At the top, a platform stretched between two thick branches, and Carmen stepped on to it with a sigh of relief. She caught her breath and looked around her. The canopy spread as far as her eye could see, and hundreds of similar platforms dotting the branches on every side. Avitras of every age and color filled the trees. Mothers with their young clinging to their bodies lounged on the platforms. Glowing youths swung in the branches, and giant males sprang from tree to tree in rapid flight through their arboreal home.
Carmen stared at them in blank wonder. They presented such a curious picture, part bird, part monkey, part....well, they weren’t exactly part human, were they? At this close range, she noticed the similarities between the Avitras and the Felsite. Despite their differences, no one could mistake them for different species. One faction had golden manes, thick body hair, and claws. The other had bright feathers and could move through the trees with lightning speed. Underneath their differences, they were exactly the same.
The Avitras noticed Carmen in their canopy, and sharp cries echoed through the forest. The trees near her swayed, and Aquilla appeared with two of his lieutenants on either side of him. He wasn’t armed now, though. He landed with a light spring on a branch near Carmen. It bounced and swayed under his weight. He cocked his head at her and blinked his sharp eyes.
“Follow me if you want to see your friend.” He started to turn to go.
Carmen stepped forward and called after him. “You’ll have to move slower if you expect me to keep up with you.”
His head snapped around, and she feared he would fly into a terrible rage. But he only studied her with his fierce gaze and nodded. “You speak like your friend. I can see you have the same fighting spirit she has. Very well. I understand you can’t fly the way we do. I will walk plodding along like your Felsite friends.”
Carmen ignored his remarks and followed him as best she could through the trees from one platform to another. Many times, he had to stand and wait for her to negotiate a difficult crossing from one branch to another, or from one precarious foothold to another. Sometimes he stamped his foot in impatience, but he always waited without a word until she caught up.
He led her a long way through the canopy until they came to an even taller tree scraping the sky. Instead of platforms perched in its branches, a tidy house constructed of leafy sticks and vines sat perched in the crook of its great limbs, and a warm light shone through open panels in its walls.
Even from a distance, Carmen caught a glimpse of Penelope Ann’s golden tresses. Her heart skipped a beat, and she did her best to move through the trees as fast as she could. Aquilla didn’t bother to wait for her. He skipped up trunks and bounded from limb to limb. He gained the heights long before Carmen came anywhere near the house, and he disappeared inside.
He must have warned Penelope Ann of her arrival, because she came to the door and leaned over the railing to peer down at Carmen. Carmen lifted her face to her friend and cried out in joyful greeting. “Penelope Ann!”
Penelope Ann regarded her with an impassive expression and didn’t answer. She gazed down at Carmen’s clumsy efforts to climb up to the house. She stood perfectly still and said nothing and offered Carmen no help until she climbed all the way up to the house by herself.
When Carmen stood in front of her and caught her breath with an awkward smile, Penelope Ann only nodded. “So you’re here.”
Carmen nodded back. She gave a nervous laugh. “I’m here. It’s so good to see you again, Penelope Ann. I’ve been worried sick about you and Marissa. I didn’t know what happened to you after the fight. Then when Renier told me they found you, I couldn’t wait to see you. Are you sure you’re all right? Is there anything you need?”
“You can see I’m all right,” Penelope Ann replied. “The Avitras have taken very good care of me.”
“Why don’t you come back to Felsite territory with me?” Carmen suggested. “Aria’s with me. It would be good if we were all together, and once we find Marissa....”
Penelope Ann cut her off. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m especially not going to Felsite territory. I’m happy here, and I’ll stay here. No one could do more for me than the Avitras have, and they’re the best faction on this planet.”
Carmen shifted from one foot to the other. "I don’t know about that.”
“I do,” Penelope Ann replied. “Did you know they’re the only faction on the planet with anything close to a concrete system of history and record-keeping? Did you know the Avitras make the laws on this planet? If it wasn’t for them, Angondra would have no laws at all.”
