Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 71832 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71832 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
It's not hard to find Valmir. I note where the majority of the tribe is and look in the opposite direction. Sure enough, he's seated a good distance away, leaning against a boulder and pretending to watch the waves. Alone, like always.
I approach Valmir with my bag in my hand. "Ready to go?"
Valmir takes the heavy pack from me and grunts at the heft of it. "What did you put in here?"
"Rocks," I lie brightly. "I figured we'd need an entire bag of them."
He shoots me a look.
"It's supplies for a hike in case we run into trouble. Some food, water, extra fur wraps, little this, little that."
"Feels like a lot of 'this,'" he grumps as he puts the pack on his back.
I hold a hand out to him. "I'll carry it if you're going to complain."
He pushes my hand away. "Complaining is what I do best. Allow me my moment of glory."
Cute. Valmir's clearly trying to tweak my temper. But I'm so sad over losing my pet and the state of our resonance that I can't seem to crack a smile. "This might take a little time. I want to find a really nice clearing with a lot of shrubs and let him go there. Someplace special."
He doesn't try to shoot me down. "We can do that."
We head out, and I keep an arm around Makana as I hike so he doesn't get jostled. It's a nice day, with a gentle breeze and the sun out. It makes the strangeness on the beach even more jarring, and I wonder how many shelled monsters are going to show up on the sands today. Fifty? A hundred? I was tempted to put off my plans to release Makana, but at the fire last night, Liz told us all that there was nothing to do about the nautili beaching themselves. All we can do is sit and wait. The huts can't be moved, but they can be rebuilt like they were before. Since I'm too restless to sit and watch mindless tentacle monsters drive their shells over our houses, releasing Makana seems as good an idea as any.
I'm lost in thought as I hike alongside Valmir. We're not talking, but I suppose that's not surprising. We haven't had much to say to each other lately. Not since he got injured and I realized that I can't keep stringing him along on increasingly dangerous missions. Meeting Aidy and Corvak and seeing their delight at being part of the group just emphasized to me how much of a loner Valmir is, and reinforced that if he wanted to be part of things, he would. It made me realize we want very different things out of life. If I picture my life five years from now, do I think—
"You surprise me," Valmir says, interrupting my thoughts.
His quiet words jerk me back to the present. I flush, feeling disloyal for thinking about the future when I should be focused on right now. "What do you mean?"
"It is a strenuous hike," he says, gesturing at the steep, rocky path we're on. "I deliberately picked a treacherous one so you would comment on it. Or so you'd cling to me like Aidy does to Corvak." He smirks in my direction at that. "Instead, you keep pace at my side and say nothing. I'm almost disappointed."
"Is that bait?" I ask. "Because you just insulted Aidy and she's been nothing but nice to you."
"Aidy is a nice female," he says. "But she would be the first to say that she does not like a strenuous hike. Or hunting. Or leaving camp. She is quite happy to lurk near a fire. There are several females like that back at the camp, but you are not one of them."
"I don't know how I feel about that," I muse. "It's not a compliment."
"Why not?"
"Because you're slamming the other girls while trying to make me seem like I'm better than them. Everyone contributes in their own way. I'm not patient enough to sit with the kids. I'm not good at sewing yet. If I can brute force my way through things, I will. It doesn't make someone that sits at camp a bad person. They're still providing value to the group."
"And that's important to you? Providing value to the group?"
I eye him as I put my hands on a craggy boulder and haul myself over it. The "path" is steep, but if he can do it with a tender ankle, I figure I can do it with two good ones. His words seem to be genuine, so I decide to answer him in a genuine fashion. "I love that everyone here is like a great big family. I don't want them to feel like they must take care of me. I want to be part of a team, and I want others to count on me, and I want to know I can count on them. It's about being part of that big family."