NOP: The Rejects of Sillis (11)

Another chapter, chapter another long wait. Nothing ever changes. If you where curious about Tiel's life before joining Second Platoon, this chapter is for you. As always, please enjoy!

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The Nature of Predators Universe was originally created by .

Chapter Eleven: Interfamily Disputes Involving Firearms

Memory Transcription Subject: Tiel

Date [standardized human time]: July 12th, 2136.

I try not to make a habit of watching people when they sleep. Outside the context of a loving relationship, it’s considered deeply sinister and strange behavior. However, this yotul insisted on making it a regular occurrence for me by not waking up on schedule. It was halfway through the first work paw, and he was still snoring away in his hammock with a grass hat covering his face.

“Nelso, wake up!” I barked at slightly above conversation volume.

He kept snoozing away. A pleasant breeze rustled through the orchard, causing the firefruit trees to sway and gently rocking the hammock back and forth. Not long ago, on paws like these, he and I would have shared that hammock.

I shook that intrusive thought from my head. “Nelso!”

He stirred slightly, rolling onto his side and mumbling something incomprehensible.

“Nelso!”

“Not now, babe,” he whined, still half asleep.

His words sent blood rushing to my face. We had agreed not to call each other things like that anymore. My tail whipped in anger as I mulled over how to address the situation. In the end, I decided to step on the edge of his hammock until it turned vertical.

The yotul hit the ground with a thud and finally roused from his slumber. As his mind made the rough transition between unconsciousness and awareness, he made bewildered glances at his surroundings. “Oh, Tiel, it’s you!” he said once he was fully cognizant. “What's with the rude awakening?”

I glared down at him. “You overslept again.”

He put his elbows on the ground and cradled his head in his hands in an attempt to look cute. “I’m sorry. It’s hard keeping track of time on a planet with a sun that doesn’t move!”

“That’s not why you slept in,” I said in an accusatory manner. “I saw who you were with last paw.”

His tail coyly flopped back and forth. “I may or may not have been showing two venlil girls a good time. So what? Are you jealous? We can sneak off later if you would like.”

“Is that all you can think about, you lazy tramp?!”

“I'm paid so little. It's no wonder I'm concerned about the generous compensation I receive as a substitute.” His voice took on a lecherously husky tone. “Don’t worry, you’re still my favorite. Not everyone gets to roll in the grain with someone as tall, strong, and handsome as you.”

My face began to feel warm, but I quickly purged the impure thoughts from my mind. “Enough! We have work to do. There’s a leak in the irrigation system.”

His ears pressed against his head. “On the main line?”

“No, one of the branches.”

“Thank Ralchi! We won’t have to work all paw.” Nelso picked himself off the ground, dusted himself off, and placed his hat back on his head. “But seriously, do you want to?”

I silently turned my back on him and walked away.

He followed close behind me. “I didn’t hear a no!”

“I didn’t say yes either!” I spat back.

We came to a winding dirt road that bisected the firefruit orchard. One of the trees on its periphery held a pair of tool belts and a short section of steel pipe in its branches. I clipped one of the belts around my waist, shoved the other into Nelso’s arms, and hefted the pipe onto my shoulder.

The yotul waggled his ears at me as we set off down the road–an attempt to tease me for my moderate display of strength. Under the orchard’s shade, I could fool myself into believing that it was a mild, pleasant paw. On the road, under the sun, it was like any other paw in the Burning Rivers District–oppressively humid and scorchingly hot, with the only respite being the occasional zephyrs from the dark side of Venlil Prime. It could have been worse. If it weren't for the water-intensive farmland that surrounded us and the snowmelt from the mountains in the Twilight, this valley would have been just as dry and barren as any other in the Burning.

Me and Nelso came out from in between the trees and were able to see for [kilometers] in every direction. Not that there was much to see–it was just farmland. With this unobstructed field of view, I was able to spot a venlil rounding a slight bend in the road ahead of us. Her primary fur color was the same tan as Dad, with large patches of me and Mom’s white on her face, chest, thighs, and paws. She buried her attention in her datapad, but that didn't hinder her from expertly avoiding ruts and rough spots on the road by stepping over them or abruptly changing direction without looking.

Nelso tipped his hat to her as she passed. “Good waking, Seli!”

My sister didn't even look up from her pad. “Fix the leak. It’s disrupting my water usage calculations.” And with that, she continued on to whatever task she had set herself.

