Page 29 of Redeeming Captivity (Human Pets of Talin #7)
Chapter 29
Tarquin
Kormin was a clever Talin. Not only had he managed to entice Lena into his garden, but he’d effortlessly gotten them to stay for a visit. It wasn’t a hardship. Kormin was easy to talk to and respectful of Lena. It was also apparent why he was eager for visitors by the second cup of tea.
“All the couples and children moved to Sorana last solar,” Kormin said. “We all know it’s safer for them there, but it’s been hard. Seeing happy couples and children made our lives easier and filled all of us with hope. Many of the retired soldiers wanted to follow them to Sorana, but Holian asked us to stay.”
“There’s a good reason Holian asked you to stay,” Tarquin said. “You and all the other retired soldiers in the forest are the reason this colony is so safe. Sorana can rely on remoteness and proximity to Delorta territory for security, but Kalor is so close to Talarian that it’s in constant danger. It’s only because of all of you that some of the humans can still be here.”
“I know,” Kormin said. “But it’s hard. The humans here aren’t interested in pairing up, and there aren’t any children. I miss the children very much.”
Tarquin could empathize. It was easy to become spoiled by the lax social etiquette and lack of taboos on Kalor and Sorana. Without the restrictive creshes, children were allowed to mix and mingle with the adults. That meant the adults could be part of a child's life even if they didn’t work at a cresh, something most Talins never got to do.
Interacting with children was an amazing experience that Tarquin got to enjoy only briefly while visiting Sorana. He couldn't imagine having access to children's laughter and joy for solars only to have it ripped away almost overnight.
“There will be more couples and more children,” Tarquin said. “Sorana is just starting, and not only was it safer for them for now, but they needed able bodies. Now that they’re doing well, I’m sure Holian will encourage a few couples with children to settle back here.”
“You two could stay,” Kormin said, leaning forward in his seat and spilling some of his tlash tea on the ground in his eagerness. “I heard that perhaps you haven't decided yet. Allow me to make an argument for Kalor.”
Although she seemed preoccupied with the lizard, Tarquin knew Lena was listening closely to everything they said. Kormin must know it too because he looked over and spoke to her directly for the first time since serving the tea.
“There are plenty of cabins that stand empty and need hearts to fill them. I can bring you all the lizards you’d like to keep your garden pest free and glimmering with living jewels. I noticed you staring at the pile of pici shells next to my fire. I don’t know if you like to eat pici or think the shells are pretty, but I can get you mounds of them! The forests of Kalor are an endless wonder of plants and animals with no predators big enough to be dangerous to humans. This is a good place to live. Once you know what plants to avoid, it’s the safest forest you’ll ever know.”
Lena didn’t respond to him. She kept her focus on the lizard, but Tarquin could see the tension in her body.
Kormin kept his tone happy as he extolled the virtues of Kalor. “You don’t need to worry about anyone coming here and taking you. There are over a thousand of us in the forest, ready to stand between you and danger.” He pointed to the mountains. “And we can help you make a second, hidden home in the rocks. A place to retreat to if danger does come to our planet and we’re forced to use insurgent tactics.”
Tarquin could tell that Kormin’s words were having a positive effect on Lena. Suddenly she stood up, cradling the sleepy lizard in her arms.
“Show,” she demanded, looking Kormin full in the face, her tea untouched on the stump next to her.
“The mountain?” Kormin asked, standing and putting his almost empty cup down.
“I believe she means one of the cabins,” Tarquin explained. He appreciated that no one on Bountiful fussed about Lena’s lack of words. They didn’t become annoyed or frustrated, only asked for clarification. Kormin didn’t realize it, but by doing the same thing, he was making Lena feel more welcome than offering tea and snacks.
Lena started to set the lizard down, but Kormin sounded a rumble of encourgement. “You can keep her,” he said. “Consider her a welcome gift.”
Lena shook her head and started to put the lizard down anyway.
“I’m sorry, I only meant that as a welcome to Kalor, not as an attempt to manipulate you into staying. If you decide to leave, you can return her to my garden. She can live here but still be yours every time you visit.”
Tarquin admired Kormin’s quick tongue. His words allowed Lena to continue to gently clutch the lizard to her chest and still be allowed to believe she had options.
Throughout the exchange, the lizard’s expression never changed.
Kormin sounded a pleased rumble, then looked at Tarquin. “The closest empty cabin is small. The nicest empty one is a little further away. It’ll take us almost a mark to get there.”
