Page 19 of Mikoto and the Reaver Village
The male’s voice had a teasing lilt. A relief, since itmeant Tenma probably wasn’t in trouble. With formal phrasing, he said, “Thankyou for your concern. I am sorry to trouble you; however, I seem to have becomestuck.”
“You certainly are. Quite trapped. In what, I wonder?”
The leading tone took Tenma aback. But he was used to theAmaranthine tendency to go all cryptic, especially when trying to explain him.So he stated the obvious. Again. “Clay.”
“You have an interest in clay?”
He came close enough for Tenma to realize that his fair skinwasn’t smudged with dirt or ash. He had freckles. Gray freckles. But he stillgave an overall impression of someone who cared little for his appearance.Gauntlets covered the backs of his hands and forearms, but they left his palmsbare and his claws on full display.
Tenma went with the simplest—if not the mostaccurate—explanation. “My mentor is a potter.”
“That explains much.” The Amaranthine stepped nearer,unmolested by the clay. “One man’s lure is another man’s mud puddle.”
Offering his palms more in plea than in courtesy, Tenmaasked, “Would you mind giving me a hand?”
“Pardon me!” He closed the distance between them, graspedhim under both arms, and pulled.
Tenma had expected the sucking hold to steal his shoes alongwith his dignity, but instead of extracting him from the clay, the pit simplyvanished. As if it had never been there. Held aloft by his rescuer, he couldsee the slight depression he’d been standing in. A stone etched with sigils layat its center.
“A trap?” he asked.
“You walked right into it,” said the Amaranthine.“Distracted, were you?”
He looked up into a pair of steely eyes. Now that they weretouching, power tingled across Tenma’s skin, and colors bloomed. None of thisalarmed him in the least. He might be an oddity, but the novelty had worn awayunder the onslaught of training.
“Am I out of bounds?” Tenma asked. “I do apologize.”
He hung limp in the Amaranthine’s grasp, his feet danglingseveral centimeters from the ground. Proof of this person’s capabilities.Though Tenma was pretty sure he’d be taller in stature, the Amaranthine wasmuch stronger … and capable of flight.
Not a dragon, then.
The Amaranthine set him down, and Tenma sank further, endingon his knees.
“Did you injure yourself?” Pushing him to sit, the strangerran his hands over joints and bones.
“I’m okay. Just a little disoriented.” He waved aside anyconcern. “Was that your illusion?”
“The sigil is mine. The scene it painted was all yours.” TheAmaranthine tugged thoughtfully at the brim of his hat. “You’re Goh’s cosset.”
Tenma sighed. As much as he disliked the label, it fitbetter than apprentice. Anyone who’d ever seen his attempts at pottery knew thatGoh didn’t keep him around for his artistic abilities. Hardly a night went bythat Tenma wasn’t cradled in the monkey clansman’s arms, for Goh had picked upwhere Hanoo, Yoota, and Ploom left off. Nurturing and protecting the glimmerthey’d discovered in his soul.
“He was my teacher at school.” Tenma felt bad for stealing Gohaway from New Saga. But he was immensely grateful for the monkey clansman’ssteady presence. He was a patient teacher, a capable protector, and a fatherfigure for both him and Inti. Changing their friendship into brotherhood. Makingthem a tribe.
“And now you are his pet?”
“More or less.”
While the term first struck him as insulting, Tenma hadlearned that it was neither demeaning nor derogatory. In Amaranthine culture, aclose-kept human was referred to by a word that didn’t translate exactly.Petwas close, since it implied choice and care and companionship. But alsoelevation and acknowledgement, in the sense that some people treated their petslike people. Which really did sound insulting unless you looked at it from theAmaranthine point of view.
Tenma only understood because Isla and Lapis had taken thetime to explain.
Goh had no formal claim over him, yet he’d sworn a weightyoath to the Five. To help Tenma get to the places he’d need to visit. Quietly.So he could do his thing without raising interest or attention. Except healways did.
The Amaranthine seemed to be waiting for more, so Tenmaadded, “We get along.”
“Your classification?”
An inquisitive one. This never went well. Tenma shook hishead. “No specialization.”
