RUKH
The healer hums softly as her fingertips brush over Har-loh’s pale skin. She looks calm, happy, and so at ease that some of my tension melts away. I don’t let go of my mate’s hand, though. As long as I touch her, some of my fear remains at bay. As Har-loh sleeps, I gently rub her knuckles. I want to touch her face but I don’t want to get in the way of the healer as she works.
“Your khui is not familiar to me.”
I look up, surprised to hear her speak. Even as her hands glide over Har-loh, doing seemingly nothing at all, there are small changes. Some of the hollows are easing from Har-loh’s face, the tension on her brow relaxing.
The healer gives me a gentle smile and puts her hands on Har-loh’s belly. “I know the khuis of each and every tribemate, but you do not sing in a familiar pattern to me.”
“I am not of your tribe.”
She looks surprised to hear that, her hands smoothing over the hard, rounded belly of my mate. “No? But you look like Raahosh.”
“We shared a father.”
“But you do not claim the tribe?” Her voice is soft and motherly, for all that she could be the same age as me.
“You have nothing I want.” My voice is a near snarl.
She ignores the anger in my response, unruffled. “Yet you are here, asking us to heal your mate.” Her gaze flicks to me. “I do not judge your choice. I am just stating it.”
I return to silence. If she expects a reply from me, she doesn’t seem disappointed.
“I am Maylak,” she says after a moment.
I do not give her my name. Not yet. When she leans forward to touch the far side of Har-loh’s belly, I notice that the healer is pregnant, too.
“You are with kit?” Is everyone in this tribe pregnant? Leezh is, this one is, and Raahosh tells me that the tribe’s leader’s mate is also pregnant.
“I am, though I am the only one that will be giving birth to a full-blooded sa-khui. All the others will be half-human and half one of our people.” She sighs and pats her belly. “I envy the humans their speediness, though. They will not be pregnant nearly as long as I am. Your Harlow does not have much longer.”
I rub her knuckles again. “No?”
“The kit is small inside her, but seems to be fully formed.” She touches Har-loh’s belly gently. “It will be different, of course. The humans are very different from our people.”
That worries me. How different? In the wild, animals cull the ‘different’ from the herd. But this woman is a healer, and she would know if my kit is going to be too ‘different’ to survive. My chest feels tight, and it takes everything I have not to crush Har-loh’s hand in mine. “Is that bad? That the kit is…different?”
She shakes her head, and the pressure in my chest eases a little. “The humans have different strengths than we do. I’m grateful they’re here. Without them, we only had four females. I do not know how much longer we could have lasted as a tribe. They have given us new life and new hope.”
I don’t care about the tribe’s hopes. All I want to know is if my mate and my kit will be well.
Her hands flutter over Har-loh’s stomach, and then her chest, and her mouth thins in a firm line.
“What?” I growl, noticing her expression change.
Maylak pulls her hands back and clasps them in front of her rounded belly. “Her khui is very tired. It is having to work very hard to keep her healthy.”
It is not doing a good job, then, because my mate is more fragile now than ever. I hold her hand tightly and press it to my chest, as if her khui can take strength in mine. “Because of the kit?”
She shakes her head slowly. “There is something else it is fighting. Both at once are nearly overwhelming it. She will need to stay here, and stay close to me so my khui can bolster hers.” Her hand smooths over Har-loh’s cheek. My mate sleeps on, undisturbed. “Otherwise, you risk both your kit and your mate.”
I knew this, and yet hearing the words spoken aloud fill me with dread.
To save my mate, we must remain here with the bad ones. My entire body tenses and I fight the feeling of anger and helplessness that I feel.
I will do what it takes to keep Har-loh safe. What I need does not matter.
I will not make the choice that my father did and doom my mate by hiding her away from the world. Even if I cannot stay here, Har-loh must.
My heart is heavy as I press my mouth to Har-loh’s small knuckles.
The healer goes back to work on my mate, her eyes closing. Her mind goes inward and she is lost in her healing, gently pressing on different spots on Har-loh’s body and humming in her throat. After a time, I realize it is not Maylak that is humming but her khui itself – a different song than resonance, but just as powerful. A healing song. I watch at my mate’s side, unwilling to leave her, even to get up for food. I can eat later. For now, I will watch over Har-loh.