A/N: Thanks to those of you who took the time to leave a review. I know it's hard to find the time in busy lives and I really appreciate it.

Thanks also to MarkeyDeSad for the beta. I really appreciate that too, my friend.

So, Chuck and S'ra are getting closer to each other, neither pushing it forward or shying away from it.

Longer chapter this time…

Exo
Chapter 4: Through the Mountains

S'ra knew she had to get up and start work on the new clothes for Chuck, but just wanted to stay in his embrace a while longer, relishing the warmth they shared.

She was glad that while he was cooking the meat, she'd had time to wash herself and her own clothing. She had been in it for three days prior to that and was starting to smell a bit. Because she didn't want to stay separated for long, she'd put her clothes straight back on. It was a struggle to do so when it was wet, but she managed.

Thinking back, Chuck's reaction to her change of appearance when she had returned was very confidence-boosting. She still wasn't sure why, but how he looked at her was starting to become something she craved.

Now two much cleaner bodies were pressed together. Her clothing separated most of their flesh, but that wasn't what she needed. She just enjoyed the closeness they shared.

She was definitely developing feelings for this man, this creature from another planet; feelings she had never had for any of the men from her own world. Was that wrong? Should she stop herself?

Imagining herself with any of the men from her city didn't appeal. However, what she was supposed to do was marry and settle down with one of them, eventually bearing children with him. It was how their race grew, after all.

That caused her to think of children with Chuck. It was ridiculous, when they were not even together in that way, but she did anyway. Would a man of Urth and a woman of Retith even be compatible in that way? Could they have children together?

She had to stop herself thinking down these lines. They may not even be physically compatible; their parts may not match. No! Stop thinking of that!

She lifted his arm off her and crawled out of from under the blanket. She grabbed her knife and walked to the hide to start the initial cuts.

Chuck woke when S'ra left him, her absence instantly felt.

He wished he had woken earlier and been able to hug her to him. His feelings for this woman overcoming his shyness and lack of self-confidence. He wondered if it was something in the air on this planet, but the self-doubt that normally plagued him in everything he did, and especially around women, was significantly reduced.

Maybe it was how S'ra treated him, as an equal rather than the inferior most women he'd met before had.

He wasn't to the point he would dare ask her to be his girlfriend, but he was getting there.

He reluctantly rose and walked to where she sat working. She had cut the hide into smaller strips. She looked up as he approached and smiled. She ushered him closer and to stand in front of her. He wasn't comfortable with this, but correctly guessed what was going to happen.

She pushed him to open his legs and she took one of her strips of hide and wrapped it under him and got him to hold that, front and back. Somehow, when her arm went underneath his body, he quivered imagining her hand there. He had to push thoughts like that out of his head.

While he held the hide, she took her knife and made small incisions in it. Then she took one of the vines she had beside her and weaved it through the holes. In no time, she had it tied around his waist and the front and rear remainder hung down from it.

She separated it again and took it away from him. He let out a breath. Her breath on his stomach and back as she had worked around him had made him tingle all over. God, how this woman affects me!

She sat and created an identical piece, then took another and kneeled in front of him again. She leaned in close and wrapped it around him, over his groin. He shivered at her closeness. She chuckled at his reaction and overlapped the two ends, holding the join together near his belly button. She cut through the two there, then she looked up at him indicating he should hold it together. Once he complied, she took her knife again and cut through the overlapping pieces directly in front of somewhere he never wanted to get cut. How he didn't flinch was beyond him! Once she had finished that she took the strip away and cut away the excess before nicking two more cuts between the other two. She repeated this on a fresh strip before winding vine through after tying a knot at the end.

She then pulled things together and fashioned two pairs of very basic leather briefs, but with three ends of untied vines. She handed a pair to Chuck wanting him to shed his plant briefs and try it on.

He took it from her, then pointed at her and twirled his finger. She knew exactly what he wanted and laughed, then turned the other way.

He dropped his original briefs with them almost falling apart as they dropped. Then he pulled up the new leather ones. They were perfect. He cleared his throat and S'ra turned.

She clapped and the gleeful sound that came from her mouth seemed just as he would expect from a woman on Earth when pleased.

She rushed to him and skilfully tied the surrounding vine then tied the rising one to it and leaned back.

He looked down at her handiwork. He now had a completed, functional pair of leather briefs.

