“You can name her if you want. What are some of your people’s names? Give her a pretty one. Something catchy.”
Addie ran through some options in her head. “Calypso. Or Jewel.”
But the queen couldn't pronounce them. After several more options, they settled on Serena.
“And how do you know she’s a she?” Addie asked. Serena looked fluffy and gray, like any other Yuux she’d seen, and she’d seen scores of them.
“Isn’t it obvious? Yours are both females, too.”
“Are they?” She had always thought Ihr, with her aggressive and curious personality, was a male. Go figure. She shouldn't stereotype.
“Addie?” the queen prodded.
“What?”
“Will you tell me when you start feeling unwell?”
Notif. When.
“I don’t think it’s wise, Qalae. I don’t want to upset you.”
“I want to know. I want to be with you all the way. And the baby. Till the end.”
It was Addie’s turn to fall silent. She didn’t know what she had expected. She secretly harbored a vague and thin hope, not for salvation, but for support from some of her tribeswomen.
She had never imagined it would come from the queen.
She swallowed thickly. “I will, Qalae. I will tell you.”
Hours passed excruciatingly slowly. Depleted, Addie wanted nothing more than to catch some sleep, but every time she dozed off, her body sagged against the ropes, cutting off what little blood circulation she retained, and she’d wake up, hurting, suffocating, and terrified that her baby already died in her womb.
The next time it happened, she was determined to stay awake no matter what it took. When she kept her spine as straight as the post, the pressure of the ropes against her stomach eased.
“Qalae?” she called out to the queen, hoping the woman wasn’t asleep.
“What?” Qalae sounded as alert as always.
“Why did you not tell the chief that you have decided to stop taking the herbs?”
“It doesn't matter much because Ihadbeen taking them. And I wanted to tell him in private first. I owe him at least this much. I am waiting for him.”
“You shouldn’t wait! Ask for a meeting. He is still your mate. He’ll listen.”
“It isn’t Net’ok I am waiting to talk to.”
“Oh.”
They fell silent. Addie’s thoughts went to Zoark and the men who marched with him to fight the marauders.
“Qalae?”
“What?”
“Do you think they’re there yet?”
This time, Qalae answered right away, as if she was thinking about the very thing Addie wanted to talk about. “They should be.”
“Are they fighting now?”
