'Relax, Martan.' said Simmini. 'He's a friend who came from far away and his species is called a human.' She moved towards Vil's side and out of the dark came a large feline, his black fur matching his black cloak. 'Meet Vil. Thanks to him I escaped from an Ant base.'
Martan frowned at Vil. 'Are you sure about trusting him? He might work for those Ants.'
Simmini looked at Vil. 'I trust him, even if his story of how he came here sounds unreal.' she said and looked at Martan. 'He knows more about the Ants and can help us. We need him especially now that we're alone in our fight.' She flattened her ears and looked down. 'The others are dead. The village was massacred.'
Martan's eyes grew wide. 'All of them?'
She nodded. 'Including the children.'
Martan looked at Vil. 'Let's hear what happened inside and I'll see what to make of it all.' he said and walked away.
Simmini took Vil by his arm and they followed him, and the other felines after them while keeping their guard up. They entered a house just around the corner of the square and sat down on several wooden chairs in front of a combination of fireplace and stove. The faint scent of food reminded Vil that they hadn't eaten in a while again but it would have to wait.
Simmini told Martan what had happened to her after she left and Vil stepped in with his tale when she came to teaching him her language, after which Simmini continued on their escape with some explanations from Vil and the visit to the carnage in the neighbouring village and their arrival here.
Martan only listened during this time and sat silent for a while in thought before leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. 'This is grave news. The Ants have been quiet for a while now and I suspect they'll do a large attack real soon then, seeing how they wiped out the others.' He turned his eyes to Vil. 'I still can't believe what you said about how you came here but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt since I trust Simmini. Don't betray it.'
Vil nodded. 'I don't expect to be fully trusted that quick. It's war after all.'
Martan nodded back and turned to Simmini. 'Go get some rest, we'll divide the supplies you brought and continue preparing for the big fight.'
'Gladly.' she said and turned to Vil. 'Come, you'll stay at my place.'
Martan coughed. 'He can stay here though.'
She stood up. 'It'll be noisy here and we'll have a meal first. I'll cook something good to repay him for all the help.' Vil didn't get a chance to say something when she took him by the arm. 'Come, I'm rather hungry.' He followed her and a glance at Martan told him he didn't really like to see him go with her. He wondered if it was just the trust issue or if it was something else.
Simmini led him through the dark and quiet streets towards a small stone cottage surrounded by vegetable gardens at a small street. 'This is my place.' she said as she opened the front door. 'I inherited it from my grandfather on mother's side.'
Vil like the uplifting mood of light colour wood furniture and cream and beige carpets. 'Nice.' The lower floor was one open space apart from what he suspected was a bathroom, and an open staircase led up to the attic.
Simmini gestured for him to sit in one of the wide round chairs and began to work on the same sort of fireplace stove as he had seen at Martan's. He wondered if every house had the same type of open floor plan and kitchen set-up and thought back on his own small apartment and quite cramped kitchen. He wasn't overly fond of his place but he spend most time aboard one ship or the other anyway. And now it didn't matter because none of it existed for him anymore. Nor his sister, her husband, and their two kids, all the family he had until the attack on their colony. His friends were already gone, which was the same situation for most of the crew on their final trip. Nothing is what he had in the end and nothing is what he had here in a world without other humans. He couldn't be much more alone.
'Vil?'
It took a moment for Simmini's voice to register and he looked up at her worried face.
'Are you okay?'
He gave her a quick smile. 'Yeah, why do you ask?'
'You're crying.' she said and he touched his wet cheek.
'Ah, so I am.' he said and she wiped his cheeks with the clean rag she held. 'I was just thinking back on the world I left behind, the people I lost. I hadn't expected to live after I pushed the buttons back then.'
She nodded. 'You probably lost more than any of us.'
He nodded once and took a deep breath. 'I'll have to take some time to process everything when there's a better opportunity for it.'
She watched his eyes for a second and smiled gently. 'I hope you like my cooking. There's no meat though since we can't hunt anymore but I did receive some eggs.'
He returned the smile. 'As long as it isn't green gruel.'
She chuckled and went back to the stove. The meal consisted of half salad and half stir-fried vegetables with a chunk of tough, dark bread and the eggs mixed with spices.
Vil ate with pleasure. 'It's good. Back home the mass produced food we ate had barely any taste. This is so much better.'
Simmini smiled. 'Thanks. I hope I can make something better than this one day when I have the ingredients.'
He gave her a big smile. 'I'll look forward to that.'
After the meal was done she told him where he could wash upstairs and he set a fire underneath a stone bath to heat up the water. He had barely undressed and checked the wound on his arm in the mirror when Simmini walked in. The mirror reflected her feminine curves of brown fur with thick black stripes at her sides, arms and legs, firm breasts and her swaying slender brown tail with long black tuft, and caused Vil to blush at the sudden female confrontation.
'Let me check your arm.' she said and held it in her soft paws.
Vil looked away from her and the mirror and tried not to think about how long it had been since he had seen a woman of any kind. 'I think it's good. The bullet went right through and it feels like it only hit the muscle slightly.'
She took a wet rag and gently cleaned it. 'I'm glad it's not worse but you shouldn't use this arm until it's healed. I'll help you bathe.'
He cleared his throat. 'I'll be okay, you don't need to do this.'
She shook her head and stared into the reflection of his eyes. 'I owe you my life so let me pay you back in whatever way I can.'
He knew he couldn't refuse. 'All right, can you wash my back as I can't reach it right now then?
Her lovely smile made his heart beat faster. 'Sure can.'
When he lay later on a large soft sack that served as a bed he felt glad he kept enough control of himself to withstand the titillating touch of her gentle paws massaging his back as she washed it and the couple of times her firm body pressed against his as they moved in the bathtub. The lingering sensation helped him fall asleep quickly though.