Teresa waits until everyone in the house is asleep before slipping into her robe. She puts the thin robe on over her shift and stealthily slinks out of the front door. Mifbon, who now alternates between sleeping at Teresa's home and that of Halyiis, will make sure the childlings are fine. Teresa draws her robe tight and rushes toward the temple—and Elder Scar.

  When she arrives at the temple, it is clearly deserted. She searches every room, but can find no sign of the settlement elder. Heading to Scar's private quarters, situated at the back of the temple, Teresa lightly knocks on the door.

  "Elder Scar," Teresa calls softly.

  She knocks a third time, and then a fourth. No answer. Pulling her robe tighter, Teresa backs away from the door and then spins on her heels. Remembering the solemn look on the elder's face, and the cold manner of his departure, Teresa questions her decision to seek an audience. Whatever is wrong, he may not want to talk about it.

  Heading back down the hall, Teresa recounts all of the day's events. Nothing has occurred between her and Scar to fracture their delicate relationship. Nothing she is aware of. A deep fear seizes Teresa's heart and she stops walking. No. Something is wrong.

  Gathering up the bottom of her robe, so that it does not trail on the ground, Teresa makes haste to exit the temple.

  -

  -

  Reaching the water's edge, Teresa glances from side to side. She is looking for evidence that Elder Scar is there. Staring hard at the water's surface, Teresa notices a section of river which flows around an unseen object. The water curves around the invisible object and rejoins itself. The largest moon's bluish beams illuminate that particular portion of river very well. She has found their elder.

  Teresa removes her robe and lays it neatly on the dry ground. She makes her way back to the shore and crosses slowly toward the spot where she saw the watery disturbance. However, she is sorely disappointed. A boulder lies just under the surface of the water. This large rock is what caused the river to flow weirdly in that spot. Elder Scar is not here either.

  "Where is he?" Teresa whispers, frustration in her voice. "Where has he gone? And why?"

  "I have not gone," Scar's deep voice comes from Teresa's left.

  The settlement elder releases a heavy sigh and drops his cloak. His sad amber eyes settle on Teresa's face, studying her.

  "What are you doing here, Scar? I looked for you in the temple...And find you out here. Alone. Why did you leave without a word earlier? You looked so unhappy. Have I done something to upset you?"

  Elder Scar remains where he is, submerged up to his waist in the river. He stares silently at the woman bobbing in the water not far away. Teresa wades toward him at a slow pace, her eyes locked on his blank face.

  "You are upset with me. That's why you won't say anything. What have I done, Scar? Why the silent treatment?"

  "You have done nothing."

  "Then, why are you being so cold?"

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Scar heaves another deep sigh and approaches Teresa. She unconsciously swims backward a foot, unsure of how to interpret the elder's sudden advance.

  "I will not hurt you," Scar says reassuringly.

  "I never implied you would," Teresa responds, her eyes remaining on Scar.

  Scar reaches where Teresa bobs in the water and caresses her face with his right hand. His voice is low and full of grief.

  "We should not continue our relationship...If you are unsure of what you want."

  "Unsure of what I want? What are you talking about, Scar? What have you heard? Did you overhear something...While you were cloaked? Is that what this is all about? Is that why you’ve been giving me the cold shoulder?"

  Elder Scar cups Teresa's face with his large right hand. His round amber eyes narrow and he stares hungrily down at her lips, wanting to feel their moist suppleness. The ooman's feminine scent grows still stronger, and Scar battles the urge to take her into his arms and pleasure her right there on the river's shore.

  There was once another time when he'd resisted an urge so strong. The frozen continent. On the collapsed ice shelf. It had been just him and Lex. Before death came in the form of a murderous black serpent.

  Lex had raised her makeshift spear, fashioned by him in the heart of the chuf'trhat. The sparkle in her eye, the subtle upturning of her full ooman lips, the way her eyes had studied him. The smell of her flesh, as she decided what to make of her strange alien hero. There had been something in her scent. The same something he had become aware of when the Sebastian ooman wrenched her away from the infirm ooman. The same smell had been in her blood when she'd begged him not to kill her friend in the depths of the cavernous hive.

  Whatever Lex had felt in that moment, it was only the beginning of n'fiis. The rest did not come until much later. Until his resurrection, and their escape from the ooman science building.

  The first time he'd undraped Lex's nude form, it was after she’d tended his wounds while upon Scorvo’s transport ship. When he’d brushed his hand across her cheek, she had shivered and shrunk back. But the moment their mouths touched, Scar knew why he'd wanted to do it so many years before. The taste of Lex's saliva had been like a strong elixir. Once he had tasted of it, he’d wanted more.

  Their lovemaking had been full of exploration and lessons learned. Only uncertainty about the future had restrained them. Scorvo's discovery of V’Daha, with its settlement full of hybrid refugees, had been a stroke of fortuitous luck. Giving up completely on their pasts, they had focused solely on the future—the births of Vildif and Yau-tala, Scar's ascendance to Clan Elder, and Lex's commitment to him and their budding family. It was all he could have hoped for.

  Scar returns his thinking to the present. He clenches his jaw shut, mandibles tightening, and tusks forming a tight "x".

  Teresa knows this look. It is one she has given many a colleague, friend, family member, or lover. It is a look of defiance and strong will. N-Vorl would sigh whenever he observed such an expression on her face. However, with N-Vorl, he would always find a way to get under her skin and around her emotional barrier. Elder Scar is not like herself. Nor is he anything like N-Vorl. The settlement elder has made up his mind about something, and he has no intention of budging.

  "I must go, Teresa Boyd," Scar says with feigned disinterest. "I hope you enjoy your time at the river."

  Without another word, Elder Scar releases Teresa's face and wades toward the shore several meters away. Teresa stares at his broad back in disbelief. Before he reaches the shore, Scar activates his cloak, disappearing from view.

  "What?" Teresa mutters softly, and to no one. "That's it? I hope you enjoy your time at the river?! After everything? What the hell did I ever do to deserve any of this? It never ends!"

  For a moment, Teresa stands rigid in the river's center, staring down into the water. She stares for so long that her eyes begin playing tricks on her. She imagines dark shapes coiling up from the murky depths to drag her down to the river's bottom. She imagines accepting their invitation, floating down to her fate with half-closed eyes. Only the soft chitter-giggles of Vor'taalnis and his smaller siblings, which play at the back of Teresa's mind, keeps such thoughts at bay.

  The former scientist gathers up the bottom of her soaking shift and makes her way back to shore. She bends to pick up her robe and tosses it over one arm. Silent tears slide down her cheeks as she follows the path back to her cabin.

  Had she bothered to look down, she would have noticed that Elder Scar's footprints are nowhere on the sandy shore.