Page 6

KAVAN

I pushed aside a curtain of translucent vines with my tail, holding it for Selene. The medicines we'd prepared jostled in the pouch at my hip. Her silver markings caught the dappled sunlight filtering through the forest canopy, reflecting like the bioluminescent patterns of Arenix flora.

"This way," I whispered, stepping off the main path onto a barely visible trail. "Warriors prefer direct routes, but healers must know the hidden ways."

Selene ducked under the vines, her dark eyes scanning our surroundings. "I thought the human settlement was east of here."

"It is. But this route avoids the territories of three predator species." I motioned toward the southeast. "And circumvents the acid pools near the foothills."

She followed close behind, her feet carefully placed in the exact spots mine had touched. The woman learned quickly.

"Your warriors would just fight through whatever stands in their path?" she asked.

I snorted, picturing Lazrin's hunting band avoiding a challenge. "Often, yes. Our warriors train to confront danger. Healers train to avoid it." I dropped to one knee beside a small stream. "Our patients cannot defend themselves. We must master stealth and evasion."

Water trickled over mossy stones, clear but with a faint blue tinge. I dipped my fingers in, brought them to my nose.

"Is that... safe?" Selene knelt beside me, close enough that her scent reached me – clean, human, uniquely her.

"Watch." I positioned my hand flat just above the surface. The water remained still, no ripples forming around my fingers. "If the water draws upward toward heat, it contains alkali metals from the eastern mountains. Dangerous to drink."

I scooped a small amount, tasted it. "This one is safe."

She copied my movements, placing her hand above the water. The gesture was small, but intimate—an echo of trust. She didn’t flinch from learning my ways, and something about that felt more bonding than a hundred words spoken.When nothing happened, she smiled. "And if it had moved?"

"Then we find another source." I stood, brushing dirt from my knees. "Or purify it with these."

I plucked several fan-shaped leaves from a nearby plant. The leaves folded inward at my touch, their edges exuding a sticky resin.

"Filtration leaves," I explained. "They absorb toxins when crushed into water. The color change tells you when it's safe – yellow to purple means drink freely."

Selene took one, examining it closely. "Amazing. On Earth, we had nothing like this."

"Earth," I repeated, the foreign word strange on my tongue. I motioned for her to continue following me. "Your home world. The one you left behind."

"Yes, though I was born on a colony station." She ducked under a low branch. "Most of us on the Seraphyne were second or third generation off-Earth."

We walked in silence, navigating through dense underbrush. I slowed my pace, mindful of her shorter legs.

"Here," I said, stopping at a cluster of silver-blue plants shaped like flattened discs. "These reflect heat signatures. Useful when predators hunt by body temperature."

I broke off several pieces, handing her the largest. "Rub it on exposed skin. The oil disrupts your heat pattern."

She hesitated briefly before applying it to her arms, neck, and face. The oil left a subtle silvery sheen, giving her an almost Nyxari appearance in the filtered light.

"Does it work on humans too?"

"Your body temperature runs slightly cooler than ours, but yes. The principle remains the same."

As we continued, the forest thinned, revealing a small clearing. Several Nyxari worked alongside humans, constructing reinforced shelters. The sight remained strange – our people working together after generations of solitude.

"Storm shelters," I explained, nodding toward the activity. "For the seismic season."

"Hammond mentioned storms, but not... what did you call it? Seismic season?" Selene slowed, observing the construction.

"The twin suns align with the outer moon during this cycle. The gravitational pull triggers tremors, which feed the storms." I traced the celestial path across the sky. "Rain turns acidic. Lightning strikes with unusual frequency. The ground becomes unstable."

A stocky human male with a beard hammered reinforcement beams into place while a Nyxari held the structure steady.

"The acid rain," Selene murmured. "It burns skin?"

"And corrodes metal." I gestured to the shelters. "These designs incorporate vashkai – living stone. It secretes a neutralizing agent when contacted by acid."

As we passed the clearing, several workers nodded in our direction. The humans looked at Selene with curiosity, some with suspicion. I straightened, moving closer to her – a subtle message that she traveled under my protection.

"Your Commander has not taken the seismic warnings seriously," I said once we were beyond earshot. "The reinforcements on your shelters are insufficient for what's coming."

"Hammond thinks we've survived the minor tremors so far, so the warnings about the major storms are exaggerated." She shook her head. "Mirelle tried to explain the severity twice, but he dismissed her as 'compromised by alien influence.'"

"His pride may cost lives," I observed. "These storms are unlike anything you've witnessed since your arrival. The acid rain alone can burn through metal."

"I know," Selene said grimly. "I've treated three scouts with acid burns already from preliminary showers. But Hammond insists our technology can handle it—just another way to avoid cooperation with your people."

"Survival is not dependence. It is wisdom."

We continued through a grove of trees with bark that shimmered with copper highlights. The path narrowed, forcing us to walk single file.

"We should rest soon," I suggested as the suns reached their zenith. "There is a suitable place ahead."

The "suitable place" appeared moments later – a small clearing with a fallen log beside a stream. I gestured for her to sit while I checked our surroundings for predators.

