She also prayed that Beth had made it out of the mines safely, finally coming to an acceptance and understanding for Beth running away and leaving her behind. There was nothing her friend could have done to help Sarah anyway. She had been smart to run. Expecting her to stage some sort of heroic battle to help Sarah fight the creature had been unreasonable and unfair. Even expecting her to drag Sarah out with her hadn’t been reasonable, since Sarah had frozen in shock. Fear had affected them both in ways they could never have predicted before experiencing such a nightmare. As for Beth using the past to guilt Sarah into doing things for her, she had to admit she remained somewhat bitter, but she believed that—unlike Farona—Beth had genuinely cared about her and had simply allowed her own neediness and insecurity to affect her behavior towards Sarah.
Sarah knew the difference now, and because of that, she could forgive Beth and wish for the best for her, letting go of that last link to a life she wanted to leave behind. Though she could not bring herself to pray for her parents yet, that wound was healing, and perhaps someday she could find it in her to wish them well too.
46
Jotahan felt like he was floating through the temple at the side of his drahi. The news from the healers was promising. So incredibly promising. Already, Sarah’s belly had hardened and her womb was enlarged, and the healers believed she was gravid with his nestling. If that was true, then she had undoubtedly conceived during their seclusion, though they had certainly continued to mate after they completed it.
She was more cautious in her optimism, telling him it might be too soon to get his hopes up, though the bleeding cycle that human females had to endure had not happened this last time, prompting Sarah to request a visit to the healers in the first place.
They had both studied what records they could find about cross-breedings between yan-kanat and human, and they were frustrated at how poor that recordkeeping was. What they did find assured them that the pregnancy almost always favored the development cycle of the mother, meaning their nestling would arrive sooner than if she were a yan-kanat female, who remained gravid for an entire passing before giving birth.
The healers were equally excited, and promised they would spend many sandfalls scrying with other skilevs to share information and prepare for the nestling. For the first time in his long life, Jotahan wished he could travel to a larger skilev, like Bal Goro, to meet other human/yan-kanat couples and discuss their experiences.
The yan-kanat did not “vacation” in other skilevs like humans did in their cultures. If one traveled to another skilev, it was generally for permanent relocation, because they were exiled or compelled for some reason to leave their own birth territory. The intensely territorial nature of the yan-kanat did not drive them to war among themselves the way humans did, but it did mean they didn’t physically visit other skilevs often, unless they had good reason to collaborate in person.
He and Sarah stopped to make an offering to Seta Zul, and he could see his own hope reflected in his mate’s eyes. They were both eager to start their family, though this time he had with her, when it was just the two of them together, had been the best in his life.
News spread quickly of their possible successful mating, which made Sarah blush as friend and stranger alike congratulated them during their journey through the temple. She shook her head, muttering something about a “Hipp-ah,” and how she needed to help the healers invent that. She already claimed she had plans for a “strah” and an “eye vee.”
Sarah had expanded her role in the temple, and he’d accepted that she needed this occupation for her well-being. Because she appeared to be volunteering her time, like it was a hobby, it didn’t bring shame upon him. It was also good for her standing in the skilev, as she became a teacher of human history and technology, sharing information about her people freely and earning the respect of the yan-kanat for her willingness to do so. She possessed surprising wisdom that came from a lifetime lived among a culture so different from their own that some could not even comprehend it. Sarah was helping to bridge the understanding gap, and also helping to improve the recordkeeping in the temple.
She confessed to feeling guilt for sharing the knowledge about what she called the “gunslinger’s revolver,” but Jotahan reassured her that Farona would have managed to figure it out on her own, if necessary, or she would have simply used another weapon to commit her foul deeds.
They finally made their way outside, enjoying the shade under a buttress of the temple as they walked towards the sky lift. Jotahan felt Sarah freeze and turned to look in the direction she was staring, her mouth agape with shock.
He stiffened when he saw who her gaze had fixed upon.
“Kevos,” he snarled, displeased to see his mate staring so fixedly at the other male, even if he was wearing human camouflage.
“What?” Sarah glanced back at him, her confusion clear in her eyes.
He recalled that she couldn’t scent Kevos like he could, and probably believed she was looking at a human. In that respect, it was little wonder she appeared so stunned to spot him leaving the right horn tower.
Kevos strode up to them, his expression dour, even as he nodded in greeting to Jotahan. He knew better than to address Sarah directly until Jotahan acknowledged him back.
It was odd not to see the visual cues to Kevos’ mood that were so familiar to him. Without his head spines and tail being visible, Jotahan had to rely mostly on his familiar scowl and snarl of irritation.
“I hate this skin,” Kevos growled, explaining his irritable mood.
“I take it the training is going well,” Jotahan said with a smirk.
Sarah held up a hand and both of them turned to glance at her. “Hold up a second! Kevos?”
She studied him in a way that made Jotahan grind his teeth, his head spines standing on end.
Kevos slowly backed away a few steps, focusing his gaze on Jotahan. “I’m growing accustomed to the chanu zayul inside my mind, and they are eager to enter the human world and see for themselves what they have only experienced through Sarah’s memories, but this,” he touched his cheek with one hand, his fingers appearing to dent the soft flesh of his face, “I despise.”
“Helloooo? Confused human here!” Sarah stood with her hands on her hips, tapping one foot and sharing her glare between them.
He realized that he had yet to introduce her to Elder Arokiv. He was surprised the elder hadn’t sought a meeting with her as soon as he’d returned to the skilev, but he was very busy and probably hadn’t had a chance to request a visit.
“Kevos is training to hunt in the human world. Elder Arokiv was able to successfully shut down the program that produced the twisted nixirs, but some of the people responsible for that program escaped the raid on the facility and went into hiding, taking a batch of the creatures with them. Those escapees are aware that certain levels of your government have been successfully infiltrated by the yan-kanat. They still want to war on our kind with their creations, and they don’t intend to let our infiltrators put a stop to their plans.”
“I have to learn how to act hu-man,” Kevos said in a dour tone. “I curse the cycle I was declared a master sentil. It caught Elder Arokiv’s attention.”
“Wait,” she pointed at Kevos, “don’t tell me you’re going to Earth looking like that.”