Chapter
Nine
T raveling along the root systems was an entirely new experience for Gwum—and a novelty that he found surprisingly enjoyable. Of course, part of that pleasure was likely due to the company. For so many revolutions he had traveled alone that having someone by his side, her hand trustingly entangled with his, sent an unexpected warmth through his hearts… and other regions he tried not to think about. It was easy enough to dismiss. He was a male holding the hand of a female. That his body was experiencing a reaction to it was nothing for him to be overly concerned about. He was a healer, after all. He understood these sorts of things better than most and did not possess the same romantic fantasies that many males clung to.
It certainly was not fate or any predetermination blessed by the gods.
He glanced back at her, and he could not help the smile that curled his lips. His little human was certainly a potent lure. The nightglow insects were gathering with the waning sunlight and appeared to be following after her in a long glittering train. A small cloud took advantage of their brief rest to land in her hair and continued to cling to her like a luminous crown. It was quite enchanting even if he did not understand it.
He had never seen nightglow insects act in such a way. It was odd. He stared at her profile as he tried to work out what might be drawing them, but Noelle raised her brows at him, the odd strips of fur arching quizzically. Caught staring, he gestured to the insects.
“The nightglow insects… they are oddly attracted to you.”
She glanced at the cloud of lights and smiled, her hand slipping free from his so that she could glide her fingers through the air among their dancing illumination. “They started doing that the first day I left the trailer. Strange, isn’t it? But kind of magical too.”
“Magical,” he echoed, his skin prickling. It was too unnatural for him to feel completely at ease about it. “I have only seen such concentrated clouds when the water saroong bloom, their flowers covering the vast waterways of the swamplands.”
Her eyes dropped to the surface of the water. “Saroong, huh? Sounds a bit like our water lilies back home. I can’t say that I have ever seen them draw anything quite like that, though.”
He lifted his hands helplessly. He did not understand the comparison, but he understood that he was not meant to. Her observations were clearly for her own benefit. She was trying to make sense of a world that was strange to her. She did not look his way but continued to study the water as if it held some unknown answer. Sighing, Gwum’s gaze swept the surrounding swamp. The light was growing fainter; he would need to stash Noelle soon if he wished to successfully acquire food for them.
“Noelle, it is time,” he murmured, and her eyes snapped up to him in wary surprise.
“Time? Time for what?”
He nodded toward the trees. “It will be dark soon. The best place to rest is there. We should ascend now so that I can make certain that you are comfortable before acquiring food for us.”
“Oh… right,” she replied quietly and glanced up. “Are you sure that it’s safe for us to sleep up there?”
“Very safe,” he assured her. “It may not appear so from here, but the branches are very broad. Nearly every tree has a comfortable little nook where a traveler might sleep. And you will have me beside you,” he added with a playful smile. “I will most definitely not fall, so you will be safe squeezed in between me and the tree.”
She gave him an uncertain smile but did not argue. Instead, she swung her bag off her shoulder and proceeded to open it. He watched in surprise as she withdrew a large metal disc. She slid her hand over its top, and he startled when a small piece popped up and the disc expanded rapidly into a small cylinder.
“Noelle?”
Her eyes lifted to him and danced with amusement. “This handy little device is a water purification unit,” she explained. “It will take this mucky swamp water and filter it into something drinkable. And I don’t know about you, but I prefer to get whatever water I might need for the night before we go up there.”
“You are drinking the water from the swamp?” His voice sounded hollow to his own ears, but he was shocked. While the water wasn’t harmful, most Bia preferred cleaner water sources that took less effort to purify.
“What else is there?” She laughed and shook her head as she began to unfold and assemble her equipment. “Granted, it has a strange pink luminosity to it, but it’s actually not bad. It has a pleasant fruity aftertaste which would actually be quite popular back on Earth if marketed and packaged well.”
Luminous. Pink. That suggested only one thing. Gwum studied her and just barely managed to hold in his laughter.
“Of course. The mystery reveals itself,” he observed quietly to himself.
