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  “I don’t know. Tish brought it to me. I told her it was big enough for me to carve.”

  “Did you touch it?” She reached for the Earth boy’s arms.

  “No. She wanted to carry it. Is that what caused her rash?”

  “Maybe.” Janai turned to Tish. “Do you think you could show me where you found that?” The little girl nodded. “I want you to put it down, okay?” She hugged the branch closer and pursed her full lips at Janai. “It might be what’s making you itch.” Tish looked at Vala for a moment before putting the branch on the ground. “Thank you. Now, how about showing me where you found it.”

  The two walked out into the brush with the others following. Tish glanced around for a moment then made a beeline to a tree with a thick, scaly trunk and pointed. Janai leaned down to study the sturdy plant that surrounded the base of the trunk and wound its way up the tree. The fat leaves of the plant were green and the tips speckled with red and yellow.

  “Is that what gave her the rash?” Vala said.

  “Only one way to find out.” Janai started back to the sleep alcove with the others trailing behind her. She snatched up a piece of cloth from her pack and protected her hand while she plucked a leaf from Tish’s branch.

  “What are you going to do?” Lance said.

  “I’m going to test it.” She pulled up one of her tattered pant legs and rubbed the leaf onto a small area of skin just above her knee. Then she carefully pulled the pant leg down to cover the area again. Using the cloth, she scooped up the branch and the leaf, placing them just outside the alcove. “Nobody touches those, understand? We should know in a few hours if this plant is the culprit.” She hoped it would cause a rash on her leg and that Tish hadn’t contracted some sort of disease.

  All she could do now was wait.

  17 ~ Dangers by Daylight

  The group, with Ash in the lead, had been following the animal trail for a couple of hours. Janai was checking the positions of the twin suns when she felt a burning itch just above her right knee. She bent down to scratch but stopped herself. She pulled up the pant leg and revealed a small, dark rash that stood out against her pale gray skin. Immediately, she began rummaging through her sinsabe.

  “What is it?” Ash stopped the group and looked back at Janai, who was in the rear.

  “A rash from that branch Tish found back by the last camp site.” She sighed in relief when she located the herb for which she had been searching. She was also relieved that it wasn’t a disease.

  Blal’k produced a bowl and a yellow spread-leaf for her and she mashed the herb with a small amount of water into the same type of paste she had used on Tish. After applying the blue paste on the rash, she carefully pulled her pant leg down to cover the area.

  “Itch-plant,” Krav’n said as Janai was cleaning out the bowl.

  “What?” She tossed the clean bowl back to Blal’k.

  “Itch-plant.” The boy put his webbed hands on his hips. “That’s what you should name it.” His liquid eyes glistened.

  “Oh.” Janai understood now. “Tish found it, so she gets to choose the name.” She stroked Krav’n’s head ridges. He gave her a disappointed look. Tish was quick to respond. The little, silent girl bounced up and pointed to Krav’n. Janai studied the girl a moment. “You like itch-plant?” Tish nodded. “Okay. Itch-plant it is.” She smiled at the girl’s blue-covered skin. Tish grinned at Janai then skipped back to Vala.

  The group got underway again and continued to follow the trail that wound up and around the mountainside. At least another hour passed when they came to a clearing. Ash halted the group and called the two Aknideans up to join him. Gryden and Vala extended their earflaps as they surveyed the area.

  “What is it?” Janai made her way to the front.

  “The trail seems to end here.” Ash turned lavender eyes toward her. His features, smaller than the other races, slightly larger than her own, had begun to look more adult.

  They took this opportunity to rest. Krav’n and Tish pulled out their berry stain and began drawing on pieces of bark, while Penny played with her stick doll.

  “Anything?” Ash said a few moments later, when Vala stopped near him.

  “The trail ends.” Vala indicated the clearing. “But I don’t know where the animals are. The prints just stop.” She shifted her earflaps.

  “How can that be?” Janai said. “Animals don’t just vanish. They must’ve gone somewhere.” Vala simply shrugged. After a few moments, Janai noticed someone was missing. “Where’s Gryden?”