"All clear," I announced, settling beside her on the log. I offered her dried meat and berries from my pouch. "The water here is safe too."

She accepted the food gratefully. "You make survival look so natural."

"I've had many years of practice." I selected a berry, rolling it between my fingers. "Though my family wanted me to practice different skills."

"What do you mean?"

I looked up at the twin suns, remembering my father's face when I announced my choice. "My bloodline has produced warriors for seven generations. My father leads the Northern Hunt. My brothers all took warrior paths."

"But not you."

"No." I dropped the berry into my palm. "I chose healing instead. My father did not speak to me for a full season cycle afterward."

Selene turned toward me, her expression softening. "They didn't support your choice?"

"They... accepted it, eventually. But the disappointment lingers." I ate the berry, savoring its tart sweetness. "The healer's path is honored, but differently. Less glorified. My mother feared I chose it out of fear."

"Was she right?"

The directness of her question caught me off guard. Humans often approached such matters with more subtlety.

"No. And yes." I met her gaze. "Not fear of battle. Fear of becoming something I am not meant to be."

"I understand that," she said quietly. "Medicine wasn't what my family wanted for me either."

This surprised me. "What did they wish you to pursue?"

"Politics." Her smile didn't reach her eyes. "My mother sits on the Colonial Council. She wanted me to follow her path, shape policy, make grand decisions."

"Yet you chose healing."

"I wanted to help people directly. Not through legislation or committees." She dipped her fingers in the stream, watching the water ripple. "And then aboard the Seraphyne, as Chief Medical Officer... I made those grand decisions anyway. Who received treatment when supplies ran low. Which injuries took priority. Who lived." Her voice dropped. "Who didn't."

The weight of her words settled between us. I understood then – she carried the same burdens I did, though from a different world.

"The healer's path is never easy," I said softly. "We stand between life and death, making choices others cannot."

She nodded, meeting my eyes again. Something passed between us – recognition, understanding. For all our physical differences, our souls spoke the same language.

My gaze held hers, and I felt an unexpected tightening in my chest, a pulling sensation from my lifelines that had nothing to do with danger or healing. The moment broke when a low rumble sounded in the distance.

"What is it?" Selene whispered, instantly alert.

"Nothing dangerous." I stood, gesturing for her to follow. "Something that might help us, actually."

We moved quietly through the trees until we reached another clearing. There, grazing peacefully, stood a small herd of massive creatures – each taller than me at the shoulder, with broad, flat heads and six sturdy legs. Their hides shimmered with a coating of symbiotic fungus forming elaborate patterns across their bulk.

"Lurazi," I whispered. "Herbivores. Gentle unless threatened."

"They're enormous," Selene breathed.

"And useful." I pointed to the fungal growth on their sides. "That symbiotic relationship produces compounds that strengthen immunity. It might help your people fight the fever more effectively than our prepared medicines."

"Can we... harvest it?"

I nodded. "If we approach carefully. They recognize Nyxari as non-threatening. Stay behind me."

Moving slowly, I stepped into the clearing, keeping my posture relaxed and hands visible. The nearest Lurazi lifted its broad head, regarding me with four eyes set in a rectangular pattern. It snuffled once, then returned to grazing.

"Good," I murmured. "Now we just need to get close enough to collect a sample."

I approached with measured steps, Selene following close behind. The Lurazi's massive side rose and fell with each breath, the fungal pattern shifting with the movement of muscle beneath.

"The outer layer sloughs off naturally," I explained quietly. "We need only gather what's already loosening."

I reached out, my hand nearly touching the creature's flank, when its head suddenly jerked upward. The entire herd stiffened, their rectangular eyes swiveling toward the eastern edge of the clearing.

My instincts flared. "Something's wrong."

The Lurazi nearest us bellowed, a deep sound that vibrated through the ground. The herd began to move, slowly at first, then with gathering speed.

"Back to the trees," I ordered, grabbing Selene's arm and pulling her with me.

We reached the tree line just as the herd thundered past, their massive bodies shaking the earth. I pushed Selene behind me, scanning the clearing for what had spooked them.

There – movement in the underbrush opposite us. A shimmering distortion, like heat rising from sun-baked stone. Then another. And another.

"Kradax," I hissed, my tail lashing. "Six-legged predators. Their scales shift color to match surroundings."

"I can barely see them," Selene whispered.

"That's their advantage. They hunt in packs, with coordination that rivals our warriors." I reached for the blade at my hip, regretting that I hadn't brought a larger weapon. "Stay perfectly still. Their vision locks onto movement."

Three of the creatures slunk into the clearing, their wedge-shaped heads low to the ground, filled with backward-curving teeth designed to grip prey. Their bodies blurred at the edges, the camouflage making them difficult to track even when I knew where to look.

One turned its head in our direction, nostrils flaring.

"They've caught our scent," I whispered. "When I move, run perpendicular to them, then circle back to the stream we passed. I'll meet you there."

"No," she said firmly, reaching into her medical pouch. "I'm not leaving you."