Page 3 of The Twelve Nights of Halloheen

When his gaze focused on her unsteady hands, she was quick to grasp them together. “I’m fine,” she assured him, ignoring a last tear trickling down her cheek. “The gorg didn’t get me. I only fell to the ground. My stupidity might be fatal someday, but not today.”

He stopped his rumble for a moment to sound a harsh, negative rattle. “You’re not a stupid human,” he growled. “I won’t hear you be unkind to yourself.”

“Even if it’s true?” she asked, her humor falling flat when Tisuran only started up his soothing rumble again. She loved that purring rumble.

“It’s not true,” he insisted. “But I can see you’re in emotional distress. Come, clutch and cling to me for comfort.”

When humans had become popularized as pets among Talins hundreds of years ago, they’d been deemed emotionally needy and fragile. It was a common belief, even among the Talins who lived side-by-side with free humans, that humans constantly needed emotional support through hugging and cuddling. Tisuran was only trying to make her feel better. It didn’t mean anything.

“I don’t need a hug and you don’t have to pretend,” She gave him an apologetic look. “Everyone knows I do things like this.”

Tisuran sounded a rumble reminiscent of wheels bumping over uneven ground. It was a questioning sound. “This?”

Wordlessly, she pointed to the forest around them and then at the stiff-legged, dead walking-torch laying on the ground. “Gorgs have eyes designed for night hunting and bright light could easily drive them away, so I thought I’d be fine if I had a walking-torch. Except I didn’t check the charge,” she let out an aggravated sigh. “But why would I? No one checks charges on walking-torches because they’re always supposed to putthemselves back on a charging station when they’re low. So of course I pick the one that decides to go rogue. Or is it suicidal and decided today was the day it would end it all by not going back to a charging station?”

Her little speech had Tisuran making another marbles-clinking rumble of amusement. His marbles were pretty loud, so he was really laughing at her now as he turned his attention to the possibly emotionally-unstable walking-torch.

The walking-torches Tisuran had brought had spaced themselves out to light up the forest, as they were programmed to do. One of them even stood over the dead walking-torch. Isla knew better than to anthropomorphize tech, but the working walking-torch looked like it was guarding a fallen comrade.

Rising to his knees, Tisuran grabbed the useless tech out from under the functioning one. Then he sat back on his heels and examined it. “Did you take this one from the front of Unit B?”

Isla blinked, surprised. “How did you know that?”

“Because that’s where Lysinian put it when he realized it wasn’t holding a charge anymore. Zia was supposed to look at it when she had a chance, to see if it could be repaired,” Tisuran explained. “You did the right thing bringing a walking-torch with you. If it had been fully functional, you would have been mostly safe. You were simply unlucky enough to take this one.”

Tisuran’s kindness didn’t make Isla feel any better. Tonight's idiocy almost got her killed and Tisuran hurt. “I should have been suspicious when it wasn’t on a charging port.”

Tisuran sounded a rumble of amusement. “Yes, you should have read Lysinian’s mind and known his intentions.”

A reluctant smile formed on her face. “Even with a walking-torch I shouldn’t have gone so far from the compound.”

“That leads me to ask, why are you out here?” Tisuran asked, looking around the small clearing.

Isla’s smile vanished. It was a logical question but one she wished he hadn’t thought to ask. “I don’t want to say.”

The sound of a box of metal tools being upended onto the floor filled the space around them. She’d managed to force a rattle of surprise out of the Talin. “You don’t want to talk about something?”

The incredulity in his voice caused Isla enough annoyance to snap her spine straight and cross her arms. “I don’t tell everyone everything,” she retorted. “I have secrets.”

Remaining silent, Tisuran watched her. She held up for all of twenty seconds before cracking. “It’s embarrassing,” she admitted, feeling her face get hot.

“Were you meeting a human lover?” Tisuran asked with a rattle that sounded like a swarm of wasps. Oh, he was mad.

“Uh, no,” Isla said, embarrassment giving way to confusion. “I don’t have one of those.”

“Talin?” Tisuran roared, his angry rattle getting even louder. “Did a Talin let you wander out here by yourself? Who was it? I’ll—”

“It wasn’t anything like that!” Isla nearly shouted to be heard over Tisuran’s loud voice and noisy rattling. Her words made him quiet.

“If you weren’t meeting a lover, then why did you come out here?” he asked, starting up a soothing rumble again.

Isla bit her lip anxiously. “Do you promise not to laugh?”

“That is an easy promise to make,” Tisuran said. “Talins can’t laugh.”

Isla scowled. “Fine, do you promise not to make that laughing-rumble sound?”

Tisuran sounded a rumble of agreement which always made Isla think of stockinged feet running on a wood floor. “I promise not to make a single rumble or rattle in response to your explanation.”

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