Morning light poured into the warmth of Sela's room and pulsed behind her closed eyelids.

She pushed out an annoyed breath and rolled over onto her side, trying and faulting to block out the sun sliding through the slits covering the top of her chukka. She frowned, taking it as her urge to get up out of her bed. Peeling open her eyelids, she sat up.

Stifling a yawn behind her hand, Sela glanced about the room, thinking of nothing in particular until her mind fully awoke and she had no choice but to remember something very important.

Or someone.

Sela gasped, pushing herself off her bed. Hurriedly, she wrapped her Vlhkuna skirt made of buckskin around her body and tugged her moccasins back onto her feet. She tugged her curls out of the neckline of her dress and rushed out into her other room. An empty but made up bed met her panicked gaze, and she moved to her wooden door, trying and failing to slow her heartbeat. Her shaky fingers grappled for the slab as she pushed it open, eager to go out and search for Kael.

What was she thinking! Sleeping for as long as she did while forgetting about—

The moment after Sela rushed through her door, her feet came to a hard halt.

Her eyes opened wide at first, but then softened with relief as she all but sagged against her chukka. Sitting on a large rock with his muscled back facing her, was Kael, with his face tilted towards the rising sun. Each breath caused his broad shoulders, bare from his hair as it was tied into a thick braid down the length of his back, to rise and fall. No worries came to him, as he simply enjoyed the breeze brushing over Sela's cheeks and the sun caressing both of their faces.

Sela was about to take a step forward when a small body out the corner of her eye caught her attention. She turned her head and saw one of Mikasi's young boys, Issuba Iskitini (Little Horse), sitting on a rock watching Kael. The boy eyed Kael and copied every one of his movements. Whenever Kael took a deep breath, so did Issuba. And if Kael tilted his head back more to soak in the sun, so did he. Being on the Creator's land for no less than three winters, Issuba was impressionable. He looked up to all the men in their tribe, and it seemed as though Kael was no different.

Issuba pushed his long hair out of his face with his small hands after the wind teased him. The frustration in his dark eyes as he tried to focus on Kael made Sela smile wide and hide a faint chuckle behind her hand. Kael had only been there for part of a day, and he was already impressing their young.

Issuba turned his head, catching Sela's eye. He offered a shy smile when she gestured with her head for the boy to go back to his mother with a kind grin of her own. Though his small lips pouted, he stood up from his rock and did exactly as he was told. Despite his young age, their tribe embedded the value of respecting elders to their young. Especially for Sela and her family.

"Halito," a deep, familiar voice spoke out, startling her.

Sela's gaze flashed back to Kael and found he was already staring at her. She fought the urge to squirm beneath the beauty of his—

She swallowed back a gasp. No longer were his eyes a pretty dark blue! Now they shimmered in a deep brown that looked like fresh soil beneath the sunlight. Perhaps it was concealment. The longer he stayed on land, the longer he would have to hide his true self for his own protection. His hair was dark enough that it could pass for black, and only Sela detected the hints of blue the longer she focused on it.

Then she remembered that he had just spoken to her.

"Halito," she murmured, clearing her throat. She walked towards him now, the grass crunching beneath her feet. "Were you able to sleep well?"

Kael pursed his lips. His eyes glanced down at his bandage. "As well as I could," he admitted.

Sela frowned, concerned. "Are you in pain?"

There was a little blood seepage, but that was expected. It did not look like new blood, but still, she should change it.

"I am not in pain," he told her, quietly. His eyes dropped a little at the reminder of his attack. She wished he remembered what happened, but considering his blood loss and the possible blow to his head against the rocky waterline, he would not for a good while.

"Well, come. I will change your bandage for you," she said, gesturing back to chukka.

Changing his bandage was quick and easy, despite their close proximity making her fingers tremble and stomach clench. His now brown-eyed gaze watched her work as she smoothed crushed, healing herbs over the wound and pressed a new cloth into it. She straightened up with a soft grunt and went to her room to gather new bottoms for him to wear. They belonged to her soon to be . . . betrothed, but they would fit him fine.