He scooped her up and kissed her to say thanks. This took her completely by surprise and she didn't kiss back, staying completely still. He realized what he'd done and let her go.

She just stood stunned.

He stood a little further back. "S'ra, I am sorry. I should not have done that." She just stood and looked at him, her face still showing shock. "I was just so happy and wanted to thank you and did… that."

She finally nodded her head, saying, "Surprised."

She had gone into one of her working modes as she cut up the hide and then used it to create the clothing. She had noted his reaction to her breath on him and chuckled, but apart from that, she was just a functioning machine creating this.

She often went into these trances. It had earned her the label 'Icey' and she knew that was how she reacted to people when in that state. However, it had made her super-efficient.

At the end, she started to come out of it and had laughed when he instructed her to turn. When he let her turn back she went into a giddy mood, clapping and squealing like a small child. Her modes were swinging back and forth.

Then he pulled her to him and… kissed her!

She'd obviously been kissed before, but not when in this turbulent state and not by Chuck ever before. She completely froze.

He let her go, but she stayed frozen.

He finally stepped away from her and she heard him say, "S'ra, I am sorry. I should not have done that." She hadn't unfrozen and couldn't say anything yet, so he continued, "I was just so happy and wanted to thank you and did that."

So, it wasn't an expression of love, or the first attempt to woo her. It was an expression of thanks.

She finally managed to speak, but only one word. "Surprised."

After a minute, she managed to shake herself out of this state, which was just as well. Chuck was looking frantic.

She walked to him, took his hand and sat them both down.

He started to apologize again, but she cut him short. "Chuck, you did nothing wrong. In case you are worried, there are no rules against a kiss." She had to explain that word, because it understandably hadn't come up yet. She smiled at him. "If it wasn't for the state it was in, I probably would have enjoyed it."

He went to talk again, but she held up a hand and he stopped. She was glad that such a signal worked. "I need to explain the state I get in for you to understand."

He nodded and she started. She falteringly described what he had seen.

She started with her working modes, such as the one he had seen when she was crafting his clothing, and also included fighting. "When I'm in one of those modes, I… separate from here." She didn't really know how else to describe it.

"But you laughed," he said.

She nodded. "You seem to get through to me."

"So, what happened when… when I kissed you?"

She sighed. "It takes me time to get back from that mode. You kissed me in the… change." She blushed. "I went back into work mode, but… stopped." Again, he didn't know enough for her to explain better.

He nodded again, but looked worried, so she asked him what was wrong.

"My kiss did that?"

She realized what he was thinking. He thought she would freeze whenever he kissed her. She found she wanted him to do that again, so had to get him to understand that it was just because she was transitioning. She reached up and placed her hands behind his neck and pulled him down. She kissed him. It wasn't a long kiss. She didn't open her mouth, but the kiss lasted for half a minute.

She pulled away for him to see that kissing did not cause her a problem. She had enjoyed the kiss, probably more than any she'd had before, but she hadn't frozen.

She settled back onto her heels and looked up at him. His eyes were closed and his lips pouted as if he wanted the kiss to continue. She smiled, he had frozen, but not in a bad way. She leaned up and pecked his lips.

He finally opened his eyes and looked at her. The look he gave her showed how much he had enjoyed that. She smiled at him. "It happened to you this time."

"So good," he said quietly.

Much as she would like to kiss him again, they needed to move on.

Chuck walked in a daze.

His kiss had been impulsive, the way his brain had decided to thank her for what she'd done for him.

Her kiss, on the other hand, was a kiss to show his hadn't hurt her. She didn't quickly pull away and her wonderful lips lingered. He did freeze in that position. He didn't want to come out of the trance and wanted the kiss to continue. But, it didn't, although she did give him another very brief one.

As he walked he revisited that kiss over and over in his head. It had been quite a while since he'd kissed anyone. Jill was a long time ago, but he had tried dating. Each time he kissed a girl, it had failed miserably. They either didn't want to kiss him or the kiss wasn't good enough.

So, he wasn't sure if S'ra enjoyed it or was just trying to prove a point, to reassure him that his kisses didn't hurt her.

He couldn't ask. He didn't really want to know, as he might not like the answer, so he just walked in silence.

Chuck had seemed to enjoy the kiss as much as she did, but his silence made her wonder if she was wrong about that.

She didn't want to stop them moving, but when they took a break, she decided she wanted to find out what he thought.

