“His diaper is dry, and he ate,” Luna said, trying to figure out what else could make him uncomfortable.
Something thrashed in the bushes beside them.
She instinctively stepped behind Noxx, arms up to protect the baby.
But it was only Snake.
He was waving around a big waxy green leaf.
“Oh, hello,” Luna said.
Snake squatted on the ground and began ripping the leaf into tiny shreds.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
He stood and extended his hand to the baby, trying to put some of the tiny leafy bits in his mouth.
“Oh, no,” Luna said. “He’s not hungry.”
Snake frowned and tried again.
“He doesn’t eat that kind of thing yet,” Luna explained.
Snake gestured at the baby and then pointed to his own mouth.
Luna watched, mystified, as Snake put a few bits of leaf in his own mouth and then smiled an exaggerated smile.
He reached out and handed her a few bits, then pointed to her mouth. She obeyed him, and was surprised when the bit of juice from the leaves was cool to her mouth.
“Oh, wow,” she exclaimed.
“What?” Noxx asked.
“It numbs your mouth a little,” she said. “It must be some kind of natural analgesic. He must think Sol is teething.”
“Are you teething, love?” she asked.
Sol gazed up at her with tears clinging to his tiny eyelashes.
“Oh, buddy,” she said.
This time she allowed Snake to apply a few fragments of leaf to Sol’s gums.
The baby smacked his lips a few times and then his eyes grew wide.
“Better?” she asked.
Snake swept the leaf bits out with his finger, and Sol smiled at him.
Snake smiled back, then glanced up at Luna in delight, clearly pleased at winning the little one’s favor.
“Thank you so much, Snake,” she said, hoping her expression would tell him all he needed to know.
He nodded, his face brimming with pride.
“Thanks, kid,” Noxx said gruffly. “Now let’s go, we’ve got to find your people in time for us to get home again.”
They got their bearings, and then set off again into the trees.
After a brisk, but peaceful walk, they finally returned to the spot where they had discovered Snake the day before.
Noxx stopped in his tracks and closed his eyes, letting his head fall backward.
Luna watched him carefully.
His body wasn’t changing like before, but it was as if she could see the invisible dragon inside him, stretching out to use his senses.
Noxx’s handsome face was suddenly almost unrecognizable as he lowered his head and sucked in a breath of morning air.
He blinked a few times, and Luna could see him shrugging off his other self.
But she had seen it. It was real.
The dragon inside Noxx had its own abilities, its own life, like he was really two creatures, sharing one body.
The idea was both thrilling and frightening.
“This way,” Noxx said, gesturing toward a stand of willowy blue trees.
A gentle gust of wind caused the blue tendrils to sway as they stepped into the grove, and Luna shivered at the eerie beauty of it.
Even little Sol seemed hypnotized by the susurrations of the breeze through the trees all around them.
They walked for nearly an hour in the dense growth. From time to time, Noxx would stop and turn, seemingly at random, and Luna and Snake would follow.
When the strange blue trees finally broke, they revealed a rocky path that seemed to go straight up the steep hill ahead and into the looming cliffside above.
Snake darted ahead of them and began capering excitedly up the path.
“He knows where we are,” she realized.
“It can’t be far,” Noxx agreed as they followed along.
The path was narrow, but well carved along the cliff face. Below them, the valley stretched out to the lake, whose dark surface shimmered in the sunlight.
Luna could see the roofs of the town more closely from here, and couldn’t help but wonder what the other women she’d flown in with were up to. Hopefully, their time settling in had been a little less… eventful than her own.
Suddenly there was a shout from up ahead that snapped her out of her musings.
Noxx took off without hesitation, sword already blazing.
Luna followed him slowly, trying to remind herself that she was carrying a baby and couldn’t jump into a battle. And if she was being honest, she wasn’t really one for jumping into a battle, even without a baby.
But when she rounded the next corner, she could see the path widened into a huge courtyard space.
Above it, the cliff face curved around the open area in a semi-circle. It was pocked with rounded openings, many of which currently had inquisitive faces popping out of them.
Before her eyes, people began leaping out of the openings onto the walls, which must have had foot holds in them, even though she didn’t see any. Before long, the wave would be upon them.
But the sounds weren’t hostile, they were joyous. The people were climbing down and streaming into the courtyard to greet Snake.
A woman with long, dark hair ran to the boy, exclaiming in rapid-fire hand signals, which he returned enthusiastically.
When she reached him, they embraced each other.
“It is a language,” Noxx said, sounding impressed.
“Of course it’s a language,” Luna replied. “He’s a very bright kid. He just has a speech disability, or maybe he’s deaf or hard of hearing. There was a girl in my prefecture who was deaf, and we spoke sign language with her.”
The other people in the cliff village were speaking in another language. Luna felt her chip whirring, searching, and then identifying it.
Suddenly she could hear words, everyone talking over each other. They were overjoyed to have the boy back.
“Why doesn’t he just get an upgraded chip?” Noxx asked. “Why didn’t your friend get one?”
“Not everyone can just get a new chip,” she said, sighing. “Technology is a luxury for some of us. When you live on the fringes, you don’t always have the credits for that. And a lot of times, the tech just isn’t there, even if you do.”
He frowned in thought for a moment.
But before they could continue their conversation, Snake pointed to them and the woman with the dark hair was sprinting in their direction.
19
Noxx
Noxx drew on reserves of strength he didn’t know he had.
As the unknown combatants flooded in, the desire to draw his sword to protect mate and child overwhelmed his senses.
Yet he was sure the woman meant them no harm. Nothing in the chip-translated conversation around them made him think the people of the cliff village were anything but happy to see them.
“Great warrior,” the woman said, bowing gracefully, then turning to Luna. “Beautiful lady and child. Thank you for returning my river.”
“Your river?” Luna asked.
“My River,” the woman said gesturing to the boy.
Snake joined them and made more signals for his mother.
“He made a drawing to tell you his name?” she said.
“Uh, yes,” Luna replied. “We thought he was drawing a snake. But River is a name that suits him much better.”