Chapter 5 - Zyntarr
Bea’s soft little mouth sucks in a sharp breath.
I do not know what the cause of her panic was before, but she had been making progress in calming herself.
Now, she is quick to her feet, forcing my wings to open and retreat away from keeping her encircled within them.
It is a shame, for I liked her being there.
I stand with her, too, keeping an eye on her breathing rate, and the flush of her cheeks.
I have seen Protectors act in similar ways after befalling their first real injury; a twisted wing, or a nasty gash from the claws of a blue-tailed cat.
Sometimes, their spirits rise too high like a feather caught on an updraft, spiraling completely out of control.
They must learn to restore calm in their minds, no matter what is racing through it.
And something had been racing through little Bea’s mind when my High Spear and High Spearess made their announcement. I just don’t know what it was.
“Your-” she starts, pointing to my chest. Admittedly, I puff myself up, and widen my wings for her inspection. Though, with how my body is littered with scars, I am not so sure the sight would please her.
Something in my stomach plummets like a stone from the skies when she pulls a face. A displeased one.
I start to close my wings again. She is not happy with me.
“No. Wait,” Bea steps forward, shaking her head. “I can’t see them in this light.”
She then proceeds to… touch me. So stunned am I by the offered contact at first, that my mind does not know what she is doing - I only know that I feel happiness that she is doing it.
She squints her pretty eyes, and curls one hand over my chest, meeting it with the other before she leans in so close, I can feel her little puffs of breath against my skin.
I find myself holding my body incredibly still as if faced with prey that is sensitive to the movements of the jungle. Though, even a blind long-eared-night-rodent could see my display of skin-stars with the way they explode all over my body right now.
“They were definitely there,” she mutters so close to my chest, I feel the sound of each whispered word.
Looking down at her, my mind finally makes sense of what it is she is doing. Or, some part of it, anyway. She is using her hands to shield from the light of the twin suns, and looking very intently at somethi-
My whole body becomes stone.
She is looking at something over my heart.
She had seen something there? I cannot stop the way my tail wraps around Bea’s calf if I had wanted to. She is mine. The Goddesses have deemed me fit for this precious mate.
“I swear, I saw them, I-”
Bea draws back. Making an encircling gesture with her hands, she asks of me; “can you put your wings around us again so it’s dark?”
Of course, I think. Though I do not say anything, and just do as I am bid. Honestly, she could ask me to pluck my wings bald, and I would not even hesitate to do so. When we are in darkness again, I dare to look down at my chest, and… frown.
“They were there,” Bea offers, reaching forward to gently brush the pads of her little female fingers over my heart. “I’m sure I saw them, but-”
“I believe you.” The words are swift and true from my lips as we two stand here in the dark of my wings as if no others even exist. “I believe that you have ignited my heart-stars, my Bea.”
Her eyes shine at me as she takes a moment to track my features before her gaze drops back down to my chest - where her hand is still over my heart.
Covering her hand with my own, I press her palm firmly to my heated skin.
Her human hand feels so small in comparison to mine.
I swallow dryly. “It is probably my scars that are affecting how my heart-stars shine for you,” I tell her, and together, we peel away both our hands to inspect my chest again.
There is… something there. More skin-stars than usual.
And some of them linger over my heart instead of flying straight by like they may have in the past. But most are very faint, like star-spirits.
I have a few slashes earned from the claws of a blue-tailed-cat there.
There are burns from the saliva of a firemouth, too.
And other various nicks and scratches whose origin I have long forgotten.
My scars seem to have made my stars shy.
I watch my Bea with the one good eye the Goddesses deemed to leave me with. “They are there,” I tell her, my voice low and sure. “They shine for you, even if you cannot always see them.”
This, I know. I know it as surely as I know my own tail. I felt it the first time I was tasked to care for this brave little female.
But, by the expression on her face, Bea does not know this. Not for certain, at least.
Ducking my head to meet her eye, I tilt her face up to me with a gentle finger beneath her chin. “They are there for you, Bea,” I assure her again. “The Goddesses made me your mate, I know this.”
She swallows thickly, her gaze dropping back down to my scarred chest. “I… maybe we should wait until your heart-stars glow brighter again before we make any decisions? Just to be sure.”
Just to be sure? I have never been more sure of anything in my life.
But my brave little mate wants assurances. And, I am very willing to give her more assurances than there are stars in the night skies.