Nelso cocked his head. “Is she mad at me? I can never tell.”

“She wouldn’t have said anything if that was the case,” I reassured. “She's probably just annoyed that you overslept again.”

“She’s a strange one, that’s for sure,” he said while looking over his shoulder at her. “Harmless, but strange. I wish your cousin would leave her alone.”

A contemptuous groan escaped my mouth. “She’s the last person I want to talk about right now.”

Nelso chuckled. “Did you two have another fight?”

“Yes,” I said tersely, not wanting to say much more on the subject.

At that moment, his nose detected something in the air and wrinkled in disgust. “What is that?”

I sensed it as well, but on the back of my tongue. “That’s the reason I’m fighting with her again.”

A shadestalker lay in the middle of the road with its hollow eye sockets turned toward us. Its tongue, blackened and shriveled from the heat, hung past its ivory teeth and touched the dirt. On either side of its head were two dried blood stains, showing the path of the bullet I fired to end its life.

Nelso carefully stepped around it and held his breath to avoid the stench, only releasing it once we were well past the corpse. “If you want that thing gone anytime soon, we could throw it in the back of the truck and drop it off in front of the guild headquarters.”

My tail wagged in amusement for a moment before I forced it to fall still. “No, the magistrate ordered us to stop doing that.”

“She ordered you to stop. If I did it…” His tail swayed mischievously.

I entertained the idea for the briefest moment before batting it out of my head with my ears. “No, I don’t want to be forced into the Space Corps again.”

“Why not? You made a friend on your last tour. You might make another.”

“Vil and I became friends to survive, not because we were having fun together.”

“That’s how you make lifelong friends–through hardship!”

His lack of understanding caused an irritated huff to escape from my mouth. I made a dismissive sign with my tail to show that I didn’t want to continue the conversation any further.

We came to a crossroads. A vast waving field of ipsom stretched to the horizon on one side of it. On the other was a stringfruit vineyard, where the leaky pipe made itself known in spectacular fashion by creating a geyser that reached [three meters] above the plants and trellises, producing a rainbow.

“Would you shut off the branch valve, please?”

Nelso flicked his ears in the affirmative and picked the largest wrench from his tool bag, spinning it on his finger as he continued following the road.

I cut diagonally through the vineyard, ducking under the wires and weaving through vines as I honed in on the spout of water. When the irrigation system was on, it wouldn’t be hard to think it was raining in the stringfruit fields. Every row of trellises had a pipe running on top of it that dripped water on the plants below through tiny, pinprick holes. Seli insisted that this method of irrigation used less water than sprayers, but it soaked my fur just as fast.

I arrived at the leak just as Nelso closed the valve and set the new section of pipe down on the ground. The rupture lessened from a spray to a stream and then a trickle, revealing a hairline crack that ran lengthwise along the pipe. For some reason, fissan steel always seemed to break like that. However, purchasing it in bulk was very cheap, making it easy to replace.

The excess water had turned the surrounding soil into a muddy, sticky mess that I had to trudge through to get underneath the water line. I started undoing the bolts that linked the pipes together, sinking into the morass as I worked.

I was halfway through detaching one end when Nelso came strolling down one of the vineyard rows, humming an old song from his homeworld. Instead of helping me, he stopped and watched me work with an amorous glint in his eyes.

“Are you just going to stand there ogling me?”

He held his paws up defensively. “I wasn’t ogling. And I would help, but…” He stood on his toes and reached as high as he could to show that the water line was out of his reach. “Not everyone’s as tall as you.”

“The least you could do is use the new section of pipe to hold the old one up, so the bolts are easier to remove.”

“Of course,” the yotul said as he did what I asked.

I removed the last bolt on one side of the pipe and gave it a swift knock with my wrench, breaking the seal of corrosion around the joint and dumping a stream of water onto Nelso’s head.

He shook himself off and glared up at me. “You did that on purpose.”

I laughed good-heartedly and started decoupling the other side of the pipe.

A pleasant silence settled between us. I took a moment to enjoy the rhythmic clicking of my wrench and the rustling of vines in the breeze.

“Your cousin solicited me last paw,” Nelso said suddenly. “Apparently she’s having trouble with her partner again.” 

I stopped turning my wrench. “Did you say yes!?”

Nelso’s ears flattened sideways in offense. “Of course not! I may be a tramp, but I have some standards.”

I sighed in relief and continued working. “Why are you telling me this, then?”

