Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 75650 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75650 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
I feel another pang of guilt. Why did I not create a sled big enough to pull her along? Is it because she bites at me with her words and cries when I try to talk to her? Even so, I should have thought of this. I should have realized she would have no one to look out for her…except me.
When we stop, I will make a new sled, a bigger one, and I will let her ride for the rest of the way. She should not be forced to walk. I am strangely protective of her, even though she will likely get angry at me. I figure she will be angry at me either way. I might as well keep her rested. It will be a long journey, and longer still if she is exhausted.
My sister trots up beside me, a frown on her face. “Why are you back here?”
“Eh?” I watch the little creature bouncing around at her feet. I have no memories of it, either, though I am told that Salukh’s mate tamed the dvisti kit and gave it to Farli. My sister spends more time with the animal than most of the tribe, and I find it strange to invite food to dwell in our encampment.
But lately I suppose I have found a great many things strange, with the large gaps in my memory.
“You are back here,” Farli emphasizes. She nods in Stay-see’s direction. “Should you not be there with her? Keeping her company?”
“I doubt she would like that,” I tell her. I nod at the small pack on her shoulders. “Do you want me to take that?”
She shrugs and immediately dumps it on my sled with a grin. “If you are offering, I will take it. But you should still go to Stay-see’s side.”
Her pet bleats at me.
I grow irritated that everyone has opinions on what I should be doing with Stay-see. “You think I have not offered?”
“Oh, I think you offered.” The look she gives me is far too clever. “But I do not think you are trying very hard to make her happy.”
I bare my fangs at my sister, and she bounds away a step, laughing. “You do not know what you speak of.”
“I bet I do.”
My sister is full of spice this morning, and instead of being amusing, it is irritating. “Is that so?”
She shrugs her shoulders. “I am just saying…I remember how often you and Zennek and Salukh used to speak of mates. How jealous you were when Hemalo and Asha mated, and then Maylak and Kashrem. You wanted nothing more than to have a mate of your own.” She raises a hand, gesturing ahead to where Stay-see plods behind Shorshie and Vektal. “There she is. Your mate. And ever since you woke up, you have stayed away.”
“She has stayed away from me!”
“And your feet do not work?”
I growl low in my throat, growing angry. “I have been unwell—”
“Not so unwell you were not the first to volunteer to go with Vektal,” she points out. “And you seem to be fine now, except for your memory.”
“Stay-see does not wish me near.”
“Of course she does. She is emotional. All of the humans are. Plus, she nearly lost you. And she has a small kit to think about. There has been much for her to worry over, and yet I see her alone constantly.”
My sister’s words shame me. Does she not understand that both Stay-see and I do not know how to go forward? “I do not know how to speak to her. I do not remember how we were, as mates. I look at her, and I remember nothing.” It makes my chest ache just to think about it. “She is disappointed.”
“She would be far more disappointed if you were dead,” Farli says sharply. She bats at my arm. “Go talk to her.”
I tried earlier and she grew upset. “She does not want to speak.”
“You are not trying.”
Have I not? “It is a…strange situation.”
“And you make it worse! You do not talk to her!”
“I am trying.”
“Try harder.”
Why is my young sister lecturing me on my relationship? What does she know of these things? “Leave it be, Farli.”
She throws up her hands in a gesture that makes her seem very human, and storms away, the dvisti dancing at her heels.
My sister. I snort to myself. What does she know of mates anyhow? She is yet too young to even think of such things.
Everyone travels with speed and determination early in the day. By midday, when we stop for a break and a meal, several groups are straggling behind. Some of the heavier sleds are re-packed and their goods redistributed amongst others, and the sled I am carrying nearly doubles in size because Kemli and Borran are growing tired and I do not wish them to struggle. By the time everyone begins to walk again, the enthusiasm is gone. Now, everyone is just tired. Now, the true hardship begins.