For her, his kiss had been good and the one she had initiated, even better. It was as if his soft lips were made for her. It wasn't right, but she now wanted to try a kiss where they opened their mouths. She hoped they did that on Urth, but even if they didn't, she wanted to try it with him.

For now, she had to stop thinking about such things and concentrate on the journey. In about two hours, they would reach the foothills of the mountain range. She knew there would be paths through and that most would not rise, but some might. Whatever the path, they would need to be wary of xynth swooping down on them and mountain zryth attacks.

As she walked she used her knife to sharpen one end of each of the branches she had used as spits and cross beams. That would give them four more spears in addition to the two that Chuck carried. She could throw them as well, if needed, but with a lot less power than Chuck. She really hoped that six spears would be enough.

The terrain changed as they reached the mountains. Obviously, it was no longer flat, but the moss gradually disappeared, leaving rocks, much like on Earth. Chuck reached down and felt it. Yes, rock.

Sarah stopped them here and spent some time creating him some shoes. He'd once seen a video on how this was done on Earth using animal skin and some thin strips of the same. S'ra basically did the same here, but used vine. The finished products weren't elegant, but fitted him perfectly. When he tried the shoes out, they were comfortable. Trying to walk on the rocks worked as well. He walked around for a while, then back to where his companion was sitting watching him, having already collected everything up again.

He walked up to her with his hands out. She placed hers in them and he pulled her up. He grinned at her and she grinned back. Then, she surprised him. She opened her arms and pouted her lips at him!

She obviously remembered him saying that he kissed her to say thanks!

He couldn't turn down this offer and dived in, planting his lips on hers, wrapping his arms around her waist and lifting her off the ground as he kissed her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and clung on, kissing him back this time.

He put her back down when he started to feel lightheaded, but kept the kiss going.

Eventually, they both needed air and separated. Their eyes were locked together, neither wanting to look away as they tried to catch their breath.

What stopped them, was a snarl from several feet away.

Chuck correctly assumed this was a threat and bent down and grabbed his spear, fortunately fairly near. Turning in the direction the sound had come from, Chuck prepared himself. It was a cat-like creature, not much darker than the rocks it padded towards them on. It's eyes, however were blood red. It closed in on them and Chuck held his spear low. He couldn't throw at this creature as he only had the front of its fairly narrow head, its shoulders and front legs facing him.

He guessed it would pounce, giving him a chance at an easier target.

That was exactly what happened. It let out a loud shriek and pounced. Chuck dropped to the floor just as it did this and thrust the spear up into the creature's chest. The heart was thankfully in the same place as Earth cats, so was instantly pierced. A dead creature fell onto Chuck.

S'ra had been trying to circle behind it and must have seen it drop on him. She cried out in fear for him and rushed to his aid, holding one of the other spears in one hand and her knife in the other.

Chuck just needed help pushing the carcass off of him before he threw up again.

He realized this time it wasn't just the blood, but also the reaction to the fear.

S'ra wished she had told Chuck about the dangers and how to defend themselves from them.

When the mountain zryth approached, she did what was needed, keeping moving and, as there was two of them, try to get it between them so they could attack from two sides.

Of course, Chuck didn't know this and stood in one place bracing himself for the attack. Before she could warn him, the zryth charged.

She watched in horror at what transpired. It looked like Chuck did spear it, but then the zryth fell on him.

Fearing it would bite, she cried out in shock and rushed towards them, dropping the spear she'd grabbed and determined to kill the beast with her knife.

As she dived down, however, Chuck was pushing it up. She realized the spear he had thrust into it must have instantly killed the zryth.

She helped him push the beast off of him and was going to kiss him, so thankful that he had survived. However, he rolled away from her and vomited all over the zryth's head.

She sat back on her haunches and let the fear drain away.

They had walked far enough away from the vomit coated carcass, that they could no longer see it. S'ra sat Chuck down.

"I am so sorry that happened, Chuck. You need to know about the dangers and how we should face them."

He stayed silent, but nodded.

She told him about the mountain zryth and how two people would normally face one.

"What if there is more than one?" he asked.

She smiled. It was a good question. "They don't hunt together, but alone," she reassured him.

She then proceeded to describe the flying danger, the xynth. "They live in nests." Then she had to stop to describe a nest. He quickly understood, so she continued. "They hunt separately as well, swooping down to catch their food."

"Their food?" he asked.