“It’s just funny. She’s so concerned with other people’s problems, but she can’t solve her own.”

“When your life’s falling apart, it's easier to lash out at everything around you than to self-reflect.” I took the last bolt out of the last coupling. “Just let it fall.”

Nelso removed the new piece of pipe, and the old section fell to the ground, splattering our lower halves with mud. “Do you think she’ll ever turn herself around?”

I held up the new pipe with Nelso’s help and began tightening the bolts to secure it. They went in much easier than they came out. “Only if she truly wants to get better, but that’ll never happen without extraordinary circumstances.”

Nelso moved out of the way so I could fasten the other coupling. “I hope those ‘extraordinary circumstances’ come soon. I’m tired of her calling me a primitive.”

I tightened the last bolt. “I hope so too. Open the valve again, please.”

Nelso tipped his hat and rushed off to the end of the water line. I didn’t have to wait long for the sound of sloshing water to come down the pipe. I remained for a few more moments to make sure the couplings weren’t leaking. Once the steady dripping from the bottom of the pipes resumed, I loaded the old piece of pipe onto my shoulder and went in the same direction as Nelso.

I considered what to do with the rest of the paw now that our task was finished. Seli constantly monitored and adjusted the water and fertilizer systems, and we weren’t harvesting any of the fields at present. Without anything else to do, I resolved to pull the weeds from Mom’s flower garden to fill my time. After that, I could take up Nelso’s offer–

 The datapad in my tool belt exploded to life with an obnoxious wail, scattering my thoughts into the wind. I groaned and pulled the offending device from its pocket, expecting it to display yet another warning about a harmless shadestalker sighting.

ARXUR RAID INCOMING. SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY.

I dropped the old piece of pipe and broke into a sprint towards Nelso.

The yotul’s ears pinned against his head when he saw my frantic state. “What’s going on?!”

I was too winded to explain, so I handed the pad to him.

He grunted with amusement. “Another one? Those grays don’t know when to give up, do they?”

“Can you take this seriously?!” I said while panting.

“Your buddies in the Space Corps sent them running last time. They can do it again.”

I recovered enough of my breath to jog along the road and speak at the same time. “Not without significant losses! The ship Vil serves on still isn’t back to full strength!”

Nelso was right alongside me as I ran. “Have you forgotten that you’re neighbors with the gojid–the species famous for sending military aid to any system attacked by the arxur? Everything will be fine.”

I appreciated him trying to comfort me, but I couldn’t ignore the pit that was developing in my stomach. “I hope you’re right.”

We cut across the orchards to get to the house faster, ducking under branches as we went. Finding the structure, even through the trees, wasn’t difficult. It was on the highest point in the valley for [kilometers]–a mound of dirt that was [two meters] tall.

When we arrived, Dad had two rifles slung over his shoulder and was helping Mom down the front steps, much to her embarrassment.

“There’s no need to fuss over me,” Mom said gently but sternly. “I can do it myself.”

“I know, dear,” Dad said, “but–”

“But nothing.” She took his paw off of her arm and continued on her own to the truck, but not before giving him an affectionate lick on the cheek. “You can start paying for your carelessness when you have to change this one’s diapers,” she purred while patting her inconspicuous baby bump.

Nelso failed to suppress a laugh and revealed our presence.

Mom immediately put her paws on her hips and switched into parent mode. “What have you two boys been doing? You’re filthy!”

I looked down and realized I was soaked from head to toe with mud clinging to my feet.

The my yotul friend answered before I could. “We were just fixing the leak, ma’am. Nothing dirtier than that.”

Dad spoke next. “You two are not getting in my truck like that!”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “That's what you're concerned with right now?! You truck?” There’s an arxur raid going on! Do we even know where Seli is?”

A paw rose from the truck’s bed. “Already here.”

Dad took one of the rifles off his shoulder and handed it to me, along with a box of ammunition. “You two can ride with her.”

Nelso replied with a polite “Yessir” and did as directed.

I huffed and followed him, carefully stepping over Seli as she lay supine in the truck bed and shaded her eyes with her pad.

Mom and Dad loaded into the cab, and the truck’s motor started up not long after. As it accelerated, Seli slid until her head bumped into the tailgate. Yet she continued working like nothing had happened.

Nelso exchanged an amused glance with me before repositioning himself so his shadow fell on her. “What are you calculating this time, Seli?”

“How fast the ipsom is growing.”

