Page 28 of In Darkness and Dank

“And your mate can be…?” Kittisak cleared his throat.

Shu smirked. “Yes. We mate same kind.”

“Well, that’s cool you’re so progressive.” Kittisak chuckled. “And Bal’s your sister, huh? Do you have a lot of family?”

“Huh. Many. Many sisters.”

Kittisak sat beside Shu. “Are they the ones who want you to have a pozzo?”

“Yes.” Shu nodded. “Family has pozzos, but not sister Kula and not Shu.” He shrugged. “No find one.”

“I understand.” Kittisak playfully poked Shu’s ankle with his foot. “I can’t find a pozzo either. Not a real one anyway. Everybody just wants to have fun and party, and I mean, I do too, but…” He glanced up to the sun peeking through the trees overhead as it rose up high into the sky. “I guess it’s kinda empty, isn’t it?”

“Empty?” Shu echoed.

“Empty. Here.” Kittisak touched his chest. “There’s nothing left when you’re done.”

Shu thought that over for a moment, and he nodded. “Yes. Empty.” He turned, glancing down at Kittisak. “Kitty empty too?”

Kittisak was immediately reminded of how close they’d been to kissing earlier, and he gulped. The charge of passion was still there, hiding just beneath the surface, and it wouldn’t take much to get it back. He hesitated, wondering if it was better for them not to kiss.

Shu needed a mate, and Kittisak needed to get back to the research team as soon as possible.

“Y-yeah, I guess. Sometimes. I get lonely, sure.” Kittisak cleared his throat. “But hey, it’s okay. Really. Look, I need to…” He tried not to look at Shu’s lips and failed. He quickly looked back up to Shu’s eyes. “I need to finish apologizing. About the graves.”

“Prrp?” Shu blinked as if he’d almost forgotten. “Eh. Grave okay.”

“Well, no.” Kittisak frowned. “I want to say I’m sorry. I’m afraid they’re going to do it again. The germ thing they’re looking for? They found it in the grave. They may try to look for more. Do you understand?”

“Graves hide,” Shu argued.

“Well, they suck at hiding.” Kittisak snorted. “We found them.”

“Prrrp.”

“They’re not exactly hidden that well, you know.”

“Eh, they hide.” Shu frowned. “Move to hide them. Full.” He pointed at the lagoon and then out toward the forest.

“Full?” Kittisak raised his brows.

“Huh.”

“You had… too many dead people? So you had to move them?”

“Huh.” Shu nodded sadly. “Too many.”

“What’s happening?”

Shu grimaced. “Mano.”

“What’s that?”

Shu pointed at Kittisak.

“Mano. Men.” Kittisak made a face. “Of course. Humans. Yeah, we kinda suck when it comes to dealing with nature. We pretty much destroy everything.”

“Destroy. Huh. Yes.” Shu grimaced. “Mano take forest for long, long time. More. More again. Nowhere for Shu family to go.”

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