For the first time, Jack found himself realizing that he found her quite attractive, and that thought disturbed him. While he had come to sort of like Aria, it didn't seem right to be thinking of her in that way. She was of a different species, and there was quite the long history of that sort of thing being frowned upon in human society, to say the least.
Aria turned away from him, leaning over a little to wash the back of her neck in the waterfall. Jack was treated to the sight of a firm, toned rear, tail waving serenely in the foamy spray of the turbulence created by the falling liquid. The cream fur of her front appeared to continue between her legs, creating a vague heart shape on her rump around her tail. Jack's face warmed as he stared, and the unbidden thought rose to the front of his mind: If only that tail would move just an inch or so to one side...
Suddenly, Aria's ears twitched, and she straightened up, looking over her shoulder. Her eyes locked with Jack's, and they just gazed at each other for a few moments. After about a minute, Aria stepped out of the waterfall, brushing droplets from her brow, striding through the pool towards Jack. He was rooted to the spot, unable to look away as the tall feline got closer.
“You staring,” Aria said simply when she got to the water's edge.
“Uh...,” Jack stammered, finally looking away from her naked body. His mind was confused, and he tried to think of something to say. All he could manage was a mumbled “Sorry.”
“You see something you like?” she asked, matter-of-factly. Jack said nothing in reply, and Aria was quiet for a while, water dripping from her fur and rippling the water. Then, without saying a word, Aria shrugged and stepped up out of the water, walking over to where she'd laid her flight suit. By now it was completely dry. Setting the garment carefully flat on the ground, Aria stretched out on the rock in its place to dry herself.
Relieved that Aria hadn't blown up in his face, Jack sighed, shaking his head to banish his blush. Studiously avoiding looking her sunning on the rock, he set himself to the task of preparing his kill for their dinner.
******
As Jack and Aria ate their meal, the conversation contained no reference to their earlier encounter. As luck would have it, the large bird creatures of this planet were very edible, and several hours of roasting over the fire had rendered the meat tender and delicious. There was plenty to eat, though Aria ate about three times as much as Jack did. When dinner was over and had been cleared away, Aria excused herself into the tent.
Jack wasn't quite ready for bed, though by now it was dark. He had been thinking about the pool during the meal, and he had to admit to himself that he could also use a bath. After making sure that Aria had zipped up the tent entrance, he took his clothes off and stepped into the water. Instantly the warmth went to work on his tired body, heating his bare skin and enveloping him in a therapeutic feeling. The minerals in the water gave it an invigorating effect.
Jack stood up in the water, which came up to his chest, and splashed it over himself. The built-up sweat and dirt from the day's climb slowly washed away, and he felt a lot better. The night sky twinkled with stars overhead, lending a peaceful atmosphere to his bath as the firelight threw shadows around the rock wall bordering the pool.
The quiet feeling of seclusion was what made Jack jump twice as high when he turned in the water and spotted Aria sitting cross-legged on the bank. Though his waist was already below the water level, Jack sank lower, his face turning bright red.
“Aria?” he gasped. “Wh-What the hell are you doing?”
“Getting even,” she said simply, her tail wagging behind her. The Ailian seemed almost playful with the tone of her voice. “You stare at me while I bathe, so I do same. Is fair, yes?”
Jack couldn't think of a protest for that one. He certainly had been ogling her earlier, no doubt about that. He stayed hunkered down anyway, not intending to give her the eyeful she had given him. “You snuck up on me.”
“I did.” Aria tilted her head to one side. “Why you embarrassed? You just taking bath, yes? Is nothing to be ashamed of.”
“It's not...That's not the...,” Jack stuttered. He rose slightly in the water, eying her carefully. “I just don't like the idea of being watched.”
“Then you should not watch me,” the Ailian pointed out. She leaned forward, placing her elbows on the ground in front of her and propping her head on her hands. A grin spread slowly across her muzzle. “Humans strange. No fur at all. How you stay warm?”
“Can I finish my bath, or are you just going to gawk at me?”