“Why? Is something wrong with it?”

Seli’s tail was unusually still for a venlil, which was one of the reasons why people thought she had predator disease. However, a surefire way to get it wagging, as it was now, was to ask her about her work. “No, this solar cycle is hotter than the last. I want to know if it grows faster under warmer conditions.”

“What have you found so far?”

She lowered her pad and started flapping her paws in excitement. “It’s growing slower. I think that's because they’re getting less water due to increased evaporation, but that hypothesis still needs testing.”

“How would you test that?”

Seli’s tail was a blur now. “I would increase the amount of water and see if it grows faster!”

The yotul matched her enthusiasm. “That’s pretty clever! Don’t forget to share what you find with me!”

“Okay! I will!” And like that, she was back in her own little world, typing away on her datapad.

Nelso turned to me and shrugged with his tail. I made a ‘thank you’ gesture in return. Most people avoided talking to Seli.

My datapad chimed as it received a text message–a much more pleasant noise than an emergency notification. I took it off my belt and read, From Vil: Are you in a shelter?

I opened the messaging application and typed back. On our way now. What’s going on up there?

No contact with the enemy yet. Only a small reading on sensors. May have to stop talking soon.

Remember to stay calm.

I’ll do my best, she typed. Stay Safe.

Stay safe.

Dad suddenly turned the truck off the road and into a dirt parking lot, causing me to nearly drop my pad. He slid to a stop between two exterminator vans, allowing me, Seli, and Nelso to quickly unload from the bed.

Before us stood a heavily dilapidated barn, with peeling white paint that barely hid the graying wood and rusting nails underneath. Its enormous sliding doors were open. Anyone outside could see the myriad of old furniture, rusted farm equipment, and other miscellaneous junk piled inside the building. 

Several exterminators nervously stalked around the premises, occasionally glancing at the sky for any arxur dropships that may have made it past our orbital defenses. Their uniforms made it difficult to tell exactly who they were–even the ones I knew–but one of them easily stood out due to her stature and behavior.

Jira was the only venlil in the Burning Rivers District that came close to my height. Though, much to her chagrin, I was still slightly taller than her. She leaned against the barn and glared at us as we approached. The exterminator had unzipped the upper half of her fire-resistant suit and tied it around her waist. As much as she would have liked to parade herself around in full exterminator garb, it was too hot–especially with that extra-dense, brown wool of hers, courtesy of her nightsider father. Her flamer hung from a sling around her neck, and a featureless face shield dangled from its foremost handle, directing its cold, unfeeling gaze at us.

Another family pulled into the dirt lot, and Burning Rivers’ magistrate rushed past us to meet them. She presented a cheery exterior, but I could see a nervous tick occasionally seize control of her tail, causing it to twitch erratically.

Once she had made sure that the new arrivals knew the procedures for a raid, she turned to us and signed a polite greeting with her tail. “Talsik! Ihada! It’s wonderful to see that you made it! You as well, Seli, Tiel, and Nelso.”

I mimicked her tail greeting. “Hello, Aunt Leni.”

Dad embraced her for a moment before speaking. “Who else are we waiting for?”

“Just one more family,” the magistrate reassured. “They should be here soon.”

Dad flicked his ears forward. “Dear, take Seli down to the shelter–”

“No, we’re staying together.” She interrupted it with such firmness and finality that Dad could sign and acquiesce in response.

Jira felt the need to intrude into the conversation. “Your predator-diseased family shouldn’t be in the shelter anyway. You’ll spread your corruption to the rest of the valley.”

Aunt Leni wheeled and grabbed her by the ear. “Young lady, as your mother and your magistrate, I am ordering you to be polite to your family! They’re still part of our herd, no matter what you say!”

Jira hissed in pain but knew not to struggle. “Yes, mother!”

Leni dragged her closer and hissed into the same ear she was holding on to. “You’re already a stain on that uniform. Behave yourself!” She let Jira go, and her friendly facade returned in a frighteningly small amount of time.

The exterminator scowled at us as we entered the barn. For a brief moment, I saw sunlight peeking through her ear as she rubbed it. She tried to hide the fact by letting the fuzz in her ears grow long, but there was a bullet hole in it, and I put it there when she tried to take Seli to a PD facility.

The only source of illumination inside the barn were thin shafts of light that penetrated the facade. Several people milled about in between the piles of junk, making anxious conversation about any novel items within them that may have caught their eye. To their credit, it was an excellent way for them to distract themselves from their fear and prevent a stampede.