“Yeah, I know all that, but...” Carmen stammered.
Penelope Ann shook her head. “If I have to stay on this planet, I’ll stay here. I’ve made connections with these people, and I don’t want to leave.”
“I never meant to insult the Avitras,” Carmen replied. “I only meant you might like to be around other human beings. We could support each other much better if we were all together, and once we find Marissa, she could come in with us, too. Then we would all be together instead of scattered all over the planet. If we’re all in one place, we can work together to find a way off this planet.”
Penelope Ann stared at her. “These is no way off this planet. The Felsite must have told you that.”
“They told me they don’t want contact with species like the Romarie,” Carmen replied. “I can understand how they feel, but there must be a way off this planet. These are advanced people. You saw the Ursidreans fighting the Romarie. They have the same advanced weapons the Romarie have. They must have some way of....”
“Don’t get your hopes up,” Penelope Ann interrupted. “Aquilla says even the Ursidreans don’t have any vehicle capable of breaking the atmospheric envelope, even though they kept some of the other technological relics of old Angondra. There is no way off this planet. We’re stuck here.”
“We can’t accept that,” Carmen cried. “We can’t lose hope. We have to keep searching until we find a way to get back to Earth. If the Ursidreans made a deal with the Romarie to let them land here once, they could do the same thing again. We could attack them as soon as they land and steal their ship. We can’t give up at the first sign of defeat.”
Penelope Ann sighed. “I don’t think I would leave even we had a space vehicle to leave in.”
Carmen stared at her. “What did you say?”
Penelope Ann stared at her until she fidgeted. Then her sparkling blue eyes softened and she smiled. “Believe me, Carmen, I would like nothing better than to be with the rest of you. I can’t think of anything better, except maybe....” She glanced over her shoulder toward the house.
Carmen followed her gaze and caught sight of Aquilla through the window. He wasn’t watching or listening to them. He was looking in a different direction, but his striking profile stood out against the backdrop of the house walls. He stood straight and tall and true, and his presence radiated dominating power. Renier exuded the same indomitable spirit. A man like that could only be the Alpha of his faction.
She looked back at Penelope Ann. A blush of fresh color glowed on her cheeks, and she stood taller and straighter than Carmen had ever seen her before. She even looked like Aquilla, with her bright hair and her stunning features. Carmen placed them side by side in her mind, and they formed a perfect match. Penelope Ann fit in perfectly with the Avitras. She wouldn’t fit in anywhere else on this planet. She’d found her true place here.
Carmen caught her eye. “You didn’t! Tell me you didn’t....”
Penelope Ann nodded, and her expression contained no guilt or hesitation. “I’ve found something much better than the company of a couple of human women. I’ve found something much better than anything I ever had on Earth. I’m staying here.”
“But I can’t just leave you here to rot!” Carmen heard her voice rising against all her efforts to keep it under control. “What will I tell the others?”
“Tell them exactly what I just told you,” Penelope An
n replied. “Tell them I’m happy here, and I’m staying. I suggest you all get as comfortable here as you possibly can, because we’re going to be here for a long, long time, possibly for the rest of our lives. If you and the others can find love and comfort here the way I have, your lives will be so much the better.”
Carmen took one last look at her. How could you argue with a woman like this, who’d found her heart’s love and a place of belonging among the treetops of an alien world? How could you convince a woman who wouldn’t even bite at the chance to find a way back to her own home planet?
Carmen bowed her head and turned away. “Is there anything I can say to convince you?” But she already knew there wasn’t.
Penelope Ann laid her hand on Carmen’s arm and turned her toward her. “I was never really happy back on Earth. I pursued every kind of success I could find, in business, in the jujitsu ring, even in college. But all those achievements only served one purpose. They covered up the fact that nothing ever really interested me. Nothing fired my passion. I was bored, and I never met any man who interested me, either. I had everything I ever wanted, and I had two parents who worked hard to give me the best of everything.”
