Chapter 11 #6
“It’s so soft,” I complimented.
Leaning in as if divulging some great secret, she whispered, “It’s tebbimenk.”
“What’s that?” I had no clue what a tebbimenk was. Was it a taboo thing to make things from one?
“Come on. I’ll show you.” Again with the whispering from Dace.
Not understanding but curious enough to go along for the ride, I followed Dace back to her place.
Dace’s hut was small but cozy. The big, heavy looking door to her place was nice.
“This used to be Joanie’s hut,” she was saying as she pulled out a key and unlocked her door.
Almost immediately I heard it, the soft, chittering churrs of critters. Stepping in, the smell of vanilla and honeysuckle hit me in the face.
Dace quickly closed and locked the door behind her.
Much like Kehl’s place, her hut had a fire, a very nice setup for cooking, a bed, a curtained off area I wasn’t nosy enough to peek behind, and off in the corner, in a large, crudely made pen constructed of chunks of wood and woven fronds, was a massive pile of miniature puffs of fluff.
“These are tebbimenk.” Dace squeaked with excitement.
“There are so many of them,” I blurted as I moved in closer.
“Probably shouldn’t touch them,” Dace advised. “Most Lo denaii are allergic to them.”
Meaning I might very well have an issue with them.
My gaze darted to my shawl but Dace shook her head.
“They aren’t allergic to their fur. Usually just their saliva.
They have a pretty sharp, thousands of tiny teeth stabbing you all at once, stinging bite if they do feel the need to protect themselves.
I heard Kirch is real allergic. He’d probably try and make me get rid of them if he knew about them.
He doesn’t like me at all.” Dipping down, Dace cooed down at a bright pink ball that churred right back at her.
“This is Dolly. She has a bit of sparkle to her, and that red one is Reba, and this one here with the green, that’s Loretta.”
“Do they love country, or do you?” I joked.
“Both,” Dace chirped.
Thinking of Cy and his secret love affair with country music made me smile, even if it immediately made me miss him like crazy. “Cy likes country. He could probably help you think of names if he was here.”
“Cy is your fella?” Dace glanced up from where she was petting a mob of mini Yetified tribbles through the holes small enough to fit her fingers through in their cage.
“He is.” Blowing out a long breath, I muttered, “He was.” Hell if I knew what we were now, seeing as I’d probably never see him ever again.
My hands lifted but I let them fall. “Who knows what is what anymore.” Clearing my throat, I dipped down with her to admire her mob of friends.
“We should probably get going on checking out the huts before it gets too dark to see them.” Glancing her way, I asked, “I don’t suppose you know which ones are going to be less work to get fixed up? ”
Dace walked to the window and peeked out the curtain.
“It’s too dark now, really, but we can check them out first thing tomorrow if you’re fired up about it.
One had a chimney that needs to be redone, the other I’m not so sure but they have it all boarded up.
It might take us a minute to pry them loose and get in.
” Dace glanced my way shortly. “If you’re okay with that, that is. ”
“I am.”
Tugging the curtain back into place, Dace walked over to the table and set her pack down. Grabbing a few chunks of the weird looking chips they used for fires, dung chips I was sure despite the lack of smell to them, she put them on the fire and came back over to where I was standing.
“Any reason I should be worried about, why you need to fix a hut up lickety-split?”
“I made a friend, and we really get each other. She’s not perfect.
Neither am I. I’m not interested in finding a replacement, seeing as real friends are hard to come by, and I’m not about to piss off half of the village for thinking I’m taking advantage of Mina’s family’s kindness, so I figured if I fix up a place as soon as possible, I can move in, thank Mina and family for their generosity, and continue on as I am. ”
Dace’s face screwed up. Her throat worked as her eyes grew glassy. “You don’t have to do that. I-”
“It’s for me.” Bumping her gently, aware I’m thicker and taller than her, I grinned as she ooped, slid, but quickly righted herself. “So maybe let me do as I please, as I have for so long I’ve done as I liked right into nothing, then smack dab into the middle of a Yeti village.”
“They’ll correct you the second you say that,” Dace cautioned me. In a mock deep voice, she grumbled, “Not Yet-tea, Lo denaii.”
We laughed for a minute over her sad impression of Berkr.
She wasn’t wrong— one peek out the window told me it was too dark to do much of anything.
“I should probably get going back to where I’m staying,” I muttered, though I didn’t really want to.
“Do you have an enormous sack of potatoes, like Vurhg was saying?”
Dace’s question caught me off guard. “A pillowcase full.”
Dace’s hands slapped to her chest and she squeezed the material of the thick winter wear she was donning.
“Don’t get me wrong, the tubers here are pretty great, a nice substitute for the real thing in a pinch, but they don’t whip up like home made Earth mashed potatoes.
” She was practically drooling at the thought.
It was then I realized that I may have lucked out in the mate lottery, but I’d just found my twin soul in friendship.
“I could spare a few, say, in exchange for lessons making tebbimenk wear,” I ventured quietly.
“Yes!!” Dace did a little dance in place and then squeaked, “And I’m done,” to stop victory dancing altogether.
Eyeing her, I tried to hold it in, push it down, but just started laughing.
“What?” Dace smiled but looked unsure. Blushing, she blurted, “Was it my boogie down?” Doing a little boogie in place again, she grinned, shrugged, and laughed along with me when that insane little jig in place set me off again.
She looked like an arthritic elf trying to attempt a touchdown dance.