Aria waved a hand. “Finish.” But she made no move to return to the tent, or to look away. Jack waited for several minutes, and then, resigned, he stood back up. He turned away from her, pretending that she wasn't watching him, and finished washing himself. But he knew that Aria had been teaching him a lesson, in her own way.
Keep your eyes to yourself.
She was gone when he turned back around to walk out of the pool.
******
When Jack finally got into the tent, Aria was lying with her back to the entrance, in her usual state of bedtime undress. She appeared to be asleep, and he moved quietly so as not to wake her, lying down next to her. He closed his eyes, trying not to think about all that had happened that day, and willed sleep to come. Just as he was nodding off, Aria spoke.
“Jack? Sleep yet?”
“Mmmno...,” he mumbled groggily, coming back to full wakefulness. His eyes opened, and he saw that Aria had rolled over so that she was facing him. Her yellow cat's eyes were unblinking, though he could see tiredness in them. “What's wrong?”
“Nothing wrong,” she said. She half sat up, peering down at Jack. Just as he was wondering why she'd spoken in the first place, her hands came to either side of his face, cupping his cheeks. She moved her face close to his, looking into his eyes with a curious expression.
Then, before Jack had a chance to register what was happening, she leaned in and pressed her lips to his. For a long moment she kissed him, the soft fur on her muzzle tickling his face slightly, while Jack's mind raced and his heart hammered against his chest. Her lips were very soft and warm, and had a peculiar flavor quite different from a human girl's, one which he could find no words to describe.
Breaking the kiss, Aria leaned back, looking thoughtful. She let him go, and rested herself back on her bedroll, just looking at Jack as he tried to process what she'd just done. Smiling a little, Aria rolled back over, curling her tail around herself. From the way she had acted, he couldn't be sure whether she didn't think she had been dreaming, but if she was dreaming it would seem to be an awfully unusual dream for her to have.
“Sleep well, Jack,” she said. And then she was quiet again. Blinking, the human stared at her back. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but then he closed it again. As tired as he was, he just couldn't come up with anything.
I...I don't understand her one bit...
******
As they walked through the jungle the next day, Jack felt a sense of apprehension, and he didn't quite know why. Nothing seemed to have changed in their surroundings. He checked around frequently for predators that might be sneaking up on him and Aria, but he never saw any. He began to worry that he was growing paranoid, but his thoughts still nagged at him. He had the feeling that something was ahead of them, but whether close or far ahead he couldn't be sure.
The sound of rushing water didn't fade when they left the clearing where they'd spent the night behind. If anything, it got even louder. The source of the noise became clear as they broke through the thick jungle, coming out into another clear area. A wide, raging river of white rapids lay in front of them, full of rocks jutting out from the water. The river was fed by another waterfall crashing down from the mountain to their left, though this one was many times larger than the one at the heated pond. They had a clear line of sight down the river, and they could see that the flow ended in another waterfall, presumably going to the bottom of the mesa. Across the ri
ver, Jack was surprised to see, not the sheer drop of a rock wall similar to the one they had climbed the day before, but a long, gentle slope covered in amber-colored grass. It was as though they were on top of a trapezoid which had been sliced in half down the middle, and they were coming to the angled half.
The current situation, of course, left them with a choice to make.
“Well, Aria,” Jack said, rubbing his chin. “What now?” He examined the river. It looked about a hundred or so meters wide. Not massive as rivers went, but not something you could just hop over, either. “We can try crossing the river, and then it'll be an easy walk to the foot of the mountain. Or...” He turned his head, looking down the river's path. “We could try climbing down the cliff next to that waterfall down there. It would be a difficult climb, but we might be able to cross the river in a more gentle place.”
Aria nibbled on her lip. “Not want to climb again...Especially not down.” She fingered her rifle nervously. “I say cross river here, easy walk down.”
Jack wasn't so sure. “I, uh...I dunno about that, Aria. The rocks are close enough to step to, but...I'm worried about losing my footing.”
