8 Stirrings and Settling

When we got back, Lonna entered first and I followed after. I blinked and then hanging out on the wall at eye level was two big lavender colored eyes. I screamed, having coming a breath away from it and backed into lean hard muscle. Hands caught me and I looked up at Kian, looming over me. He guided me gently away from him and let go, but not before my cheeks turned cherry red. Looking back at what I could now see was a puppy sized crocodile hanging out on the wall.

"Hello Maize, do you need some food?" Lonna asked.

Maize scampered down the wall and then stood up on her hind legs and walked towards Lonna. The display looked so weird. Like a cartoon croc kid walking around.

"Why don't you take your Omni form Maize?" Kian asked, exasperated.

Maize turned to look at him, opened her mouth wide and gave an exaggerated hiss before she continued her way to Lonna. Lonna went to the far back , grabbed some food that I couldn't identify, but looked something like jerky meat and held it out to the little gator. Maize took the large piece in her mouth and wandered out.

I never thought that I'd find a croc cute, but there it went, on hind legs with a piece of meat in its mouth.

"What's an Omni form?" I asked.

"Omni is short for omnivore. It's the form we are currently in." Lonna said.

Kian turned to the cart and started unloading the contents from the cart and I did my best to not look at him. I felt beyond flustered that he basically committed himself to me unless he found a mate during his call. And how weird would that be if he didn't? We enter a relationship based on his loneliness and my weak heart/fatal attraction to him?? I mean, with my ex we had the same friends, common interests, and attraction. Until the dope found that with someone else. I shook the memory away before it could fully resurface. If Kian entered a relationship with a girl that didn't hear his call, would he be happy? Would he be satisfied? Or would he do what my ex did and find another. How important is this mates call anyways? I would have to ask once Kian leaves. I walked over to the car and helped him unload the gifted goods into stone compartments carved into one side of the wall. The contents meant to serve as an eventual bed were placed on a stone platform that Lonna used for a table. I kept space between me and Kian. I was still too shy about all that was said earlier and couldn't even help unload without remaining blushed.

Once everything was put in its rightful place, I walked over to Lonna and stood there, looking down at my feet.

"Thank you Kian. We will take it from here." Lonna said.

I heard him walking and then saw his feet appear in front of me. He gently grabbed my chin with his fingers and lifted my face up to meet his.

"Don't I get a 'thank you'?" He asked with a slight smile. Feeling just his hands under my chin made my body quake, feeling an intense mixture of feelings, attraction feeling like the most dominant.

"Thank you." I said quietly, looking into those jungle eyes and somehow managing not to melt like butter.

His thumb caressed one side of my face before letting go. "I'll see you both later." He said nonchalantly, as though what he just did didn't just blow my human mind.

Lonna started laughing and I gave a friendly push before hugging myself and lowering to the ground, still on my feet, but in more of a fetal position.

"If I didn't know any better, I would think that you had answered Kian's call. You're positively lovesick."

"I think I could die from everything I'm feeling right now. I was fine before he-" Lonna cut me off by putting her hand over my mouth. She made a shushing gesture and whispered, "I can smell Jinn nearby. She probably came over to grab onto Kian's arm again." She rolled her eyes. "She thinks she can force a connection by hovering around him all the time."

It must be hard for Kian, meeting girls and never having them answer his call. I imagine it's why he seems so closed off. That is, until he dauntingly professed that after this last call he was done and would bind himself to me in a relationship. Why me? Why not Jinn? She seemed like a rare beauty. I saw very few white crocs while walking around down here. Perhaps it had more to do with her strong personality? She seemed pretty forward and maybe he doesn't like that in a woman? Either way, I wonder if anyone else is suffering with the same unanswered call?

"Lonna, has what happened to Kian happened to anyone else?" I asked while fiddling with the beaded anklet, still needing to regain my composure.

"Yes and no." She said, "There have been those that never found a mate through the call, but they were females. And it's only happened a few times. It's never happened to a male before."

"And what did those females do? Do you know?" I asked, looking up at her. She shrugged and made her way to a shelf with some kind of fruit on it. The flesh on it looked like a melon without the outer protective layer and was shaped like a narrow eggplant. She sank her teeth into the very tip of the small end and then put it in her mouth and started drinking. After a few swallows, she answered, "They went in search of happiness elsewhere. I heard they found mates in other clans."

"But could a male do the same? Could he really give up on his call and be happy?"

Lonna shrugged, "I don't know Wren. I've never heard of it happening before so there's really no knowing how the male would do. I think he would try to move on, but the unanswered call might haunt him. Make him always wonder if someone out there is meant to hear it."

Exactly what I was worried about and exactly what I wanted to hear contradicted.

After settling in, Lonna and I made a bed of currow leaves, which was a thick leaf that had the ability to absorb and maintain heat. So after sewing a bunch together and stuffing them with feathers and sealing it, I had a circular bed that sat on the ground in the back left side. The leaf was covered in currow sap which, when dried, created a sealant that kept the cold and the wet from seeping in through any of the stitchings. Lonna painted it on, using some kind of plant brush so as to not touch the sealant. Apparently it was hard to wash off if it touched your skin. It seemed to have really good binding properties that once it left the round nut shell it came from, it stuck like superglue. It didn't dry as fast though. Laying on the hand made mattress was perfect. It had one side that was warm and the other that was cool. It managed to create a perfect temperature in my body and I had the best sleep of my entire life. It was so deep that I didn't dream anything. Nothing but pure regeneration.

When I woke up, I hurried and slipped on a white strapless dress. I was kind of worried that little Maize might show up at any second or maybe even just appear right in front of my face.

The dress hugged my figure perfectly, thanks to Lonna, and had the same billowy skirt with a slit to the knee. I wrapped a braided lavender vine around my waist that had random fish bones tied into it. I then had fish bone bracelets, anklets, choker necklace and finally fish bone earrings that jut out front my earlobes. My hair was pulled high up atop my head and I weaved a fish braid (it only seemed right) and wrapped it in a bun at the top of my head. Seeing as my hair could catch on my jewelry, I wanted it away from the jewelry.

Tonight was the coming of age ceremony and I was told I couldn't participate in any way, but I could watch from afar in a tree or something if I wanted to. It was the only place where I could see and not be involved in it. It's okay to observe from a distance, I'm just not allowed to be with the people when it all took place.

I wanted to make a special necklace for Lonna to wear to the ceremony and so I went off to see if I could go topside, get some desperately needed sunshine as well as fresh air, and find some plant life or something to make something for Lonna. I also had planned on asking Kian if he could help me find these things since he was the only other person I kind of knew. The fact that I had a growing attraction towards him had nothing to do with it. Or, so I kept telling myself.