Page 96 of Diamond

He crouches as if to scold the baby, but the furry ball races out before he can get a word in, standing at the mouth of the cave to give us a naughty bleat before making his way out.

Kuret stands with his hands beside him, a cross of amusement and annoyance on his face. "That one is going to be trouble, don't you think?"

I nod my head. "He is, and I think I have the perfect name for him."

Kuret looks at me with a wide, toothy grin. "What is it?"

"Azar," I say, feeling very intelligent. "It meansfire."

He moves back to me and his lips come down on mine once more before turning back to watch the baby's antics. "Azar is the perfect name for him."

He walks to the mouth of the cave, and stares out of it, looking picturesque in the faded light of the sun before he speaks again. "We should head out to continue our search for Olivia." He turns to look at me with a mischievous smile. "We can pick up where we left off when we return."

I tuck my hair behind my ears and nod, silently thanking him for grounding me and refocusing me on our mission.

Rising to my feet, I brush the dust off.

"We'll find her soon," he promises, extending his hand for me to take.

I pull one of his braids. "We better, or we're going to grow old together in this cave."

"Well, I like part of that plan, but how about we find somewhere better than a cave long before our bones give out from lying on a pile of grass?"

I snort out a breath. "I like your thinking, Kuret."

He smiles, but then turns more serious. "The wind isn't violent now. I think we can look for her."

"I agree. Where first?"

49

Kuret

We spend days looking, but don't find anything. We're both weary, but Nasrin keeps pushing herself beyond her limits. Her species is more fragile than my own, and so it has been a careful dance to get her to rest without her getting upset with me.

When she does, it doesn't cause the same anxiety it did before. I know it's a reflection of her own fear, not because of something I have done wrong. We are doing the best we can.

I open my mouth to tell her that maybe we should rest a few more hours, but a loud thumping sound makes me whirl around. I hear unsettled bleating from the argila and it lets me know it's an intruder.

When I turn back to Nasrin she already has weapons in her hands, eyes trained to the outside of the cave. I scoop up my pack, checking it for weapons, then move out onto the wet ground, my bare feet making squishing sounds as the rock transitions to grass.

I turn to motion for Nasrin to stay in the cave, but she ignores me, hands clenched on hergunand her face looking grim, but determined. I briefly consider arguing, but another loud thump urges me into faster movement.

It's coming from the entrance to the valley. The one I thankfully spent time fortifying. After another loud whack, I break into a run. Whatever it is, we'll need to kill it before it causes too much damage that will take time away from looking for Olivia.

As we get close, Nasrin reaches out a hand to grab me, pulling me by the braids so I move my ear close to her mouth, her panting breaths tickling against me.

"I can understand them. They're arguing. One of them is giving the other a hard time about how they shouldn't be using their tail to knock."

As she speaks, I can hear a language that sounds like rocks grinding together and I wonder at her ability to make sense of it. "Should you try to speak before we shoot?"

She considers it for a long moment, but then after a hiss of pain, starts making the same odd sounds. A few moments later, she's back to speaking my language.

"If you can be trusted," she yells out, "then speak in Kuret's language and tell us about the other humans you have found. What are they named?"

My marks flair when a female starts speaking on the other side. "My name's Kira. I'm here with Drasuk. Ree and Eli are the other humans I've met."

Both of us instantly relax, though I can still see some apprehension on her face. I've never known anyone as slow to trust as she is, though from the stories she has told, I can understand why.

---