Ka'Cit's Haven (Riv’s Sanctuary #3)

Morpheus blinked at her, and she was almost sure he rolled his eyes.

The tilgrans were all purple and looked a bit like giraffes, but they were incredibly intelligent.

Whenever she spoke to Morpheus, she felt like he understood every word.

“Chew my hair again and I’m not going to clean your cage.”

Morpheus extended his neck to his full height and stepped away.

“Uh huh, thought so. You don’t wanna do it, do you?”

For the next few minutes, she went about shoveling the tilgrans’ waste.

It wasn’t a lot, not with five people working on the farm every day—she didn’t even have to do it if she didn’t want to—but she had to keep busy.

If she was idle, she began to think. And when she began to think, she started to reflect. And when that happened, she only ended up feeling depressed.

She’d rather not fall into that trap.

So she kept busy.

By the time the sun came up, she’d fertilized the fruit trees with the waste and checked all the trees for newly ripe ones. Then she’d headed back with a crate full of fruits and the poop bucket in the other hand.

She gave Morpheus a treat, and that’s when she remembered she’d planned to deal with the sheep-like umus first.

She headed that way next and made sure all the enclosures were filled with fresh hay.

She was exhausted by the time she exited the barn-like structure. The sun was up and it bathed the farm in a warm glow.

Nia sat on one of the huge mounds of hay.

There were some pebbles close by and she took them in hand, running her fingers over them as she looked for a target.

They were heavier than pebbles on Earth, though roughly the same size. She’d been surprised the first time she’d taken one in hand. It had a good weight and if she wanted, she was sure she could hurt somebody good if she decided to throw one at them.

She scanned the farm in front of her and soon spotted something—a bucket against one of the fences about ten meters away.

Nia narrowed her eyes, focused, and threw the first pebble.

As the object sailed through the air to land smack into the center of the bucket, she couldn’t help the grin that lit up her face.

“Still got it, Nia. Still got it.”

She missed target practice. Shooting had been just one of the things her father had taught her to do. After he’d retired from the military, that and his program had been his way of still keeping active and she’d always tagged along.

Sadness swam within her briefly as she threw another pebble and it landed in the bucket.

She missed her father.

“Wonder if he’s okay…”

“Who?”

Nia jumped at the voice and turned to see Riv not far behind her.

He had a way of sneaking up without her hearing. His brother did as well.

Either they walked really quietly, or she had bad hearing.