by R. R. Banks
The alignment of the bottom mirror made it so that it reflected the image in the top mirror, showing the wall flat against her palm.
"It's safe now," she called out, her voice so gentle and quiet that Bannack wasn't sure if the others would hear her.
Just as he suspected, none of the warriors or the human women stepped forward.
"She says it's safe," he called out to them.
They looked back at him with uncertainty on their faces, so Bannack took a few steps forward, leaving the softer ground of the bank and stepping again onto the hard, solid ground of the sky. He knew it was going to be there without even looking down.
Bannack taking those few steps seemed enough to convince Zuri, who took let go of Ero and took one large step forward, forgoing easing out over the space and instead going right for an open expanse between two branches. Samira followed, taking a slightly more cautious step, but stopping just beside Zuri. Bannack knew that the warriors not stepping forward was not out of fear, but out of distrust. Finally the men started forward and soon everyone was walking calmly across the expanse toward Bannack.
Suddenly he heard a scream and a deep grunt. He looked toward the back of the group and saw Ciyrs holding Elianna up by her arm as she struggled, her legs kicking down through a small section of the floor that now showed the sparkle of the stars rather than the solid darkness from before.
Chapter Seven
My stomach sank as I watched the tiny human woman drop, but she had had enough of a grip on the Denynso beside her that he was able to catch her before she was lost. Terror rolled over me. If her falling made any of the other ones question the solidity of the ground beneath their feet, they, too, would begin falling. Instead, they all rushed forward, getting off of the expanse of reflected stone as quickly as they could and then turning angry, suspicious eyes toward me.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" the man that had rescued the small woman who fell demanded, taking an aggressive step toward me.
He didn't feel like a warrior. He seemed gentler, calmer, more nurturing despite his attempt to intimidate me.
"Ciyrs," the woman said, grabbing him and pulling him back, "You don’t know that she did anything."
I felt relief wash over me. At least this one seemed to be willing to trust me rather than immediately blaming me.
"What do you think happened, Elianna?" another of the warriors snapped toward the small woman, "She's the one that told us it was all of a sudden safe to walk on the sky, and then as soon as you do, you fall."
"Don't talk to my mate like that," Ciyrs snarled toward the warrior, turning his aggression to him instead of me.
"I'm just pointing out that it's ridiculous for her to defend this person, whoever she is, when she is obviously the one who just tried to kill her."
Suddenly everyone started talking and shouting over top of one another and I felt like I was filling with so many feelings, emotions, and energies that I was going to shatter. I held my hands up and shouted as loudly as I could possibly force my voice.
"Stop it! All of you."
The cavern fell silent and the group turned and looked at me. Bannack seemed startled, but somewhat pleased, at my outburst and he stepped a little closer to me.
"What is it?" he asked.
"I didn't try to kill her," I said, wanting to talk to the entire group but at the same time feeling the compulsion to talk only to him, "It wasn't my fault."
"Then whose fault is it?" Ciyrs demanded.
"Hers," I said matter-of-factly.
"What?" he said roughly and I noticed all of the warriors looking at him with surprised looks on their faces as if he never showed this type of personality toward anyone.
Indeed, I could see the healer within him and knew that this was not in his normal nature. When it came to his mate, however, he was far more intense and aggressive than he would ever be when he was away from her. This made me less angry at the way he had treated me, but I was still not happy.
"In order for a reflection to mean anything, you have to believe in that reflection. If you didn't know what an item was and you saw a reflection of it, you still would not know what it was. You wouldn't embrace its presence and believe in its functions because you wouldn't know about them. If you looked in a mirror and saw something that you thought was something else, you would still believe that that reflection was what you thought it was and that if it was real, it would function the way you expected it to. Reflections only have the meaning that you give them. If you don't believe in the reflection, it can't work for you. She didn’t believe in the stone beneath her feet, so the stone was no longer there."
I expected for them to react strongly again, but they surprised me by seeming to accept what I had told them without further argument. Even if they had argued, there would be nothing else that I could have said to them. It was a very simple concept, though one that may be difficult to grasp for those who hadn't grown up with such rules governing their existence.
"Do you live here?" the largest of the warriors asked me.
"Yes."
"May we look around?"
It was an unusual moment, a moment of balance and control. This was a moment that I had been waiting on for years, a moment when I would no longer be alone and could possibly look forward into a life that was not isolated beneath the ground for the majority of the time, and yet a moment that I also feared. I was so accustomed to being alone and to protecting the space that had once been the home to everyone who I have ever loved that it was frightening to me in a way to think of others entering the deeper areas of the space. I was very aware that nearly every inch of the land ground was a place where someone I cared for had taken their last step or even their last breath, and I had the irrational fear that if these people stepped on those places, they would cover them and diminish the memory of those last moments.
