Page 24 of Cozy Prisons (Human Pets of Talin: Origins #4)

Nataly

After a night spent in peaceful sleep, Nataly was woken up with tea in bed by Daxus. Back on Dandilow II, when Damascus and Iris first offered them a safe place among the Talins with the caveat that they'd have to pretend to be pets, Nataly was the first one to volunteer.

It wasn’t only that she liked the idea of being safe, but she’d had one of her “feelings.” She’d known they would thrive as a species among the Talins, but what she didn’t expect was to end up with a Talin waiting on her like a devoted spouse!

“I thought we would walk the village,” he said, sitting on the bed next to her, taking a swallow from his bigger cup.

“Why?” she asked, then took a small sip. Thankfully, Daxus actually heated the tea instead of making it lukewarm like the rest of the Talins did because they worried that humans would burn their “delicate mouths.”

“To test your fear,” he explained. “I thought we could walk everywhere within the compound and see if anything provokes a feeling even with me there. Then we could slowly move outward. I’d like to systematically test your boundaries.”

Nataly nodded. “I like that idea.” She leveled a steely look at him. “If I start having problems, I want to come back here, though. Not to Healer Falkilm.”

“I’ll agree to that if you promise to tell me before it becomes overwhelming,” he said.

“Agreed!” she said, excited to leave the house. “Let me change, and then we can go.”

She crawled over Daxus to get out of the bed, even though she could've easily used the other side. He grunted and grabbed the tea before she could spill it on him. It was an excuse to get close and maybe even rub an arm or hand on his face. She needed that lemon smell on her skin!

He grunted but didn’t say anything when she "accidentally" put a hand on his chest to help push herself to her feet. Grabbing some fresh clothes, she rushed into the cleaning unit, then breathed in deeply. She smelled like him! Not just her clothes but her skin too.

For the first time in a while, she felt eager to face the day!

About an hour later, Nataly paused in the shade of a tree and wiped sweat from her forehead.

“I didn’t realize how out of shape I was until now,” Nataly said.

They were on the far side of the village and had barely entered the wilderness. Despite the slow pace, she was sweating as if she’d been running!

“Your shape is as it always was,” Daxus said with a concerned rumble.

She snorted. “It’s a term that means I’m not as physically fit as I should be.”

Daxus crouched in front of her. “Are you tired? Do you want to return to your domicile?”

“No,” she responded quickly. “We’re learning so much, I want to keep going.”

Through trial and error, they’d found out that she had more difficulty walking around the area inside the ring of houses that made up the village so far.

The closer she got to the center, the worse her anxiety became.

With Daxus at her side, it never got so bad that she was overwhelmed, but she could definitely feel when it was growing or retreating.

As they’d gone around the outside of the village in widening circles, her anxiety had diminished. Now that they were nearly into the forest on the east side of the village, it was almost nonexistent.

“I’m dumb,” she muttered with a shake of her head. “Why didn’t I think of trying a different direction? I kept making myself go into the center of everything instead of outside it.”

“Sometimes we’re too close to a problem to see possible variations," he answered.

Forcing herself to straighten up, Nataly gave Daxus a big, confident smile. She pointed to a narrow path that led deeper into the woods. “Let’s keep going.”

“Are you sure?” he asked, standing back up. “I’m not sure where that path goes. I haven’t explored it yet.”

“It’s fine, it leads to a grass valley, and beyond that is the base of a hill,” she explained. “A couple of us hiked up there a few times when we first got here.”

Daxus didn’t agree right away, so she gave him her best sad eyes. “It feels so good to be out in the sunshine and not be afraid. I don’t want to stop yet.”

It worked. Daxus started purring and held out his hand. “We can walk a little further, but after another mark, we must turn back.”

She wasn’t sure she’d last another mark, but she liked that Daxus had more confidence in her endurance than she did.

They’d only walked a few strides when Daxus grabbed her and pulled her behind a tree. She gasped but didn’t fight him. When he pointed, she saw the very good reason he’d hidden them.

“Babies!” she whispered as several fuzzy yellow balls tumbled out from under a bush.

Arise didn’t have many animals larger than a bug, but dorungs were one of them.

Dorung adults had six long, thin legs, long necks, and stubby, round bodies.

They foraged high in the trees for insect hives, leaving the babies on the ground at the base of the tree.

Unlike the long-limbed adults, the baby's legs were only little stumps, but their necks were long, making them awkward and adorable.

“I want to pet one so bad,” she whispered.

“You must fight the urge,” Daxus replied with a quiet, amused rumble.

“How are they so cute?” she asked as one of the babies tried to chase another one and ended up rolling over their sibling instead.

“Their smallness probably makes them easier to deal with at this age,” he noted. “They can’t get far with legs that are almost useless.”

She giggled as the two who tumbled got back to their feet and tried to run again. “Good point.”

They stayed and watched the playful pups until their father came back and spread his legs in preparation to regurgitate a meal for them on the ground. Nataly didn’t need to see that part!

It took a while to go around the family, but eventually they were back on the path.

She judged they were about halfway to the field when she realized she wasn’t going to make it.

Her legs were starting to feel heavy, and she was walking slower and slower.

As much as she wanted to keep hiking, it was time to stop for the day.

It seemed that Daxus already knew what she was going to say when she stopped walking and faced him. Before she could utter a word about turning back, he pointed to another path.

“I believe that will lead around the village and end near your domicile.”

She was tired enough that it took her a moment to understand what he said. “Yeah, that’s a good idea.”

He sounded a worried rumble. “I can carry—”

“Nope,” she said, cutting him off. “I’m walking.”

To prove that she wasn’t that fatigued, she forced her body to march ahead of him. It didn’t take long before fatigue wasn’t an issue any longer.

“Nataly?”

Daxus pressed himself close to her trembling body. She’d been fine a moment ago, but why was her anxiety suddenly roaring to life? She tried to take a step, but fear made her move back instead of forward.

“I can’t,” she whispered, her entire body starting to shake. Her already tired legs couldn’t take it, and they turned to rubber. She started to collapse.

Daxus was quick to scoop her up and cradle her against his chest, purring.

“Tell me what’s going on.”

“I don’t know,” she admitted, blinking hard against the tears burning the backs of her eyes. “But I can’t go that way.”

Without further comment, Daxus turned and walked back to where the paths forked. He paused and looked down at her.

“I feel better here,” she said.

“This is good,” Daxus stated.

“It’s good that I’m having anxiety meltdowns?" she asked.

“It’s good that we’re finding your limits,” he explained. “How can we expect to improve anything if we don’t know where the boundaries are?”

“Oh, yeah, I guess that makes sense,” she agreed. She’d forgotten they were testing her limits instead of going for a fun hike. “I still don’t like it.”

“No one likes overcoming an unpleasant challenge,” he countered, slowly setting her back on her feet.

She chuckled. “Good point. I guess we are walking back the way we came.”

“I thought we could rest here for a moment, then try something,” he said.

“What do you want to do?” she asked.

“A blind study,” he said. “You close your eyes, I pick a path, and see what kind of reaction you have.”

She shook her head. “You think you’re about to prove something, but you’re going to be disappointed.”

He purred. “We’ll see.”