What an entirely unexpected reaction. Bia biology depended on a diet rich of certain minerals in order to maintain a healthy bioluminescence, much of which was absorbed through their skin while they were in the water, but it seemed that humans, with their thinner skin, had the capacity to surpass them all in this regard. Now that he was looking closely at her, he realized that she looked healthier than she had before. She almost seemed to possess a pink luminosity to her skin and her flesh was smoother and more radiant. She was, in fact, glowing. It was barely noticeable with the sky darkening but he was certain that after prolonged exposure that her bioluminescence would become more pronounced.
The question remained as to whether that would attract predators to a greater degree or discourage them. He sincerely hoped that it would be the latter case as condensed saroong was often used to repel larger predators from the Shoowilp clan territory. Having so much luminous flesh could potentially pose a problem unless it also served to frighten them away by its alienness. Did that factor into the cazka detouring away from the human encampment? He doubted that it would keep it at bay for long, especially since the potency was minimal and likely just enough to confuse it for the time being. Once she left the swamps, it was quite likely that the effects would fade over time, but he could not help but think that her overall health would decline without the benefit of its nutrients.
His observation did not go missed by the human, however. Her head snapped toward him, and she frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“It is the water,” he cautiously explained. He did not wish to alarm her. “I did not even notice it at first until you mentioned it but it all fits. Do you recall the water saroong we just spoke of?”
Noelle nodded.
“It reproduces by spores. The swamps are full of them. It is an important nutritional source for Bia and many creatures that share the swamp, but it seems that humans ingesting the spores has a different effect.”
Her face paled, her luminosity noticeably fading. “I’ve ingested spores… like from a fungus? But that doesn’t make any sense. The filtration unit marked it as safe.”
Gwum nodded. “It is safe. Bia absorb it largely through our skin from swimming in the swamps and invariably ingesting small amounts of it. It clearly supplies important mineral benefits to your human physiology as well. It just has some unusual side effects that I failed to notice. Your skin has a faint glow to it, and,” he leaned forward and sniffed her, a hum of surprise escaping him, “you also smell strongly of saroong.”
Noelle’s mouth fell open for only a moment before it snapped shut with a low groan. “And that is why the nightglow insects are attracted to me. I smell like a giant saroong flower to them?”
He nodded, his lips twitching with his barely contained mirth.
A heavy sigh escaped her as she stared at the water in frustration. “Well, now what?”
“Gather your water since you have an easy way to purify it. This may actually work in our favor as the predators may be less likely to clearly scent you.”
She gave him a hopeful look. “Does that mean we can stay down here?”
Gwum chuckled and shook his head. “A worthy attempt to secure your comfort, but no. We will be vulnerable while we sleep. It is altogether a better idea to be above where the majority of predators hunt.”
She sighed again, somehow heavier, and nodded. “I figured you would say that. Very well—beam me up, Scotty.”
He paused, uncertain of what she expected. Some of her words were clearly in her native language, leaving him helpless to proceed. Her brow furrowed slightly when he failed to respond, but then a look of comprehension lit her eyes and she giggled.
“Oh! Sorry, Gwum. Don’t worry, most humans wouldn’t get the retro science fiction references either. It’s not considered a fashionable interest, though better received than those who closely follow classic horror. My crewmate, Samara, loves old horror movies, and there’s enough intersection between our preferred genres to give us a lot to talk about. Or at least she did—if she’s still alive. Anyway, I just meant that I’m ready to go up.”
Despite his hearts aching for Noelle’s uncertainty when it came to her companion, tension drained from Gwum, and he chuckled at the absurdity of the whole situation. Ah, stories. He understood this concept even if he did not understand the specific nuances of which she spoke. She appeared to understand that and made no further attempt to converse further on it once making her point. Instead, she waited patiently for him to pick her up, her arms out at her sides in invitation. Grinning, he nodded toward the water.
“Gather your water first,” he directed as he leaned casually against the massive base of the tree.
