Hannah's Hero - Ruby Dixon Page 0,33
Brooke’s side and takes her arm, gently steering her forward. “Of course, my heart. Do you want a fire?”
“And some tea,” she says, letting him lead her forward. He guides her ahead, then dusts the snow and ice off of a boulder and she sits like a queen.
“Wait here,” he tells her, and she touches his face lovingly and then looks at me and pats the rock, indicating I should come sit with her.
“I will help him with the fire,” J’shel says quickly, dropping his pack at the base of the boulder. He offers me a hand up, but I shake my head and climb up the boulder on my own, managing to only look moderately clumsy instead of totally inept. When he is satisfied I’m settled, he jogs off after Taushen, his tail flicking in the air. I notice that his feet sink deeper and deeper into the snow, and though it doesn’t slow him down, I’m exhausted just watching him.
Not that I can tear my gaze away from him, of course. Now that no one else is around except for Brooke and Taushen, I’m free to stare as hard as I want. And I do stare. A lot. I watch as he catches up to Taushen quickly and they bend to collect a few chips of dvisti dung scattered on the snow. J’shel is all grace despite his four arms, gathering twice as fast as Taushen and with an ease that makes it seem as if he’s done this all his life. Every so often, his cloak catches in the breeze and shows off his rippling, muscular chest and my cootie goes wild in my breast at the sight.
“That’s so wild,” Brooke says. “I still can’t get over it.”
I glance over at her. “Get over what?”
“The color changing.” She gestures at J’shel. “He shifts colors as he walks, did you notice that? Sometimes it’s subtle, but it keeps happening.”
I study J’shel. I know his people are like chameleons, blending with their landscape, but I haven’t paid that much attention. I try to focus on his skin color, but I get distracted by the long rope of his braid and how it brushes against his tail. My cootie fires up and beats like a drum against my chest, embarrassing me. I rub my chest and look away, distracted. “The snow’s a lot deeper here,” I point out.
“Yeah, the cliffs and hills we just went through were the easy part. Now comes the slog.”
I look over at Brooke, dismayed. “Now it’s a slog?”
“’Fraid so.” She gives me a rueful grin. “Enjoy the break because these guys will keep going until they fall over. Or until we do.”
I bite back my groan. My sweaty hair is already frosting with ice from where the wind blows on it. I’m tired and I’m pretty sure I’m going to slow everyone down. “I’ll try to keep up.”
Brooke pats my hand. “You take all the time you need. I’m just happy to have another human along so I can enjoy the walk. If it was just me and Taushen, he’d get impatient with how slow I’m going and sling me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He doesn’t understand that part of the fun is the journey. So you take your time. If you need to go slower, speak up. They sometimes forget our legs aren’t as long as theirs.”
Her kind words make tears spring to my eyes. “Thank you for being so nice to me.”
She looks over at me and sees my tears, then gives me an impulsive hug. She smells like sweat and leather but I’m sure I smell worse. “Don’t cry. We’ve all been there. Some people fit into this right away as if they were born to be stranded on an ice planet. Some of us struggle more than others. You’ll find your way. Just be patient and more than anything, be kind to yourself. This life’s hard enough as it is.”
I sniff and nod, wiping away the tears that threaten. “I haven’t exactly been the easiest to get along with since we landed here.”
She laughs. “Who is? They’ll get over it. We all have to live together. That’s the thing to remember. I was terrified of Liz when I first landed here because she was loud and bossy and told it like it is. She doesn’t care if anyone likes her because they still have to live with her anyhow, you know? And if there’s one thing that