"You're checking in on us?" Sam asks, handing the kit back to his father.
"Of course." Ash-tar is not one to feign ignorance. He tucks his younger son under his arm and glances over at me. "My mate and some of the others were worried when you did not return. I figured you simply needed time for resonance, but I offered to say hello anyhow. Is all well?"
I say nothing, looking over at Sam. If she is miserable in my presence, she can go back with Ash-tar. I will not stop her. The last thing I want is Sam to hate me.
But Sam just gives him a tight smile and thumps the base of her spear in the snow, gazing down at it. "We're fine. Thank you for checking. Sessah's guiding me to the fruit cave. We're probably going to stay there a little while, until we figure things out."
I release a breath I did not know I was holding. She is including me in her plans. I know it is only resonance that makes her do so, but I am still thankful. Pleased, I toss Katamneas into the air again, enjoying the boy's delight.
"Ah, the fruit cave. I suspected as much." Ash-tar grins over at me, as if we are sharing a secret. "Nothing like a nice warm cave to relax in. Will you be bringing some fruit back for the tribe, too? My Veronica likes the heart-fruit. The one with the stone in the middle?"
"I'm sure we can manage that," Sam says in a guarded voice. "But we might be gone for a while? Like I said, we're still figuring things out."
Ashtar shrugs, his curious eyes gleaming bright. "If anyone expects you to return immediately, they are fools. Resonance speaks, and we must listen." He winks at me. "Is that not so?"
His words feel like a trap. If I say the wrong thing, will Sam grow upset? "Resonance…is resonance."
The dragon-man laughs and moves to my side, clapping my shoulder. "Just so."
Ash-tar and his sons stay for a time, with Ash-tar doing most of the talking. Sam sits on a nearby rock, her knees drawn up to her chest, and listens as the dragon-man talks on and on about nothing in particular. I suspect he is simply wasting time as his older son plays in the snow and the kit tucked against his chest dozes, thumb in mouth. I sit near the packs, because I feel I will make Sam upset if I sit next to her. My khui throbs with song. My cock throbs with hunger.
It is the longest afternoon of my life.
Eventually, Varukhal wakes up and fusses at his father, whining. Ash-tar gives him a strip of jerky to gnaw on and then tucks him back into his basket, then does the same for Katamneas. "We are off," he says. "These two will need a meal soon and my mate will need a nice backrub from her male to complete her day of rest." He gives us a wicked grin. "I will swing back through toward the fruit cave in a few days. If you need anything, leave a sign in the snow and I will come and bother you. Otherwise, I will assume you need privacy."
My face heats. Sam says nothing.
Ashtar tucks a blanket around Katamneas, who's eating a handful of snow. He turns to grin at us. "Go and make some beautiful kits, you two."
With that, he shifts back to his massive dragon-form, as big as the shell-beasts that invaded seasons ago. He spreads his wings, gently grasps the baskets containing his sons, and lifts into the air once more.
We both watch as he flies away, and I turn to look at Sam. She sighs. "He's turned into such a dad. Seriously. ‘Go and make beautiful kits, you two,’” she mimics, deepening her voice. "If he wasn't such a nice guy and so devoted to Veronica, I'd smack him in the face."
"Perhaps he thinks we should make them out of snow," I joke. "Snow-kits."
To my surprise, she giggles at my terrible joke. Her giggles turn into full-on laughter, and then she wipes tears out of her eyes, unable to stop laughing. "They think…" she wheezes, "we're out here…fucking madly…imagine coming across a bunch of snow people instead of us."
I chuckle. I would rather make kits the traditional way, but if making snow people incites such laughter from Sam, I will make her an entire village. All she needs to do is ask.
When she recovers, Sam smiles at me, and the strange tension between us is gone. She gives me a wry look. "Come on. Ashtar and his chatty mouth have delayed us. If we want to get to the fruit cave tonight, we need to hustle."
"I could carry you," I offer, trying not to show how much I like that idea.