protests.
"I'm an adult!"
T'chai makes a noise in his throat that might be amusement…or scoffing. I pull him close and fix the laces on the cloak at his neck. "Be nice," I whisper. "She's upset."
He leans closer. "She sounds like Z'hren when his food is late."
When Tia lets out another wail, I stifle a giggle of my own. Okay, she IS being a little dramatic. Still, I'm trying to remember what it was like for me at seventeen. Plus, she's leaving everyone she knows behind. That has to suck.
"I don't want to be the one left alone," Tia sobs. "Someone's going to get left out in the cold and it's going to be me."
Liz puts her hands on Tia's shoulders and leans in until her face is inches away from Tia's. "Okay. If we take you back onto that beach so you can mate someone right now, Miss Adult, who's it going to be? You only get one guy and you tell the others you're sorry, and then you stick with this one guy until you both call it quits or resonance steps in. So, tell me who it's going to be."
I notice Sessah gets very still. He's not looking over at Tia, but I can tell he's listening to every single word.
Tia swallows hard and everyone turns to watch her, to see who she picks. I kind of wonder if she's going to say I'rec, who's brash and confident and older than her, or if she's going to realize Sessah has been in love with her like an overgrown puppy…or if she'll pick someone totally random. Maybe O'jek or U'dron? Not U'dron, I don't think. He was entranced by Tia's antics for a while, but he's smitten with Raven right now. And R'jaal only tolerates Tia's flirting until she moves on to the next target.
"I can't just pick someone," Tia says uncomfortably. "Why should I have to choose? I don't flirt with anyone mated. We're just having fun."
T'chai grunts softly. "She thinks in picking one, she loses them all."
Liz just gives Tia an exasperated look. "I knew you—" She stops, because Sessah throws down the straps he's working on and storms away. A mom look of sympathy crosses Liz's face, and Tia looks stricken as he leaves. "You see," Liz continues, her tone gentle. "You think it's fun. You just want to flirt and have a good time. But it's not just fun to them. They don't know how to handle it. They don't know how to be casual. They see a girl and think 'mate' and 'forever.' And you can't flirt with all of them because we can't have half the tribe at each other's throats."
"So I'm being punished because they don't know how to flirt?" Tia looks as if she's ready to start crying again. "How is that fair?"
Liz sighs and pulls Tia against her in a hug. "Look. You're not my daughter, but I still feel like your mom, and even mom has to make tough decisions. I'm sorry, Tia." Her eyes look suspiciously wet. "I know you think you're the only one being punished, but no one wants you to leave."
"Then let me stay!" Tia wails.
Liz glances over the weeping girl to her mate, who shakes his head. No matter how much Tia cries, this is needed. If she stays, the men will keep fighting. "Look," Liz says in a pleasant voice. "Croatoan has some of the best moms in the universe. I promise that you're not losing a tribe full of men, you're gaining a village full of women. You're going to get mom'ed so hard by everyone there, and you're going to love it."
"I just don't want to end up alone," Tia sobs.
Liz grimaces, rubbing Tia's back. "Look at it this way, okay? If they resonate while you're gone, you were never meant to be theirs anyhow."
"We're ready to go," Veronica says quietly, pulling on a fluffy fur hat and tying it under her chin. She pulls a thick scarf around her face and ties it, and then something that looks like a tilted sun-visor to shield her eyes from the worst of the cold wind. "Whenever you guys are."
"Are you warm enough?" T'chai asks me, patting the thick layers I'm wearing. "Do you need more?"
"I'm good." I glance over at Liz, where she's hugging Tia, and she looks so much like a mom sending her daughter away to camp for the summer that I know this can't be easy for her, no matter