Nelso’s ears perked up when he noticed two familiar venlil women among the multitudes of people. He tipped his hat at them and waved seductively with his tail, causing them to bloom and bury their faces in their paws.

Dad grabbed the yotul by the nape of the neck and dragged him along. “None of that, young man. You already cause enough trouble for yourself.”

Neslo winked as Dad dragged him away. “Yessir, of course.”

Once those two venlil were out of sight, Dad let go of Nelso and began rummaging among the junk. He found an unearthed chair, dragged it over to Mom, and offered it to her with a showy sweep of his tail.

She nuzzled him before sitting down. “Thank you, dear.”

Seli plopped down next to Mom on the floor with her pad held especially close to her snout. She was trying to block out the other people around her.

Dad spoke quietly to me. “In the loft. Hopefully, we can avoid your cousin up there.”

I signaled my agreement with my ears and followed him up a set of stairs. My yotul companion was close behind.

“Nelso, dear, are you sure you wouldn’t like to be in the shelter?” My mother asked kindly, stopping us midway up the steps.

“Not to be rude, ma’am, but the company up here is more genial to my species.” He side-eyed me. “Especially your son.”

I turned my face away so no one could see it turning orange.

Mom laughed quietly. “That’s understandable. On your way.”

Once we were in the loft, Dad took up a position behind one of the windows and loaded his gun. Nelso flopped onto an old, musty couch that was up there, sending a plume of dust into the air.

I went behind another window. I opened the action of my rifle, loaded eight cartridges one by one, and let the bolt forward. One final vehicle pulled into the parking lot as I clicked my weapon’s safety on. Two men and their pups got out and rushed into the barn, apologizing profusely as they went.

The exterminators rushed in close behind the family. Two of them worked together to close the heavy barn door, causing the whole structure to rumble. The others took up defensive positions and hiding spots, ready for any arxur that might try to break through. If any did manage to land, me and Dad would be the first ones to engage them.

Not long after that, I heard creaking on the same steps we came up. I subtly turned my head to see who it was and regretted ever thinking I could avoid Jira.

Aunt Leni went to Dad’s side to have a private, hushed conversation.

Her daughter made things very awkward by leaning against the wall while staring at me and fiddling with her flamethrower.

I tried my best to ignore her, but the only place I could look without her being in my wide field of vision was the corner of the room. I huffed in defeat and set my eyes forward. From this position, I was able to see the magistrate as she whispered and made small ear signals to my father.

A terrible, devious idea occurred to me. “Jira, you should send someone to clean up that shadestalker soon. It’s starting to stink.”

Leni’s eye snapped to her daughter. “I told you to take care of that as soon as possible!”

The exterminator stiffened. Her eyes darted between me and her mother as she searched for an explanation. “I didn’t want to waste department resources protecting people who are already tainted.”

Leni’s voice suddenly became much harsher. “You will personally clean up and dispose of that shadestalker as soon as this is over!”

Jira lowered her ears. “Yes, mother.”

The magistrate sighed and turned to me. “Tiel, before I forget, how have you and your sister been?”

“Good. We’re still working on our parents’ farm.”

“It’s wonderful that you're helping your parents, but Seli’s a smart girl. She should go to college, if you ask me.”

I glanced down at my sister, still engrossed in her pad as usual. “We’ve told her the same thing, but she seems content to stay here. And whenever we ask her about it, she always says that she’ll just relearn what she already knows.”

Leni chuckled. “She definitely knows a lot more about running a farm than most of us, but if she had a degree, I could make her a Magistrate of Agriculture.”

“We can’t have a tainted person as a magistrate,” Jira interjected, sucking all the oxygen out of the room.

We were about to move on without addressing her when Nelso spoke up from his lazy, reclined position on the couch. “Hey, Jira, am I tainted?”

She didn’t even blink. “Of course you are. Primitive’s are more susceptible to predator disease after all. And you keep company with Tiel and Seli, two tainted individuals.”

“Why is Seli tainted? She never hurts anyone.”

I shot him an annoyed look for not asking why I was tainted, but stayed silent nonetheless.

Jira’s ears swiveled in thought for a moment. “She displays herd-adverse behavior. That’s consistent with predator disease.”

“She only does that because people like you don’t treat her right,” Nelso countered.

“The right way to treat her is with electrical shocks. It’s how predators like her learn to be sociable.”

