Chapter 13 #5
“Do you know how to read and write Creeson? Their language?” I asked.
Calling it Lo denaii didn’t sound right.
They took on the moniker after being deemed unworthy.
These hardworking beasts were anything but unworthy.
Daisy’s males’ dedication to her despite her nonsense felt commendable.
Sunny said they were from Creeson Nine, so I shortened it to Creeson.
“Is that what it’s called?” Dace asked as she shook her head.
“No, but that’s what this place is. Sunny, Elm and Cy’s mama, she’s a Lepyr and that’s what her people call this place.”
“I’d like to learn, if I can. I don’t always catch on so fast,” she admitted.
“We’ve got all the time you need. I need a break from peopling.” The face I made said it all.
Dace laughed.
We were almost to our hut when she asked, “Was there a fight? Was someone hurt? I saw Noyel with his bag.”
“Yelled at Daisy. It made me dizzy. I fell. Karen Cottontail panicked and sent her males for a healer.”
Dace stopped dead in her tracks to look me over. “Are you okay? Do you need to lie down? I can-”
“I’m okay,” I assured her. I was anything but, but the last thing I wanted was a lie down.
Biting at her lip, Dace looked unconvinced but nodded.
“Purred-doo! ‘Ey!”
Dace and I both turned at the deep, booming voice butchering my name.
A male I’d yet to meet was shouting my name and hurrying up to us.
Nodding at us politely, the male was all sharp teeth on a pleased grin as he stared down at me. “Ufful,” he introduced himself, just as the other beasts did, their own name first.
This was my part next before the conversation went anywhere. I had to introduce myself. It took a stalemate with a beast named Gorig that had stopped by Doogie’s to figure this one out.
“Pru but Purr-roo is fine.” Smiling politely, I figured he just wanted to introduce himself to me as the newbie and that was that but he continued to grin down at me happily.
He was one of the super friendly ones, I guess. Maybe his mate sent him as their welcome wagon? I had no clue. He wasn’t exactly being very forthcoming after the intros.
“Did you, uh, need something?” I pressed.
“Kehl say come meet him Purr-roo,” Ufful rumbled out.
Dace and I glanced to one another when his grin widened and a deep, happy rumble started up in his chest.
“Uhm, okay, then, well, we’ve met. Nice to meet you.” My hand lifted in a little wave.
Ufful’s smile fell. “Go byed byes now?” he asked.
Another shared glance with Dace. She gave a little shake of her head and shrugged her shoulders, just as lost as me.
“Uh, yeah,” I said simply. “Good talking to you, though.”
I turned to leave but Dace was still staring up at the male. She looked frozen, stuck in place as he started to scowl. When he scowled harder, she shrunk in on herself like it was directed at her and I noticed she’d started to shake like a nervous Chihuahua.
Looping my arm through hers, I used my body to block her view of him and led her away.
We got a ways away from the scene of that confusion. The hut was right there when I listened past Dace’s chattering teeth as she struggled to regain her composure and heard the telling steps of some being following us.
One glance over my shoulder confirmed that Ufful was on our tail, if at a respectable distance behind. Not that that made this any better. What was his deal?
At the door, I urged Dace to go inside and that I’d be just a minute. She hadn’t spotted Ufful. The way he made her jittery, I figured it best she didn’t know he was here at all.
“What’s your deal?” The words were out of my mouth before I’d spun around to face him.
“Kehl say- Kehl say come meet my Purr-roo. Her need mate.” Ufful got it out there in one big, garble-blurted jumble.
He said what now? I could barely believe my ears.
“No, he didn’t.” Denial was the automatic response. What the hell would he do that for? First the BS with Daisy, now this? Was he actually sending males to me?
Holding out his arm, palm out, he encouraged me to sniff him.
“I’m not a sniffing lie detector. I don’t know what Kehlro told you, but he was wrong.” The headache I already had coming on felt migraine rage-y by this point.
“Ufful truth. Kehl say come meet my Purr-roo, see if you like Ufful. Ufful goot male. Kehl say Purr-roo see with Vurhg, but Vurhg not goot male, not make goot mate. Kehl no want Purr-roo with bad mate.”
“I don’t want you,” I said simply, but really I wanted to rage and scream and break things. If I were able, I’d be steaming from my nostrils like a good little angry dragon woman. Grr. How dare he?! Who the hell did Kehl think he was?!
The sound of my knuckles popping alerted me that I was fisting my hands at my sides too tightly. I was that angry.