“How did you wind up in that neighborhood, then?” Carmen asked. “Aria said you moved there when you were three.”
“My mother was a school teacher,” Penelope Ann replied. “She took a job there because she thought she could do the most good with children who didn’t get teachers who cared enough about them. She’s the one who taught me to use my success and my achievements to help other people. That’s why, when Penny’s Peppermints started doing well, I took on girls from the neighborhood who wanted to find a way out.”
Carmen listening in rapt attention.
“But every one of those girls disappeared,” Penelope Ann went on. “Now I know where they went, but I’ll never be able to help any of them again. I’ll never be able to help anyone again except myself.”
“Help me, Penelope Ann,” Carmen pleaded. “I need you to help us get out of here. I can’t do it alone. Help me.”
Penelope Ann shook her head. “The Avitras have treated me the way I treated those girls. They’ve shown me the true meaning of hospitality, especially Aquilla.” She blushed when she said his name. “I’m going to dedicate my life to this faction. I’m going to give everything I have to understanding their ways and their laws. I don’t know how I’ll do it, but I’ll give everything I have to help them succeed.”
“I don’t like seeing you throw your life away,” Carmen complained.
“It’s not like that,” Penelope Ann replied. “The Angondrans are all critically short on females. Aquilla says I’m the first female who has even come close to being suitable to be his mate. He’s Alpha of this faction, and he wants me to be the mother of his children.”
Carmen stared at her. “You can’t do this, Penelope Ann. You’re so much better than this. You can’t sell yourself to be a broodmare to these people.”
Penelope Ann turned away. “I’m not selling myself, and I’m not better than this. That’s exactly what I’m telling you. That kind of thinking has left my life a pointless waste of time. If I can help the Avitras and Aquilla by giving him children, I’ll be proud to do it. This is the best place in the world for me.” She realized what she’d said and broke into a big grin. “You know what I mean.”
Carmen nodded, but she didn’t answer. She couldn’t say anything without breaking down, and she wouldn’t let herself do that. Penelope Ann would never respect her again if she turned to mush at a time like this.
Penelope Ann walked her down the steps to the first branch leading back the way Carmen had come. Aquilla came to the door and spotted Carmen leaving. He exchanged a glance with Penelope Ann, but they didn’t say anything. At the edge of the platform, Penelope Ann touched Carmen’s arm again. “You’ll come and see me again some time, won’t you? You won’t avoid me because of this, will you? Tell me we won’t let the petty bickering of these factions come between us?”
Carmen swallowed the lump in her throat. “No, no. We’ll never let that happen. I’ll try to come and see you again whenever I can.”
“The Felsite wouldn’t stop you from coming, would they?” Penelope Ann asked.
Carmen shook her head. “They’re very kind and helpful. They’ve treated me the way you say the Avitras treated you, especially Renier.” Carmen stopped.
Penelope Ann stared at her. Then she turned away. “I see. Well, have a good trip back. I’ll see you again soon.”
Chapter 11
Carmen dropped down to the ground, and Aquilla landed lightly on his feet next to her. Carmen looked around at solid walls of forest on all sides. “Where’s the Felsite who brought me here? He said he would be waiting for me when I came down.”
Aquilla cocked his head and blinked his eyes. “You’re miles away from where you climbed up into the canopy. Your Felsite friend is still waiting for you there.”
Carmen shifted from one foot to the other. “Which way do I go to get back to him?”
Aquilla started forward. “I will lead you to him. I would neglect my duty to you and to your friend if I let you get lost in this forest, and I can see you possess no sense of direction at all. I believe your species is truly helpless.”
He led the way, and they hiked back through the forest in silence. After an eternity of featureless forest, they found Renier waiting under the same tree. His eyes widened when he saw Carmen coming through the forest with Aquilla at her side. He studied Carmen’s face. Then he narrowed his eyes at Aquilla. “Is everything in order?”