I glanced over at Bannack and found him looking at me, evaluating me. Looking at him offered me a sense of anchoring among the others in a way that I didn't understand. It was as though the rest of the group and I were completely separate entities, but that Bannack could act as a link between us that would close the space.
"Yes," I finally said, offering my permission for them to go further into the cavern.
"This is Loralia," Bannack introduced.
"Hello, Loralia. My name is Pyra."
One by one the warriors and the women introduced themselves to me and I found myself attaching characteristics to each of their names so that I would remember them more clearly later. Zuri was incredibly strong, but adored the way that her mate made her feel feminine and beautiful. Samira held wounds that were still healing, but for the first time in her life, she felt like she belonged. Elianna was vibrant and spirited, but still had a vulnerability in her that seemed to come from an event in the recent past that shaped her now and for the future.
I nodded at each of them as they introduced themselves and tried to offer smiles that would comfort them and ease their worries about me. Once everybody was introduced, Pyra started forward, keeping his eyes trained on me as he moved further into the cavern. There was still a heavy sense of distrust around him as he moved slowly past me and then ventured deeper. The others followed him, gazing around as they moved beyond the hill where I had been hiding when they first entered and stepped down into the expansive chamber that dipped lower and contained the first collection of small buildings that were once home to my friends and family. Two tunnels led off of this chamber, each leading to another chamber containing more buildings.
Off of these chambers were two more tunnels that fed together into one narrow corridor that led deep into the cavern to the chamber that our kind used as its greatest source of protection. When there were threats, we would gather there, utilizing our mirrors to reflect a solid wall over the mouth of the cavern so that no one could enter. I spent much of my time there, forgoing the home I once shared with my parents and siblings to live in the protecting surroundings of this nearly
empty chamber.
"There is a tunnel that leads off of that first room and goes up into the cliffs at the edge of our compound," Pyra said.
It seemed more a statement than a question, but I replied anyway.
"Yes. I haven't used it in many years."
"Are there any other tunnels that lead into the cavern from above ground?"
"No. The only way to enter is that tunnel and the hatches in the forest."
"How often do you go above ground?"
The change in voice made me turn to Bannack, who was still standing close beside me. There was a faintly desperate look in his eyes and I could feel the sense that he was trying to understand of the emotions rolling through him, as if knowing how often I walked on the same ground as he did.
"Never," I told him, keeping my voice as even and calm as I could in an effort to assure him.
"How do you survive down here without ever going up?"
"The cavern provides everything that I need. There are plants throughout the cavern and a stream in the middle chamber. I was born down here and have always been here."
"Will you come up with us now?"
My eyes widened and I saw Pyra look sharply at Bannack, but he didn't say anything. My warrior, for that is how I was beginning to think of him, was staring at me intently and I saw him lift his hand toward me.
I hesitated only a moment before placing my fingers against the warmth of his palm and seeing the hint of a smile touch his lips.
Chapter Eight
Bannack wrapped his hand around Loralia's fingers as soon as he felt their cool touch on his palm and turned to Pyra.
"We said that we wanted to learn more about the other species that are on this planet. Why don't we let her tell us?"
Pyra agreed and they started back toward the front of the cavern, allowing Loralia to use her compact to change the glimmering night sky spread across the floor into the hardened stone of the wall so that they could walk across it. Just like he had since the first time he had walked toward her, Bannack believed completely in the safety of the ground beneath his feet and crossed without hesitation, his hand cradling Loralia's beside him. The others paused briefly at the edge and Bannack saw them take a few breaths as if preparing themselves and convincing themselves that the ground would be solid when they stepped forward.
"Where are the others of your kind?"
Loralia looked up at Creia where he sat on his massive throne without flinching. Bannack found himself watching her in awe, admiring how she could go from an underground realm she had always known to facing the king of an above ground species without showing any sign of intimidation or fear.
"There are no others," Loralia told him calmly, "I am the last of my kind."
"What happened to them?"
"There was a plague several years ago. I am the only one to survive."
Whispers rippled through the meeting hall and Bannack turned to glare at the others, suddenly protective and defensive. He knew that no matter how Loralia was handling herself in that moment as she faced down the king, confronting a strange species that was far larger and more powerful than her, and that she had always heard were the ones who had taken over the land her kind had once inhabited after war and illness drove them underground, had to be frightening to her. He didn't want the reaction of the rest of the Denynso to upset her further.
Bannack turned his attention back to Creia, who looked at his wife in a way that told Bannack that the mates were communicating silently. Theia turned to Loralia and he saw the gentle, nurturing look in her eyes that made her the mother figure of all of the Denynso.
"You are welcome here, Loralia," she said warmly, "You may stay with us for as long as you would like."
Bannack wasn't sure how Loralia was going to react, but he saw her take the few steps up toward the platform where the thrones sat and reach her pale, lovely hands toward the queen. Theia stood from her throne and approached Loralia as if she were as drawn to her as Bannack felt, and took the beautiful woman's hands in hers.
