over the ledge, his angry face finds mine again. Wind musses his hair all around as he grips the ropes, and I see his huge muscles bulge. “I will see you safely home, or I will die and fall to my death trying,” he announces through gritted teeth.
Holding back another smile, I turn and drop over the ledge between his arms. We begin our slow descent home. And when Kaos reaches the ground, he grabs my hips and helps me the rest of the way. Turning around, I embrace him with all my strength, not wanting this time together to end. His arms wrap around me, holding me in return.
We’re home. Finally home. And I can barely believe it. For a few minutes, holding him, pressing my face to his chest, relief floods me. The same relief that filled me when Leith walked away from me to go to Delina. The kind of relief of finality, of surviving something worrying. Of coming out the other end, discovering I’m still alive.
With Kaos. This time, my relief is shared. And it makes it all the better.
When I pull away a few minutes later, after sucking in his comforting scent, I take his hand anew and lead him through the trees to the village.
It’s quiet. The windows are shuttered tight. Everyone is inside bracing the storm from their tree huts. Even the animals we keep are inside their stables. The coming of a male to a tribe is not like this, but I’m happy no one is out to greet us.
They will not believe Kaos is real. He’s mine, alone, for a little longer.
Lightning flashes in the distance, far less than before, but when the lagoon lightens up, I note how late in the day it already is. Tugging Kaos along behind me, I head for my home—suddenly excited—it’s back, deeper in the trees on the other side of the blue body of water. Approaching the tree my hut is built around, I find someone has come along and closed it up for me.
Opening the door, I lead Kaos inside, hoping he likes it. Finally in my territory, not his, for the first time.
My place is built between two trees and is round like most of the structures in Shell Rock. There’s a fire pit in the middle, old hides covering the floor, and windows throughout, currently shuttered.
It’s divided into several sections by walls spreading away from the trees in a circular pattern. My stores are in the back and to the left, while my cot and possessions are to the right. Clay vessels and baskets line the walls on built-in shelves. Trophies and shells decorate throughout, placed in patterns I admire. Hides and nets hang from the branches that are within, and there’s a ladder that leads to the roof and the higher parts of my trees, creating a vantage point where I can look out to the lagoon.
Moving to the middle, I start a fire, nervous and happy to be back within my space. But when I turn back to Kaos, I find he hasn’t moved from the door.
“This is your territory?” he asks curiously as I study him over the flames, waiting for some reaction. Curious is better than disappointment, I note. I don’t know what I’d do if he was disappointed, or worse, disgusted.
“Yes,” I say.
“What about all those other structures we passed?”
“They are the homes of others in my tribe or places for the animals we keep. Come by the fire. You’ll dry quicker.” We’re both still soaked to our bones. I watch as he moves to sit across from me.
“You do not live alone? You do not have your own territory?”
“This hut is my own, and I have lived here alone since I came of age, but no, there are people living in the other structures we passed. Those are their territories. We do not need a lot of space to thrive,” I say, leaving shortly to bring forward some of the hide blankets stacked on my cot, pulling one around me, handing him one as well.
He steps into the room and copies what I do—wipes some of the water off of his skin. His wings shake and water sprays across the space.
His face is dark when he sets the hide down, strained tight, and almost menacing. It takes me by surprise. Is something wrong? “We’re safe. Home. My home,” I say quietly. “What’s wrong—”
The door to my hut crashes open. Kaos is on his feet the