Page 133 of Mates for the Raskarrans #1-6

A cheer sounds among my brothers. I had maybe six seasons when the gathering hut was used for the last time, turned into the storage hut.

Harton boarded up the fire pit at its centre to make the floor even, then we moved the furniture out of the empty huts, boxed the belongings of the brothers and sisters we lost to the sickness and hid them away from view.

No more could we gather on an evening round an indoor fire.

The big rains went from a time of building friendships and community to a time spent alone with only your thoughts for company, staring at the walls of your own hut.

With so few of us left, it hurt our heartspaces more to be surrounded by the empty space of the gathering hut than it did to be alone.

Now, with our sisters and Darran’s tribe coming to join with us, we have enough to fill the gathering hut with life once more.

Which is all good news. But, I confess, my mind is on my Lorna, and the fact that she has finished her work with her sisters. Tomorrow, she will be free to walk with me once again, and my heartspaces races with the anticipation.

I look to my Lorna, hoping to catch her eye, but every time she looks in my direction, her gaze slides past me. It is just her way of keeping our secret.

Soon, it will not need to be a secret any longer. Soon I will claim her as my linasha, and the whole tribe will know that my heartspace is hers. That it has been from the very first.

But the next day, she is absent again. The females are all at the fire - including Sally, who has normally gone for her rest at this time. When she sees me, she waves me over.

“Lorna says she is feeling unwell this day. She has gone to her hut to sleep. I told her she should go to see you, but she said she was simply tired and needed to rest. I think it is likely she has just worn herself out trying to do too much so soon after her injury, but would you check on her? Make sure she is okay?”

Sally looks worried, and I suspect she carries some guilt that she has contributed to Lorna’s tiredness. I grip her shoulder.

“You know that Lorna takes much joy in looking after your younglings, Sally. If she has worked too hard these last sunsets, it is my fault for making her walk over far.”

And for the other things we have done while on our walks. I would feel bad about it, but I know my Lorna was as eager for our matings as I was.

“I will check in with her now to be sure, but if it is just that she has worn herself out, I believe she will be fine come the morning. I do not think you need to worry.”

“I would be relieved if you would,” Sally says.

I head over to my Lorna’s hut. She has taken care of her own water before I have got to her these past days since Rachel’s arrival, so this is the first time I have visited with her since our time in the shelter.

It is hard to believe we have not had the chance to spend time, to talk, to touch since then.

My heartspace aches for her absence, and though I dislike the thought of her being unwell, I wonder if she would like me to hold her for a time, to comfort her.

I would like that - to curl my body around hers and hold her once again as she sleeps.

It is with these thoughts filling my head that I knock on her door. I am sure that she is going to answer, perhaps looking a little forlorn, but still she will smile to see me. The image of this is so clear in my mind, I do not think for a moment that it will not happen.

But she does not answer. Her door remains closed before me.

Worry starts to edge into my headspace and I knock on her door again, louder this time. Part of me does not wish to disturb her if she’s sleeping, but another, louder part of me will not be satisfied until I know she is okay.

“Lorna?”

It would be rude to enter without her permission, but with Sally’s concerns for my Lorna’s wellbeing, no one would question my decision to overlook politeness in this moment. I am close to opening the door when I hear movement from inside.

“ Ahmfine, goaway, ” my Lorna says, and her tone is curt, dismissive. I am confused, but perhaps it is just tiredness. We all have our things that make us irritable.

“Djenti berries ?” I say, using the human words so that she understands what I am offering. “ Sleep tea ?”

“ No .”

I do not understand why she will not open the door to speak to me.

Nor why she sounds so displeased that I have come.

Perplexed, I simply wait a moment to see if she says anything further or if she comes to the door.

When she does not, my heartspace constricts.

I have been so full of the joys of our chance at meeting in the dreamspace being given back to us, and she is hiding away in her hut, not wishing to see me.

“What is the matter, my Lorna?” I ask, but of course she does not understand my words, and I would not understand her answer if she did.

I give it another moment. Still she does not come to the door, nor respond to me in any other way.

I do not understand, but I am not so foolish a male to not know when I have been dismissed.

With a heavy sigh, I head back to the central fire, my headspace spinning as it tries to comprehend what has caused my Lorna’s behaviour to shift so drastically towards me.