“That hover's pretty quiet, but it's not silent,” Rose said.
“We need to find a spot to set up camp and then we can turn it off.”
Rose saw it was big enough to carry a person, and she caught the implication immediately. They may need it to transport someone on the team who was too injured to walk.
“I've got a spot which is close to where they're holding the team, but it's at least a forty minute walk from here. Equidistant from the caves and where the explorer shuttle is.”
“Sounds like as good a spot as any.” Dav slid an arm around her, pulled her close, and nuzzled her hair. “I was worried. It's very good to see you're fine.”
She nodded. “I was worried, too. I didn't think it was a good idea for you to leave the Barrist in a little maintenance pod, but it's so good to see you, I'm not going to give you a hard time about it.”
He chuckled. “I'm glad to hear it.”
She held his hand as she showed him the way through the trees.
The birds above were making far more noise now than they had been when she'd come through earlier, so she guessed the low hum of the hover was disturbing them, but hopefully that would drown out any noise they made.
Sweetpea was fascinated by the hover and kept jumping from it back to Rose and back again.
Rose hadn't dared to use the blue tags to mark the way, in case a Krik stumbled upon her path, so she had to stop a few times to orientate herself in the darkness and it was over an hour before they arrived at her tree.
“Good spot.” Dav unloaded the hover and switched it off, and the sudden silence was almost deafening.
Sweetpea leaped back onto the hover and stared over at Rose in surprise that it was now silent and unmoving, and Dav chuckled.
“She's cute.”
“Too cute. I'm already deeply in love.”
“Kila giving you a hard time about it?” Dav asked.
Rose sent him a grin. “Funny how you guessed that straight off.”
He gave a snort. “You can handle Kila.”
That was true. She could.
Feeling suddenly better about everything, Rose pulled him into a hug, kissed his cheek, and then stepped back, hands on hips to survey the bags he'd brought.
“What's all this?”
“These are the weapons Sazo put together for me, and the other two are supplies. One box for you, the other for the rest of us.” She could hear the humor in his voice.
“Sazo did that, too, I assume?”
Dav's only answer was a soft laugh.
He never minded that Sazo put her first in everything. It was something she found hard to get used to, but Dav approved. It was how he and Sazo had come to an accommodation with each other.
She was glad they had, but she wished they would find common ground in areas other than just herself. One day, maybe they would.
Dav began to pull items out of the weapons box into a bag, and leaving him to it, Rose went to look in the supply boxes.
“Edventa!” She slapped a hand over her mouth in surprise at the noise she'd just made. “Sorry,” she whispered. “But just, yay!”
“You are happy,” Sazo said.
“Sazo, you are an absolute legend. Seriously, a million brownie points to you for sending down some edventa for me. I love you.”
“I know you do. That's why I sent it down.” He spoke formally, but Rose knew he absorbed her declarations of love like hot desert sand in a rain shower. He needed it. He hadn't heard anything positive for the first years of his life.
Rose found her hand was shaking when she tried to open the pack of edventa, the hailstone shaped chocolates which the Tecran had stolen from a planet in the far-flung galaxy. Sazo had been able to reproduce them, and it was as close to chocolate as it was possible to get.
“You aren't okay.” Dav took the pack from her, opened it.
“I think I'm hungry and I've been so busy and worried, I just haven't realized it,” she told him. “I've got the shakes and I think that's low sugar levels. I just need to eat a bit more and I'll be fine.”
Dav looked at her skeptically. “Sazo says you've been exhausted and nauseous as well.”
She shrugged. “I have, but I don't feel sick now, and it's not like I'm . . .” She trailed off, and stared at him in utter shock. She slowly put a hand to her stomach. “Hri Rivel said it could take months before she'd know if there was a chance we could—” She swallowed hard. “Dav. I might be pregnant.”
It was his turn to look at her in shock.
She'd had an IUD which would have been due to be replaced if she'd stayed on Earth, so she'd asked Hri Rivel to remove it. She and Dav had decided they were fine with the consequences of not using birth control while Hri and other Grihan doctors worked on what to them was the fascinating problem of finding out what Grihan birth control solutions would work for her, and if it was even possible for her and Dav to conceive.
That had been less than a month ago.
“Just so I understand. You're saying . . .?” His gaze went to where her hand rested on her stomach.
She nodded, and was suddenly in his arms.
“This is good news. This is the best news I've ever had.” He held her gently, and then set her down. “You have to go back to Sazo now, Rose. No question.”
“What news?” Sazo asked.
“I think I'm pregnant. I'm going to have a baby.”
Sazo considered her declaration in silence. “You are happy?”
“I'm very happy. And you will have another friend.”
She saw Dav's quick look of worry, and gave a tiny shake of her head.
How she dealt with this now would set the tone. Sazo could be a terrible, deadly enemy, or he could be the most powerful, faithful friend her child would ever have.
Dav's reserve was the result of the cultural issues the Grih had with artificial intelligence—thinking systems, the Grih called them.
But Sazo and his fellow Class 5 brothers were part of Grihan reality, now.
“That's why you've been feeling off?” Sazo asked.
“Sometimes at the beginning of a pregnancy, women get really tired and feel a bit nauseous. It even explains why I've been so weepy.”
“Sazo, I want Rose to get in the drone and come back to you,” Dav said.
“I agree, but the drone's just gone into orbit. It'll be two hours before I can get it back into position to come through the atmosphere and land in the same spot.”
Dav swore softly.
“I'm pregnant,” Rose reminded him. “Not ill.”
He shot her a cautious look and then grinned. “I know. But I want you safe.”
“I want you safe just as much, and you aren't even pregnant.”
“Fair enough.” He turned serious. “But the Krik are not gentle and the thought of you in their hands for any reason . . .” He shook his head in a sharp, hard movement. “No.”
She didn't like the idea either, but she also didn't like the idea of being sidelined simply because she was pregnant.
A wave of exhaustion suddenly hit her and she yawned. “How about this? I show you to the cave and you can watch what's happening there for a bit. I'll wait for you back here, and then we can walk back to the drone when it lands together.”