She noticed that right away. None of the guardians did, either. Clearly, they regarded Luiz as very dangerous. She knew he was. It wasn’t that she underestimated him in any way. She was careful, but she also felt that every ancient needed encouragement. The more they bonded with others, the more of a chance they had to share emotions and hold back that moment when they would have to make a choice to seek the dawn or give up their soul. She didn’t want that for any of these men.
The powerful male jaguar leading the way had a very broad head and a massive, dense, muscular body. His fur was thick, a golden color with black rosettes. The green eyes were ringed with amber, and there were flecks of gold in the green, but when the male swung his head to check on her, Adalasia could clearly still see mostly green in the jaguar’s eyes.
She found it odd that the forest creatures didn’t run from him as they might normally from a jaguar. The big cats were predators and hunted for food, yet with Luiz, the birds and even monkeys and baboons didn’t react negatively with him around. He was a total predator, with that darkness strong in him, yet the animals seemed to accept him.
The jaguar took them into a particularly dark grove of kapok trees with very wide, thick trunks and heavy branches high off the forest floor. Fungi appeared to grow up the trunks, becoming larger and much more circular, a dull whitish gray that changed color as they traveled deeper into the grove of trees, blending so it was difficult to notice at first.
Thick, sturdy branches reached outward, some curving upward gently, while others simply stretched straight out, and others went skyward and flowed out, providing the canopy from above. Vines and heavy foliage covered the trees, hiding the trunks and strange fungi crawling up the trunks.
Adalasia followed Luiz up a tree, going from branch to branch until the large jaguar switched to one of the rounded fungi pads. She hesitated before she delicately put her paw on the semicircle. Expecting it to be spongy, she found it was solid, giving her confidence to follow, but both she and the cat were curious.
Sandu, this is hard, like wood, not mushroom or fungus. What is it?
I suspect we are about to reach one of Luiz’s houses hidden in the trees. This is something I have not seen in many long centuries, although I had heard they could be constructed. We tend to prefer caves so we can safeguard and still have soil to rest in. He is Jaguar and most likely prefers to be high in the trees.
How would he go to ground?
Beneath the tree, perhaps in the root system. I am just guessing, but it would make sense.
The circular pads were wide, like a small verandah, and the male jaguar led the other two upward, going from one to the next until they were at the entrance to a house. The structure was cleverly hidden between two very large trunks and supported on thick branches. She could see that the house was much larger than she expected it to be and very open in design. She could look right inside, as there was no real door to speak of, but more of a fringe of hanging vines covering the entrance.
The male jaguar went through the vines and shifted immediately, stepping back politely to allow Adalasia to enter. This was always the moment she dreaded most. She practiced and practiced, but although she could shift very fast, she couldn’t always clothe herself as quickly as she needed to.
Sandu. She detested to admit she wasn’t as confident as she had been appearing. I might need you to help with clothing.
I appreciate that you would ask me, p?l?fertiilam. I have found that my new emotions have made it difficult for me to have men looking at you, even when I know they cannot feel as I do. Luiz has been a good friend to us, and I have not been able to treat him as openly as you have, in the event he should succumb to the darkness in him, but I would not want to insult him further by acting unseemly. Thank you.
That was Sandu. Instead of making her feel as if she was inadequate, he made her feel as if she had done him some great service. How could she not love him more with each passing night they spent together? The more she learned of him, the more she respected and admired him.
She shifted and instantly she was dressed. Sandu was meticulous in his memory. He didn’t forget the slightest thing, not even the socks she liked to wear. He materialized with her, his body slightly between her and Luiz as he looked around the open room.
There were no real walls, only a low half wall of wood. The floors were polished hardwood, while overhead, the ceilings were high. Branches curved in and out of the open design, high up as part of the structure. A jaguar would have access to the arboreal highway as well as be able to make a quick escape. There were benches woven of sturdy vines set against screens that divided a section of housing that could have been a bed.