As Mars and RK slept quite soundly, exhausted from the past couple of days’ excursions, Eris watched the cliff face for any sign of Deygo and the cat-woman. The blue sun was making its way into the sky, casting early morning rays that caused darkly tinted shadows to dance and move across the rock face. Finally, as the cliff came into full morning light, she was able to discern two shapes carefully picking their way down towards the bottom.
She closed her eyes and relaxed a bit, glad to know that Deygo and the woman were still alive. She opened her eyes to see the two figures continuing their descent. Eris rose and stretched. She hadn’t slept that night, her mind too busy with other things. She glanced down at the two women still lying on the ground dozing. RK stirred restlessly, feeling someone watching her, then opened one bleary eye to look at Eris.
“Good morning,” Eris said pleasantly. RK groaned, shut her eyes tightly, and curled up into a ball to ignore the day. “You should get up,” Eris told her. “Deygo and that woman are on their way back.”
“I know,” RK mumbled grumpily.
“What? How?” Eris asked, obviously a bit perplexed by RK’s answer.
“Felt ‘em.”
“But…” Eris began, but was interrupted by RK’s exasperated sounds as she rolled over and sat up.
“I suppose I gotta get up if you insist on talking to me,” RK said, yawning and looking more than a little annoyed. She looked over to see Mars still sleeping, and decided that if she had to be up, then so should Mars. Someone needed to share in the ugliness of early morning rising. She sought and found a stick long enough to span the few feet between them.
“Yo, dude,” RK said, while poking Mars with the stick. “Get up.” Mars grumbled something and swatted in the vague direction of RK and the stick. The gesture ended with RK getting the finger.
“Don’t tell me to buzz off, you. I’m just as tired as you are. And I have the stick.” RK poked Mars a few more times, rather harder than before, for emphasis.
Mars growled as she turned over and made a snatch for the offending weapon, managing to grab the end. “I’ll break this frickin' stick over your bloody head if you don’t knock it the heck off,” Mars snarled menacingly.
RK just smiled at her, unfazed. “Morning to you, too, you joyous ball of sunshine,” she said sarcastically.
“You really are asking for a butt-kicking, aren’t you?”
“As if you could ever beat me,” RK told her.
Mars snorted and glared angrily at RK, who was obstinately refusing to stop grinning at her. RK pointed to the rock face without looking. “They’re coming,” she said.
Mars turned to see where RK was indicating. She could just make out the two figures moving downward. She turned to Eris, her early morning bad mood dissipating somewhat.
“How much longer ‘til they get here?” she asked. Eris brought her focus back to the conversation in front of her, which, until this point, she had wisely chosen to avoid.
“Hm? Oh, I’d say another 45 minutes or so.”
“Forty-five minutes!” She turned to RK and glared at her. “I coulda slept for another half an hour, you jerk!”
“It’s good for you,” RK told her.
“It is better to rise with the dawn,” Eris interjected. “As there are things in the night, so are there in the day. And powerful ones at dusk and dawn,” Eris informed them.
“See? Good for you to wake up,” RK said, justified.
“Like I’m ever gonna to sleep again with that in mind,” Mars replied.
Eris smiled apologetically. “Su’rah’loo.1 I didn’t mean to alarm you, but you should be aware nonetheless. Come now, let’s get a fire going.”
“Fine,” Mars said. “But I get to play with the matches.”
(About 45 minutes later…)
The three women were sitting quietly around the small fire, warming themselves against the morning chill, when RK broke the silence.
“They’re here,” she said, without moving her gaze from the fire.
Eris and Mars looked up to see Deygo and the cat-woman exiting the tree line. Eris stood up, smiling, going out to greet Deygo, her relief clear. Mars turned back to RK, looking rather puzzled.
“Dude, how did you know they were here? Eris didn’t even seem to realize it,” Mars asked her friend. RK shrugged, continuing to stare into the fire.
“Dunno. How did you know all about that woman, even when she was only a cat?” RK asked her rhetorically.
“Good point.”
“I’ve been thinking about things, though. I mean, what is staying here going to do to us? Eventually, that is? Are we going to become like them? They said it was a genetic change, basically. What if we, being from where we’re from, don’t have the ability to cope? As much fun as this is, I think we need to start thinking about how we’re gonna get back home.”
Mars was silent, contemplating this. “Maybe,” she said, “if we’re being exposed slowly enough, it won’t matter as much.”
“Yes, but it is going to matter. And getting home…”
Their conversation was cut short, however, as Eris, Deygo, and the other woman approached them. The cat-woman grinned at the two women sitting near the fire, flashing pearly white and pointy teeth at them.