"Zryth and a form of landic that both creatures eat." She paused and looked seriously at him. "And us, if they can catch us."

They had been walking through the mountain range for four hours, with only one very short stop, staying on the ground mostly, not having to climb. This part had been easier than she was expecting, but she knew it would get harder. They couldn't have stumbled upon a flat path all the way through.

If it was all on the level, they would be through some time in the following morning, but she just hoped they would make it to the plain beyond before nightfall that day.

Whatever happened, they would have to sleep before they escaped the mountains. That posed a problem. The zryth had no compunction about hunting in the dark and often did.

There were plenty of nocturnal creatures that came out searching for the small deak plants that managed to grow in the crevasses. These were the usual targets for the zryth, but the two sleeping would be welcome larger meals.

As they sat eating some of the meat from the backpack, S'ra explained the problem to him. "We will have to take turns sleeping. The other will have stay awake to… protect."

Chuck could obviously see the logic in that. Then, he narrowed his eyes as he looked at her. "Wake me if one comes."

Of course she would. "You, the same."

He nodded. "No…" He opened his arm and mimicked embracing, "… tonight." He pouted.

She shook her head and sadly replied, "Not tonight."

They had only done it twice for warmth, but it seemed that they both would miss the closeness tonight. She could pretend that was because they would be colder, but that would be foolish. She would miss his embrace too, and guessed that was the same for him.

This man of Urth had changed her from someone who would only sleep on her own, into one that craved sleeping with him. That was quite a change.

She looked at him, sitting there eating. In just over two days, he had broken down her barriers that she put up to protect herself from men, and she now wanted to be with him. It made her wonder about what, or who, he had left behind.

She had taught him the words for man and woman, which had proved more amusing that anything else. She suddenly felt nervous, but wanted to know. "Do you have a woman on Urth?"

He stopped chewing, clearly surprised at her question. He replied, "No." He paused. She though he had finished, but then he said, "None would have me."

It was now her turn to be surprised. "Why?"

He looked embarrassed. Then, he waved his hand up and down while pointing it at him, followed by pointing at his face and poking the side of his head. "Not liked."

She was now very surprised. He was telling her that the women of Urth did not find his body, his face or his mind, attractive. That seemed crazy. She found all three aspects of him very attractive. "Why?" she asked again.

He shrugged. "Others better."

She found that hard to believe. "I like you," she said.

He gave her one of those big grins. "I like you." She grinned back. He then reversed the topic. "You have man here?"

He was asking if she had someone back home waiting for her. That was possible, if her parents had anything to do with it, but she certainly hoped not.

She watched him closely as she replied, "Not at home." His eyes lit up just that little bit more. She wondered if he was going to take this conversation further and discuss themselves as possible partners. She was starting to think along those lines.

Inevitably, that was when she heard wings flapping. "Xynth," she cried and dove down.

It swopped over her and probably would have caught her if she hadn't moved so quickly.

Chuck wasn't so lucky. She watched in horror as the beast's claws clamped on his shoulders and lifted him off the ground. It intended to take him to its nest where it probably had young to feed.

S'ra grabbed a spear, but didn't throw as she might hit Chuck.

Chuck, once he got over his shock, reacted without thought. He grabbed the legs of the xynth and pushed them apart. The talons cut into his skin, but the sudden movement both shocked the creature and broke both legs, which went suddenly limp and the claws released him.

He dropped toward the ground.

He remembered the day at Stanford when he let Bryce persuade him to learn how to, and then do, a parachute jump. The key thing he remembered was to avoid taking all his weight on his legs and ankles when he hit the ground. He should tuck his chin in, relax his legs and bend his knees slightly, then roll with the landing.

As he saw the ground approaching, he prepared for it and did as he had been instructed.

S'ra watched as he broke the legs of the xynth and then dropped. He was about twenty feet up by this point. She was sure he would break his ankle or leg when he landed on the hard rock. She ran towards where that would happen, ensuring she had her backpack with her.

When she got to him, he was just getting up. No broken bones. His shoulders, however, were a mess. A long cut at the front of each shoulder and two at the back. The talons on the ends of the xynth's claws had dug in and when he ripped the legs apart, they had sliced his flesh.

He was staggering about a bit, so she eased him into a seated position, then opened her backpack. Two conith leaves were needed. One over each shoulder. She tied them in place using vines. He winced as she put pressure on the wounds, but that should draw any dirt and poison from them and then help the healing. If he was from this planet, he would be healed in about a day. She didn't know if the same would be true for him.

