You know us humans, we can be clumsy sometimes.”
“I was moving toward you and saw everything,” he replied and started walking.
She gave him a sharp look, afraid he’d seen her crazy out on full display. “Exactly what did you see?”
“You stood there, swaying, and then fell. I almost didn’t make it to you in time.”
At least he hadn’t caught her abusing herself, she thought with relief. That would’ve been impossible to explain. What could she possibly say? I was beating my legs into submission?
They’d slap a deranged label on her and medicate her into oblivion. No, thank you! She saw that happen to her uncle. After they were done with his “treatments” all the guy could do was stare off into the distance and drool.
She’d rather cover her legs in bruises and take a few falls than live like that.
“It was only a little dizziness,” she insisted. “I might not have drunk enough water today. It’s nothing, please put me down. Or at least take me to the communal building.”
All the Talins she’d met so far were sweethearts and quick to coddle the humans around them. She constantly saw tasks being taken away from a human by a well-meaning or worried Talin.
They’d all only arrived on Arise a little less than a year ago. The place didn’t have any infrastructure before them, so they’d all been working hard. A second wave of carefully vetted Talins arrived a few months ago. Daxus had been one of them. She’d been intrigued by the dark blue, soft-spoken Talin the moment she met him. Unfortunately, that was about the same time her issues had gotten bad enough to start limiting her movement.
Tonight was the first party they’d thrown since moving to Arise. It was one of the reasons she was so determined to attend.
The problem was that once a Talin decided a human needed to see a healer, it was damn near impossible to talk them out of it.
“Maybe I could see the healer after the party,” she suggested as Daxus walked past the communal building.
“I know Healer Falkilm is still in the medical building,” Daxus said. “After he makes sure you’re well, we can all go to the party together.”
Daxus’s voice was gentle, but intractable. She didn’t think her ploy would work, but at least he made it sound like he expected her to leave the medical building instead of having to spend the night there. That was a good sign. When Cassius had suffered an allergy attack, the Talins were so upset at his sneezing they insisted that he stay in medical for an entire day.
Nataly and all the humans tried to explain pollen allergies, but it was such a foreign concept that even Healer Falkilm struggled to understand an overactive immune system.
Must be nice to be part of a species that never had that issue!
On the positive side, Healer Falkilm created a fancy medication, and Cassius didn’t have any allergy complaints from then on. All he had to do was trade an entire day lying in themedical building for it. It was a sacrifice that the rest of the humans with allergies thanked him for!
The medical building wasn’t far past the communal building. Soon Daxus carried her through the sliding door and right into Healer Falkilm’s space.
“Daxus, these are his private quarters!” she hissed.
