9th Life

Ch. 26 Mine by Rite

Animals, like us, are living souls. They are not things. They are not objects. Neither are they human. Yet they mourn. They love. They dance. They suffer. They know the peaks and chasms of being. - Gary Kowalski, The Souls of Animals

A little over three hours was all I needed to be back on my feet and, oddly enough, Taren and Bastian had a harder time believing it than I did. I refrained from pointing out that three hours of longing for some hard core pain meds was three hours too many. Bastian couldn't keep his hands off my scar-less midriff, but then, he may have had that trouble anyway.

Taren had been gone nearly two hours and returned shortly after I'd finally sat up, wincing, but too nervous to not get moving. I didn't know how quickly Kirren could track me down, and we weren't far enough from the clearing for my comfort.

He sat on the end of the bed, fiddling with the elders' rings. "I spoke with Kirren. She returned these."

Bastian and I just stared at him.

It was my eyes he met. "She's... sorry for your loss." Turning to Bastian with a forced grin, he added, "Apparently, my friend, your issues with the Maarjaara have cost you your life... again." It took a moment for me to think through what had happened. My thoughts had been scattered at the time. Dying is distracting. 

The watcher had left the clearing too early to know how it ended. Caleb was last to leave, and he'd known Bastian had gone too far.

Confronting a grieving tiger wouldn't have been the brightest move. Not after what you did to Amber. The memory made my stomach knot. "Did they return to the clearing?" They had three of their own to recover after all.

"Whoever's decision it was, they'd intentionally given you some space. They were more confident of your healing gift than we were. Kirren mentioned she sensed you had left the clearing rather quickly. They gave you a moment and then returned, figuring you, or I perhaps, had taken Bastian with us." He laughed softly. "She couldn't hide her awe of how rapidly you recovered from your wounds, though she seemed to have expected it."

"Her reaction was hard to gauge when she first saw me heal, small though it was. I wonder if she'd made Amber over-confident. Might explain a lot." A guilty sigh escaped me before I could help it, though I knew I'd take her out, make the same decision, again and again.

Bastian brought my knuckles to his lips muttering, "If you hadn't killed her, I would have."

"She knew you wouldn't forgive her. She feared you."

"Not entirely a fool then," he muttered.

Taren ran one hand through his hair, as the other unconsciously stacked the rings over and over. "I saw the others off in the clearing. Not close, but... Caleb was tending to a woman who I'd guess, if alive, was only just. I could tell he spoke to her. It had to be Amber from what you told me. He seemed to be applying pressure to her neck."

"You mean, I didn't—"

"She didn't look good, Skyler." He stood, squeezing my shoulder gently. "Sorry."

I gave him a small nod. I'd made my decision. I could live with it.

Taren went on as if we hadn't changed the subject. "I suppose they think you walked out on your own since I couldn't carry you both. I didn't bother correcting her."

"Great," I grumbled. "They overestimate my abilities. I hope they don't plan on testing it again anytime soon." Bastian's fingers tightened around mine. It might have been uncomfortable before my initiation. It was still novel to sense how I could bring certain shifted aspects over to my natural form. My sight and hearing were dramatically enhanced. To some extent, I seemed stronger. Not like Bastian yet, but the biologist in me wondered if it had to do with some mix of the muscle type typical of humans versus felines.