One Dear Perpetual Place: Part 2
Tyr walked ahead of Harper, moving quietly and at a pace Harper was pressed to match. They walked a rough path between the trees - it appeared to be a very overgrown road that hadn't been used in many years. Not a modern industrial road, but the track of animal drawn wagons - narrow, rutted and twisting along a path so haphazard it must have been an animal track in the distant past. Harper sweated in the rear as his curiosity ate away at his determination to remain silent and wait Tyr out.
"Tyr, do you know where you're going?"
"I was given very specific directions. I know exactly where I am." Tyr turned a moment to evaluate Harper. "Are you able to keep up with me? Or should you stop and rest? We can rejoin you on the way back," he offered.
"No no! I'm fine, really!" Harper trudged behind Tyr for a while longer. The forest was thick with underbrush and tall old trees - not like Earth's forests which were blasted and desolate places. This one smelled rich and damp... and sported far too much life - most of it winged and determined to bite his neck. He smacked at a large buzzing fly for the nth time.
"Tyr, what are we doing here?" he burst out finally. He immediately wished he'd been able to stay quiet. He waited, holding his breath, expecting Tyr to bite his head off.
Tyr flicked a look at Harper over his shoulder, and walked on. Harper hoped Tyr would just let it go - he was too tired to be chewed out just now. To his surprise, Tyr began to speak in a very quiet voice.
"You remember many months ago our little... encounter with Guderian of Orca pride?"
Harper looked up, a bit puzzled. "Yes...."
"I wasn't lying when I said I had been asked to join their pride. I was asked. By one person--"
"Tyr! We're here to pick up a woman?" Harper blurted, stunned and struck by the hilarity of the reversal of their usual roles.
Tyr stopped walking and stepped in front of Harper. His words were not the kind of disdainful criticism that Harper was used to, they were... almost pained. "Harper, I didn't just have a one night stand with this woman. When Nietzscheans mate it is for procreation as much as it is for bonding within the pride." Tyr stopped to see if Harper was getting it...
Oh yes, Harper got it - his voice rose an octave. "You're telling me we're here to pick up a woman and a baby?" he squawked.
He and Tyr stood, nose to nose across a gulf of cultural difference.
"We're here to pick up my mate, the alpha of my pride, and our child, the foundation of my pride. Can we keep walking now? We're short on time."
He turned and stalked off, head down, done with any further discussion.
With a disbelieving laugh, Harper shouldered the backpack and followed him.
Onward To Part 3!
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