Chapter 39
Hattie
The funeral pyre burned, acrid smoke filling.
Hattie had spent the better part of ten minutes trying to explain to Tuvo that, to humans, desecrating the dead was a horrible affront – even to enemies – because he hadn’t understood why they weren’t just left for the forest to reclaim.
Even after explaining it to him, she didn’t think he fully understood.
But he helped set the bodies in place and stood back respectfully as the village watched, for just a minute, as the wood around them burned.
Before it had even finished, they turned and began walking away. They gave them the respect of a proper funeral, but that didn’t mean they were grieving them.
Hattie and Tuvo were among the first to leave. They followed a few of the others as they returned to the village.
And to the party that they were having tonight.
The only ones that died were members of the Three Rings. Of the villagers, there were only four injuries. Two men that had grazes from bullets, one guy who got shot in the thigh, and one older woman that slipped coming off the rope ladder on the way down and twisted her ankle when she landed.
All told, they were lucky. And they were relieved.
The Three Rings were a plague on this village. Knowing that they were capable of fighting back, that they had dealt a blow, meant a lot. A party to celebrate coming through this was practically a given.
And Tuvo was the star of the show. People kept coming up to talk to him. And, to her surprise, he was talking back! His English was as terrible as his Portuguese, but when those were combined with gestures, he managed to get his point across just fine.
He really was amazing. The best.
And they still hadn’t finished their conversation yet.
Tuvo hadn’t had time to mentally work through the idea of her maybe being pregnant. The fact that she could get pregnant was probably something she should have mentioned to him before they ever slept together. But she honestly hadn’t thought he would mind.
And while she couldn’t say he was exactly happy with the idea, his internal confusion didn’t stop him from being affectionate.
That had to mean something, right? She wanted to give him the space he needed to come to terms with what they had done on his own.
But the waiting was shredding her nerves!
She returned to the kitchen area with the other women. Tuvo lingered around them, watching her from a distance as they worked. Every so often, Hattie would look up, smile and wave, before returning to her task.
He was always there. Always looking over her. It made her all warm and fuzzy inside. She couldn’t stop herself from smiling as she helped cook.
The last of the villagers returned from the burning pyre and they were welcomed with bright cheers. Some of the men were strutting around like peacocks, obviously proud at having protected their home. Hattie thought it was kind of cute.
Less so coming from Keith. He seemed to think he had done something by guarding them in their tree – despite the fact that nothing happened.
But no one was paying him any attention anymore.
Everyone had him figured out, and no one was impressed.
The best he got was polite smiles. Honestly, seeing it, Hattie felt pity for him.
This was the life he was destined to lead because of his own choices.
Seeing it play out here in this village just made her realize how sad and lonely he would always be. But there was nothing to do for him.
She pushed him out of her mind as she instead focused on making the best meal possible for everyone.
A thank you for protecting them so well.
Appreciation. Love. Cooking brought people together.
It made a statement. It was everything. And for moments like this, it was practically the most important thing.
As darkness started to fall and people broke out the instruments, she and the others began taking the platters of food to everyone. Tuvo was there, beside Inacio, in pride of place. He had been called away a short time ago, and she hadn’t seen where he had gone.
But she wasn’t disappointed by his absence, because now her wild male looked like the jungle king he was.
The jaguar pelt he had brought back from the crash site had been treated and preserved and now hung down one arm, a half cape kept in place with beaded leather straps hooking around his chest, under his opposite arm, leaving his torso bare, shining gold and brown like the skin of the pelt.
He had leather sandals and sat with one leg bent, offering a place for his arm to rest, making him look like a beast, sitting at his ease in his den.
He still wore a kilt, but it was a shorter one, made for him, of the same dark brown as the jaguar spots with a beaded belt that held the alien dagger alongside a pouch hanging off his hip.
Beaded jewelry decorated his wrists, ankles, and neck.
His hair had gotten longer, almost shaggy, and was pushed up and out of his face on one side, highlighting the harsh scars across his face.
Wild and sexy and hers.
Hattie brought him the bowl of bloody, spiced meat made especially for him and set it at his side. But when she tried to turn to go back for more, she found her ankle caught in the surprisingly strong grip of his tail.
He pulled, barely exerting any pressure, and guided her back to him. He took her hand and brought her down into his lap, resting on his thigh, against his chest. He held her close, one hand possessively resting on her belly, as he spoke into her ear.