  “He went to check over in that area.” Vala pointed to some thick brush. “He should be back by now.” She shifted her earflaps. “I don’t hear him now.” She started toward the brush.

  “Wait,” Janai said. “Blal’k, you stay with the younger ones. Ash, with us.”

  Krav’n ran to her side. “I wanna come, too.”

  “No, you stay here with Blal’k.” She stroked his head ridges.

  “I don’t want to.”

  “I said stay here.”

  “But—”

  “You heard me.” She had no time to argue and gave the little boy’s hand over to Blal’k. “Keep him with you.” Then she turned to Vala and Ash. “Let’s go.”

  The trio stuck close as they scoured the brush area looking for the Aknidean boy.

  “Over there,” Vala said, pointing to a grassy area.

  As they moved in, Janai saw Gryden’s bow lying among the leaves and bushes. Vala stepped toward the weapon and lost her footing. Ash caught the girl and pulled her back from what they discovered was a hole, hidden by the high brush. The danger was almost impossible to see until they were practically on top of it. Vala peered down into the darkness with Ash and Janai supporting her.

  “Anything?” Janai said.

  “It’s too dark. Wait.” Vala put her good arm out and motioned for silence. Her earflaps shifted. “Gryden?” she called down into the dark hole. “He’s hurt.”

  Janai started toward the hole, but Ash quickly grabbed her arm and somehow managed to pull her and Vala back. She turned to him, grateful that he was so quick to act. “Thanks,” she said, realizing that if he hadn’t caught her, she might’ve gone down into the darkness and taken Vala with her. I’ve got to get a handle on my healer instincts.

  “We have to help him.” Vala’s voice held a slight tone of worry, more than Janai had heard from the girl in a while.

  She untied the vine rope from around her waist. Once she got it off, she tucked her sinsabe into the neckline of her jumpsuit. Ash pulled another rope from Vala’s pack. They tied the two together and secured one end to a nearby tree. Ash lay on his stomach and lowered the other end of the rope down the hole.

  “Gryden?” he called. “Can you hear me? Grab the rope and we’ll pull you up.” They waited but there was no tension on the rope. “Gryden?” Ash sounded almost angry. “Take the rope.” He turned to Janai. “I’ll have to go down and get him.”

  “No. I’ll go.” He started to protest but she cut him off. “It might be bad to move him. I need to take a look at him first.”

  “Okay, but when he’s ready to be moved, I’m coming down.”

  “Agreed.” She knew that arguing with him about it would prove useless. “Vala, get some heat rocks from Blal’k. I’m going to need some light.”

  The Aknidean girl wasted no time and was back in a few moments with glowing rocks in a skin pouch. Janai dropped her pack, grabbed the rope, took the pouch from Vala, and slowly began scaling down into the hole. She was careful not to re-injure her ankle, and when her feet touched solid ground, she tested the area to make sure that it would hold her weight. Her foot touched a solid object and as her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she recognized the object as Gryden. She laid the rocks around his body and examined her new patient. He was semi-conscious and moaned when she touched his ribcage. Two ribs were broken and he’d badly sprained his right arm. Once he was fully aware, Janai gave him some pain herbs to chew on and helped
him to a sitting position so she could bandage him up.

  “All right, Ash,” she called up, when she felt he could be moved without further injury. “He’s ready, but I think it’d be better if I tied the rope around him and you and Vala pulled him up.” She was confident Vala would use only her good arm. Even one handed, the girl was strong.

  Soon they had the injured boy above ground. Janai gathered up her supplies and waited for the rope to drop down. In the darkness, she thought she heard something move. When something brushed across her foot, she let out a startled squeal.

  “What wrong?” Ash called down to her.

  She froze and tried to focus her eyes in the darkness. Something moved again, and this time she was sure that she saw a furry, scurrying something. She squealed again when the rope brushed across her face then quickly grabbed onto it to pull herself up. As she neared the top, Ash gripped her right arm in his and pulled her the rest of the way. His arm muscles flexed as he lifted her to her feet.

  Her heart raced and her face felt hot. She quickly turned to look at the hole. “There’s something down there.”

  “What?”

  “I don’t know. Some kind of small animal.” She checked Gryden for bite marks and was relieved not to find any.

