Page 50 of Rhaz's Redemption
“Good,” he nodded, looking pleased while he tied more reeds together to make rope. “I’ll make sure you have plenty of tea leaves while we’re here.”
Again I was struck with the desire to ask him why it was so important I have tea leaves, but I held my tongue. I didn’t know what brought on this change of heart, but I was willing to see where this was going.
“Uh, thank you,” I replied then got up and walked to the other end of the ravine. I hadn’t explored much yesterday, and I felt the need to distance myself from Rhaz and his confusing desire to please me.
I was a shy nerdy librarian back home. No one ever went out of their way to pursue me. So in a way when Rhaz rejected my affection it felt more normal than whatever this was now.
I let my thoughts wander as I made my way to the end of the ravine. It wasn’t a wide space, but thankfully it was long. Wehad plenty of room to walk back and forth if we needed to, and there were a surprising amount of fruit trees here.
I picked a pear-shaped fruit from the tree and took a bite. Sweet juices burst onto my tongue and I moaned as a peach-like flavor washed over me.
In the distance I heard Rhaz drop something. When I turned to see if he was okay, he was quickly picking up a bundle of sticks and looking very out of sorts.
When my gaze caught his he gave me a weak smile and waved which caused him to drop half the bundle of sticks again. He gave up on that half and strode inside the cabin with what he had left.
“How odd,” I said to myself. What would make him do all that?
I made my way back toward the cabin then kept walking to the other end of the ravine, just to get a sense of the space we would be living in for the next week. We’d glow for each other again within that time frame, and I loathed the idea of suffering through that kind of longing alone. Rhaz had made it very clear that we wouldn’t be helping each other through our monthly luminescence, though which soured my morning mood despite the sweet fruit I’d found.
By the time I circled back toward the cabin Rhaz was outside working on his corded rope again. I headed inside ready to pout about my plight when I saw something on the small table near Rhaz’s bed of furs.
I narrowed my eyes at the object and whispered to myself, “it can’t be.”
Then I approached the table slowly as if it were a sleeping beast that might wake and bite my hand. Lo and behold sitting on the table was the leaf star I’d given Rhaz almost a month ago.
What kind of sick and twisted joke was this? Did he keep the star as a cruel reminder of how much he’d hurt me?
I’d given this to him as a gift right before I asked if we could try to build a relationship, and he responded by informing me we’d never be mates, and that he’d never lay with me in the furs.
Why? Why keep this? Did he set it out in hopes that I’d find it? Was his goal to break my heart all over again?
That’s it. Enough with this weird new version of Rhaz. Enough with his fake niceness. I wanted answers, and I wanted them now.
I grabbed the star-shaped leaf and headed outside.
Rhaz was sitting on a fallen log as he worked on his homemade rope.
“What is this?” I demanded as I held up the star.
He stopped what he was doing and looked at what I was holding in my hand.
Rhaz furrowed his brows and answered, “It’s the leaf star you gave me.”
“Why do you have it?” I pressed again.
Rhaz cocked his head as he stared up at me as if he didn’t understand my question.
“You gave it to me,” he said slowly. “Should I have given it back?”
“No,” I sighed and ran a hand down my face in frustration.
“I just don’t understand why you kept it. Are you trying to hurt me again? Wasn’t one time enough?”
“Hurt you?” Rhaz let his project fall to the ground as he stood up and approached me.
“I’d never intentionally hurt you. I kept the leaf star because it was a gift from you. I know it’s meant to be burned, but I’d never get rid of something you gave me. It just…it didn’t feel right,” he confessed.
“Why?” I ground the word out through gritted teeth, and he took a step back.
