Qalae stared straight at Addie. “What are you doing here, strange woman?”
“I helped bring back Elm fruit.”
“What business is it of yours?”
The more flustered Addie became, the more difficult it was to express herself. “I met them… ran into them. Gathering Elm fruit. And I offered to help.”
Let Qalae think that theirs was a chance meeting. She didn’t want Illied and Chele to suffer their queen’s wrath if, for some reason, they were prohibited from mingling with strange women from Earth.
“And you came here to stay?”
“No… um… ” How to address her? Her Majesty? Chief Consort? Mrs. Net’ok? She should’ve asked Melmie what the protocol was. “I will be going home.”
“See that you do.”
Ihr and Ehr chose this moment to fly over and engage in a noisy match with the queen’s Yuux. Or maybe it was Vuskas’s. There was a good number of the flying animals dashing from one teepee’s top to another.
Irritated, Qalae glanced up. “Which one of these screeching animals is yours?”
“They both are.”
Qalae pegged her with a stare.
Vuskas scoffed. “You lie. No one has two Yuux. Yuux don’t share a host.”
Addie extended her arm and snapped her fingers. Ihr and Ehr gracefully glided down to perch at her elbow.
Vuskas’s sneer slipped. Qalae blinked twice.
Addie’s satisfaction was complete.
“Hmm.” Qalae’s face assumed the bored expression Addie remembered from the assembly. “Youarestrange.”
She inclined her head her way in a non-committal manner and sauntered away. Vuskas didn’t linger in her company either, though before he left he gave her a blatant once-over that ended in another scoff.
Addie released a pent-up breath.
“Remind me to give you some extra Nessi innards you so love,” she whispered to her Yuux and pumped her arm once, letting them know they were free to fly away.
She turned to go. Once more, the For tribe proved unwelcoming if not overtly hostile. But no one had tried to hurt her, so maybe she shouldn’t complain.
She stopped at the very edge of the clearing looking out, lips pursed when the realization hit.She still didn’t know the way back to her teepee.
She frowned, furiously thinking the problem over.
Well, okay, she could trace her way back to the Elm patch, and from there she would feel more comfortable finding her way back. It would be a long detour, but she better stick with this safer plan than trying to figure out a direct path and get lost.
“Follow the rocks with red moss. It will take you to the sands. From there, keep Ehr sun to your back. If you reach where the flowering Puri fungi grow, you’ve missed your way.”
Addie slowly turned, anxiety twisting her stomach into a knot. She hadn't reacted that strongly to the queen and her beast of a henchman.
“And if I have missed it?”
Zoark looked at her from his muted-red dull eyes. “You’ll have to figure it out.”
She hadn't heard him approach. Why hadn’t she heard him approach? He was lame, with a busted knee. He should shuffle loudly, thrash like a bear in the thicket.
Nothing. There had been no sign of him coming right on top of her. She had never sensed his presence.