  Vala squatted next to her. “Is he going to be all right?”

  “He’ll be sore while his ribs heal, and he won’t be able to use his right arm for a while.” Janai placed a hand on Vala’s shoulder when the girl’s yellow eyes paled with concern. “He’ll recover. Let’s get him back to the clearing.”

  “Wait,” Ash said, untying the ropes. “We need to mark this place so no one else falls in.”

  Janai secured her sinsabe around her waist and hoisted her pack onto her back then waited with her patient, while Ash and Vala placed marker rocks around the hole. The trio helped Gryden to his feet, careful not to aggravate his injuries. When they arrived back with the others, Blal’k was already preparing food and had the younger ones busy helping.

  They would have to make camp once again because of injuries. She didn’t want to take any chances with Gryden’s condition. His eyes were a pale yellow and she wanted to make sure he didn’t go into shock. “Keep him warm,” she imagined her mother saying. “Make him rest.” His injuries weren’t as bad as Vala’s had been, but Janai’s healer instincts were strong and she hovered over her new patient.

  18 ~ Creatures

  The group sat down to eat another meal of roots and sour-grass, when Vala froze, extended her earflaps, and looked up.

  “What’s wrong?” Janai said quietly.

  “We’re being watched.” Vala stood.

  Janai’s heart tripped. “Morgee?”

  “No.” Vala kept her gaze upward.

  Suddenly, several creatures leapt silently from the trees and waited near the edge of the clearing, causing Penny to squeak. They were brown and hairless with small oval faces, large, yellow eyes and flat noses. Their back limbs were thicker near the trunks of their thin bodies and much longer than their front limbs. Large claws on the hind feet looked powerful. Just the opposite of the tiny claw-like hands. Even on hind legs, the tallest wasn’t any higher than Janai’s knees, and they seemed to balance with the help of a long ribbed tail. She couldn’t see any visible ears on the creatures. In all her fifteen years, she’d never seen anything like them.

  “Keep still. You might startle them.” The largest of the creatures hunched down on all fours and leapt in Vala’s direction. Ash started toward the girl. “No,” Vala said, stopping him in mid stride.

  The creature froze and looked as if it were going to bolt. But it jumped closer to Vala and timidly reached for the partially eaten root in her hand. The Aknidean girl sat on her heels, offered the root to the creature and waited patiently. The strange little being took the root, sniffed at it, then bit off a piece with its tiny mouth, chewed a few times and swallowed. It squealed, startling Janai and the others, and leapt to the edge of the clearing with the rest of the root in its tiny front claw. It seemed to be showing off its find to the others.

  Five smaller versions of the creatures awkwardly climbing down from the trees. These didn’t leap. They simply waited until the larger ones offered their backs as transportation. The creature with the root broke off a piece for each of the smaller ones. They ate ravenously and squealed several times. The creature jumped into the tree and snatched something up, then bounded down and leapt to Vala again. It offered what looked to be some sort of nut to the Aknidean girl.

  “Be careful, Vala.”

  Vala smelled the offering in the same manner the creature had done with the root. Then she bit off a tiny portion of it. “It’s good.” Worry twisted Janai’s gut, and Vala must have sensed her concern because she turned and said, “I feel fine.”

  Hours could pass before some poisons would affect a victim, and Janai mentally chastised the girl.

  The creature squealed and seemed to be waiting for something. Vala took more roots from the eating area and offered them to the creature. This time it didn’t hesitate to take the offerings and distribute them among the smaller beings. Janai wondered if they might be offspring. The creature then scampered up the tree and was back in a matter of seconds with several nuts for Vala. The Aknidean girl took them. The strange little creature, followed by the other, squealed and disappeared into the trees.

  “What was that all about?” Lance said, still looking up into the branches.

  Gryden moved to a half-sitting position. “Well, now we know what made the mysterious trail we’ve been following.”

  Janai made her way to the Aknidean boy and forced him to lie down. Then she went to Vala and looked her over.

  “I’m fine,” the girl protested.

  “You shouldn’t have eaten that nut, Vala. You have no idea if it’s poisonous or not.”

