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SpoilerShe could hear laughter outside, mixed with fake roars and self-made sound effects of battle. Silhouettes wove back and forth across the thin hide of one of the tent she’d helped her father and another Nunh erect several days ago, lithe bodies accentuated with the sharp curve of a bow on their backs, a dagger at their hips, their tails flapping like ribbons behind them. K’piru huddled lower behind a rack of food stores, parchment and charcoal in hand and ears pulled flat against her skull.

All signs pointed to the huntresses having decided to gather the children and take them out, to teach them the skills they would need to better contribute to the tribe. Glancing down at her papers and the carefully scratched out multiplication tables, interspersed with sketched out diagrams of the sun’s travels across the horizon, K’piru held her breath and waited.

Sunlight knifed through the dim tent suddenly, and she flinched, scooting further backwards, holding her papers in front of her as though they could hide her from what she knew must be K’jhul or K’takka, or even her mother, esteemed huntress K’deiki. Instead of the stern lecture and firm hand on her wrist that she expected, however, a low giggle followed by the shuffling of feet reached her ears. Curiosity piqued, she lowered the parchment enough to squint through the light towards the silhouette before her.

A darkly tanned boy, red hair catching the sun behind him so that it looked like his head had caught fire, stood grinning at her from behind the flap of the tent. His ears flicked one way and then the other, and then with deliberate slowness, he brought one finger to his mouth. They stood that way in silence for several moments, ice blue eyes meeting her own green ones, and then he lowered his finger and backed away slowly.

She could still hear the laughter and play fighting outside as the hide slipped back into place, but K’piru smiled. Not today, for her. Thanks to him, at least.

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