“Don’t knock it,” Dace laughingly chortled. “It’s the only move I have!”
“Thank you.” It was the first thing I said when I got ahold of myself.
“For what?” Dace was all smiles despite the confused frown.
“For being my friend,” I said simply.
One moment Dace was standing next to me, the next she was latched to me like a barnacle. “Hi hould hay huh hame hoo hou! Hank hou!” she chirped happily from the material she was mashed up against, smashed up into my side.
Despite how dark it was getting, Dorothy’s warning of bad beasts on the peripherals, I sat down at Dace’s table and we chatted for a bit longer.
Feeling daring, I even gave Loretta an experimental pet.
Luckily for me, I quickly learned that Loretta is bitey but I am not affected by the dreaded tebbimenk allergy. Score one for me.
By the time I did drag my butt to my hut, Dace kept trying to talk me into staying the night, offering up her bed and insisting she was fine sleeping on the floor.
Wanting a bit of time to myself and privacy to wash up, I bid her good-bye with a tentative meet up tomorrow morning bright and early to check out the state of the other huts.
I was halfway home when I spotted him. Kehlor paced back and forth in front of Bia’s hut.
My steps slowed as I drew near. I was tempted to turn around and make my way back to Dace’s and take her up on her offer, but I wasn’t a complete and total wuss.
“Looking for something?”
Kehlor’s gaze whipped towards me as I spoke.
“Where go?”
Perhaps he didn’t mean to sound as angry as he did, or come off so controlling or bossy.
Walking right past him, eyes narrowed, lips pursed into a thin line, Kehlor quickly stepped out of my way as I marched right up to my door, opened it, and stepped inside.
Debating on whether or not to slam the door on his face, he made it all that much easier when he grumbled, “Why you go Vurhg hut?”
“Why is it any of your business?” I murmured silkily. Was that all anyone spoke of, chopping up events to suit the tittle tattle of the day and cause drama? Nope. Don’t like that. No thank you.
God… he smelled SO good.
As he moved in closer, taking up too much space in the doorway, blocking me in, he growled, leaned in as a shiver wracked my frame, the noise he was making stuttering to a garbled stop to immediately slip into a pleased purr.
“I don’t know what kind of games beasts or humans or who the frick ever are playing but I think that speaks for itself,” I growled out. Backing up, crossing my arms over my chest, I muttered with a sniff, “Not that it’s any of your business anymore.”
Kehlor’s eyes had slowly slipped closed as he inhaled several more brain fogging lungfuls of my scent. His eyes snapped open and his lips pulled back at my words.
My expression didn’t change. Running my tongue along my teeth, my eyebrows slowly rose. “Is that all? Just swung by to accuse me of sneaking around with Vurhg? Happy now?”
“Purr-roo need goot females,” he rumbled out with a scowl.
Uncrossing my arms, I stepped forward as I motioned for him to back that thing up.
Kehlor was just outside the door, scowling down at me.
“Let’s get a few things straight, sparky,” I bit out as I glared up at him and my hand slid to the door.
“Kehl. No sparky,” he grumbled distractedly.
Perfect.
“Kehlor if you like,” I shot back.
I saw it and it pained me to see it, hurt flashing across his face before he covered it up. It was nothing compared to the whopper he’d slapped me with before ditching me completely.
My hand lifted and I poked a finger into his chest. He grunted on impact. “I don’t know who you think you are, Kehlor, but the boss of me is not it.”
“Kehl want-”
“I don’t care what you want.” My shoulders lifted in a shrug.
If he smelled me he’d scent the lie. I very much cared about Kehl, more so about what he needed over what he wanted.
“Dace is my friend. I’m not giving her up.
See, when I decide to care about somebody, to let them in, good luck getting rid of me.
” Stepping right up into Kehlor’s personal space, I leaned in and inhaled deeply, sucking in head spinny lungfuls of his scent, and placed my hand over the center of his chest. The wild thudding of his heart beneath my fingertips made me smile.
“Dace makes me happy. Her friendship is important to me. I don’t want Vurhg, I want you, all of you.”
Kehlor pulled back immediately at my words. “Dace not goot for Purr-roo. Kehlor not goot for Purr-roo.”
“Does that lie taste as bitter on your tongue as it’s making me feel?” I snapped.
Spinning on my heel, I stomped inside and slammed the door closed behind me.
“Don’t leave things for me! I don’t want them!” I lied.
I was reacting, rather childishly I felt, putting more space between us than there already was. With a self-loathing growl, I trudged over to the bed and flopped down right into it.
I’m just making this all worse!
Kicking out of my boots, I covered up in my shawl from Dace, curled up in my still damp clothes.
The fire was low and would need tending to, I knew, but I didn’t want to, not right now.
Everything felt all over the place. I felt all over the place.
Wondering if anything would ever feel right again, understanding how Dace must feel, being amongst so many and yet so utterly alone. She understood. There was that.
I’d lost everything and gained a friend.
A soft knock at my door sounded then.
Not up to dealing with anything more from Kehlor, I shot up and bellowed, “GO AWAY!”
The knocking immediately ceased.
Forcing myself to get up, I tended to the fire, washed, dressed in that hideous nightgown from Dorothy, and climbed right back into bed.
Huddling under the covers, I stared at my Polaroid.
Kicking myself for not taking Dace up on her offer, I had to concede being alone was probably the very last thing I needed.