Page 41 of Needed in the Night (The Fortusian Mates, #2)
ISLA
Ice pellets and howling wind scoured the windows and hull of the crawler taking our small group of intrepid travelers across the blue ice for an up-close look at an enormous glacier two hours’ ground travel from the port.
From orbit, Aloris’s stark, frozen beauty had enthralled me.
As the crawler trundled along its path, the harsh reality of surviving on this planet’s surface made our journey equal parts wondrous, thrilling, and unsettling.
My stomach roiled from the moment we boarded the crawler, despite our guides’ assurances about our safety during the excursion.
I’d traveled to more than a dozen worlds in my lifetime, but the scale of natural wonders here, combined with the bluish-white landscape, made judging both size and distance nearly impossible.
From the port, the glacier we planned to visit was easily visible on the horizon, and I’d questioned why the journey would take two full hours.
By the time the trip reached the halfway point, I realized the size of the glacier’s face and the mountains around it were deceiving.
What appeared from the port to be a cliff of ice the width and height of a city block in Onat’ras was in fact more than five hundred kilometers wide, more than a kilometer tall at its terminal face, and an astounding two thousand kilometers in length, stretching deep into the mountains.
And it was only the fifth-largest glacier on the planet.
The mountains around it soared more than seven thousand meters into the gray, almost sunless sky.
Inside the crawler, Mikas’s natural body heat kept him comfortable in regular clothing. I, on the other hand, had to don a thermal suit, hood, and gloves designed specifically for humans. My emergency helmet was attached to my seat, within a moment’s reach.
Other species in our group who were even more sensitive to cold wore full-body suits with helmets even in the crawler.
Our gear was a stark reminder of the omnipresent dangers of the planet’s climate.
Poor Brae had to stay behind in the port terminal, since our guides had no way to guarantee his safety if the crawler lost power.
Exposure to cold would be fatal for him.
Like other hot-blooded passengers, Mikas could put on an emergency suit if needed, but the rest of us wouldn’t survive long enough in the brutal cold to do that.
Despite the necessity of our gear, Mikas grumbled under his breath for the entire journey to the glacier because he wanted to touch my skin but had to settle for cradling my gloved hand.
“Well, you wanted to see Aloris,” I teased from my seat beside his as the crawler made its way along the ice. “This is the price of bringing a human mate to an ice planet.”
“It is a steep price.” He squeezed my hand and rested his head against my thick hat. “But one I suppose I must pay to see a glacier nearly the size of my home province.”
For all my teasing, I was thrilled to go sightseeing. It was a joy to explore a new place and learn about life here and the environment, even if we only stayed for one day .
I hadn’t been joking when I told Mikas I’d never gotten to be a tourist. We were far from carefree, thanks to Aloris’s brutal environment and lingering worry about Nubo’s wrath, but gazing out the window at the mountains and the jagged columns of windswept ice that lined our path, I could lose myself in awe.
The crawler’s destination wasn’t the glacier itself, but a scientific research post ten kilometers from the glacier’s face.
At long last, our transport trundled into a large bay at ground level.
Once the door sealed and the bay was deemed safe, we all exited the crawler and took a lift to the circular observation level at the top of the research station.
Mikas took my hand and led me to the glass wall. We stood in awed silence, utterly transfixed by the glacier, which from this vantage point spanned the entire horizon.
This was a harsh world, as far removed from the lush beauty of Fortusia as I could imagine. And yet it was beautiful beyond imagination, just in a different way. The view from the observation deck and the sensation of feeling so small and in complete awe inspired quiet soul-searching.
Sharing this moment with Mikas made me deeply contented, though I wished Brae was here too.
Surreptitiously, since it was against our guides’ policies, I took off my glove and slipped my hand into Mikas’s.
He was so wonderfully warm. The uneasiness that had plagued me since we boarded the crawler dissipated—at least, mostly.
“To see such a wonder in person is like finding my true mate,” Mikas said, smiling down at me.
“To know of such a wondrous thing, to read about it or study it, you may think you understand it. But when you see it and feel it for yourself, you realize you knew nothing.” He kissed my fingertips. “My awe of you is beyond words.”
