Chapter 30
Ursula watched as Crow and Suvesh scouted a somewhat level place and set up camp. She considered asking why two tents were set up, then decided against questioning the decision. Doubtless they have valid reasons. Besides, she was weary. Sick and tired of arguing and losing, more like.
The stinging candor came from her own conscience rather than one of her mates. Once the tents were erected, Zul set Suvesh to gathering firewood while he scraped out a shallow firepit.
“The fire will deter the predators from approaching,” he said after she offered to assist in setting up camp and he declined that offer, telling her instead to keep a close eye on her son.
Ursula did that anyway. No one needed to remind her.
Suvesh soon returned with an armful of sticks, and Zul sent him out for more. “Best to build up a supply just in case we’re out here longer than expected.”
“And how long do we expect to be out here?” Ursula probed.
Zul did not answer her.
Finally, she sighed and repositioned herself on the boulder she sat upon. “Zul, we’re entirely out of touch. We have no communication devices that I’m aware of. Why can’t you tell me what’s going on?”
He met her gaze and his hands stilled. “I do not know what is going on—”
Ursula scoffed. He frowned at her.
“—and Bran has cut off all communication.”
She rolled her eyes. “So, talk to Gil.”
He blinked in confusion. Did she not understand how the triad bond worked between bonded warriors? “I cannot.”
Her head tilted to one side. “Why not?”
“That is not the way the triad bond works.”
“Why not?”
Why was she asking questions like a child? Her persistence annoyed him, but he stifled that annoyance and returned his focus to laying sticks in the firepit.
“Do you think you must go through Bran to speak with Gil?” she asked, ignoring his refusal to discuss this triad bond further. “Bran’s not a switchboard. You can communicate with Gil directly. After all, I can communicate with each of you directly without having to involve the other two if I want.”
Zul went still. Raising his head, he asked in astonishment, “You can do that?”
“Well, duh! Yes, I can do that. I can have mental conversations with one of you without the other two overhearing. It’s helpful when it comes to discussing things like holiday gifts.” She shook her head. “That’s how I managed to surprise Bran for Christmas last year.”
“Christmas?” he echoed, wondering what that was. Then he shook his head and refocused. “You can speak mind-to-mind to any one of us without going through Bran?”
Ursula sighed. “Yes, Zul. That’s what I just said.” She paused and frowned. “Did you not realize that?”
Zul looked down at his hands because, no, he had not realized that was possible.
The concept astonished him, as he’d always known that his former prime listened in on his every communication with their second and vice versa.
He was simultaneously astonished at the trust Bran gave him and the freedom that trust offered.
Ursula interpreted his silence and his grim expression correctly.
Heart breaking for him, she got down from the boulder and moved beside him, setting her hand on his arm.
“I’m so sorry, Zul. I didn’t realize you didn’t know about…
about…” She sighed in a moment of comprehensive forgiveness for not keeping her informed.
“Anyway, I’ll quit pestering. I’m sure not knowing aggravates you as much as it does me. ”
He looked at her hand on his arm.
Thinking about how micromanaging and controlling his former prime was, Ursula said, “You know, Zul, your former prime was a real asshole.”
Zul shook his head and chuckled, his shoulders relaxing from the tension they’d carried. He ran the back of one knuckle down her cheek and said, “Yes, elska’adir, my former prime was a real asshole.”
She gave him a smile and returned to her boulder. “Crow, you’re wandering too far. Come closer!”
“Ah, Mama, do I have to?”
“Yes, you have to.”
The youngling pouted as he dragged his feet in obedience to his mother’s command.
Ursula looked at Zul and asked, “Will you ask Gil? Or at least try? The mate bond does not stretch so far.”
Zul blinked, astonished again. He’d not realized that the bond between mates was weaker—or at least shorter—than the bond between triad warriors.
Once again, she interpreted his expression correctly. “I think the warrior bond is stronger because it’s a matter of survival. If distance means a failure to communicate, then one of you dies which means that your mate cannot conceive young and perpetuate the species.”
“You’ve given this some thought,” he commented.
Ursula pointed to herself and simply repeated what she’d said before: “I’m female. That doesn’t mean I’m stupid.”
He dipped his chin in acknowledgement, beginning to understand how keeping her ignorant had both offended and insulted her. “I am sorry, elska’adir.”
“For not keeping me informed?”
He nodded.
“I won’t say it’s okay, because it’s not.
However, I realize that you and my other two mates don’t always understand that having information is always better than ignorance—even when I can’t do anything to change the circumstances.
” Again, she tilted her head while keeping her wandering son in her peripheral vision.
“How realistic is it that the Council Supreme would arrest me and torture me for information?”
Again, he was impressed by her insight. “Quite likely, actually. While females may not have political power, they are still governed by our laws and held accountable.”
“You know that’s not fair.”
“Life’s not fair,” he muttered.
Ursula snorted. “Yeah, I’ve gathered that. But shouldn’t the governed have a say in the governing?”
He looked at her, not quite understanding.
“I know you do research and look up the wildlife of Earth because you believe that Crow should know a bit about his mother’s home planet—and I approve of it.
I think it’s wonderful. But perhaps you might want to do a little research on the women’s suffrage movement on Earth.
Remember what I told you about women’s circumstances before the 1920s?
They were much like females here on Uribern: legally chattel and ceasing to exist as distinct legal entities upon marriage—er, mating—but they were also held to the same legal accountability as men without having anything close to the same rights and privileges.
For anyone remotely intelligent, that’s offensive. ”
Zul blinked and listened.
“I’ve done a bit of research: not much, just a bit.
I’m not a historian,” she admitted. “But I cannot help drawing parallels between Urib society now and U.S. society before the 1920s. For a culture with such advanced technology that Earth would traffick women in exchange for access to some of that technology, Uribern is incredibly backward in its societal attitude toward women… er… females.”
Slowly, he asked, “And what do you want on behalf of all females?”
“Well, Urib males elect their Council Supreme, don’t they?”
Zul shook his head. “Retiring council members appoint their successors.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh, that’s not fair at all! The Council Supreme doesn’t represent the people then, does it?”
“No, it doesn’t. That is what Bran, Gil, and their co-conspirators are trying to change.”
Ursula nodded, glad to have confirmation. “Then their revolution is long overdue.”
“Do you really think so?”
She nodded, a decisive gesture. “Yes, I do.” She took a breath and gazed into the distance, then shouted at her wandering son, “Crow, get back here!”
Zul glanced at the child and darted toward him, seeing what the child and his mother had not: a lurking predator.
Claws extended, he roared and pounced on a kodo that stalked an easy meal.
The kodo screeched. Crow cried out. Ursula screamed and dashed toward her son.
She snatched him in her arms and raced away as Zul dispatched the ferocious lizard with brutal efficiency.
Clutching her son, she saw the size of the kodo and shuddered.
It was at least six feet long from snout to tail and had to weigh more than she did.
Lifting the dead animal in his right arm, Zul grinned and said, “We’ll dine on fresh meat tonight.”