"Thank you."
Loralia's voice was so gentle Bannack could barely hear it, but he felt a little jump in his heart when he realized that she had accepted the queen's invitation to stay. The conflict he felt when he looked at her was so intense it made his stomach twist painfully. As much as he wanted to be near her, and the intense way his body responded whenever he looked at her, he was still extremely aware that she was a completely different, unknown species. He knew nothing about her or her kind, and part of him was still extremely wary about getting close to her.
Bannack jumped when he felt a heavy hand land on his shoulder. He looked up to see Ero standing beside him.
"What are you thinking about so hard over here?" the other warrior asked.
"Her," Bannack said, nodding toward Loralia, "How is it possible that she has been living right underneath us her entire life and not only did we not know she was there, we didn't even know that there was a place for anything to live down there? From what she said, her species has been down there since long before the Denynso even existed. We have lived right over top of her kind for generations, but there was never any interaction."
"So?"
"So? Doesn't that make you suspicious? If they have been down there that whole time, they would know when the Denynso settled. Why did they just stay down there and not come up and try to make contact?"
"Maybe they didn't feel like they had any reason to. There was never any conflict, so why shake things up? Isn't existing peacefully what matters?"
Bannack looked back at Loralia.
"I don't know. It just seems weird to me. I don't know how I feel about her staying around here."
"You are the one that quite literally took her by the hand and brought her here. Why did you do that if you didn't want her here?"
Bannack sighed.
"I don't know," he answered honestly, "I just felt like it was what I should do in that moment."
Ero looked at him and Bannack saw his mouth twitch like he was fighting a smile. The other warrior nodded and his eyes traveled briefly down Bannack's body.
"Yep," Ero said, patting Bannack on the back, "I'm sure you did."
Ero walked away, heading back across the meeting hall toward Zuri. Confused, Bannack glanced down and saw exactly what had called Ero's amused attention to the lower half of his body. Muttering expletives under his breath, Bannack tried to adjust himself as quickly and subtly as he could to make his raging erection less obvious. Just as he was finishing, he saw Creia look up at him and gesture for him to come to the platform. By now both the king and queen were standing at the edge of the platform and as Bannack approached he saw them grin happily at him.
"I hear you have met our new friend," Creia said, reaching out to touch his hand to Bannack's shoulder.
"Yes," Bannack replied.
"She has accepted our invitation to stay with us and she requested that you be her guide and protector while she is here."
Bannack looked over at Loralia and found her gazing back at him, the lavender of her eyes so intoxicating he felt like he was falling into them. He felt her hand intertwine with his again and his erection twitched. The frustration and confusion built inside him and he felt painfully torn. He knew that he couldn't deny the king and queen his service as her protector, but the way his heart and body were responding to him made him feel both excited and repelled. She was at once the most beautiful and intriguing creature that he had ever seen, and something that made him uncomfortable.
"I will," he answered.
"Good. Bring her to the house where Samira was going to live," Creia turned back to Loralia, "I hope that you will be comfortable there."
"I'm sure I will," Loralia responded, "Thank you for your kindness."
Bannack gave a nod toward the king and queen and led Loralia out of the meeting hall, forcing himself to keep his eyes trained forward rather than letting them wander over to her or to acknowledge the group of warriors sitting at on
e long table, watching him and muttering comments as they passed. He knew what they were saying, but he didn't want to acknowledge it.
Loralia took a deep breath as they stepped out of the building and into the quiet center of the compound.
"I love the way the air smells up here," she said, "It's so different from the cavern."
"I'm glad you like it," Bannack replied gruffly, not turning his eyes toward her.
Finally they arrived at the simple house on the same row as the other homes the Denynso reserved for the scientists and students who had been invited to visit Uoria as part of the exchange program. He opened the door for her and stepped back to allow her to enter in front of him.
"Will you come in with me?" she asked gently. Bannack hesitated. "It's the first night that I've spent away from the cavern in my entire life. I don't want to be alone just yet. Please just spend a few minutes with me."
No matter what he tried to tell himself, Bannack couldn't resist her request. He stepped forward into the house and let Loralia close the door behind him.
"The solar panels collect energy throughout the day so you can use the lights and heat water for a shower."
Bannack turned back to Loralia and saw her staring at him.
"Why are you fighting it?" she asked, taking a step toward him.
Chapter Nine
I could see the confusion flicker across his eyes, but the intense feelings were still radiating toward me as I walked slowly toward Bannack. His gaze traveled along me, exploring the curves and planes of my face and the dips of my body, but I could still sense the internal struggle that was keeping him from admitting what was coursing through his mind and his veins.
"Fighting what?" he finally asked me, his voice strained slightly.
"What you are feeling right now."
I was only two steps away from him now, close enough that I could feel intense, powerful heat pulsing off of his body and see the swell in the front of his loose-fitting pants.