Page 31 of Fumiko and the Finicky Nestmate
“Perhaps.” Juuyu reasoned, “She is human, so her instincts are different.”
“There is only me, and I am not enough?”
Juuyu acted immediately to quell the tree’s fear. Depleted or not, he threw his entirety around Zuzu, surrounding her from root tendril to twig. It was such a wolvish thing to do, this posturing. But Juuyu needed to startle her out of a downward spiral that could spell the end for both sisters.
Zuzu didn’t struggle. She should have.
Instead, she changed the dream. Gone was the tree and the nest, and in their place, the phoenix now sheltered two shining souls. They were of a size, one a shining egg, the other a golden seed. The enormity of Zuzu’s trust hinted at the depth of her self-doubt.
She needed someone to lean on.
Someone with his years and his experience.
“Trust tonight to me, and when time allows, I will make a call.” He could do this much for them. “I know who to ask for help.”
ELEVEN
For the Best
Juuyu spent much of the night teaching Zuzu how to be a tree.
Some of it was the lore to which every tribute was privy. Some of it was personal stories from his years growing up in the grove under the protection of the Farroost colony.
Zuzu hung upon his every word, and Juuyu could understand why. Unfortunately, the reason infuriated him. After his promised call, he might just place another. To Estrella Mettlebright.
These sisters might be protected by the In-between, but they were also sadly neglected. Zuzu should have been granted the provisional rights granted to every grove. Had her orphan status been used as a loophole?
It was clear that Zuzu was being studied, but she’d never been mentored. A conundrum he intended to take up with Riindi.
The whole thing made him wistful for home. However, he was in this place for an entirely different purpose. “Lull your sister and this man if you like, but I cannot sleep,” he murmured. “I have a job to do.”
Zuzu pinched his arm and softly replied, “I will not let you sleep.”
Once the sky began to lighten toward dawn, Juuyu eased away from Fumiko and left the bed. “Take my place,” he suggested.
“This has always been my place,” countered Zuzu, whose mood was vastly improved. “But I don’t mind sharing, if it’s you.”
“Perhaps. If my duties deplete my reserves again.”
“You are my favorite.” She hadn’t given up. “Stay?”
Juuyu bent to touch her leafy crown. “I have a sister who is older and wiser than I, the mother of many tree-kin and the surest voice in our grove. Let me speak to her of you and Fumiko. She will know what to do.”
“Will she come to us?”
Riindi could not. He honestly couldn’t imagine any of his siblings leaving the colony. He and Suuzu were the only two of their clan to ever do so. “I cannot speak for my kindred, nor choose for them. We must wait to see what Riindi recommends.”
She pouted.
Not ideal, given how many tools she had to entangle and entrap him. Zuzu could easily break him, ruining him for all other forms of tending. Yet Juuyu chose to embrace the threat. And to disregard it. He, too, was not without resource.
Juuyu warbled soothingly and stepped back, only to brush against one of the blanket-draped piles. He’d nearly forgotten about Akira’s … project?
Circling around to see what on earth the young man had been up to, Juuyu was forestalled by a soft grunt from the direction of the bed and the pad of bare feet.
“Wait,” Akira whispered urgently. “Juuyu, wait.”
“It is early. You should be in bed.”