He clearly loved complimenting me at every opportunity.
As awkward as it made me feel because I didn’t deserve a tenth of his admiration, I tried to resist the urge to be self-deprecating or ask him to do it less because it made him so happy.
And unlike most people I’d met, who used flattery primarily for manipulation, he meant every word.
To be able to trust him completely was pure joy and comfort. For the first time in my life, I felt like my feet were on solid ground. And if Mikas was right about how our feelings would develop over time, this happiness would only get better.
Mikas squeezed my hand. I’d gotten lost in thought and forgotten to answer out loud.
I blinked back sudden tears and quipped, “So, the glacier reminds you of me? Are you saying I’m distant and cold?”
“Anything but.” Eyes twinkling, he bent to kiss me, utterly unbothered by the presence of the travelers around us. They were probably too focused on the glacier to notice us anyway. “I am saying you are beautiful and leave me speechless.”
Our guides offered an opportunity for those interested to go outside the research station and walk on the snow. While about half of the group declined due to the extreme conditions, Mikas and I both jumped at the chance—though he was obviously uneasy at how vulnerable I’d be if anything went wrong.
Bundled up in special gear and having heard a grim lecture about safety, our group of a dozen adventurous travelers descended to ground level via a lift and exited the station through an airlock.
Our gear kept us warm despite the frigid temperature, but beyond the shelter of the station’s thick support piers, the wind made me stagger and nearly fall.
I was the smallest member of the group. No others my size had opted to venture outside.
Mikas tucked me against his side and positioned himself to take the brunt of the wind. “Very inhospitable to off-worlders,” he said via our helmets, which allowed us to communicate privately. “The people of this planet love their homeworld and thrive here, but you and I are ill-equipped. ”
“It’s beautiful.” I turned in a circle to take in the vast beauty around us.
“Even if I adapted to living inside a dome, I think I’d miss the feeling of real wind on my skin too much to live here.
” I took his gloved hand again and squeezed it.
“I’m so happy we decided to leave the port and see what it’s like on Aloris. Thank you for insisting we do this.”
I couldn’t see his expression under his helmet, but I heard the smile in his voice when he said, “I want us to experience all the joys we can find to share, from the simple to the exotic.”
“From luxury cruisers to standard-class single-room cabins,” I teased. “And from pink waterfalls to enormous glaciers.”
“And eventually to a little home overlooking a white sand beach and lavender ocean.” He drew me tight to his chest and turned us to put his back to the wind when a gust roared across the ice.
“If we can find work together and live in such a place, I will have all I need to be happy for the rest of my life.”
“Me too.” I couldn’t kiss him, so I settled for bumping his helmet lightly with my own. He chuckled and bumped mine in return.
We spent the rest of our time outside exploring the designated safe area around the station and soaking up the stark beauty of Aloris’s ice fields and blue-gray sky.
After living in busy Onat’ras, packed with pedestrians and ground and air transports, the emptiness and silence were simultaneously refreshing and unnerving.
Despite the wonders around us, my uneasiness returned with a vengeance.
The back of my neck prickled and my stomach churned, even with Mikas at my side and no apparent danger near other than the slim chance of disaster striking somehow during our excursion or the trip back to the port.
Knowing all the equipment was triple-checked for safety before every outing meant the odds of trouble were slim, but something was making me acutely uneasy.
I wished I could figure out what and why .
Mikas was unsettled too, judging by the way he scanned our surroundings and gripped my hand as if he worried I might drop through the ice or blow away in the wind at any moment.
Our guides corralled us back to the airlock just as I began to feel a chill even through my double layer of protective gear.
Once we removed our outerwear, it was time to board the crawler for the return journey to the port.
Mikas and I took a last lingering look at the glacier and joined the rest of the group in the crawler loading bay.
My apprehension didn’t abate much even after we were seated and underway. Mikas’s spines bristled, but he studiously kept them flat after an Engareni female in a full-body thermal suit sitting behind us squawked in alarm.