“Pah...,” Aria hissed, clucking her tongue. “Not look that hard.”
“It might not look hard, but...”
“I climb mountain yesterday,” Aria reminded him. She walked to the river's edge, finding and stepping out onto a rock large enough to hold her. Standing on it, she turned to look at Jack. “I do it even though I afraid. You say you not do this?”
Still worried, but not wanting to sacrifice the respect he'd worked hard to earn from the Ailian, Jack nodded. “Alright...I'll give it a shot, Aria.”
Slowly, gradually, the pair of them made their way across the river. Jack tried not to look down at the water rushing all around him, though it sprayed his face every second as he picked his way across the rocks behind Aria. She was moving quickly, sure of herself. This was not something she was afraid of, apparently, and she barely took notice of the fast-moving water. Before Jack was even halfway across the river she was stepping down onto the opposite bank. She turned around, whipping her tail behind herself as she called out to him.
“Hurry! Not want to wait long!”
“I'm going, I'm going...,” Jack said. He wobbled a little, and windmilled his arms. For one panicked moment he thought he was going to fall into the water, but he managed to stabilize himself. Letting out a sigh of relief, Jack hopped over to the next rock.
As his right foot landed, he felt it slide out from under him on a wet, slippery patch. Shouting in terror, Jack pitched to one side, helpless as he fell into the rapidly moving river. He went under, his body twirling this way and that as the current grabbed hold of him.
“Jack!” Aria yelled, looking on in alarm as he was carried away at a fast pace, heading right for the next waterfall.
- 6 -
“Jack!” Aria gasped, running along the river bank. She could still see him, though his blue pattern fatigues blended well in the gray rock and white, frothy water of the river. The water was carrying him at almost a faster pace than she could run. Her feet dodged rocks sticking up from the ground as she glanced down at her feet every now and then, lest she fall into the river as well. The human still hadn't come up above the surface of the water, and she thought he might have hit his head on a rock. Putting on as much speed as she could manage, she raced ahead of Jack's tumbling body.
In seconds, Aria was at the edge of the mesa, looking back and watching as he was carried towards her by the river. Her body was chilled by the spray coming up from the waterfall as it tumbled over the cliff. As she watched Jack come closer and closer, she looked around wildly, trying to figure something out. Her eyes landed on a long, thin vine that had fallen on the bank. Making a quick decision, Aria snatched it up and looped one end of it to create a sort of lasso. She knew she only had one chance at this, and the churning surface of the water made it extremely difficult to see.
“Cha'kre...,” she hissed between clenched teeth, her eyes narrowed. The Ailian could just barely see her companion, flowing ever closer to her. Lifting the vine and whirling it over her head, she hurled the looped end out into the water. The vine went taut in her hands and was nearly jerked from her grip, but she held on, digging her heels into the ground.
“A're!” Aria shouted in triumph. She started pulling the vine in, working one hand over the other as she worked to drag Jack to the water's edge. Every second she was inching closer to the lip of the mesa with the force of the water on the end of the makeshift rope, but she could feel she was making headway. With one last straining pull, she felt a jolt and a sudden slackness on the vine, and she fell backwards as it jerked out of the water.
Her eyes widened as she saw that the looped end had been caught around the stock and grip of his rifle, attached to which was the ripped end of the sling that had been fixed around Jack's shoulders. Scrambling to her feet, alarm gripped her once again. Abandoning the vine, she ran to the edge of the cliff, looking over. Dizziness washed over her body as she gazed down at the tremendous distance, a thousand meters at least. There was no sign of him.
“Jack!” Aria called, cupping her hands around her muzzle. Her voice echoed, but the only answer to her call was the distant crashing sound of the waterfall hitting the river far down below. Feeling sick, she leaned back, sliding a few feet back from the edge on her rear. “Oh gods...”
For a minute or so she just sat there shaking, her mind racing. There was little chance that Jack could have survived a fall like that. And along with him was half of their supplies, including most of the food. Aria thought that she might be close enough to her crash site that she could survive without him, but...
