Page 28 of Redeeming Captivity (Human Pets of Talin #7)

Chapter 28

Lena

It took most of the morning for the Bountiful to land at Kalor’s small port. When it finally settled into place, there was barely enough room for someone to walk between the ship and the port buildings. It was the absolute largest ship Kalor could accommodate, but everyone gathered at the port, eager to offload the supplies.

Lena spent the entire landing at the only window on the entire ship. Most modern working ships didn’t bother with windows at all, especially if they were designed to go through the rigors of landing planetside. Ships meant to transport people might have observation decks with windows, but the deck was designed to be easily sealed off if there were any issues. Many transport ships didn’t even have windows on their observation decks. They used giant displays that simulated windows.

This window was an anomaly but a welcome one. She remained glued to the same spot for almost the entire time, staring out a space barely bigger than her head. At first she couldn’t see much besides stars and a bright horizon. Then there was nothing but white horizon and a slight heat she could feel even through the specially designed window.

Finally she could see the blue sky. When the ship rotated to put its belly in line with the port, she was able to see so much more! Green stretched across the land, interrupted only by the occasional rolling mountain, river, or lake. It was all so much different from the perfectly manicured and planned Talin homeworld of Talarian or the barren, rocky Wulnum.

As the ship dropped closer to the ground, she could make out more detail, marveling at the size of the trees and all the shades of green they produced. She’d never known there could be so much variation to that one color.

“There are only about five thousand individuals on the entire planet,” Tarquin said. He stood behind her. He’d been by her side the entire day, purring and adding commentary to the process of landing.

“About two thousand of them live at the port and the town around it,” he said. “Another five hundred live at Holian’s compound. The rest live scattered in the forest. The entire planet is owned by Holain. Well, technically it’s owned by the Suz family, but that's only me, Holian, and Ianino. Our clan, Torm, is tiny also. There are only three families and eleven individuals including me.”

She made a surprised sound. Clans usually numbered in the hundreds of thousands, not eleven!

“I know, it’s strange, but it’s an old clan and was small to begin with. That was why no one thought it was strange when Holian’s mother started the original colony. They assumed she was trying to draw people to her clan, even though she never formally added anyone.” He pointed into the distance. “There, you can see the dome to the large house on Holian’s compound. She had that house built like a fortress, although it looks like a regular home from the outside. Holian expanded it and updated the fortifications.”

“Why?” she asked.

“Why did she start the colony?” he clarified. She hummed to indicate he’d guessed correctly. “She was one of the rare Talins who not only scent-bonded with her partner but survived his death. We think it was because she was determined to give live birth to Holian and raise him herself instead of using an artificial womb and cresh. You don’t need to be a rule-breaker to be part of this family, but it helps!”

He sounded an amused rumble at his own joke, making Lena smile. His constant talking helped keep her calm, especially as the ship settled onto the ground. It felt like the last part of the landing took forever !

Finally Tarquin squeezed her shoulder. “They won’t start unloading the ship until tomorrow. It’s a process because there’s so little room to maneuver between the ship and port buildings. We can leave the ship now though.”

Lena nodded and grabbed Tarquin’s hand to tug him toward the hall. Tarquin sounded another rumble of amusement and pretended she was successfully dragging him. After they’d made it down the hall a few strides, he rushed forward and grabbed her up. She laughed as he carried her through the ship, his long strides covering ground quickly.

She could hear the old personal cargo bot loaded down with her possessions following them at a slower pace. Nalia gave it to her, saying she could keep it packed and take it with her everywhere so she never had to leave her possessions behind again.

Walls, hatches, and faces passed by in a blur, then there was a little jump and he was setting her down. They were outside standing next to the ramp that hadn’t even finished deploying. He’d jumped to the ground instead of waiting for it.

Nalia and Jinna stood at the top of the ramp, held back by their Talins. They were grinning and waving at her.

“That looked like fun!” Nalia shouted down. The cargo bot beeped, forcing Nalia and Derani to move aside to let it pass. By the time it made it down to the bottom, the ramp would probably be finished deploying.

As much as she’d grown to love the two women during the journey, Lena didn’t want to wait for them.

She waved to them, then looked at Tarquin. “Walk?”

She was desperate to explore this green world and feared the others wouldn’t be interested in a long hike in the forest.

“Of course,” Tarquin said. He looked up at Holian, Jinna, Derani, and Nalia. “We’ll see you for the evening meal at the compound.”

Then he tangled his fingers with hers and led her to a narrow footpath. Lena hesitated at the trailhead and looked back at the cargo bot waiting impatiently for the ramp to finish deploying.

