Ice Planet Honeymoon (Four Novellas of HEA)

Now I am thinking of this, too. I stop massaging her feet and place them on my shoulders even as I move into the furs to join her. “I think that is a fine idea.”

* * *

It snows for two days straight, and I spend those days curled up in the furs with my mate. We mate. We play foolish word games. We discuss names for our kit. We talk of others in the tribe and who we think will resonate next. Sometimes we talk of nothing more than the weather, and even that is enjoyable. I like sharing everything with Liz, and I have never shared so much with another person before. Vektal is as a brother to me, and yet there are things I have never confessed to him that I readily tell my mate because I feel safe in telling her even the smallest of things.

I am almost sad when the snows let up and the suns peek out from the thick cloud cover, because it means we must move on once more.

“Fishing day!” Liz announces happily as we pack.

Her excitement makes me less sad. With her, all things are enjoyable, and when we leave the cave behind, it is hand in hand, talking of the best kinds of birds to eat and what herbs to use when stuffing the cavity before roasting it. Silly things, but I just like hearing Liz talk.

It takes maybe half a day of walking off of the familiar path before I see a familiar mountain peak, and a familiar purple-edged rock cliff. We are close. I hold Liz’s hand tightly as we head into the valley, and nestled amongst the cliffs I can see the lake. Warm water bubbles out of the rocky cliffs above and trickles down to the surface, but because it is so cold, it freezes before it makes it into the pond. The result is a glassy cascade of frozen strands that tumble down the rocks in a frozen waterfall to the tepid lake below. The edges of it are crusted with ice, but the interior is warm. And near the frozen waterfall itself, I spy my father’s favorite perch.

“It’s all so pretty,” Liz breathes, clapping her gloved hands. “I’m glad we came here.”

I point to the small overhang of rock. “My father and I would sit there. This is not a good lake for spear fishing, because the ice on the edges will not hold weight. So we would use something called a ‘pole’ and put a bit of meat on a barb to trap the fish into biting…why are you looking at me like that?” I scowl down at her, because as I speak, a mischievous grin crosses her face.

She reaches up as high as she can and taps my chin. “You are so cute. Humans fish with poles, too, silly.”

“Do they?” I grunt. “Perhaps you are not as primitive as I thought.” I keep my voice gruff, and love when she makes an outraged squawk.

“We are not primitive!”

“Says the people that burn their perfectly good meat.”

Liz laughs and gives me a hard nudge. “You suck!”

I smirk at her. “Come. Let us climb up and claim our seat.”

I remember scaling the steep, icy cliffs as a young kit and the ease my father climbed with. It is different with my human mate at my side, though. She does not have the size I do, and her hands are covered to protect them from the cold so she cannot grip as she should. My heart thunders in my chest when she slips once, and I decide that I will carry her down.

My hands go to her waist to help her to the top, but she slaps my grip away. “I can do it. I’m not fragile, Raahosh.”

She thinks she is not fragile. I snort and keep my hands on her anyhow.

Up at the top of the ridge, Liz puts her hands on her hips and draws a deep breath. “Wow, this is beautiful. I love the view.”

I keep my hand on her arm and my tail wrapped around her leg. “Do not lean so close to the edge.”

“You’ll catch me,” she says, and leans over the lip of the cliff. “Wow, we’re right above the water.”

I pull her backward gently. “Sit. Let us prepare our fishing poles.”

She sits obediently and I move closer to her than I probably should, and I keep my tail latched tightly to her leg, just in case. We are higher up than I remember as a kit, or perhaps I am just worrying about Liz and the kit in her belly. Either way, I will not get comfortable this day.

Even so, it soothes my spirit to be here with her. She watches as I tie a long length of sinewed cord to one end of my spear and tie a bone hook on the other. Liz takes the hook and baits it with ease, making sure to work the barbs through the meat so it will not fall off once it hits the water, and it shows me she has done this before.