R’Asha slowed next to me, amusement clear in his slitted pupils and the light-gold glow. “Distracted?”
“What do you wish?” I grumbled. I was fairly certain I knew why he’d come after me, but one didn’t simply ignore the religious leader of the tribe. That he was my friend on top of things merely complicated all of it. R’Asha could have made my life difficult if he went back and told everyone I had shunned him instead of listening to what he had to say.
“I’ve been sent by the chief to retrieve you from your folly,” R’Asha said easily, although we both were now standing and not moving, simply measuring each other. “There are a few unmated females in the tribe, and as the future chief, you were destined for one to bear your littles and continue the tribe lineage. Why are you risking more for some creature?”
My brow ridges had started to furrow in fury when R’Asha chuckled. “Or so says your father.”
I relaxed, my shoulders losing some of the tension. I knew I needed to stay as loose as possible in order to run for a while, otherwise I would tighten my muscles too much and it would cramp and be painful. “Father has many opinions about me having a mate,” I said finally, not sure what else to say. I knew no matter what I said, Father would not be appeased. Especially since I couldn’t really explain what it was about Dana that drew me so close.
“Why do you fight him so hard?” R’Asha asked, his tone neutral. It was a question I had been asked many times but never given an answer to, not out loud.
Inside me, I knew why I refused one. I was guaranteed a mate as the future leader of our tribe, and the others would be promised to good lineages. In spite of my father’s best attempts, I had not made friends purely with people who were of that blood. Instead, my friends included an orphan, a crippled warrior, the religious leader, and some of the other hunters in the tribe. I was friendly with everyone, although less so with the elders my father courted so heavily.
I would be gifted a mate, and my friends’ lives would go on, alone with no family for them. I didn’t want to do that to them. Then there was the matter of the Caterri. I wanted no mate nor children while their lives still ruled ours. What if I had a daughter that had to be tithed? What if I had a son who all he knew was our bowing to the Caterri and did not possess my bold spirit to fight them? It was far too risky. It was bad enough for our people, I did not want to involve more littles in there.
R’Asha clearing his throat reminded me he was there. I shrugged, and the resigned hiss he let out told me he knew I wasn’t going to answer. I hadn’t in the past, and I had no plans to change that. “I’m not going back,” I told him, letting my tongue flick out to taste the air. Dana’s scent was faint, but it was still there, at least for now. “I should have gone for her the moment she was taken.”
There was a hint of amusement in R’Asha’s eyes, much to my surprise. Although he was the spiritual leader, they were expected to defer to the chief in the matters of…well, everything else. “I have no plans to stop you.”
That wasn’t as surprising as it could have been. My stubbornness was not a secret amongst the tribe members.
“Thoheria is named for our goddess, the original mother,” R’Asha said softly, his eyes flashing light gold. “A mother is supposed to be fierce, to challenge and help her sons grow. But there is a reward for them, too.”
I didn’t want to remind him I was familiar with what he was telling me, because it was the same story told to us as children. We all knew how the world came to be, how we as a people came to be. What I wasn’t sure was how it had something to do with the now. “What are you saying?” I was cautious, the words tentative. He said he had no plans to stop me, but what if he had something else in mind?
R’Asha chuckled. “The females are a gift,” he said. “We were destined to receive them, to get their help. It is fate that brought them to us, to prove that we needed to follow your heart and rebel.”
There wasn’t much R’Asha wouldn’t attribute to fate, but I didn’t say that. O’Rrin was our skeptic, although I wasn’t far behind. After spending time amongst both my people and the Caterri, I had stopped assuming anyone knew anything about people. There was no predicting such things, not really. “So what you are saying is…” I prompted.
“If the rebellion is to succeed, we will need the females at our side,” R’Asha said pleasantly. “Fate tells us it is so. So you must save Dana and return, or don’t bother coming back until you have a plan to defeat the Caterri without them at our side.”
Well, that was more ominous than I had anticipated. Still, I nodded stiffly. Whatever happened, I knew I wasn’t coming back until I had Dana at my side. Even defeating the Caterri wouldn’t be enough, because I had more to think about.
“May your scales be granted speed, brother.” R’Asha pulled me into an embrace, quickly doing the circular mark on my shoulder that represented good health and luck among our people. It was considered especially auspicious to do on our coming-of-age mark, so of course that was where he went.
“Same to you,” I said, giving him a nod and watching him turn and head off. He didn’t race, didn’t run with