  “Somebody had to try it. We’d never have anything to eat if someone didn’t take a chance and try things around here. You know I’m right. Someone had to have been the first to try the sour-grass, the roots, and the jumper meat we eat now.” Janai’s face grew hot, pulse racing with anger, and Vala studied her. “Oh, I get it. You’re mad because you wanted it to be you.” Her eyes flickered knowingly. “Well, guess what, you’re the only healer around here, so that makes you the last person who should be testing for poisons.”

  “You have no idea what you’re doing. There are other ways to test foods before eating them.” Janai couldn’t contain her anger any longer and she grabbed Vala by the shoulders. “Don’t ever do that again!” Vala let out a cry of pain.

  “Janai!” Ash snapped. “Stop it! You’re hurting her.”

  Her anger turned to fright as she realized this, too. Vala pulled away and rubbed her shoulders as Blal’k went to her. Janai studied her hands. They were damp with sweat. “Vala.” She looked at the Aknidean girl with horror at what she’d done. “I—I’m sorry. Are you all right?” She reached out but the girl pulled away. Ash placed his hands on her shoulders and she turned to him, fighting tears.

  He examined her trembling hands. “I think you’ve just experienced focus healing.”

  Janai’s mind raced. Can it be true? Focus healers were very rare and there hadn’t been one in her family for five generations. She felt light-headed and a little weak. A healer wasn’t supposed to injure her patients, but Vala had cried out under her touch. She stared at her hands. “What have I done?”

  “It’s all right.” Ash cradled her.

  “I hurt Vala.” Tears fled down her cheeks and she wrapped arms around Ash, taking comfort in his presence.

  “I’m all right.” Vala stood near her now.

  “I’m sorry.” Janai sniffed. “I had no idea—”

  Vala cut her off with a quick wave. “I know you didn’t do it on purpose.” She looked into Janai’s eyes. “I trust you.”

  Vala’s trust was probably the biggest complement she could receive from an Aknidean. “Thank you.” She wiped her eyes and face on her sl
eeve. “Let me see your shoulders.”

  She wasn’t sure the girl would allow her touch, even though she’d just declared her trust. But Vala obediently slid the neck of her jumpsuit aside to reveal her right shoulder then her left. Both sides were bruised. Janai was very gentle in examining the girl. She couldn’t find anything broken, but Vala winced at her touch and guilt flooded through her again.

  “They’re just bruises,” the Aknidean girl assured her. “I’ll live.”

  Janai couldn’t contain herself. She reached out and briefly hugged Vala. The girl didn’t hug back but the subtle changes in her eyes gave her emotions away. Janai turned to Ash. “Do you really think I have the focus healing gift?”

  “From where I stood it sure looked that way.” He sat on a nearby rock, pulling her down with him. “One of my uncles was badly injured once. I watched a focus healer work on him. Her eyes grew bright lavender, just like yours did, and her hands were sweaty and trembling when she was done.” He took her by the shoulders. “Haven’t you ever seen a focus healer at work?”

  “No.” She allowed him to support her weight slightly and wondered if he noticed. “We didn’t have one in our village. There aren’t that many around.”

  A moment of awkward silence followed as they stared at each other. “Well,” he finally said, pulling his gaze from her to the group. “Why don’t we finish our meal?”

  Janai was hungry, but the idea of learning this new type of healing frightened her. She would have to keep her emotions under control whenever she touched anyone, until she could figure out what she was doing. On Kritine, there were only three focus healers that she knew of and none had been to her village since before she was born.

  What next? Silent curses filled her head.

  ****

  Janai and Ash discussed what little they knew about focus healers, while she checked on her patients each day. Tish’s rash had only lasted a day and was now completely gone. As was the one on Janai’s leg. She was grateful because the itching was intense when the itch paste wore off. Gryden seemed to be feeling better and insisted he was well enough to travel. Janai disagreed and they got into an argument. She came out victorious. Vala seemed to trust her despite what had happened. The bruises weren’t as bad as Janai had thought earlier, but she gave the girl pain tea to ease the stiffness in her shoulders. They hadn’t seen any of the strange little creatures since the food exchange with Vala, and the Aknidean girl had decided to name them leapers, for obvious reasons.