cave pools populated with “little water suns,” and my fellow humans and I were enchanted.
“There are caves like this farther south,” Esra told me. “But this is huge.”
The cavernous room stretched the length of an Olympic-size swimming pool, but its perimeter was ringed with a canal, of sorts.
We walked to its edge, and I remembered what Raxthezana had taught me about the armor.
“Should I just … get in?” I asked, gesturing to the pale blue glow that cast shimmering light ripples against the rock walls.
“Yes,” he said, and before I could sit on the ledge, he jumped in with a whoop. The hunters leaped in after, splashing us in a big wave.
Their unexpected playfulness coaxed me to join in the fun, and I ran along the edge and dove into a shallow swim just at the top of the water.
When I surfaced, I saw that the women had stripped down to their jump shorts and sports bras and sat at the edge, kicking their feet in the water.
I felt strange treading deep water while wearing armor, but it auto adjusted so I didn’t sink. Waves of what could only be described as an endorphin or adrenalin hit washed over me, and I realized the shel were soaking in what they needed, and my blood was siphoning off what was left.
Raxthezana left the hunters and swam to the bank, placing his helmet at the edge. The rest of us followed suit, and I found myself paddling near Raxthezana while the others likewise found their companions, the women having jumped in since.
“This is a beautiful place,” I said.
“It is the last safe bastion before the horrors of the undermountain passageways find us,” he said.
Quirking my mouth, I wasn’t sure how to respond. “Are you the Harbinger of Doom for our company?” I asked, a smile playing at my lips.
He cocked his head and frowned, then continued. “But it does have an ethereal quality to it,” he conceded and looked around before settling his gaze on me. “I’ve seen beauty more breathtaking.”
His black eyes looked so intently at me; I couldn’t mistake his compliment. Could I? I licked my lips and cast my eyes around the cavern and down into the pool where the undulating blobs floated without care.
“We have creatures called jellyfish in the oceans of Earth,” I said. “But those sting. VELMA assures me these are harmless.”
“Unless you are one of the crustacean devils,” he said with a soft smile. “Look.” He pointed to a dim spot under the rock ledge, and I spied a dark, star-shaped creature working its way across the rock. A water sun sped toward it in a rapid blur, puffed itself larger, then smothered the star with its blobby mass. The dark star was visible inside the water sun, encapsulated by a cloudy membrane, and then it dissolved before my eyes until the water sun was once again clear.
“Wow,” I said, transfixed.
“For every thing of beauty there is a splendid death,” Raxthezana said, and it sounded like a recitation.
“Is that a proverb?” I asked.
“Nay,” he said, and I noticed the skin around his eyes darken. “Of an evening I will scribble some thoughts.”
Tilting my head, I looked at him with new eyes. “So, not only do you make maps, doodle sketches, and read very old books, but you also write poetry.”
His face flushed darker, and I realized he must be blushing. Delighted, I caressed my thumb over his cheek before I could even think about it. His skin felt shark-rough, and flames licked inside my body at the contact.
Startled at the unexpected onset of arousal, I hastily pulled my hand away and shifted into a lazy back stroke. The water configured like a canal with a lazy curve, I swam away from the feeling that frightened and confused me on a planet named Certain Death. But my gaze lingered on his face when he watched me, admiration in his eyes. Confused, yes, but maybe not exactly frightened.
We swam for what seemed like hours, but without access to daylight rhythms, we didn’t know unless we checked the time in our tech. I didn’t want to know. Since, as Raxthezana had told me, this was the last safe place for a while, it felt right to relax and rejuvenate.
Gravitating toward the pool where the canal ended, the humans and I gathered.
“How do you go to the bathroom in that get-up?” Amity asked, her frankness shocking but ultimately a relief. Why stand on ceremony after everything we’d been through so far?
“It’s my understanding that the shel use just about everything my body produces,” I said with a shrug. “Raxthezana said I have to leave it on until the abdominal injuries have completely healed.”
Compassion welled in their eyes, but they just nodded.
“Naraxthel was severely burned not long after we met,” Esra said, casting a glance over my shoulder, I presumed at her heart mate. “He had to keep his armor on until he healed.”
“I have to admit; the idea of the shel grosses me out when I focus on what’s happening in my skin,” I said, closing my eyes and finding my center. A small shudder. “While I wouldn’t have volunteered for this, I am glad to be alive. I’m trying to give myself grace and understanding by acknowledging the fact I’m in an adjustment period.”
“That makes sense,” Pattee said. “I know that happened to me just in realizing this was my new home, for better or worse.”
“Definitely,” Joan said while Esra nodded. “I acclimated or tried to acclimate. And then the next thing would happen, and I had to calibrate again.”
