A month later, Alex got up early, as was his habit. It was a rare day when he wasn’t up before sunrise.
He climbed out of the soft bed he had built for them with his own hands. Senta-eh was still asleep beside him. Monda-ak, in his own bed beside theirs, yawned and looked at Alex questioningly. Alex put his finger to his lips, which was enough of an excuse that Monda-ak laid his massive head between his paws and once again closed his eyes.
Alex turned back to the bed and reached to pull the soft blanket back over Senta-eh.
He saw something that froze his heart.
Senta-eh’s nightclothes had bunched in the night, revealing her stomach.
There was an angry red rash dotting against her dark skin.
The sign of the sickness.
Chapter Twenty-FiveA Glimmer of Hope
Alex stood staring at the evidence in front of him for long seconds, unmoving. He was a man of action, but he was frozen.
Finally, he sat back on the bed and took Senta-eh’s hand.
Her eyes fluttered open and she started to smile at him, but then felt the cool morning air on her bare skin. She did not bother to cover herself.
“Gunta, Manta-ak,” was all she said.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I did not want to see this face,” she said, touching his chin tenderly. “Because I do not want pity.”
Alex stood.
“Where are you going?”
“To get Niten-eh.”
Senta-eh patted the bed beside her. “Sit down.”
It was obvious that Alex wanted to be in motion, to be doing something. Still, he sat.
“You don’t need to get Niten-eh. I have been seeing her regularly.”
“You mean she knows...” Alex trailed off, but nodded toward her stomach, which he noticed for the first time was slightly rounder than he’d ever seen it.
“She’s known since the day in the krinta field. We both knew then.”
Alex drew a deep breath and said, “What can we do, then?”
“Nothing.”
“There is always something. Always.”
“We cannot interfere with what is happening. It is the way.”
An expression Alex had never embraced. It is the way. The Winten-ah way of saying there were certain things that were going to happen no matter how someone gnashed their teeth and pushed against it.
Alex was quiet for a long time, fighting against a strong tightening in his throat.
“I cannot lose you.”
Senta-eh cocked her head at him, like Monda-ak when he heard a far-off whistle.
“You say the silliest things sometimes. I guess it is because of what you learned in your other time. You can never lose me unless you want to.”
“You know I want you with me forever.”
“Then you have me. Do you remember when we fought the dandra-ta?”
“I will never forget. I wanted you to stay on the rock—”
“—like a child”—she interrupted.
“—and you did not. You leaped into the battle and delivered the arrows that killed the second beast.”
Senta-eh smiled at the memory. Her voice softened.
“And when you fought Draka-ak?”
“You mean when you pushed me back in the room and you and Werda-ak took on his guards all by yourselves?”
“Yes, that is exactly what I mean.” She reached for Alex and pulled him down until his head was laying against her chest. “Will you ever forget that?”
“Never.”
Her voice grew softer still, until it was nearly a whisper.
“Then how can you ever lose me? I am in those memories, and a thousand more. Even if I died at this moment, you would have so many memories of me, I could never leave. You will always have me with you.”
“That’s not what I mean, and you know it. I want you here, like this. Always.”
She stroked his hair softly, “That is what everyone wants. Always. But the world is the world. It is the way.”
SENTA-EH HAD ALWAYS been among the most comely of women in Winten-ah, which was a tribe renowned for its beauty. Still, as she grew heavier with child, she became even more beautiful. She was so lovely it nearly broke Alex’s heart each time he saw her.
No matter that Senta-eh said she would always be with him, and no matter how often she said It is the way, Alex refused to accept the fact that she would die soon.
He cast about for any possible solution.
That started with Lanta-eh. He found her in her cave, working with her sisters sweeping the floor, which was an endless job.
“Can I talk with you?”
Lanta-eh looked at him as though she had been expecting him, perhaps even wondering what had taken him so long to seek her out.
“Of course. Let’s go out in the fresh air.”
They walked through the caves to the opening and out into the sunshine. Lanta-eh unselfconsciously took his hand. Over the years, she had quizzed him about how people had shown kindness and affection in his time and she had done her best to adopt those customs.
They climbed to the very top of the cliffside and sat, dangling their legs over the edge. Below them, they could see where their land was trying to recover from the damage of the zisla-ta. It was still a mostly brown landscape as far as they could see, but new buds had sprouted on the trees and soft shoots of grass poked up through the brown dustiness.
Life always finds a way.
It was the tiny life inside Senta-eh that worried Alex the most at that moment.
“Did you already know?”
“About Senta-eh? Yes. I knew long ago. Do you remember when I took the large dose of karak-ta egg and slept for days? I saw many things then, including this.”
“I wish you would have told me,” Alex said softly, his voice tinged with regret and sadness.
Lanta-eh squinted into the early brightness of the day. “Do you?”
Without thinking, Alex said, “Yes, of course.”
“Manta-ak, if I had told you then, there still would have been nothing you could have done to change it. The world is