“Our stuff?”

“Don’t worry, the cargo bot was designed to handle the narrow corridors of ships and stations; it should be fine with the forest path as long as we don’t try to tramp through thick brambles.” He pointed to the information square tucked in her belt. “It’ll follow your signal to the ends of whatever planet we’re on. It doesn’t need a map of the trails, we only need to make sure your information square doesn't lose charge.”

Reassured, she let Tarquin lead her into the forest. She was immediately hit by the rich scents around her. Her nose filled with the smell of earth, flowers, and the faint scent of wood smoke. She hadn’t seen any plumes of smoke from above so the wood smoke scent had to be from cooking fires. It was a primitive but reliable way to heat things out in the forest, far from large power sources.

She could tell the path they were walking was groomed by Talins and not created by migrating wild animals. The biggest clue was the way the trees were trimmed to keep Talin heads from hitting branches.

It was too bad the path wasn’t wide enough for them to walk side by side. Tarquin had her walk in front and cautioned her not to touch any of the plants with red tips to their leaves.

When the path split in two, they paused and she looked over her shoulder at him.

“That way leads to Holian’s compound,” he said pointing to the left. “I’m not sure where that one goes. We can take either. The compound has a locator so I can find it with my Ident no matter where we are on the planet.”

Assured that they couldn’t get dangerously lost in the forest, she took the path to the right. When they got to a grotto surrounded by flowering vines she went still, taking in the sweet smells of the peaceful place.

“I think this might be artificial,” Tarquin murmured, staring at a section of the grotto. She followed his gaze and noticed some rocks had been deliberately stacked to create the small pond. Knowing someone helped create the spot didn’t diminish the beauty for Lena.

Something blue and iridescent grabbed her attention. She carefully stepped a little closer. She felt Tarquin hook a finger in her belt, ready to pull her back if she lost her balance.

Balancing on a rock, she crouched down to get a closer look. It was a shell.

She pointed and looked up at Tarquin. “Safe?”

“I forget what they’re called, but yes, they’re safe to touch and the animal inside might even be edible,” he said.

She picked up the shell to find it empty. It was cone-shaped with nothing inside. Unlike the iridescent blue outside, the inside was flat black. She moved it around a little to catch the light, delighted at how the blue changed and shined.

Looking around, she found several others. She picked them up until she accidentally grabbed one with a living creature still using it as a home. Her hand was immediately covered in goo. Grimacing, she dropped it back into the water. After wiping the goo off on a nearby leaf, she stood up and stepped back onto the path.

She turned to show Tarquin her new treasures.

“They’re pretty,” he agreed. “We should look for kilkick beetle nests. They shed their wings when they molt and I think you’d like to collect them. They look like they’re made from pearls.”

Tarquin’s description meant she absolutely wanted to find some kilkick beetle wings right then! She shoved the shells in a bag Jinna had given her. It was a lovely light blue bag with many little pockets to keep her finds separated.

It was reassuring to know that if she filled it with treasures they could always wait for the cargo bot to catch up and she could tuck them away with the rest of her possessions and collect even more.

“Kilkick,” she demanded. “Now.”

“I’m not sure where to find them,” Tarquin admitted. “I’ve only seen the shed wings because Selma made a necklace out of them. We can ask where to find them at the evening meal tonight.”

He paused, sounding a rumble of affirmation. He did that sometimes when he was thinking about something. She poked him and tilted her head to ask him what he was thinking.

“I just realized we can finally get the silent tapping language of the Norka uploaded into your INT,” he explained. “The healers here will have the equipment to do it. You’ll be able to talk as much as you want. I’m still shocked that the Avail didn’t have one and it was bad luck that the Bountiful’s was broken.”

She had mixed feelings about Norka. Both Jinna and Nalia said it was great. They’d gotten the download and used it to talk to a human named Zia and a Talin named Palforma. It was nice that they could all communicate freely, but Lena wasn’t sure she wanted it. She still struggled to be around Talins besides Tarquin, and if she could use Norka, they might think they could approach her directly without going through Tarquin or another human. She didn’t like that idea.

“Maybe,” she said. Tarquin didn’t press. It felt good to know he wouldn’t force her to do anything, even if it was “in her best interest.”

A sound made her look down the path to see the cargo bot catching up with them. Its wheels struggled a little with the dirt path, but when it hit a loose patch, it backed up and kept trying until it made it through. She appreciated the bot’s quiet determination.

