Page 30 of Where the Shadows Land (Garden of Hope #1)

MAIRUK

S everal days passed since Bastian’s injury, and Mairuk sensed no lingering effects or malady within the energy of the small fox.

Bastian, however, still acted like he was injured, so both Astoria and Mairuk would give him extra food and attention.

It worked, and Mairuk could not understand why.

They understood the creature was perfectly fine, yet his sad little eyes were impossible to resist. Now, Mairuk had to wash the sheets with Bastian curled up in their lap, the position both awkward and uncomfortable.

Not a single member of the Twelve who Made Mairuk desired to move him, though.

Astoria worked the garden beds, freshly bathed and dressed in her leather armor.

It fit her like a second skin, and something about their little human carrying several small blades had Mairuk’s olctae ache to stuff her full for the second time that morning.

She did not want them to tear her armor, so Mairuk kept their fingers busy with the wash, while their eyes focused on the way the leather pants fit over her luscious behind .

Astoria worked with her magic. Flickers of pale green light and the soft song of new growth thrummed behind them.

By feeding the garden beds with her magic, the first green shoots of the rotation pushed through the dense soil.

Each day that passed, Astoria grew more comfortable with her magic and let more of it out as she did her daily garden chores.

The pair talked as they worked, a new development between them.

Astoria spoke in depth about her mother’s garden and what she grew there.

She missed something called potatoes and spent a long while listing all the ways she could prepare them.

Mairuk would have to bring her to Bounoss to see if they could gather the seeds of such a beloved plant.

Yet, they could not bring her to Bounoss unless she became their loktossi.

Their thoughts soured, and their gills flattened against their cap.

Mairuk never wanted such a thing for themselves, but the longer Astoria stayed in their garden, the more they realized she was at risk without their mark.

Another Ardelok hunted in the woods, where Bastian got trapped.

Humans did not survive that deep in the woods unsupervised, and they did not smell another human.

Mairuk’s scent masked Astoria’s enough that they believed she was safe, but how long would that remain the case?

Countless stories existed of Ardeloks who had their humans stolen by another before they completed the loktossi bond.

Bostrai was remote, and few traveled this way now that the strait belonged to neither the humans nor the Ardeloks.

The one in the woods, though, was too close for comfort.

Few of Mairuk’s kin cared about the desires or consent of the humans they made their loktossi .

The safest option for Astoria would be to mark her as theirs.

Astoria was not ready for that conversation, though.

Neither was Mairuk. Perhaps it was selfish of them, but the peace that developed between the pair was new.

Mairuk enjoyed waking with Astoria in their arms and seeing her smiles.

She still felt a bond to her dead husband, and they did not know if she would accept a bond with them. No matter how necessary .

Mairuk listened to her chatter then told her of their parent, the Twenty who Made Ellerion and how similar they appeared to the one who spawned them.

Then they told her of their siblings, all dust in the wind now.

Though speaking of them did not burn like usual.

Mairuk still ached, but the ache that formed in their chest as they spoke of their family was warm and soft.

The easy conversation died down as Mairuk finished the wash.

They had to move Bastian, and instead of lifting the creature off of their lap, Mairuk took a small sliver of dried meat from their pocket and tossed it to the ground.

Bastian, driven by food, leaped from their lap and Mairuk was free to stand.

They hung the clean sheets on the line to dry in the gentle, early spring breeze.

Astoria finished her work in the garden and wrapped her small arms around Mairuk from behind.

She hummed against their spine and Mairuk’s gills rustled under their cap.

Her weight and gentle warmth seeped into their fibers, absorbing every soft touch like sunlight.

They touched her often since their first night, rooting inside her, yes, but also braiding her long red hair and rubbing her back as she came down from their influence.

They could not stop touching her, and she seemed to be the same.

Astoria’s gentle hands on their body while she was sober soothed the spikes of uncertainty that refused to leave.

She was clear in her want for them and Mairuk was no stranger to physical relationships without expectation.

Love was reserved for the lucky few who found someone worthy to bind themselves to.