“It’s life on steroids,” Esra said, leaning against the rock edge. “The same kind of stuff happens on Earth or on a science class ship, you know? We get used to a routine, things are smooth, and then wham! Change happens. Wakes us up from autopilot. Only now, the “wham” is life or death.”
Amity groaned. “You’re so right.”
“I asked VELMA to track my cortisol levels,” Pattee said. “Know what I found?”
“What?” a couple of us asked at once.
“Over time, my body adapted,” she said. “At first, my cortisol was through the roof. Every day a new stressor. But since a lot of the threats are true fight-or-flight situations, fighting burns off the stress hormones, and I’m regulated again.”
“Yeesh,” Joan said. “Nothing like going back in time for homo sapiens.”
“Right?” Amity said. “I never thought I’d see the day I faced off with a dino.”
“Raxthezana told me about that,” I said. “You women are phenomenal. I haven’t had time yet, but I want to watch all of these events that VELMA recorded. At the very least, just so I can learn some pointers. We landed near Amity’s crash site and traveled north. So we haven’t had to fight too many predators yet.”
“Agothe-faxl?” Pattee asked.
“Well, yes,” I said. “Raxthezana took one out.”
She nodded. “It’s a given once you’re in the caves.”
“Speaking of caves,” Esra said. “I assume we’ll have to mine for the woaiquovelt at some point. Anyone else curious how we’re supposed to pack it out? It’s not like they have barrels or mining carts. While we use up food rations and end up leaving some climbing gear, we’re not exactly going to have a lot of space in our rucksacks to carry rocks. Not to mention its weight. Assuming it’s heavy.”
“They’re really tight-lipped about the metal,” Pattee said. “I’ve tried not to assume anything because I’m probably just going to be wrong. It’s so hard not to look at their lives and cultures through my human lens.”
“That’s a fact,” Amity nodded. “The littlest things can be considered strange to Natheka that I take for granted and vice versa.”
“Like that?” Joan murmured and pointed discreetly. I drifted to the side and took a casual look before turning back to my group.
“They’re drinking the cave water,” I said, my voice quiet. “Is there something wrong with it?”
“It’s salty,” Esra said with a smile. “Suuuuper salty.”
“Interesting,” I said and gazed around the cavern again, noting the flat floor and steep walls. “The path we took to get here was mostly lava tubes but also those solution chimneys we had to climb up and down. This place is definitely more like a polje.”
“Maybe you could explain that like I’m five,” Amity said with a wink and a smile. I laughed.
“The vertical shafts were formed from water runoff dissolving limestone over time,” I said. “With all the quakes, I’d say we’re close to a fault line, and the black mountain ranges suggest volcanic activity.”
“Ah, the lava tubes,” Amity said. “Okay, keep going.”
“But this kind of chamber would normally be formed from maybe a sinkhole collapse,” I said. “The size of it and the flat ground suggests this once was solid bedrock but a cavity was formed from the calcium carbonate dissolving in water. It’s spelled P. O. L. J. E. even though it sounds like poldge.”
“There’s probably epsomite in the water,” Esra said.
“I’m too lazy to grab my helmet and have VELMA check,” Joan said, laying her head back on the rock ledge.
Watching the girls for a minute, I paddled to the edge myself and turned, resting my arms along the ledge and giving myself a view of the hunters where they stood in a deeper part of the channel.
“So …. You guys are all in love, then?” I asked.
I heard giggling.
Darting a glance at their faces, I saw sheepish grins, eye-rolling, a smirk, and wide smiles.
“It didn’t happen all at once,” Pattee said while giving me a serious look.
I dipped my head.
“It was definitely different for each of us even though the result was the same,” Esra said. “Honestly, the guys were great about it. Very low key.”
“If anything, I’d say Raxkarax was almost walking on eggshells,” Joan said. “I would too, if I were in his place. Here three of his buddies miraculously get a heart mate, and he feels this supernatural tug calling him to find me. He didn’t want to influence me one way or another.”
“That’s considerate,” I said, and she smiled.
“Natheka told me almost right away,” Amity said with a chuckle. “But he was so earnest and nonchalant about it that I couldn’t fault his style.”
“Raxthezana had a heart mate before?” Joan asked, her voice gentle.
“I’m not sure how much I’m free to share, but they were both children,” I said. “She isn’t alive anymore.”
Sympathetic noises soothed the prickliness I felt, and I gave a small smile.
“I am one hundred percent okay with not being Raxthezana’s official heart mate,” I said. “Just so you know.”
“Oh of course.”
“Absolutely.”
“We get it, yeah.”
“Yep.”
My frown deepened when I tracked their nods and serious expressions, but none of them cracked under pressure, so I nodded to be sure, and then rested my head back on the ledge and looked up at the faint sparks the bead lights created in the minerals in the ceiling. It was like a night sky, and I sighed.
“Things are going to get complicated, aren’t they?” I asked.
All four of the women spoke at once.
“Yes.”