Khol (Rescued by the Alien)

18. Khol

Chapter 18

Khol

W e swam for a long time but as the sun started to set, we left the water. After drying off, I carried Flora while Nancy walked beside me.

“We’re wet,” she said before we entered the house. “Give me Flora, and I’ll take her inside where we can both get out of our wet things and into something dry.”

I held the cloths out to her, and she wrapped one of them around her daughter, bustling her inside to her bedroom. Their laughter rang out, and soon, Flora appeared from her room dressed in another pink gown.

She hurried over to stand in front of me. “I’s hungry.”

“Then let’s feed you. More nuggets?”

“I’s want fish. ”

Now that was a change. “Fish it is, then.” I’d reset my water traps last night and this morning, before they got out of bed, I’d collected my catch. After cleaning them, I’d placed them in the cold box provided by the water spirit. “How should I cook it?”

She shrugged.

“I could fry it.”

“That sounds wonderful,” Nancy said, striding out of my bedroom. She wore only a simple, sleeveless lavender gown that dropped to just below her knees, and I’d never seen anyone prettier.

What would it be like to claim what the water spirit offered—what Nancy might be offering? She hadn’t kissed me by accident. Where did she want this to go between us?

I’d loved Weela. There was no denying that.

But I could now see there was room in my heart for more than one person.

Nancy.

Flora.

If I stepped off the cliff and gave this a chance, I could have a family. I wouldn’t be lonely any longer. I could cling to the hope for a wonderful future with them by my side.

If only I dared.

“What would you like me to cook with the fish?” she asked. “Tubers?” She lifted the ones I’d dug on the side of the stream. “They look vaguely like potatoes, which is promising.”

“We could slice them and fry them with the fish. And ask the water spirit to give us other vegetables to round out the meal. ”

“What about donuts?” Her eyes sparkled with humor.

“They’re awfully sweet.” So was she. My heart kept dancing around in my chest, and if I let it free, I had a feeling it would fly through the roof and into the sky. Would it ever return to my chest again? I bet Nancy could snatch it from the sky and hold it tight and then it would belong only to her.

“What is it about our bodies craving sweet and salty stuff?” she asked.

“It tastes good.”

“So does fish.” She pointed to it sitting on the counter. “As do most desserts. Bread. Oh, yeah, bread,” she breathed. “I miss bagels and cake and all sorts of floury treats.”

“Vanessa makes bread. It’s amazing. I couldn’t stop eating it. And butter. They make that with hepadon milk.”

“Really? Are they similar to cows?” She described the creatures.

“More or less. I believe our hepadons are bigger than your cows. At least twice as big. We ride them.” I dredged the fish through a milky liquid I obtained by pressing a certain plant that grew in the jungle, then dipped it in something like the flour Nancy used to make clay. I’d added spices and my belly growled in excitement already. “Actually, I don’t ride hepadons, but those in the Indigan Clan do. They use them for transportation.”

“While you fly on ryvars.”

“I used to. No more. After what happened, I can’t return to the Dastalon Clan again, not if I wish to hold my head high. ”

“You should never be ashamed of loving someone.”

“Our love hurt my friend. It hurt Weela.”

“Your friend accepted your apology. He forgave you.” Her gaze sought mine. “If Weela was alive, would she forgive you too?”

“Of course.”

“How long has it been since she died?”

“Three years.”

Nancy slowly nodded before her gaze sought mine again. “How long will you keep beating yourself up about it? It’s been a long time.”

“When she was murdered, I wasn’t sure how I’d go on. Yet I’ve found the strength to do so.”

“Pain does fade, though it never goes away.”

For the first time since I left, when certainty blazed in my heart, I wondered about my actions. “Perhaps I should’ve remained there and accepted the judgment of my clan. Instead, I ran.” I placed the long slices of fish in the heated oil. They sizzled, and their heady spicy scent filled the room.

“Sometimes, we have to separate ourselves from the situation to put it into the proper perspective. You both followed your heart, and others were hurt. She paid the ultimate price, but it seems like you did too.”

