With an effort he focused himself. “I need your strength, bai.” He flushed a washed-out shade of brown, embarrassed by his need. He held his arms out to her, spurs up.

Ani linked spurs with Ilto, joining with him in the healing communion of allu-a. Ilto’s blood was sour with fatigue and his energy reserves were dangerously low. She sent sugars into his depleted system to give him energy. Then she broke down the poisons in his blood. Once the fatigue toxins were gone, she scanned him more closely, looking for more subtle problems. It was then that she tasted a faint taint in his blood. It disturbed her, but Ilto broke the link between them before she could investigate further.

“No, bai,” he told her gently. “You’ve done enough. I was following Kirito down to death, and you brought me back. You are as skilled as any elder, and better than spme of them.”

Ani looked away, frightened by the implications of his praise. She looked back at him. “I don’t want to lose you, siti. I’m happy being your bami. I’m not ready to become an elder.”

“You’ve been ready for a long time now,” he told her. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be all right.” He sat up then, still a little pale, but better. He needed food, fruit and meat, before he would be ready to travel. Ani pulled several bright blue tumbi out of her gathering bag and gave them to him. Juice ran down Ilto’s chin as he bit hungrily into the sweet fruit. Ani helped him over to the base of a nearby tree, settling him between two massive, buttressed roots.

“We passed one of Hanto’s na trees a while back. I’ll go get some narey and honey,” she told him. She leaped up the tree and bounded through the canopy until she came to the thick-trunked na tree. A swarm of tilan buzzed curiously around her as she reached the tree, but they drew off when they recognized the familiar scent of her tribe. The Tendu’s na trees were carefully guarded. If the bees had not recognized her, they would have descended in a cloud of stinging fury. Few creatures intruded into a tilan-protected na tree more than once.