“Look, I’m sure you’re a nice beastman and all but I already have three assholes on the roster. We’re all full up. There’s no room for more.”
Ufful nodded, though he looked disappointed. Tough potatoes. I wasn’t even remotely interested.
“Kehl say…” Ufful paused, then clamped his lips shut.
“What else did your great friend Kehl say?” I bit out sharply.
Ufful’s throat began to work and his gaze darted around.
“Ufful,” I snapped.
“Daidzee males tell Kehl, No-yell think Purr-roo have mate sads. Miss mates. Daidzee’s males no see Kehl’ Pur-roo.
Purr-roo get the head spinnies, fall when upset, like Rek missing him Jojoknee do.
Kehl worry Purr-roo get sick, no mate to not miss.
Ask Ufful, want be fourth, Ufful goot to Purred-roo males they comes back.
Ufful no care. Ufful say yes. Ufful pleased, see Kehl’ Purred-roo, pretty like Kehl say.
Prettier,” he enthused, to my lackluster glower.
“I want you to deliver a message for me. Can you do that?” Slow, deep, even breaths. You’ve got this, Pru. “I want you to tell Kehl that I said he can kiss my ass, and that he’ll be the only male on this plane I’d ever allow the prestigious honor of, and if he doesn’t like it, tough potatoes.”
Ufful opened his mouth to comment but slowly closed it.
“Do you need me to write it down?” I grumbled.
“Kehl know the angrish?” Ufful questioned. Under his breath, he huffed out softly, “No know many those words mean. Poed-taters tuft, plaid-steeg-ous hodor…”
Angrish. I liked it. It was the only thing I was capable of speaking right now, very angry English— Angrish.
“Can you remember my message?” I pressed.
Ufful nodded. “Ufful ‘member. Ufful tell Kehl.”
“Good. Thank you.”
“Ufful come back, see Purred-roo after?”
He looked so hopeful but there was no hope at all.
“No.” Don’t mince words. Don’t give him even a shred of hope or he’ll be up my butt. Blunt.
Ufful tried to smile but couldn’t quite manage it, his disappointment complete. He’ll live. Kehl may not if he keeps this up, but Ufful would get over my rejection. He seemed a nice enough beast.
“Is everything okay?”
Turning, I smiled as I made eye contact with a peeking blue peeper staring at me worriedly from the sliver she’d made barely cracking the door open.
“Everything’s fine,” I fibbed with a big, fake, put upon smile.
“It’s okay if it’s not,” Dace said easily as the door creaked open and she stepped aside for me to make my way past her.
“It’s not but it will be,” I hoped.
As we started in on taking off our snow soggy coats and boots, Dace mumbled, “I know you’ve been sad.” Hesitating, she added, “I hear you sometimes at night.”
When I turned around to face her after setting my boots at the end of my bed near the door, she was already walking towards me with a wrapped bundle in her hands.
“I know it’s not much but you mentioned you lost your wig with the beanie and I just thought, uhm, you know…” Voice trailing off, she held the lumpy bundle out to me.
Untying the fabric, I pulled out a beanie similar to the one she’d given me before, this one lined with tebbimenk fur on the inside, with a dark haired wig piece with purple streaks in it.
“I thought the color might be fun, and you said your hair was brown before it all fell out.” She was babbling, worrying her lip, her gaze darting from my face to her gift.
“It’s beautiful,” I blurted, staring at it and fighting a case of the weepies.
“I know the beanie isn’t always enough,” she chirped, pleased that I appeared to like her gift.
“And you like purple, and the beanie is blue, you said your Cy’s eyes are blue.
I don’t know what shade of blue but that’s the color I could come up with when Rosa met up with me and Joanie and helped me dye the-”
Dropping the wrapping cloth, I crushed Dace to me in a bear hug.
“Thank you. I love it.”
“Oh good! I was worried,” Dace gushed. “I didn’t want it to make you more sad,” she admitted.
“It makes me anything but sad,” I got out between loud sniffles.
“Good!” Dace was sniffling now too.
We pulled back, got one good look at each other, then laughed and hugged one last time.
“And thank you, you know, for sticking up for me, with Daisy and, well, everyone and everything.” Dace’s eyes were glassy as hell but her smile was huge.
Before I could say anything, she added in way of explanation. “For all of it. Village gossip gets around, you know? I never wanted you and Kehlor to fight about you living here with me. He doesn’t like me and that’s fine with me, but-”
“Hey, don’t believe everything you hear.” I wasn’t confirming or denying any of the rubbish going around. My arguments with Kehl were deeper than who I was or wasn’t around, and I knew it.
