She had cried herself to sleep again last night.When Addie woke up in the morning, her puffy eyes were crusted over with dried tears. She hadn’t cried this much since her first agonizing month on Planet Zero, and she had thought she was done with the watershed. But now that she had hit a new personal low, she discovered that, amazingly, she had a lot of tears still left in her.
It had been four days since Zoark brought her home. Four days and five long, lonely nights with her lying in the cramped teepee, desolate. The darkness pressed down on her, and at the same time made her weightless in the vast void of nothingness. She was completely and utterly alone in this strange world, unrelated to anyone, with no past and seemingly no future. She had tried to find people, but they had deemed her too strange, took stock and found her lacking, and spit her out like a bad nut.
Unwanted.
Every night she went to sleep, she saw no reason she should wake up the next morning.
Yet every morning, she did.
Today her feet didn’t bother her as much, and after inspecting the soles, Addie was pleased to notice that her cuts were healing nicely.
Nature called, and she pulled her sock-booties on and reluctantly went outside. The Yuux rushed her like two overeager flying puppies.
“Here, here. And good morning to you too,” she grumbled but leaned down to grab a few Nessi fruits she had collected for her pets. They weren’t really fruit, more like clams, but they grew on a bush, so it was whatever.
The Yuux, she had found out, were crazy for the fleshy insides, but the hard nut-like shell was too hard for them to crack. Addie, with her stone knife, had no problem. And so she had acquired a perfect training treat. The Yuux would turn any trick for a bite of a Nessi fruit.
She extended her arm and snapped her fingers. Ihr and Ehr obediently landed to sit near her wrist. She treated them to the yellow greasy Nessi insides that smelled like dirty laundry. Yum.
After spending some time with the Yuux, Addie got to use the facilities - the nearest bush - and went to collect something for breakfast. As she walked, her mind wound to more mundane matters.
She felt lighter today, calmer somehow. The crippling disappointment of being cast off by the For had eased. She didn’t know why it was the case, but when she woke up this morning, she knew she wouldn't give up. Not now, not yet. Maybe not ever.
Finding a mossy patch with edible fungi, she bent to collect them, preoccupied with domestic problems. There were things she needed she had to find a way to obtain. For instance, she needed to make a spare dress and undergarments. The women in the city used to gather flaxen fibers and made them into yarn before knitting clothing. Addie hadseenit done but had never manufactured any herself. She wished she learned how.
By the time Addie came back to her teepee with the fungi and tubers, the two deepest cuts on her feet started bothering her again. She needed antiseptic. The bark of the Nipi bush carried some antibacterial properties, and Addie figured she’d get some for her feet. Many herbs that grew around here had medicinal qualities. It wouldn't hurt to gather them to build a basic medical kit.
As Addie unloaded her fungi and tubers, she couldn't shake off the disquiet that had been plaguing her of late, forcing her to constantly look over her shoulder. The sense of being watched gripped and didn’t let go.
It was only nerves. Being ambushed by the four warriors had shaken her more than she cared to admit.
The grass in the distance rustled.
Addie frowned. Was it her imagination?
The grass rustled more vigorously, too obvious for her to have dreamed it up, and an angry snort that followed definitely wasn’t a figment of her imagination.
She slowly reached for her axe. Just as she gripped it, a ball of pinkish gray-streaked from the thicket in her direction. Eyes widening, she braced for an attack that never came as the animal abruptly stopped several feet away, hackles raised, multi-jointed legs stomping, two holes on the sides of his head open in aggression. The thing was the size of a large dog and ugly, like a deformed crab with six feet and a round head. One black eye in the middle of its forehead stared at Addie, brimming with hostility. Two holes that served as both mouths and noses were opening and closing like a fish’s mouth. It was mostly hairless, with gray wrinkled skin decorated with soft pink patches that reminded Addie strongly of ringworm.
She knew this animal. She’d seen its carcasses brought back from the hunt by Hoban and Wynn. They called the thing Tek and ate its meat raw. The women called it pig, marinated the “pork” and made jerky. The jerky was the tastiest, most tender meat Addie had eaten on this planet. And she knew how to make it.
“Well, hello there, pig,” she said.
The six feet shuffled ominously, raising small clouds of dust. More snorts came out of the double mouths.
The slingshot wouldn’t cut it with this one.
Addie gripped her axe harder.
The Tek’s one eye stared back. It tottered to the left, and then to the right, but avoided a straight-up approach.
Addie charged. In a burst of speed, ignoring her hurting feet, she hurled her body forward with her axe arm raised and ready to strike. She aimed for the Tek’s eye, but it dodged, and the axe got embedded in its shoulder.
It screeched most gratingly, thrashing and spraying blood, trying to wrestle away, but Addie held firm. Goosebumps erupted on her bare arms from the feel of the live creature in pain, from feeling her axe cut through its flesh. She was a nurse, not a hunter. Taking life went against her nature.
But she shouldn't let herself think like Addie from before. And the jerky was good. This one catch would last her a long time.
She reached with her left hand and gripped a handful of Tek’s saggy skin to hold it. Pulling the axe from its shoulder, she brought it down again, and this time she hit the eye.
