Page 67 of Lorran
Alone. Again.
The first few days, it was nice, like a vacation in a spooky old hotel, but Wyn needed noise, people, and sunshine. Being stuck in this room was suffocating, but that wasn’t the point. Lorran just arbitrarily decided for her. It felt uncomfortably similar to him drugging her for her own good back on the ship.
She wanted to sneak out just for spite, but she wasn’t that short sighted. She understood that the surrounding area had critters that would happily consider her a light snack, and she had no weapons to defend herself. Sneaking out would be an act of selfishness just to score spite points.
Still, being locked up inside a smelly room was less than awesome.
“Because I’m a fragile human? You just get to decide these things for me?” she asked.
Oh, so not happening.
“Yes.” He placed his hands on her shoulders. She flinched back, causing sorrow to flicker over his face. “Because you are precious. Invaluable. I know we have not known each other long, but my heart belongs to you. If anything were to happen to you—”
His unexpected sweetness took away the sting of her frustration, but his high-handedness remained a problem.
“Look,” she said, “I don’t want to be difficult. This is a crappy situation, and we’re dealing. I get that, but this place is barely habitable. I’m not trying to be a princess, but I’m tired of being cooped up in here. I know you don’t trust the others. I get it. And it’s not safe for me to go wandering around the island. Let me go with you.” He looked unconvinced, so she added, “I’m getting cabin fever here.”
The color drained away from his face, leaving him an ashy lavender gray.
“You. Have. What?” He pressed a hand to her forehead. “You require a medic. I am not a medic. Is this fatal? Is it from our current lodgings? Mylomon said the building was habitable, but he was wrong. Now I will have to challenge him because he injured my mate. I knew this base was unacceptable, and now you are ill.”
As he spoke, his eyes clouded over with panic. Wyn grabbed his hand, “I’m fine. Don’t go challenging people.”
“You are not fine. You have the cabin fever.” He took a deep breath and squared his shoulders. “I will bring you a medic.”
“I’m not sick. It’s an expression. It means I’ve been stuck inside too long.”
“Another idiom?” His eyes narrowed, as if he caught her fibbing. “Terrans have too many idioms. No one can be expected to know them all. And you have words that make no sense that I believe are a long-running joke.”
Wyn wanted to ask for examples of humanity’s confusing words but did not want to lose the point. “I’ll stay if you want me to stay. Fine. But I’d really like it if you discussed these things to me, rather than telling me how it is.”
He scratched at the base of his horns. “I sense a compromise. Let us practice shooting on targets.”
Wyn’s entire body perked. “I’ve never used a Mahdfel firearm before.”
“That is one such word! A proper weapon would not set the user’s arm on fire.”
“It probably has something to do with the early firearms using gunpowder, which was combustible.”
“Crude but effective,” he said. “Once you are proficient, we can decide how to proceed. And you will wear your armor.”
The armor suit wasn’t the most comfortable thing in the universe, but they worked through their first couple-problem without drama, so she’d take the compromise. “Deal,” she said.
Lorran
“Your stalking technique leaves much to be desired.”
“I thought we were doing target practice, not hunting,” she said, crashing through the undergrowth with no regard for stealth.
“You have given away our location.”
“To what? The birdies?”
“This environment is unknown. Any number of predators could be alerted to our presence.”
Fierce determination settled over Wyn’s face and she stomped her feet on the ground, creating more noise.
“You are still upset with me,” Lorran said.