“Sala!” she shouted at herself. No, no, she had to get down there and find him, even if it was just to confirm his death with a body. She owed him at least that much. Standing up, Aria grabbed Jack's rifle and strapped it to her pack. Turning away from the river, she started off down the amber-grassed slope, running as fast as she believed she could manage without tripping and killing herself.
******
Jack felt something poking him in the face. Whatever it was, it was rounded on the end and it was fuzzy. He tried to lift his left hand to brush it away, but for some reason he couldn't move it. Jack felt groggy and was certain that he'd been dreaming just a minute ago. Shifting to one side and raising his right hand, he brushed at his face.
“Aria, your tail...,” he mumbled. He swatted at the offending fuzzy thing, but a moment later it started poking his face again. “Aria...Damn it, your tail...Wake up!”
Jack opened his eyes, and found himself face to face with a large dog-like creature. The blue-furred beast was gazing at him with five large green eyes arranged in a pentagon on its head, four nostrils flaring as it sniffed at him. It had been prodding at his face with one paw. Jack slowly raised his head, and the animal jumped back from him, spooked. Shying back several more steps, it turned and ran off into the distance.
Groaning, Jack turned his head to one side. He was lying on gravel at the edge of a gently flowing river, the lower half of his body resting in the water while his upper body was on dry land. There wasn't a single square inch of him that didn't feel sore, and his chest felt heavy. He coughed, and a spray of water came out. A few more hard coughs seemed to clear out his lungs. As he sat up, Jack had a huge jolt of pain shoot up his left side. He looked at his arm.
“Oh, yeah...yeah...That's not supposed to do that...”
Jack's left arm was twisted at the shoulder in a direction that was decidedly unnatural. He reached over and probed at it experimentally. Each time his finger prodded his shoulder, searing pain radiated out from the area. Jack didn't have to be a doctor to recognize that his shoulder was dislocated. There was also a nasty gash on his arm that would need some attention, but first thing was first.
Scooting himself back from the water, Jack got himself into a sitting position with his knees up in front of him.
Gingerly he lifted his left arm with his right, putting his left hand in between his knees and pressing them together, anchoring his hand in place. Squeezing his knees together as tight as he could, he took a few deep and slow breaths. Then he abruptly twisted his body to the left as hard as possible. A loud pop sounded, accompanied by a pain that made Jack feel as though he'd been shot right in the shoulder.
“Ah, fuck!” he screamed, falling over on his side, his right hand shooting over to clutch his shoulder. He lay there panting and trying to keep from sobbing in agony. When he was finally able to sit up again his shoulder was back in its proper position. He tested it out, rotating his arm this way and that and flexing his fingers. Every motion hurt like hell, but his muscles seemed to be working the way they should. “Okay...Now that cut...”
Jack unbuttoned his fatigue jacket and shrugged it off, wincing as the cloth dragged on the gash in his arm. He pulled his undershirt off. Gripping the white cloth in his teeth, he tore off a long, wide strip and tied it around his upper arm as best he could. The makeshift bandage wasn't very tight, but it slowed the bleeding down enough that he thought he'd be okay. Jack put his fatigue jacket back on, rolling the sleeves up to his shoulders so the cloth wouldn't bother his wound.
Now that his immediate needs were taken care of, Jack took a minute to look around and examine his surroundings. Half a kilometer to his left he saw the waterfall that he must have gone over. Jack shivered as he saw how tall it was. Hard to believe that he could have survived a fall like that, but here he was, alive if not completely well. All around him was rocky terrain with a few groves of shrubs and ferns here and there, and birds were flying around in the air.
Suddenly thirstier than he'd ever been in his life, Jack knelt by the river and scooped up some water in his hands, taking a few drinks. He sat back, wiping his mouth. For the first time since he woke up, he wondered where Aria was. The last he'd seen of her, he'd been looking at her from the river, his eyes clouded by water as she ran along the bank. Then everything was a haze. He remembered going over the waterfall and then he must have blacked out.
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