My grip tightened on my rifle.

Neslo laughed. “I could say that you’re displaying predator disease right now, with how hostile you are to your herd members.”

“I do what I do to keep the herd safe from threats like you.”

“Me? Threatening? If you say so. But wanting to roll in the grain with a tainted person like me? That’s surely a sign of a predator disease,” he said with a smug look on his face.

Aunt Leni’s head snapped to Jira. “You did what now?!”

Jira tried to explain. “Mom, I–”

“You should know better, young lady! And if you want a new one, there’s no need to go and try and steal your cousin’s.”

“Actually,” I interjected, “we're not really together anymore–”

“He’s a liar!” Jira shouted over me. “I’d never want to do that with a primitive!”

“Don’t you try that with me. That yotul may be a tramp, but at the very least he’s honest.”

The exterminator opened her mouth, but her voice failed her. All she was able to muster in her defense was a series of nonsensical monosyllabic noises. Me, Neslo, and Dad broke into hysterics at this ridiculous display, causing her to turn away and hide her blooming face.

Jira slammed her first into the wall, creating a bang that echoed off the barn roof and halted our fits of laughter. Her tail snaked in circles on the floor, picking up speed until the pilot light on her flamer clicked on, casting an orange glow around her. Before any of us could react, she turned with flames and Nelso reflected in her eyes.

I quickly stepped in between the two.

“Get out of the way,” Jira growled, her lips curled into a snarl. “That primitive has corrupted this community long enough.”

I clicked my rifle’s safety off. “Make me.”

“If you try to kill me again, I’ll make sure you spend the rest of your life in a facility!”

“I hit what I was aiming for once.” I point my gun right at her head. “I can do it again, especially at this distance.”

She readied her flamethrower and gritted her teeth. “Fine, I’ll kill two predators today!”

My finger made its way into my rifle’s trigger guard, but the shot never came. Aunt Leni yanked a lever on Jira’s flamer just as she pulled her trigger, causing its pilot light to flicker out and a pathetic spurt of gasoline to dribble out of its nozzle.

A second later, Leni had her daughter’s ear in a death drip. “This is not how I taught you to treat people!” she shouted. “Go downstairs now or I’ll have you arrested and stripped of rank!” She shoved the exterminator in the right direction.

I expected Jira to cast one last hateful look but her eyes welled up with tears and her shoulder slumped in defeat. Instead of storming off, she trudged away with her tail between her legs. 

“And you leave Seli alone!” Leni shouted after her. “I’m sorry, Tiel. She’s been having difficulties lately.”

I considered saying something uncouth, but I just didn’t have it in me. “I hope she gets better soon. This can’t keep happening,” I sighed as I flipped my rifle’s safety back on.

Several of our pads chimed at once. Seli read the notification out loud for all of us. “Emergency concluded. Resume as normal.”

The exterminators heard her and emerged from their hiding spots among the cluttered junk. The huddled families in the shelter overheard as well, and they began ascending from the dark, dingy crawlspace. The former group forced the barn door open once again, allowing everyone to begin leaving in their respective vehicles.

My datapad rang again, but this time it was a message from Vil: Are you okay?

I typed back as I went downstairs. Everything is fine here. What happened up there?

We didn’t even see the arxur. It must have been a false alarm. The gojidi fleet was here, but something on the surface fired at them, and they left.

My ears perked up at that information, but it wasn’t my primary concern. That’s strange. Are you okay?

I’m okay, just a little shaken. 

Remember to stay calm, and you’ll do fine.

Thank you. I have to go before I’m caught breaking security protocol. Stay safe.

Stay safe.

I cast one last look at Jira before I left the dim light of the barn. She sat on an old desk in the corner with her face buried in her paws. She had carelessly discarded her flamethrower in an adjacent pile of furniture. I sighed and crossed the threshold, shielding my eyes as I did.

Nelson's tail suddenly brushed against the back of my thighs. “You didn’t answer my question.”

My face grew warm as I mulled over his proposition. “Later, not right now.”

The yotul let out a closed-mouth chuckle and ran a finger from my chest to my neck and then off my chin, causing a shiver to run up my spine. “I’ll see you in the south orchard, then–last claw.”

“You boys have fun!” Mom shouted as she walked past us, causing me to jump.

My face felt hotter than Venlil Prime’s sun at that moment, and the knowing look that Dad shot me didn’t help one bit.

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