She didn’t know how long she had been sleeping when she jerked her head up. She thought something was in here with her. Had there been something moving just then? Just on the other side, by the entrance?
The space in the rock wall she had found to shelter in out of the snow and the storm she wouldn’t call a cave. It was hardly more than a crack. A cleft, possibly, but not a cave.
Some errant snowflakes still found their way in to drift lazily down and disappear over her small fire. The glider she had dragged in and piled against the opening. She had used some of it to make a nest for herself in the deepest part of the recess. She had made the fire larger at first, and it had warmed the surrounding rock. She had eaten and drank and had snuggled into the piled fabric of her glider. Her muscles ached, and her hands stung from being too cold, but she was no longer numb and knew she would be ok.
Then, she hadn’t intended to, but she had fallen asleep. It had been a very long day and an exhausting flight, but she was also afraid and hadn’t wanted to nod off, but she did.
And now she thought something had slipped in when she had fallen asleep. The darkness in the stone entrance told her it was still night outside. She hadn’t slept all night, but the stiffness in her position told her she had been asleep for some time. And the fire was low.
Almost out.
She uncovered from her homemade blanket pile, and the cold air cut into her. She went to that part of her glider that was superstructure, broke some more away, and placed it on the fire. One piece she kept in her hand, and she slid her monocle over her eye and toggled the switch to see in darkness. She crept around the cleft in the rock and looked out across the floor of the canyon. Snow was still falling. Her tracks and the drag marks from the glider were covered. And, more importantly, there were no new tracks.
Shivering, she turned and went back to the fire, took the monocle off, slid it into her pack, settled back into the warm covers, and saw the tiny lizard. He was sitting beside her fire, looking at her. He seemed to be really enjoying the heat from her fire. He looked at the fire, then to her. She couldn’t help but smile. He had a little, slender body with four long legs. His feet looked similar to hands. His muzzle was also rounded, cute, and he had a low brow with two round inquisitive eyes.
She watched as his skin changed from green to a deep purple. The purple started at the tip of his nose and flowed slowly down his body. It stopped somewhere around where his waist would be, and he scurried around and put his backside to the fire. This made her laugh. She watched as the lizard’s tail and legs changed to purple.
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“You like my fire?” she whispered quietly to him. “Where did you come from?”
His cheeks puffed out slightly, and then his mouth popped open with a little puff.
“Punx!”
She laughed again. “Nice to meet you Punx. I’m Kalla, and you’re welcome to share my fire.”
The little guy turned back around to put his face once again to the fire, and his nose turned a little darker purple.
“Punx,” she said. “Someone would think you could talk.”
He jumped off the stone, scrambled to the entrance, and for a moment, she thought he had left, but he came scurrying back in and hopped back up on the rock to stare into the fire again.
“Punx.”
“Ok,” she said. “Are you going to tell me if anybody comes?”
“Punx.”
“You’re going to be my new lookout?”
“Punx.”
“Well, that’s good. Thank you, Punx. I’m still really tired. I’m just going to stay right here until morning comes. Then I can hopefully find a path up and out of this canyon I’ve flown myself into. My monocle is almost out of power. Sunlight will fix that. Up top, I can shoot another bearing and I can do some distance calculations and figure out how far I have to go. That’s my plan, anyway.”
“Punx,” he replied as if in agreement.
She sat, watching the fire, huddled into her covers, and kept warm. She was worried and pretending she had someone to talk to helped. She couldn’t actually remember ever having been alone before. Ishi had always been there. Ishi never spoke either, and talking to this little lizard by the fire reminded her so much of being with Ishi. She hoped her sister was okay.
She had a rough idea where she was in reference to the map, and the world’s edge had come closer. The air changed beyond it. Raj said it was the atmosphere. The atmosphere was different. Sick air over sick ground. She didn’t know how much further she had to go to find The Beast, but she thought she was already at the world’s end. She told herself to stop worrying and try to get some more sleep. She had no idea what tomorrow would bring, but she needed to be rested to better handle whatever it would be. She was warm and safe for now. She should consider herself lucky at her landing. A perfect landing in that terrain. She could just as easily have been killed—or worse, have a broken leg or arm out here on her own. She had been very lucky with her landing.
She felt the warmth settle through her and her eyes grew heavy, and this time she let them. She had built up the fire enough. It would last, and more importantly, she had a new little friend.
“Hey there, little buddy. Hey there, Punx. You enjoy the fire, get all purple or whatever it is you do. I’m gonna have a nap. The fire is all yours. Just let me know if anyone or anything is coming, ok? You wake me up? Deal?”
“Punx.”