Khol (Rescued by the Alien)

14. Khol

Chapter 14

Khol

I collected wood and got everything ready to bake our ornaments, though I wasn’t exactly sure what they were.

Because the wind kept gusting, heralding the coming storm, I erected a shade to protect my oven and help keep the flame even. Vanessa made it very clear that the heat level—she called it temp-a-toor had to be steady or the food would bake too much on one side and not enough on the other.

Back inside, I paused to watch Nancy and Flora. Flora stood on a chair at the counter beside Nancy, and they were busy working with their dough. The only dough I knew of was the one Vanessa used to make pee-za, and it was delicious. But surely pee-za dough wasn’t used to make items to hang on the tree. Or maybe we’d eat them off the tree later. That could be what she’d meant when she brought up sucking up needles.

“Can I help?” I asked, joining them.

Nancy sent me a sweet smile. “Sure.”

Her smile shouldn’t make me ache to pick her up and kiss her, but it did. It also shouldn’t make me want to take her to my bedroom, kick the door shut, and lay her on the blankets where I could devour every bit of her. But it did.

I was falling for Nancy, just as the gods intended, and I couldn’t seem to hold myself back.

Was there hope for a male who’d lost his way and was struggling to find a new path into the future?

I’d focus on my goal to give Flora the best griss-maas ever and see what happened after I took her to the mainland. If Nancy wanted to remain with the Indigan Clan, I’d walk away from her with my head high and acceptance in my heart.

And if she wanted to return to the island with me?

I wasn’t going to let myself dream of anything like that.

We rolled the dough into a thin sheet and used a blade to cut shapes. Under Nancy’s direction, we added holes at the top of each and laid them out on the very flat rock I used to bake my roasts.

When we’d used up all the dough, we stared at our creations. We’d made five-pointed designs Flora called stars, though the stars in the sky didn’t look anything like these. Designs that were supposed to resemble trees. Balls, though I didn’t know why we’d be eager to hang a replica of a toy on the tree. Flora also made what she called kee-tees, though Nancy pointed out she’d only made their heads .

A kee-tee looked a bit like a grundar. Nevarn’s new mate, Kerry, had tamed a grundar, and it lived inside their tree home with them, even sleeping on their bed at night. I wasn’t sure I wanted a grundar lying on my bed with me, but perhaps I would if I got to know the grundar first.

Nancy had crafted stock-ings, and she had to explain what they were. I mostly walked barefoot, though many Zuldruxians wore shoes or boots—without stock-ings. Should I ask our god to make some for us? They sounded like something I might enjoy wearing when it got cold at night.

I went out to check my oven, finding it nearly ready to bake our ornaments. The wind kept gusting, and I paused on my way back to my house, peering at the sky. It may be nothing . . .

But I’d climb the tallest tree nearby periodically to keep an eye on the horizon. Wind like this sometimes heralded a large storm, and if one like that was coming, I needed to be prepared.

Inside, I lifted the thin slab of rock and Nancy and Flora followed me back outside, Flora dancing and singing about the reindeer named Woo-dolf. Such a cute song. She’d recited the words to me inside as we cut our shapes, and the song didn’t take long to learn. Because it was fun, I sang it along with her.

Nancy kept smiling, and hope bloomed in my heart when it shouldn’t.

I enjoyed my isolated island life, but I’d be dishonest if I didn’t admit that I was lonely.

A male could be complete on his own.

But a mate by his side could make him feel even better.