Colonies of U'u'kata

Chapter 19 - Matchmaker

"How bad is it?" Ezra asked, reaching up and touching his face with a wince. He could feel something...

"The flesh of your cheek and just above your eye split open. We got you stitched back up but you're going to have scars and it's going to be sore for a while."

"Shit. He split my cheek with a backhand?" Ezra scoffed, shaking his head at how weak he must seem.

"He was wearing a metal gauntlet, Ezra. Give yourself some grace."

Exhaling heavily, Ezra let himself drop back down. Dakota continued running her fingers gently through his hair and he crushed the feelings that rose up, once again surprising him. Any feelings he might think he had for her were inappropriate considering what she'd just escaped from. His lizard brain wanted to argue but logic was, luckily, louder.

Despite being told to rest, he found himself growing anxious. Being touched by Dakota was too alluring and, finally, he sat up, shrugging off her attempts to convince him to lay back down, and forced himself to his feet. His knees shook and his head swam for a second, but he stayed vertical, probably thanks to Rhythm's pain killer.

The sun was high and warm and far too bright as he picked his way through the trees, walking toward what appeared to be a cliff. When he reached the edge, he looked out over rolling hills covered with trees for as far as the eye could see.

Leaves in shades of blue and purple swayed in the wind, or just rocked on their own. One never knew with the trees of Uu'k'ata since they had a habit of uprooting and walking around. Ezra frowned at the horizon and blinked, eyes watery in the bright light. When he turned around, lanky Delleth stood awkwardly behind him, hedging as he considered his words carefully. And Ezra waited in silence until the boy spoke.

"I thought you were dead," he finally said.

"I thought I was dead too," Ezra admitted, rubbing the back of his neck as a breeze came up the cliffside and ruffled his hair.

"The four-armed warrior carried you in. Your face was bloody. He looked afraid and... and then I was afraid too," Delleth said.

Ezra felt the corner of his mouth pull into a sideways smile. "Are you trying to say you care about me, Delleth?"

The boy shrugged uncomfortably and sniffed. "My I-ah, my mother used to tell me stories of males who... who were gentle and kind. I didn't dare to believe her. But you seem that way."

Chest clenching in sorrow at the torment the boy and his mother had to have experienced at the hands of the Tovans, he nodded and said, "I try to be a good person, Delleth. I come from a world that is very different than it is here. My father was a gentle man. He cared deeply for his family and loved my mother with all his heart."

"Did your mother have a name?"

"Of course she did! All human women have names. Most of us have three or four names."

"What was your mother's name?" Delleth asked, frowning down at his feet.

Ezra didn't know why the boy was asking but the question was innocent enough.

"Her name is Nadien. Nadien, Elizabeth Richards. My father's name is Roger Jose Domingo Richards."

"And you are Ezra," Delleth surmised.

"I'm Ezra Roger Gabriel Richards."

"And... the female you are looking for? Your... mate? What is her name?"

Ezra tilted his head, raising an eyebrow at the boy. Was he doing what Ezra though he was doing?

"Well, Cali is not my mate. She's my friend. More like a sister," he said carefully, watching the boy carefully as he spoke.