Once he was changed, Sela brought them both out of the chukka and started walking into the wakening village of Mikasi. Throughout their walk, she would point out different chukkas and sacred spaces that he should know while staying there. She gestured to the women tending to the farming on one side, and the men preparing their bows and arrows for hunting on the other. Children waking up were eating their morning meals as they watched their mothers and fathers work. Their chubby faces turned to watch Sela and Kael curiously, their brown eyes blinking over at them.

Kael did not seem to mind the occasional stare. He knew they would be curious about him and his wound, so he did nott pay them much attention. Instead, he listened intently to the roles he would play while staying in their village.

"The men will teach you how to hunt and build chukkas," she told him, gesturing to where he would eventually make his own bow and arrow. "Two of them helped carry you to my Pokni's, so I believe they will be best suited to teach you our ways. And then at night tomorrow we will come together to eat, listen to stories, and dance around the fire."

Kael's eyebrows furrowed. "Like the fire in your chukka?" he asked.

She could not help the smile from gracing her lips. "Yes, but bigger. You will see tomorrow night."

His eyes glowed with wonder at the thought. Eagerly, he allowed her to show him the parts of Mikasi she loved. His questions were brief and thoughtful, proving that he listened to everything she told him. It was not until Sela finished showing him her village that she heard the faintest growl.

Sela looked down at Kael's grumbling stomach and nearly smacked her forehead. How could she forget to feed him? She went right into the day duties and did not once think about feeding the two of them!

"You must be hungry," Sela rushed as he pressed a hand to his perfectly carved stomach. She tried not to stare at it for too long, though that was harder than it should have been. "Here, follow me."

Kael opened his mouth to protest, but Sela was already turning around and walking to the berry bushes on the outside of the village. A woven basket with rose-colored stains sat below the bush and Sela fell to her knees beside it. She did not care that her fingers would be stained for the rest of the day and immediately started twisting and picking the ripe berries. By the time Kael copied her stance across from her, she already picked a few of the berries with her quick fingers.

His eyes on her brought heat to her face. She was unfamiliar with receiving such attention. Even when Tushka came to visit their village, he never stared at her like that. With that quiet intensity and wonder. Despite her mother's cruelty, he was still curious about her world.

After Sela picked a few more, she looked over at Kael. "Would you like to try?" she asked.

His gaze slid back to the bush, his eyebrows tugging together. Instead of answering with his words, he moved his hands up to the bush and began twisting and pulling the berries just as she had done. Once they had enough berries to carry them over for a while, they sat down and began eating them with their bright fingers.

Kael's gaze went wide after the first bite. Sela could not hide her smile that time. "Do you enjoy it?"

His blushing mouth curled. "I do," he admitted, swiping his tongue out to collect the juice dripping from his lips. Sela focused a little too hard on the action and quickly tugged herself out of it.

She needed to remember Tushka. Her clan. His clan. Joining tribes. Focusing on how beautiful Kael was would only get her in trouble.

"What do you eat where you come from?" she asked, forcing her mind to wander back to their conversation.

Kael shrugged. "We have many plants that we grow at the bottom of the sea, so we eat that and mollusks or clawed creatures. Whatever we can catch."

"Oh," she murmured, intrigued. But then she caught onto the hint of sorrow that flickered in his brown eyes, and she frowned. "You miss being there."

His gaze flickered up to her face, taking in the concern reflected in her eyes. What she said was not a question, but an observation. And one he could not deny. "I do," he said. "But I understand it is not safe to go back yet. Not until I remember who did this to me."

Sela breathed out a sigh. "I'm sure your memories will come to you soon. I will help you find a way to retrieve them."

Something in his distant gaze softened. "You do not have to do that, Sela."

She fought back a shiver at his usage of her name. "But I want to. I want to do all that I can to help you, no matter how long it takes."

Kael took a moment to pause, and then with warmness he expressed his gratitude. She accepted his words with a nod and the two of them went back to eating in a comfortable silence. She opened her mouth to ask another question, when a large shadow fell over the both of them.

And Sela's panic all but spiked as they both looked up.

Oh no.