~ ZEV ~
There was an awkward few minutes where Sasha sat stiffly. She hugged his arm, but her back was against the rocks behind them, and Dunken still stood, watching out of the holes. But she relaxed soon, and while Zev held her hand, he answered her questions.
"Won't they find us if we just sit here?" she whispered.
Dunken snorted and Zev had to fight a smile. "Um, no," he said quietly. "The human senses are… they just aren't as sharp as ours," he said carefully. "They can't follow scents. They have to see things with their eyes—which can't see as far, or in the dark. And they don't hear as much as we do. So, no, unless we do something to draw their attention, they'll never know we're here."
"The humans are sight-blind," Dunken added.
"You said that before," Sasha frowned. "What does that mean? Those words mean the opposite things in my world."
Dunken met his eyes and Zev gave a short nod. He could explain. "Sight-blind is… it's a term we use when a Chimera becomes too reliant on their sight so that they ignore the other things their senses would tell them."
"But… your senses can't tell you the same thing as your other senses."
Zev smiled. "No, but other senses can often tell you more. For example, right now, I see you here and you look calm, if a little tense. Your voice sounds normal. If I were to rely only on my sight, I would think you were fine. But I can smell the fear on you, Sasha," he said, hurrying on when she looked like she was going to argue. "I don't mean that as a criticism—any kind of nerves or anxiousness—even the smallest part—can be scented. We would all stink of some level of fear right now."
"Speak for yourself," Dunken said dryly.
Zev rolled his eyes. "Except the Ice Queen over there. He doesn't care enough about anything to have his emotions ruffled."
Sasha glanced at Dunken, who gave Zev a very flat look. "I experience fear," he snipped.
"Anyway," Zev continued, "If I only relied on my sight, I would gain all the information about my surroundings, about people… and sight can be really… narrow, too. If you're concentrating hard on someone's face, it's easy to miss the little things they do with their body. Things that give away how they truly feel. Our noses, our ears, they pick up things we can't see, and they scan a much wider area all at once than our eyes do. That's sight-blind—it's something young Chimera often experience for a while after they hit adolescence and become more confident in themselves. They think they can see and discern everything, when actually they only see a very small portion."
"I think I understand," Sasha said. "We call it tunnel-vision."
"Yes! That's it. It's when you keep your focus on such a small area, that you miss really important things outside of it."
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"Okay… so, if I'm a human and I don't have your chimera senses, how do I not be… sight blind?"
Zev was warmed by the question. She was such a strong heart, his mate. Only the strongest leaders identified their own weaknesses and tried to work against them without being told to do so.
"Once we've got everything sorted out, I'll help you. Your hearing and nose may not be as strong as Chimera, but there are things you can learn and do to help you."
"In any case," Dunken interrupted. "You don't need to worry about the humans finding us, Sasha. We have dozens of dens and hiding places scattered all around the village ever since we moved here, and every Chimera has hidden dens and resources throughout the forest. The humans—because they are sight-blind—never even notice them. They only see what they expect to see."
"But… won't someone else tell them? If they can smell us or hear us, they'll figure out we're here, right?"
"They won't reveal our hiding places because then they'll have nowhere to run when they need it," Zev explained. "No one tells the humans because they don't want the information used against them."
Dunken snorted again. "I still believe we could all simply disappear and they could not find us," he said, his upper lip pulling into a sneer. "Their weapons are only of use if they know where to point them. If we were all to use our skills at the same time… they would simply never find any of us."
Zev sighed. It was an old argument they'd had even back when he was the Alpha and chafed against what little control the humans had back then. But he'd been in the human world, and he'd been with the team in their labs and their training grounds. He knew that they were far better equipped than the Chimera who had never left Thana realized. The fact that the humans came to Thana with such limited options, indicated that they understood the havoc they could wreak if they panicked or weren't careful.
But he wasn't going to argue with his friend again. The humans were not as helpless or as stupid as Dunken thought, but until Dunken saw it for himself, nothing would convince him.
"Look, the important thing is, we're safe," he said quietly, putting his arm around Sasha and pulling him into his side. "And it looks like we're going to be here for a while. So let's get comfortable and make a plan for what is needed after the humans leave. I'm… I'm beginning to see that I may have to take a more active role here in the clans than I thought. So I need your help, Dunken," he said. "I need to do everything I can to make sure no one else is ever taken from Thana to the human world—at least, not against their will," he added, thinking of Yhet, who yearned to get out to the larger mountain ranges and plains of earth. "But in order to do that, I need to understand exactly what's happened here and how they're keeping the controls on everyone. Not just Xar. I saw hunters out there, today. Who the hell was able to motivate them to return to the village for humans?"
Dunken sighed. "It's a long story."
"Well, it looks like we have time."
*****
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