Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 91775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
We wash our bowls and return them to the fire, and then wander through the camp looking for Noj’me the Attendant. Everyone’s lingering around camp and talking in whispers, and I remember that we’re all supposed to be helping out to do Flor’s surprise wedding feast. It seems more important in this moment that we find Noj’me first, though.
I’m not sure we’re going to be able to help anyone with resonance humming like it is. Even now, I’m fighting the urge to reach over and rip the layers of furs off of Rem’eb so I can touch his warm skin and let my hands roam all over him. If we’re apart, the resonance sensations are annoyingly distracting but tolerable. Together? My thoughts have been hijacked by an absolute dick-hound and all I can think about is sex.
Sex sex sex.
I’m not going to be able to hold out against resonance for much longer. I know others have held out for weeks, and Josie and Haeden took over a month to consummate things. I have no idea how the hell they did that, because I can’t resist constantly looking at Rem’eb, and when I look at him, things go haywire. My nipples get hard, my body clenches around nothing, and my panties get wet. My breathing speeds up.
It makes me want to avoid being around the rest of the tribe, that’s for sure. The last thing I want is someone pointing out that I’m sweating or that I look distracted. And if one of the newcomers so much as looks at Rem’eb, I might claw her eyes out.
The idea of being rational has been completely abandoned. Now I’m just a snarling, feral creature that needs to get laid. I think Rem’eb is just as lost in this as I am. He stumbles when he walks, as if he’s not paying enough attention, and he reaches for my hand constantly. Then the moment our fingers brush, he pulls away as if burned.
I don’t know how we manage to find Noj’me, given that neither of us is paying much attention to where we’re walking. Somehow we do manage to find her, though. She’s with Devi, who’s questioning her eagerly about life underground. If I had my wits together, I would have guessed that she’d be chatting with Devi, who loves to learn about the ecology of this planet. But since all of my brain cells are currently fixated on how good Rem’eb smells as he stands right next to me, well…I can’t be blamed for nearly walking over Noj’me and Devi both as they sit together on the beach, Devi’s son N’rav playing nearby in the sand.
“Yes, but can you describe them to me in greater detail?” Devi is asking, an animal skin spread on her legs and making notes on it with a charcoal-tipped bone.
Noj’me looks confused at the question. “They are mushrooms.” She shrugs. “Just mushrooms.”
“I need you to detail them for me—the color, the scent, the length of the stipe, if they grow in clusters or separately, if they have gills or flesh. Also the environment they grow best in. As much information as you can, please.”
“In…cave?” Noj’me shoots us a helpless look as we approach. “They are cave mushrooms. Big ones.”
Devi’s writing instrument scratches on the hide. “And how big is big, exactly? Are the textures of the mushrooms different when they’re smaller than they are as they grow larger?”
I clear my throat. “Hey, sorry to interrupt, but we need a translator. Can we borrow Noj’me for a while?”
Both women turn to look at us, hand in hand, distracted and resonating like a symphony. Noj’me smiles politely, her gaze focused on our chests, where the source of the endless humming is coming from. It’s as if she knows exactly what we’re going to ask about.
Devi opens her mouth to protest and then snaps it shut again. “Yes, of course. We’re just talking about some of the aspects of the mushrooms that their people grow. I would love to have a sample to study to see if we could cultivate it up here, but I suppose it’s not warm enough.” Her expression grows wistful. “Though maybe we could artificially make an appropriate environment somehow. I’m still not entirely sure it would work unless there’s some sort of dormant root system we can activate…”
I clear my throat again.
“Right, right, of course. There are far more pressing problems than fungal colonies.” Devi rolls up the skin on her lap. “Thank you for your time, Noj’me. May we talk again soon?” She smiles at all of us as Noj’me gets up to leave. N’rav races to his mother with a shell in his hand, proudly showing it off, and Devi is distracted. “That one is lovely, my boy, but we’ve already recorded that one.”
“Pretty,” N’rav says, holding it out again.