Page 6 of His Human to Learn

"Tell Beren and Lyath to come in for dinner then," Nia says, barely looking up from her sewing. "They can go ahead and send the boys back to the tribe and be inside so no one accidentally stumbles on you naked."

"Will do," I say, forcing the warmth in my cheeks away.

I step onto the porch and grab the rope handle to the bell Beren fastened to the porch ceiling. I ring it a few times, alerting everyone that the workday is over and they can all go where they need to go. I stand on the porch for a few minutes while waiting for them to appear.

"Dinner?" Beren asks as he wipes his hands on his tunic, leaving dark smudges of dirt.

"Nia wanted everyone inside."

My conversational skills are improving each day, but I'm still only good at topics I already know about and phrases and words I use frequently. Beren gives me a short nod and then turns to see where everyone else is in the field.

"Marron and Thro will go home tonight," he tells me, his gaze flicking over at me from the corner of his eyes when he says it.

"Okay." I shrug, not wanting to give him more suspicion than he already has.

They've all seen me wave at Marron. They know how he watches me whenever I'm outside. And they're all almost positive I've snuck out to talk to him before. They have to be at least a little suspicious, or they wouldn't always be trying to keep us apart.

"Where are you going?" Lyath asks when he notices the clothes in my hands.

"Bath," I respond, not giving them a second longer to interrogate me as I step off the porch and head toward the river that feeds the irrigation ditches of the farm.

Beren's set up a small fence around the farm's perimeter that keeps most animals out of the farm, and not many come thisclose to the tribe anyway. There's always a chance there could be a verpar or olack out near the river, though, so I'm not surprised when Beren grumbles under his breath something I can't understand but probably has to do with him not liking me going alone.

"I will be safe," I call over my shoulder, shooting the males a smile.

Beren continues scowling in my direction even after I smile, but he goes inside when he sees I won't be deterred. I'm sure he was mostly making sure that Marron and Thro were off the farm before going inside, so they didn't think Marron was sneaking away to find me.

I whistle a song to myself as I walk, not liking how quiet the planet is when it's just me by myself. It's peaceful at first, but then it gets creepy. My mind starts thinking all kinds of crazy scenarios, like maybe I'm actually back on Earth, and everyone else has died, and this is all some kind of weird hallucination, and if I think about it too hard, I'll wake up and be back on Earth and alone for real. So, I whistle so I don't go down rabbit holes of what-ifs.

I'm on my second song when I see a tunic thrown onto one of the pathways. I keep whistling, squatting to pick up the tunic and hold it up, trying to figure out whose it is since it was just left out here. Beren and Lyath wear mostly beige tunics since they don't bother with dying them, but Marron has a whole stash of dyed tunics he got from one of the other males whose mate likes him in a specific color. I hold the red tunic up and determine it's probably Marron's.

I suck on my bottom lip, trying to decide if I'm really about to steal a tunic and hide it away in my room so I can wear it when no one is around. Is it a little pathetic? Maybe, but I never said I wasn't pathetic. I add the tunic to the top of my little pile of clothes and continue whistling all the way to the river.

I strip and set my dirty clothes in a pile next to the clean ones, then wade into the river. There's a small section just past the irrigation ditch dams that's calmer than the rest, and that's where I wade to before lowering my body down so I'm sitting in the warm water with only my shoulders and head dry. I whistle as I start scrubbing at the dirt and sweat accumulated on my body throughout the day, and then lean back to start getting my hair wet.

I dunk my head under the water and notice movement in the field closest to my bathing spot. I place one hand over my mouth and scoot back in the water so that only my nose and eyes are out.

I would know Marron's bright red scales anywhere, but he hasn't noticed me yet. He paces back and forth, his head pointed downward as he looks for something. I bite my lip as I notice his lack of a shirt and realize he came back for the tunic I've stolen.

He looks around, moving in a circle before throwing his hands up and grabbing his horns in frustration. Then, he raises his gaze from the ground, and his eyes land directly on me. He stares for a few beautiful and perfect seconds, his chest expanding and his eyes widening in wonder. Then, he turns around so fast I'm surprised he doesn't hurt himself.

"Sorry!" he yells out, not turning around as he starts walking back the way he came, his tunic not as important as getting away from me.

"Wait!" I call out, lifting myself just enough to get my mouth out of the water. Marron's body freezes, but he doesn't turn around to face me. "I have your tunic."

He grows even more tense somehow, and then he ever so slowly turns his head. He turns enough to see me out of the corner of his eye and then whips back around like he wasn't looking at all. Not that there's anything to look at when I'm making sure the water covers me.

"It is yours," Marron says, starting to walk away again.

"Wait!"

I don't know what I'm going to do to get him to come back this time, but just like before, he stops. The only movements are his shoulders rising and falling as he takes deep, unsteady breaths.

He turns his head so his words don't need to be yelled as loudly. Again, there are still some words I can't pick out, but for the most part, he doesn't say anything too convoluted.

"You are… and I should not be here." Marron grabs his horns again, forcing himself to look forward. "I should go."

"You can stay," I call out, hoping it's not too forward.

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