Aquilla gestured at Carmen. “Ask her.”
Carmen turned her back on him and crossed her arms over her chest. Renier faced Aquilla with his fists clenched and his teeth bared. “What’s the meaning of this?”
Aquilla snorted. Then he sprang off the ground and into the treetops, leaving Carmen and Renier alone in the silence.
Only after he left did Carmen steal a peek at Renier’s face. “Let’s go.”
He didn’t move. “What is going on here? What happened up there? Did they hurt you? I swear to high heaven, if they harmed so much as a hair on your head, I’ll...”
Carmen started walking, and Renier was forced to catch up. “They didn’t do anything. They’ve been as kind and welcoming to Penelope Ann as the Felsite have been to me.”
The walk down the mountain went faster and easier than hiking up, and they found the palanquin platform sitting on top of the snails’ shells. Carmen didn’t bother to ask how they knew to get ready to leave. She took her place on the palanquin, and Renier sat beside her. The palanquin set off back the way they'd come toward Felsite territory.
After several hours, Renier turned to Carmen. “If the Avitras did anything to you or to your friend, I need to know about it. It could affect our relations with them in the future.”
Carmen sighed. “They didn’t do anything to me or my friend. I told you that.”
“Then why are you so upset?” he asked. “Did you invite your friend to come back to Felsite territory the way we planned?”
“That’s just the thing,” Carmen replied. “I invited her, but she wants to stay here. She feels a connection with the Avitras she never felt before, kind of like….” She trailed off.
He studied her. Then he nodded. “I understand.”
Carmen shook her head. “I told her we could work together to find a way off this planet, but she won’t even try. She says she would stay with the Avitras even if Angondra had space flight capability. She doesn't want to be with her own people, and she doesn't want to go back to Earth.” A lump stuck in her throat.
Renier peered into her eyes. “Listen to me, Carmen. I’ve never met anyone like you.”
She snorted. “That’s because I'm from another planet.”
He didn’t laugh. “I don’t want to lose you. Stay here. Stay with me and be my mate. Don't spend the next fifty years driving yourself insane trying to find a
way off this planet. Settle here and be happy—with me and with the Felsite. Let us be your family. I can give you everything you would have had on Earth.”
“Except the company of other humans,” she interrupted.
He shrugged. “So Penelope Ann wants to stay with the Avitras. Aria is back home with the Felsite. You’ll have her, and when we find Marissa, the three of you will be together. Isn't that good enough? Don't you think you can be happy with me?”
Carmen blushed, and her hand naturally extended toward his. “I’ve never met anyone like you before, either, Renier, and I don't mean because you're an alien. You saved me from the Romarie, and you've been by my side ever since. If I was going to stay on this planet, I couldn't do any better than to stay with you.”
Renier chose his next words with care. “You will stay on this planet, Carmen. There is no way off this planet, and you’ll only make yourself and your friends unhappy by searching for a way.”
“But you let the Romarie come here once before,” Carmen pointed out. “You could invite them here again and ambush them. We could kill them and steal their space ship and fly back to Earth.”
He shook his head. “You didn’t hear the Alphas talking after the battle at the gathering. They will never agree to invite the Romarie here again. Even the Ursidreans, who agreed to it last time, won't make the same mistake. You and your friends will stay here, and I'd like to believe you stayed because you wanted to stay with me, the same way your friend Penelope Ann chose to stay with Aquilla.”
Carmen’s head whipped around. “How did you know she chose to stay with Aquilla?”
Renier shrugged. “It was pretty obvious from the way he acted, and now you’re describing Penelope Ann choosing to dedicate herself to the Avitras. Why would she do that without the love of a male to guide her? I can't imagine a woman like her committing herself to anyone less than an Alpha.”
Saved by a Bear (Legends of Black Salmon Falls Book 2) Page 53