“I did.” I missed her, but over time, my feelings of guilt had faded. “Why didn’t I want to follow her into death? Others often follow their mates.”

“Only you can answer that question.”

Why did the thought of losing Nancy gut me so much more than losing Weela? I’d loved her. Back then, it was all I could do to go on. Yet I had. I’d strode away from my clan and found a new life, one where I was content.

Weela and I were young back then. Were we too young to fall in deep love?

“My life has changed since I came to this island,” I said. “I took my sadness and turned it into a new life.”

“Are you happy?”

“I’m content.” I was now happy because Nancy was here, and what did that tell me?

That I was falling in love, that maybe I did deserve a new mate. Could I accept that feeling in my heart?

“I’m looking forward to meeting the other women,” Nancy said, placing the last of the tubers in the pan to boil.

“They’ll be excited to see you.”

How could I take her there and leave her? Even the thought of it made my hands shake.

Saying goodbye was going to rip through something vital inside me.

I turned the fish to cook it on the other side, focusing on this task and asking the house spirit for other vegetables and not the future I had no control over.

“What else does Vanessa make?” she asked as the water around the tubers came to a boil.

“Rolls with a sweet, spicy flavor. Seen-a-mon?”

“Cinnamon rolls? I’m dying to eat them already. Funny how deprivation sparks the appetite more than regular old hunger.”

The women had traveled for a very long time, though none of us knew exactly how long. They’d remained in stee-sas . . . No stasis, per Vanessa. That was her assumption since they woke and no one on her planet knew about mine.

“Leave it to us to bring carbs with us.” Nancy shook her head. “Did you enjoy her rolls?”

“Very much.”

“Then I bet you’ll enjoy the sugar cookies we’ll make. I can’t believe our Christmas is the day after tomorrow.” She bit down on her lower lip. “It feels real, yet it doesn’t. As I said, I lived in a place where it got very cold in the winter. We have lots of snow and that feels more seasonal to me, though I know many on my planet who also celebrate do so in the heat or whatever season it is in their part of the world.”

“I believe we might have snow on Zuldrux. On clear days, I’ve seen mountains far in the distance, and they’re capped with white.”

“Maybe you’ll travel there someday.”

“I doubt it. I like it here on my island.” Where I’d finally found peace.

“I have one big concern about Christmas,” she said, still pensive. “Presents, though I plan to ask the water spirit to help with that. I don’t know why it feels like cheating to ask the spirit to give them to me. It’s no different than going to a store and buying them. Long ago, on Earth, people made their gifts by hand. It was a simpler yet more complex time.”

“Here, we make whatever the gods don’t give us. If you’d like, we could make some things for Flora together.” I tugged the fish from the oil and placed the thick slices on our plates while she drained the tubers .

“I’d like that. Maybe after she’s in bed tonight?”

“Of course. A grain dish, if you please,” I said with a lifted voice, and a bowl of my favorite appeared on the counter to the right of our plates. “You’re going to love this one. I eat it often.”

She sniffed it. “It smells amazing. I think I’ll love it too.” She served each of us some of the grains, making up our plates with tubers and the other vegetables as well.

The fish was nearly done.

“I’s hungry,” Flora said, dancing over to stand beside us. Her pink gown had been adorned with real flowers. They’d wilt, but the water spirit would make another gown just like it. How long had it been since the water spirit could indulge a youngling?

“Get in your seat, then, sweetie,” Nancy said.

Flora scampered over to the table, and I followed with two plates, placing the one with the smallest serving where she’d sit, then lifting her to settle her in her chair that shrunk to accommodate her tiny frame.

Nancy followed with the last plate, putting it on the table.

We sat and ate, laughing about this and that.

“I gotta make pwesents,” Flora said after our empty plates had been absorbed into the table. “I don’t have ‘em.”

“We can do that tomorrow,” Nancy said, her gaze meeting mine. “I’m not sure what we can make, but we’ll figure it out. This is going to be the best Christmas ever.”

It was.

I was going to make sure of it.