“Rest, kyrya. You’ve been up and moving for marks.”
“So has everyone else,” she laughed, snuggling back against him.
“They are not my female. I don’t care what they do.”
She grinned. It was probably selfish to be pleased by such a declaration, but she had no desire to stand from her new throne. She relaxed against him, petting his jaguar pelt with one hand, and watched the people talking and dancing and laughing.
“Enjoying yourself, vi kyrya?”
“I really am,” she said, smiling. “This place is so nice.”
“Better than Turv?”
“Well, nothing beats home. I’m already missing it.”
His thumb was rubbing on her belly now. Was that a good sign? “I think I like this place best of what I’ve seen of Earth so far.”
“This? You know we’ve seen monuments that are a thousand years old and toured the most incredible architecture and met the most amazing people. This village is your favorite?”
“This village is real. These people are real. This,” he smiled out at them as children ran around, laughing and squealing, “is humanity without the filters of conceit or embellishment. These are ordinary people just living their lives. This is what’s worth protecting.”
Grinning, she snuggled into him. “Yeah. I think so too.”
The feast was even better than the one that welcomed them. The energy in the air was so different, so much brighter. The sense of victory floating through the air along with the beat of the music made everything better.
“Will you dance with me?” She asked, looking back at Tuvo eagerly.
He didn’t hesitate. He stood, picking her up and gently setting her down on her feet before letting her lead him over to the other dancers.
Dancing, for the domini, wasn’t the same as it was for humans. It looked more like a game of tag wherein you weren’t allowed to run, just dodge. Hattie wouldn’t have minded dancing with him like that.
So, she was surprised when, after turning to face him, he slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her close, rocking his body alongside hers. Moving in the way the other young couples were doing.
Surprised, but not unhappy. Her hips immediately began to roll, her body undulating, as they moved along with the exciting beat. She loved dancing. She loved having fun with Tuvo.
He was always willing to do things like this too. Indulge her request to cross the ocean just to visit her family. Play with her in the ocean. Dance with her in the rainforest. Her love for him deepened the longer they were together.
They moved until she was breathless. Until she was dizzy. She nearly fell across him, and he caught her up, lifting her against his chest as her feet kicked in the air, her arms around his neck, giggling as he brought her back to their rug.
Everyone was eating and laughing, speaking their weird amalgamation language, Hattie only translating here or there as necessary, when a commotion turned their heads.
They looked into the crowd as they suddenly parted. The music ceased and the chatter quieted as a group of people she didn’t recognize walked through the village.
For a few seconds, Hattie was confused about what she was seeing.
She was so unprepared for the sight of official looking men in hiking gear, she had no idea what she was looking at.
A large group – maybe ten or so – all in hiking boots, geared up, with stern expressions on their faces following behind the two men from the village that had gone to town.
Oh. The town. Right. These must be people from the search and rescue crew following the lead that had suddenly fallen in their laps.
She knew the instant that they saw Tuvo. Their reaction was surprise and a hesitation in their steps as they gazed upon the wild beast wearing a jaguar pelt.
“It looks like your people are here,” Inacio said, looking at her.
“I guess so,” Hattie chuckled breathlessly, turning to Tuvo.
He got to his feet, pulling her up and keeping hold of her hand as he stepped towards them.
The group came to a halt, only one man moving forward.
The leader wasn’t a man she recognized. He appeared to be middle aged, his dark skin minorly lined, only a few gray hairs in his short beard.
He looked at them with something like relief.
“Miss Sweet,” he greeted her first. “Mr. Tuvo. We’re relieved to see you both… doing so well.”
Hattie looked down at herself. At her pretty dress. Then at Tuvo’s cape. Her hair was pulled back and braided with flowers. He was draped in beads and leather. They looked like they had come here on vacation, and not like they had survived a plane falling out of the sky.
“Yeah,” she smiled back at their attempted rescuers. “We have Tuvo to thank for that.”
“What’s happened here?” He asked, looking around. “We found your plane. It crashed and it looked like you had been there until recently.”
“Oh, we had been. Why don’t you come over here? We’ll tell you what happened. Let me just ask Inacio if it’s okay.”
She gave Tuvo a smile before turning to make sure that these guys could stay here for the night. And they would at least need to do that. It was too dark to safely hike out of here. They must have been determined if they had kept going even once the sun set.