Page 3 of His Human to Learn

Another reason I don't mind helping them around the farm as I try to learn the language is that I see Marron a lot. I don't know how I never saw him before dinner, but now that I have, it's like I'm acutely aware of where he is all the time. He seems just as aware of me because he looks away from me anytime I look at him.

A few months go by, and I do the same thing every day: talk with Lyath or Beren and, in the evenings, use Jen to help me askabout specific things I want to learn. I'm not fluent or anywhere even remotely close, but I can have disjointed conversations that kind of make sense for the most part, so long as whoever I'm talking to has a good sense of patience and speaks slowly enough to me that I can try to figure out what they're saying.

"Can you cover for me for just a little bit?" I ask Jen in English.

She gives me a suspicious look but nods, not wanting to ask any questions in case Nia asks where I am. Plausible deniability is always good. Even though I'm a grown woman and technically can do whatever I want. Well, almost anything since what I'm about to do is definitely breaking one of the only rules in the tribe that I need to follow.

I crawl out of the window in our room and land softly on the grass on the other side. Thro's staying for dinner tonight, and Beren and Lyath are already back in the house, helping Nia prepare dinner. If I'm fast enough, I should be able to catch the male I want to speak with before he's too far.

I run around the side of the house, looking around the fields, hoping to see Marron finishing his work. Luck must be on my side because I can see his bright red scales and dark horns in one of the further fields.

I run as quickly as I can, sticking to the paths so I don't hurt any of the crops. By the time I make it to the field I last saw Marron in, I'm a little out of breath and a lot red in the face. I put my hands on my knees, taking in deep gulps of air to calm myself before speaking to him for the first time.

We've never spoken a single word to one another, and today, I hope to change that. I wipe at some of the sweat on my forehead and am about to stand up when a dark shadow covers me.

I know Marron's found me before I'm ready for him to see me as soon as he starts hissing and clicking his tongue. He falls to his knees in front of me, his hands moving to my shoulders tohelp me stand straight, and then he's touching my face with the backs of his scaled fingers.

He repeats something over and over again, the same rhythmic clicks and hisses that I don't understand. Apparently, all of my work on learning their language enough to talk to Marron has been unsuccessful.

"I am okay," I say slowly in disjointed clicks that I hope sound right.

Marron's brows rise, and his eyes go wide. Then, a soft smile splits his lips, and he leans back on his calves to give me my space. I regret saying anything because his hands are off me now, and he's just staring at me, waiting for me to say something else.

"I want…" Deep breath while I try to remember which hiss to use. I repeated this exact phrase to Jen repeatedly because I didn't trust any of the others not to ask questions about why I wanted to say this. "I want to know you."

"Me?" Marron asks, pointing at himself and then repeating his question with my same statement. "You want to know me?"

I nod, my cheeks flaming as I chew on my lower lip, hoping this isn't too forward. Technically, I'm supposed to go through the mating ceremony if I want to get to know any of the males, but I don't feel comfortable doing that until I can actually talk to them. At the rate I'm going, it'll be over a year before I'm ready to go through the mating ceremony.

Marron nods and then rubs the back of one of his horns.

"My name is Marron," he enunciates the sounds well enough that I can understand him, and I appreciate that I don't have to tell him to repeat himself just yet. I'm sure it'll happen, but I want this to seem normal for as long as possible.

"My name is Tori," I tell him, smiling brightly since I can say that easy peasy.

"Yes." Marron laughs and then shakes his head as he tries to keep his eyes from returning to mine. "I know who you are."

I bite down a bit harder on my lip and start fiddling with the hem of my shirt. As far as first conversations go, this could be worse, but it could also be way better. "You are unmated?"

Marron's eyes snap to mine and then journey down my body and back up. My toes curl, and my breath catches when his eyes land back on mine with a soft determination that makes me think he's unmated but wouldn't mind being mated to me.

He starts to speak just as slowly as the other times, but there are words I don't understand. I can't make out what he's saying, but I can guess.

"Not something… talk about… Beren…" Marron gives me a sad smile as he finishes speaking and then lifts his fingers to stroke my cheek.

I try to think of something to say to make it clear that I'm not trying to get him in trouble with Beren or Lyath, since I know this is his job. Unfortunately, I don't know how to say that, and I don't want to butcher it and make this even worse.

"I want to know you, Tori."

A small gasp leaves my throat at him, saying my name, because we all know males only say the names of women they want to sleep with. Marron must not have meant to let it slip because his eyes are wide again, and his hand drops from my face.

"Sorry." He gets to his feet and dusts off his palms, trying to put this moment behind him. "So sorry."

"No!" I shake my head, wanting to reach for his hand to take it in mine. "No, sorry. Me sorry."

That gets his attention back on me. His eyes narrow on me, and his lips press into a tight line. He says something that's not meant for me because it's way too fast, with clicks and hisses I don't understand.

He motions for me to walk back to the house and follows me. We don't say anything on the way back because something about what he just said is familiar. I'm racking my brain, trying to piece together the hissing sounds I just heard. I don't even notice he has me walking in through the front door.

---