“Maybe Hoban thinks we have enough men now to get away with it. Ask him, he may tell you.”
Anne shuddered. “No, thank you. We don’t talk.”
Addie’s brows furrowed as her eyes landed on Anne’s huddled form.They didn’t talk.
He’d been screwing her for years.
Taking in Anne’s chapped lips and pruney fingers, Addie shook her head. “You need to drink, Anne.”
“Funny, I don’t feel thirsty.”
“How can you not? Go, finish your juice.”
“I guess.” With a sigh, the woman pushed off the furs and stood up. “Have you seen Dannica around? Or Mot?”
“They were at Iolanthe’s, celebrating. I don’t know where they’re at now.”
Anne scrunched up her nose. “Shagging, I bet. Where else.” She went away, shoulders slumped.
“Anne!” Addie called to her on impulse. “Don’t… do it. If you don’t feel like it, I mean.”
Anne stopped and turned. Her eyes were sad and knowing. “It’s alright, Addie.”
“You can say no. You can try. Please, try.”
Anne smiled. “You don’t understand, Addie. I can’t let my sisters do all the work. We’re in this together.”
She went and Addie stayed, perturbed. The day had certainly taken a different direction from what she had expected when she woke up in the morning.
The Yuux came back from their nightly hunt and fluttered around the shack like homeowners coming back from an extended vacation. Is the family silver still in place? Have the plants survived? What about that leaky faucet, has it racked up their water bill while they were away?
“You two are trouble,” Addie pointed a finger at them.
Ihr, so light gray it appeared almost white, landed on her finger. Its surprisingly strong toes with talons gripped Addie’s flesh tightly. She bounced it up and down before throwing him up. It shot up, gurgling in delight.
She extended her hand in invitation to Ehr, and the shyer and darker of her companions tentatively landed, careful not to grip the finger too tight. She bounced it with more moderation than the rambunctious Ihr before giving it a good throw. Ehr’s exciting gurgles floated from above as it did somersaults while falling down, only to swoop back up before it hit the ground. Addie laughed, the tightness in her chest releasing a little, the events of the day, by no means forgotten, temporarily taking second place to watching the Yuux at play.
Sathe returned, hostile and uncommunicative. She made a nest in the furs and turned in for the night, coiling her body like a dog in the corner farthest from Addie’s.
Addie did the same, unfurling her moss-stuffed mattress and snuggling under a patchy blanket made of leftover fur pieces.
This planet’s two rotating suns meant that darkness never existed in this world. Before the orange Ehr set, Ihr emerged, a dim yellow with a distinct greenish cast.
She lay under the roof of skins in her bed of rags, looking out of the shack’s open side at the green dusk, at the familiar bushes and shrubs, the clumpy grass with leaves as sharp as knives, at the beautiful glowing fungi that unfolded only when Ihr came out.
Homesickness lapped at her in waves. She thought about Earth and her family, wondering what time of day it was at home. In her mind, she sifted through things that she used to have, activities she enjoyed doing, replaying the sounds she no longer heard. Flowing water. A jingle of keys. A violin playing. She savored each recollection, cherishing the small details imprinted in her memory.
Recently, Addie had realized with dismay that her memories of Earth were fading, becoming more and more indistinct. She strained to remember the sound of her husband’s voice. She could no longer recall the exact motif on her tri-colored puppy’s back.
Tears silently rolled down her temples. She was beginning to forget. Soon, there would be nothing left for her to hold on to, not even her memories.
She slept, and instead of comforting visions of Earth, her sleep was troubled by dreams of fighting, by strong male bodies with sharp teeth and bloody eyes closing in on her.
Chapter 2
It was the Yuux that woke her. Addie sat up in bed and watched them with her eyes half-closed and still swollen from crying. The night was far from over, yet they were flying at a steady speed over her in a circle, emitting low growls.
A movement caught her eye. Sathe was up, standing at the edge of their shack, peering into the open space. Her Yuux companion was exhibiting the same pattern of behavior as Ihr and Ehr.
