Where Fires Dare to Burn

Chapter 28 - Wildfires

I might just love you.

The words sustained Luke through her absence. He felt giddy, almost child-like. Despite everything, despite the warnings, despite the dangers, despite DeVergne and his poachers, there was finally a gleaming blaze of light cutting through it all. The rational part of his brain told him that they would still have plenty of hurdles to overcome, but right now he simply didn't care. Oaklynn had chosen him. Over tradition, herd, clan and law she had picked Luke Arbor.

He would make sure she didn't regret that choice.

The only thing that kept a tremor of worry inside him right now was the knowledge that she had to confront Gallie Parwood, to make the break with Karkadda. The Mahar's threats had seemed pretty clear to him at the time, but he hadn't been anywhere near the woman in the intervening weeks. He just needed to trust Oaklynn now.

That left Luke with a lot of waiting to do. He used the time to help Gabi and Kenny get to grips with just what they'd been thrown into less than a day ago. They gathered in their dorm, with a crate of smuggled beer that Kenny had liberated from his dad's stocks, and sprawled themselves around the room, the arcade machine humming away obliviously in the background.

Slumped on a beanbag with his back against the wall, Luke sipped at a beer, feeling the curious gazes of his friends. It was funny to think that, as far as they were concerned, he was a veritable expert in the Karkadda field. He thought to the anthropology and archaeology classes that he'd been so fixated on before arriving at ELU. Did they even make sense any more? They focused on human beings alone. How much was missing? What else was out there beyond the Karkadda?

"So, how long exactly did you know Oaklynn was..." Gabi hesitated as she tried to pick out the right word. "Different?" She perched on Luke's bed, legs crossed. Kenny stood leaning his elbows on the kitchen counter, his beer gently skating back and forth from hand to hand between sips.

"I mean, I didn't know for sure until she showed me that night," he replied with a shrug. "Before that, I guess I was the same as you guys. Something didn't add up; just didn't make sense."

"So that's my Burning-Eyed Man?" Kenny shook his head with a smirk. "And I was so damn sure it was just a story."

"They don't suck people's brains out," Gabi pointed out.

"Well, every good campfire story gets a bit of colour down the years, doesn't it?"

Luke grinned. "And you tell it so well."

"Must be weird, living like that," Gabi continued, fingers drumming against the side of her beer bottle in thought. "Like, keeping that big a secret every hour, every day? I don't think I could do that."

"I think Oaklynn would agree with you." He took another glug of beer, feeling the cold fizz its way down his throat. "It's like any kid with parents who tell them what to do; how to live. Eventually something's got to give. She's just... had enough."

"Because of you."

"Hey, I didn't-,"

"No, no, I didn't mean it like that," she said quickly. "I just mean, she's got to really want to be with you to risk all of that." Gabi rolled her lip piercing from side to side awkwardly. "I just didn't understand at the time what was going on with you guys."

"I didn't exactly explain myself."

"Yeah, leave it in the rear-view, Gabi," Kenny said. "I guess what matters now is we're all on the same page. Though we'd better sort out our stories if Nalen calls us back in again." He bit his lip, hunching his shoulders in discomfort. "I mean, we went in there and told him you guys had nothing to do with what happened, but...
"But we did." Luke nodded. "I know. They had our DNA from the scene."