It did not matter to Mairuk if she used them to fulfill needs they both possessed.

Though, the gentle and affectionate touches she blessed them with warmed the depths of their lonely heart like the sun above warmed the winter-frozen roots.

“I need to go forage today. Maybe hunt something small to get more variety.” Astoria’s soft hands rubbed up and down Mairuk’s middle, her soft fingers dancing over the ridges and growths on their skin.

Mairuk hung the last sheet, then turned in her arms. “Do you want us to come with you? ”

Memories of Astoria half torn to shreds by harpies made Mairuk’s arms clutch her against their chest. While she lacked the misery that called the harpies to her, she bathed after they had sex this morning and removed most of their scent.

Without their scent masking hers, any number of creatures or other Ardeloks could hunt her.

They squeezed her tighter and grumbled low in their chest.

“I’m not going far, and I will have Bastian with me. You’ll see me again before sunset.” Astoria pulled back and placed her open palm over Third, who thrummed under her hand.

“You are not running from us?” Mairuk asked.

The soft smile on Astoria’s face fell. “I’m not running. I need to find some food.”

Mairuk searched her soft green eyes for any hint of a lie or fragmented truth and found none.

Astoria was soft with them over the last several days.

She was honest with them, too. All of this was unlike how she acted with them before they had sex.

This soft companionship and budding comfortability was new between them both.

They did not want to risk this forming trust, not for something as fundamental as her need to eat.

Mairuk needed to trust her, and she needed to trust them, especially if they were going to ask her to become their loktossi.

“Go, little vixen,” Mairuk said.

Astoria stood on her tiptoes and kissed their cheek. “Be back soon. Let’s go, Bastian!”

Bastian stood up and stretched from his resting place and followed Astoria.

She grabbed her bow and quiver from the wall, then the pair wandered through the garden and out the front gate.

Mairuk watched her go. The sunlight caught her hair and made it gleam like fire until she made it into the forest and melted into the shadows of the ancient trees.

They waited for their anger to rise, for fear to force their legs to run after her, but it never came.

Astoria would return to them, and Mairuk would not be alone .

Comforted, Mairuk dumped the dirty water from the laundry then prepared to work on the southern wall.

A few more days of work and they could call the walls finished.

Once walled off, Mairuk could work to invite life back into the drained land.

They hoped Astoria would help them. Though her skill was minimal, the Orsea flowed through her soul as it did theirs.

With time and guidance, Astoria’s power could match, if not surpass, their own.

“Mairuk!” A friendly chorus of baritone voices reached into their mind from the distance. Lifting their eyes, Mairuk glimpsed the Seven who Made Leri emerging from the forest to the northeast. Human lands . Mairuk bristled with the realization and their gills flattened against their cap.

“Leri! It has been too many seasons, friend.” Mairuk smiled and buried the tension. Leri had a loktossi and several weeks passed since the attack on Astoria’s village. Perhaps their hunting took them farther east than usual.

Taller and leaner than Mairuk, with a bright red and white scaled cap, Leri was impossible to miss.

White, thin fibers grew in a horizontal pattern up their body.

The ring where their chest met their neck was ruffled and pristine.

Small red, orange, and white mushrooms sprouted from their chest and arms, all gleaming and highlighting their health.

Their three vibrant red glowing eyes were warm as they approached.

Leri dressed for long distance travel and wore dark leather pants with matching straps across their chest that carried all sorts of vials and weapons. A dark red cloak covered most of the large pack they had slung across their shoulders, something that seemed exceptionally heavy to travel with.

“We have brought you many gifts. The beautiful Cosai, the one with daisy petals who runs the general store just outside of Bounoss? She hadn’t seen you in almost a full rotation and we used our charm to get you many supplies for a great trade.

” Leri nudged Mairuk in the side as they approached.

“All you need to do is visit her for the night when you make your way there this summer. ”

“You should not have made such a bargain on our behalf,” Mairuk grumbled as they took the heavy pack. “Spirits and sprites, did you bring us boulders?”