A reluctant look flitted across Noelle’s face but she nodded and slowly bent down to fill her filtration unit. Once it was full, a green light appeared on its side, and she stashed it back inside her bag before swinging it back onto her shoulders.
“Okay, I’m ready.”
Gwum did not reply but stepped toward her, his arms coming around his lush, fragrant little human. Her body fit against his, her softness yielding to him. Something deep within him responded and he nearly groaned with pleasure. Instead, he sank his teeth into his bottom lip and fought back the surge of desire hardening his cock for the first time in his life. Male Bia did not typically experience their first rush of need until they approached a potential mate and attempted to woo her. As he had never made any such attempts, his body had always remained blissfully silent… until now. Potent desire rushed through him with such strength that he nearly shook from it as her perfume filled his nose.
He crushed her against him as he fought against his base instinct. He wanted to turn her to the tree and mount her. He nearly trembled with the desire to do so. His teeth sank deeper into his lip as he held himself still, denying the demand of his body until the roar of need rushing through his blood gradually cooled and he was able to think again. He hissed quietly to himself but refocused as he tipped his head back to target the desired tree limb. Without warning, he leaped and then was nearly deafened by the shriek that came from the human in his arms. The sound was so unexpected that he nearly missed the branch. It was only by some divine grace that he was able to instinctively grab it on time to prevent disaster.
Digging his claws into the wood, he swung up onto the branch and anchored them in place while Noelle’s fear slowly subsided. At length she stirred, and her head began to swivel as she peered at the light purple foliage and numerous brilliant green little flowers that bloomed in the moss that hung from the branches above them. When he was certain that she was not going to panic at his smallest move, he gradually straightened, drawing her up with him until they were both standing together.
“Wow,” she whispered. “The fog is so much thinner up here. Forget what I said before about magic. This is magic.”
Gwum made a sound of agreement as he led her to a natural alcove among the branches. Storing his satchel there, he gestured for her to enter the alcove. “It is a part of Kren that I would never give up,” he quietly acknowledged. “How any male can give all of this up to be beholden forever inside his mate’s den is beyond my ability to imagine.”
Her head turned toward him as she settled inside, and he felt the weight of her gaze, but he refused to make excuses or apologies. It was how he genuinely felt, and she could not possibly be surprised. Not when she knew that he had no desire to mate. So why did he feel guilty for uttering it? It felt as if he was betraying her somehow.
Turning away from the alcove, unable to meet her eyes, he gestured vaguely to the swamp below them. “I am going to acquire food. I will not be gone long.”
“Okay,” she replied just as quietly.
He swallowed past the stubborn lump of emotion in his throat and nodded as he moved toward the edge of the branch.
“Hey, Gwum… is Kren the name of this world?”
A laugh of surprise bubbled up within him, but it came with no little amount of bewildered disappointment. With everything going on between them at this moment and she was interested in the name of their world?
“It is,” he agreed and dropped from the branch without another word.
He hit the water with hardly any sound and drew his legs up against his chest to slow his descent into the depths so he did not stir the sediment at the bottom. He floated in place for a moment but then kicked downward, descending at a controlled pace toward the bottom. Working quickly, he gathered several small stones to add to the collection of what he already had. A disturbance in the water just ahead of him was even more fortuitous as a mane-finned willip fish broke in its course toward him and expanded its enormous fins wide in mock threat.
Gwum grinned at the fish. Now that would make a fine meal for his Noelle. Kicking forward, he slashed with his claws and dispatched the large fish with the ease of a male who had fished the great majority of his lifetime. Getting it back to the tree took far more work than the actual hunting, but it was all worth it to see the rapt fascination on her face as he laid out the stones and created a bed for the fire to cook their meal. Watching her smile did funny things to his hearts, but watching her enthusiastically devour every bite of fish that he handed her fed a sense of rightness that settled deep within his gut.
In spite of that knowledge, he could not face the fact that some part of him was growing more and more insistent that this was something he could happily do for the rest of his life.