“Wow,” RK whispered.
“Creepy,” Mars whispered back, following RK’s train of thought.
“Be nice,” RK said, then smiled pleasantly at the newcomer.
“Mars, RK,” Deygo said, seeming relieved that they were both still all right. “This is Kai’ter’ah. She’s a shape-shifter.”
“Obviously,” RK muttered under her breath. Mars elbowed her in the ribs.
“What was that about being nice?” she hissed at RK.
“Deygo doesn’t count,” RK protested, but Mars wasn’t listening anymore, already stepping forward to shake hands. “Pleasure to meet you Kai’ter’ah. My name’s Mars, and that there is my cohort, RK.”
“Heya,” RK said, waving her hand and rubbing her ribs where Mars and elbowed her.
“It’s… good to meet you,” Kai said, seeming to choose her words carefully. “Su’rah’loo. Mah’loo… my… old speech is nu’teh… not so good. But play’ai’say’loo, kai’lu… call me Kai. Ai’n’du I’m also a hay’ai’lay’reh… that is… a healer.”2
“Hey, don’t worry about it. We are college students, and have had some pretty incomprehensible profs, so a little wavering in the speech department ain’t a problem,” RK said encouragingly. Kai smiled gratefully at her, though not entirely sure of what she was referring to.
“So, you were hurt. Are you feeling better?” Mars asked.
“Ah, ah’ay’seh. Much. Your companion, Deygo, has a few healing tree’keh~s himself, I think.”3
Deygo moved over by the fire to where Mars, RK, and Kai had gathered. “Kai has been accused of a killing she did not commit, as you know. I am going to help her find the real culprit, so that she may no longer be hunted by these people. I think it would be best if you two were to go with Eris, she shall keep you safe until I return.”
“Wai’teh?”4 Eris protested, even before Mars and RK had a chance to voice their objections. She was upset enough that she returned to her more familiar tongue while berating Deygo. Kai and the two other women decided that this discussion might take a while, so they discreetly retired to the other side of the fire.
“{{You are not going to go by yourself. I know there is something more that you are not revealing, and it is important. I will not let you go alone.}}” Eris told him defiantly.
“{{Eris, you know that the two foreigners cannot stay by themselves, and this man needs to be dealt with. You are capable of keeping them safe.}}”
“{{It will be safer if they are with both of us. They are under-going changes due to Libitina. They cannot, and should not, be without the maximum amount of help possible. Especially now.}}”
“{{Eris…}”
Eris stepped closer to him, looking him squarely in the eye. “{{IndiEygo, why is it you must find this man?}}” Deygo was silent, reluctant to answer, but Eris’ gaze was unrelenting. He sighed.
“{{He was sent by Veymos. He was looking for us. And them,}}” he said, nodding towards the two women sitting by the fire who were chatting amiably with Kai, oblivious to the danger that now threatened them.
It was Eris’ turn for silence. After a moment, she asked him, “{{How does he know of them?}}”
“{{You know he has ways.}}”
“{{This is troubling news, IndiEygo. We must be all the more careful. Do you think Jodin…}”
“{{NO,}}” he cut her off. “{{You saw him. He was dead.}}”
“{{Things sometimes have a way of being not as they appear, IndiEygo. We are not certain.}}”
He studied her face. He could tell she was determined to have her way, despite his protestations. “{{I do not like this, Eris.}}”
“{{It is not for you to decide, IndiEygo. You are no longer in the middle of a personal war. This involves all of us.}}”
Deygo took a moment to think, weighing the limited options available to him. He shook his head as he came to a conclusion he did not much like, but given the circumstances, was really the only viable option. “{{Very well,}}” he reluctantly agreed. “{{But we need to move. The sooner we catch this man, the sooner we may find a clue as to what Veymos is planning.}}”
“{{Agreed.}}
“Mars, RK, Kai, we need to go,” Eris said, as she moved over to disarray and cover their sleeping spot. Deygo moved to the fire and extinguished it with a wave and a word.
“Where’re we going?” RK asked.
“To Buken, the vee’lai’jay’loo… village, would be my guess,” Kai said.
“To find the man who killed that child,” Deygo said, dark eyes betraying cold menace. With a last glance around, Deygo satisfied himself that they were ready to leave. He looked over to Kai, and gestured for her to go ahead. “{{You should lead. You know the way.}}”
1 "Sorry."
2 “Sorry. My… my… old speech is not… not so good. But please, call… call me Kai. And I’m also a healer… that is… a healer.”
3 “Ah, yes. Much. Your companion, Deygo, has a few healing tricks himself, I think.”
4 "What?"
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