Tarquin looked at Lena and sounded a questioning rumble. She tapped the heel of her boot on the ground, an indication she wanted to walk.
“Nicer,” she declared.
“Excellent!” Kormin said with a happy rattle. He disappeared into his cabin for a few submarks, then reemerged with a bag. “This way!”
He started off down a different path than they’d taken to get to his cabin. Before she followed him, Lena held the lizard with one hand then leaned over to grab a handful of deep red pici shells. She shoved them in her bag then hurried to follow Kormin. Tarquin just barely held onto his rumble of amusement.
No matter where they decided to call home, there were going to be a lot of odds and ends filling their space, and he couldn’t wait for it.
His first impression of the cabin wasn’t a good one. He could see the outline of the garden but it was badly overgrown and the cabin itself was half taken over by the forest around it.
Kormin led them right up to the door and inside, assuring them that the original builder, Tisuran, wouldn’t be coming back. His scent-bonded partner wouldn’t want to leave her fellow humans on Sorana.
The inside of the cabin was spacious, with a cleansing unit and elimination unit he’d built into the thick stone walls at the far end. There was no furniture, no storage, no re-constituter or cooling unit. It was a giant empty space that didn’t look welcoming to him, but when he turned to Lena, she was smiling as she turned in a small circle to take in the place.
“Perfect,” she whispered, a dreamy smile on her face.
Lena
She was prepared to hate the cabin. She was sure it would be small, dark, and cramped. Instead, Kormin led them into a surprisingly large space with high ceilings and so many windows it almost felt like they were outside. The cabin was one giant room with no partitions for a bedroom or food preparation area, and that made it even better.
“Tisuran gave away what he didn’t take with him,” Kormin explained. “But it won’t be hard to get everything you’ll need from the compound or the others in the forest. We all have an extra of something lying about. I have a spare heating unit because my first one malfunctioned. Jalmorum was able to fix it, so now I have two. You can have the newer one, I don’t like it as much as my old one. It puts out too much heat for a Talin. It’s more suitable for humans.”
Lena had to admire Kormin. He was doing a good job of trying to talk her into staying without being overbearing about it. When he’d insisted she take the jeweled lizard, she’d gotten angry. She wouldn’t make an animal leave her natural habitat to travel wherever she and Tarquin might end up. That was cruel. Kormin just barely saved their interaction by backtracking with the lizard being hers even if it stayed on Kalor.
That hadn’t only kept her from stomping away but also made her realize that this Talin was paying attention, something she had little experience with until Tarquin.
“The forest is encroaching on the cabin, but Tisuran over engineered it when he built it,” Kormin said, pointing at several windows where all you could see was leafy green plants. “They haven’t had enough time to do any structural damage, and it’ll only take a mark or two of work to clear them all away from the structure.”
Tarquin asked a question about water and Lena tuned them out to amble out of the cabin and into the remnants of the garden.
After the rescue from Wulnum, staying in the empire hadn’t been an option. She’d assumed they’d need to leave to be happy, but now she was being given everything she wanted. A home where she was in control, the promise of protection, and most importantly—freedom. The forest of Kalor seemed endless. She could spend her days hiking the trails with Tarquin and bringing back all kinds of treasures to her home.
She could barely tell where the garden ended and the forest began, but she could see the potential. Unlike Kormin’s garden, she would decorate this place with pici shells and iridescent blue shells all strung up across the outside. She wouldn’t use plain rocks to line the edges of the planters, she’d find the most colorful ones and group them into blues, reds, and grays.
Her mind's eye painted a picture of color everywhere, exploding out of pots and baskets, hanging from twine and trees, even draped from the eves of the cabin.
Leaning over, she set the jeweled lizard on the ground to see what she thought of this garden. The creature moved shockingly fast, climbing up a nearby pile of rocks and only stopping when it was at the top, basking in one of the only places getting direct sunlight through the canopy of trees.
Small, colorful patches of light refracted off the lizard, hitting the rocks, plants, and ground all around with color.
It was as if the little creature was showing her the first hints of how perfect her new home could be.
“I see,” she whispered, blinking back happy tears. Turning, she saw Tarquin standing silently in the cabin’s doorway. Behind him, Kormin was saying something about power cells and solar captures, but he wasn’t listening. His entire focus was on her.
In that moment, they shared a perfect understanding.
“Home,” she whispered.
“Home,” he agreed and held his arms open for her to fly into.