“Good bot,” she praised as it drew up next to them. She leaned down to give it a little pat on the instrument cluster at the front.

Tarquin sounded an amused rumble. “Do you want to continue? Show the cargo bot more of the forest?”

Lena rolled her eyes and gave him a little shove. He pretended to stumble and sounded another amused rumble.

They started walking again, going slow so she could take in every detail of the forest around them. The pace meant the cargo bot was able to keep up with them, making her feel better. She hadn’t liked it being out of sight. Now she got to have a wonderful time in the forest with Tarquin and keep all her possessions in sight. Best of all things!

The path forked again and she didn’t hesitate to take the one that seemed like it was going in the direction of the faint scent of woodsmoke. It wasn’t long until the path widened and then led into a groomed area with a stone cabin at the center. All around the cabin was a garden organized so that the outside was on trellises, creating a visual barrier between the forest and the cabin’s garden.

Not far from the front of the cabin was a small firepit with bundles of something hanging over it. It must be some kind of preservation/drying process.

“Greetings!”

An unfamiliar Talin stepped out from behind the cabin with a large sack over his shoulder overflowing with giant, bright yellow flowers. He dropped the sack near the fire and smacked his hand to his chest.

“I’m Kormin of the no family and no clan,” he declared boldly, almost cheerfully. “You must be Lena and Tarquin. We were issued a warning to watch for the two of you in our forest.”

Tarquin slammed his fist to his chest. “You’re correct, I’m Tarquin and this is Lena. You were given a warning? It’s probably because Lena is dangerous.”

“So I heard,” Kormin said with an amused rumble.

Lena wasn’t sure if he was only playing along or if maybe he had heard of what happened on Wulnum. Either way, she wasn’t sure how she felt about this interaction. At least he wasn’t trying to get close or touch her. Back when she lived on Talarian, she hadn’t minded when strange Talins tried to pet her head or hug her, but everything was different now.

“Would you two like to sit?” he asked, indicating some stumps placed in a circle around the fire. “I could brew some fresh tlash tea. I harvest and dry the flowers myself.” He pointed to the overfull bag next to the house.

Tarquin looked down at her. She was about to shake her head when she spotted something shiny near his fire. Transfixed, she stepped out from behind the safety of Tarquin and tried to get a closer look.

Kormin followed her gaze, then sounded a happy rumble. “That’s my jeweled lizard. Do you want to meet her?”

Lena nodded her head and Kormin swooped down and scooped up the beautiful creature and held it out. Forgetting all her earlier caution, she hurried through the garden and up to Kormin to see.

Jeweled was an accurate name for the creature. Her skin looked like she was crusted in precious stones glittering in the sun. There were legs, but they were tiny and stumpy. She didn’t even look like she could move on flat ground very well with them. She didn't have a tail, but her square head was massive, with a jawline that stretched all the way back to her throat.

“The bugs are drawn to her sparkle, then she snatches them out of the air with her long tongues,” Kormin explained. As if to demonstrate, the lizard opened her mouth and three tongues darted out, two of them catching small insects and the third returning empty. She swallowed her food then went back to contently lay in Kormin’s hand with half closed eyes.

“Effective,” Tarquin said.

“They are,” Kormin agreed. “A lot of us keep jeweled lizards as pets to help with bug control in our gardens. Here, you can hold her. She enjoys it. If I’m not careful, she’ll crawl into my bed at night!”

Kormin held out his hand, offering the lizard to Lena. She had to hold out both of hers to accept the pet, finding the lizard heavier than she expected. Sitting on a stump, she settled the lizard in her lap and petted it, marveling at the realistic colors of its jeweled skin.

“It looks like I’m not the only one with a loyal pet,” Kormin said.

Lena scowled, ready to jump up and leave at his comment but then realized the Talin wasn’t referring to her. He was looking at the cargo bot that had followed her into the garden and found a spot to stop behind her.

“Since you don’t have to carry anything yourself, I’ll send you off with some goodies,” Kormin said. “That way you can have tea and snacks anytime you want.”

“That would be kind of you,” Tarquin said. “But you don’t—”

“Nonsense!” Kormin interrupted him with an excited rattle. “It’s not often I have guests. Let’s enjoy some tlash tea first, then I’ll pack you a bag. Have a seat, I’ll be right back.”

With that, the Talin disappeared into his cabin. Tarquin moved one of the stumps closer to her, then eyed the lizard. “She’s pretty, but we can’t keep her.”

Lena sighed and rolled her eyes at him. She knew that, but still, she was going to enjoy the creature for as long as they visited!