“The last thing I want you to think is that what’s going on with me and Kehl has anything to do with me being friends with you. Trust me, it’s really not.”
Dace took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay.”
Motioning to the table, I held out the paper I’d used as a key and the seven second rule evoked loaf of previously tossed bread. “Bread and sweet beast butter and a lesson in Creeson?”
“Do you think I could really learn it?” she fretted.
“Yep.” She had me for a teacher and where others lacked patience and understanding with her I had it in leaps and bounds.
If Berkr was the same with her then maybe I’d feel more settled that he seemed to be in some kind of thing with her, whatever they were or weren’t calling it. I didn’t ask and she really didn’t offer it up.
Studying the wig she’d gifted me, I had to ask, “Where did you find such long hair?” Who donated it, hung in the air.
“Oh. It’s mine.” Dace fingered her hair, just past her shoulders. “From before,” she explained. “I cut it all off for a book.” She said it so matter of fact, like it was no big deal.
“Did you get the book?” I blurted.
Lifting her fingers, she wiggled them at me, “Stuck my hands in a fire to save it and everything.”
“Was it worth it?” I couldn’t help but ask.
“Yes,” she answered without hesitation. There was more to it than that but she wasn’t forthcoming and I knew her well enough not to pry. She’d tell me when she was ready. She always did.
“Was there any particular word or phrase you wanted to say?” I started off.
“Oh! I know!” Rushing off to her bed, she pulled a ragged, beat up looking book from underneath her pillow. The cover was missing, the spine badly warped— it had definitely taken some fire damage. She cradled it like it was her most prized possession. “Could we translate this?” she asked.
Carefully, I turned to the first page and read it. A spicy, beastman Why Choose Romance. Got it. “We could try,” I murmured as I paused and glanced up at her.
“Rosa said Zhuii doesn’t know how to read English very well. He struggles with the human language. Maybe- Maybe we could translate it and gift it to her.” Before I could think to ask, she pointed to the books on her shelf. “She gave me all of those.”
“That was nice of her.”
“She felt bad. I only picked out three, but then she kept bringing them to me until I told her to stop,” Dace explained.
“She’s the reason you cut your hair?” I questioned.
Dace sucked her lips into her mouth. She held them like that until I stopped making the face that had her reacting like that.
Cupping her hand over her mouth, her eyes crinkled, telling me she was smiling and trying to cover it up.
“You look just like Berkr when he’s trying to pry something from me. ”
“You aren’t going to tell me who tricked you into cutting your hair for a book, are you?” My eyes were narrowing again. I had to fight for them not to.
Dace smiled like I’d just said or done the sweetest thing. “It doesn’t matter now. You look like you want to beat something to a pulp but I’m okay. Cutting my hair off led to Rosa warming up to me. She might mostly be doing it for Joanie, but she’s not mean to me. She listens when I talk.”
“She sounds nice,” I said simply, though I wondered at Rosa’s part in the hair cutting debacle that occurred before I was even here.
Glancing at the page, I translated a few bits and made a note, “We’ll have to pick someone’s brains about the stuff I don’t have a key for.”
“Maybe one of Joanie’s mates?” Dace muttered, half in thought.
“Not Rek,” we both muttered at the same time.
Sharing a look, we burst out laughing.
Rek wasn’t bad when he wanted to be, but when he was… ugh, when he was then all bets were off and he could be a giant pain in the rear.
We had a list of words to ask for symbols for, or of similar equivalent, by the time we’d called it quits, and Dace was still chortling over my admitted ‘Eat my fruit’ comment to Kehl. I’d needed to vent to someone and it had all just come blurting out.
After we’d called it quits and bedded down for the night, my mind wouldn’t shut off. It kept circling around the scene with Daisy and then Ufful.
What the hell had Kehl been thinking?!
He was worried about me so he sent someone else to check up on me and sniff out any potential interest in them, as what? A backup?
I was so disgusted with the whole thing and pissed off, it felt like my heartbeat was pounding in my ears for half the night.
Eventually sleep took me but my dreams weren’t much better.
I kept imagining I was running after things that were just out of my reach, so close, right there, but never within my grasp.
It was the best representation of my life so far.
The growls I was letting lose in my dreaming frustration constantly woke me up.
Something had to change but it wasn’t adding another male to the mix, that was for sure.
If Kehl wasn’t careful throwing males at me, he may just find himself tossed with this nonsense.