After tending to his wounds, she gave him a long kiss. She had nearly lost him and that hurt more than it should.

For Chuck, he sat quietly while S'ra treated him. He'd learned a long time ago to do that with his sister. S'ra seemed extremely competent at dealing with this. He wondered if being a doctor was another of her 'modes.'

What she put on him hurt when she pressed on it, but then seemed to ease the pain. The kiss she gave him was even better!

"It should heal in a day," she told him. "If you heal in the same way as we do." She looked at him for a moment. "I thought I had lost you." Her eyes felt teary.

Only three days ago, she had been on her own, tracking the hordes. Focused completely on her task. Nothing would distract her from that. Then, the determination to get the news back to the city and to report it drove her actions.

Now, she was completely distracted from that mission. Her thoughts focused totally on this man from another planet. That was quite a change, and so sudden.

She couldn't think about that though. She had to get him to some form of shelter where he could recover as quickly as possible. This was no longer so that she could get back to the city, but so that they could escape these dangerous mountains and get back onto a plain where attacks were much less likely.

She got him to put the arm around her neck that had the shoulder least damaged. She heard him wince, but he said nothing. She then guided him down the rocks to the ground. Once there, she took them along the path, further into the heart of the mountain range.

The going had been much slower than she had hoped. However, they reached an area with layered rocks well before dark.

She eventually spotted one with a ledge that stuck out leaving a space underneath in which they could rest. It was starting to get dark, so this would be where they stayed for the night.

She lowered Chuck down, getting him to sit on the ground and then shuffle back. She took the blanket out of the backpack, along with water, meat and some xaxic leaves that she had carefully stored within a protective layer to hide the smell.

Chuck scrunched his nose at that smell.

"The xynth and zryth don't like it," she explained.

"I don't like it," he retorted.

She laughed and placed pieces in a circle around their space. "Should keep them away."

She wiped her hand with a leaf of clarek to both clean and take the smell away. Then, she handed him a piece of meat and the bottle of water.

They had their first argument over guard duty.

Chuck was adamant that he could do his share. S'ra thought he shouldn't but instead should rest his wounds. Chuck argued that if she tried to stay awake all night, she could fall asleep while on duty, which angered her. He also pointed out that she would then need sleep during the day, keeping them here longer.

They finally compromised. S'ra would be on guard duty for the first six hours and Chuck the last two. He wasn't happy about it, but accepted it. She felt that gave his wounds the longest time to recover before he might need to exert his shoulders.

He settled down and managed to get to sleep quickly. She had given him some pake to chew with his meat, and that gave enough pain relief for sleep to be possible.

She hadn't mentioned that the predators were most active during her period. He didn't need to know that. If he had, he may have argued more.

She looked at his sleeping form. Only his face was exposed from under the blanket, but the shape under that was clear.

He really was tall. She had never considered height to be a factor in whether a person was attractive or not. That was probably because most men were slightly short than her, and only a few as tall as she was. Finding someone taller had been a surprise and a very pleasant one. Of course, that alone would not have attracted her to him, but it certainly added to it.

His brown hair was fascinating. Longer than most men wore theirs. It had curls that were attractive and, for some reason, made her want to run her fingers through them. She was a trained fighter who never thought such things, but Chuck did that to her!

She found his eyes drew her to him, as well. They were closed right now, but her memory of them was strong. And then there were his lips. She had never enjoyed kissing as much as she did with Chuck.

The reality was that she liked him more than she had ever liked anyone before. She wanted him to be her man. Whether they could have children together or not.

Persuading her parents might be difficult, but that was what she wanted.

She had been on guard duty for five hours and was starting to feel sleepy. Chuck had been right about that, and arguing with him had just been the fighter in her. That and the protector that he brought out.

Three zryth had come, at different times, and recoiled at the xaxic she had put down. Each of those would probably have gotten their scent and approached otherwise. That had definitely kept her alert, but she had seen and heard none for the last two hours.

She was glad that the moon, Niteth, the largest, had risen in the sky through this period, giving some visibility. It made things easier for her.

Chuck had slept through all of it and she was pleased with that.

So, she sat, leaning back on the smooth patch of rock she'd found, and waited. In an hour's time she would do what they'd agreed and wake Chuck for his turn.

For the last two hours, she had been thinking of what would happen when they reached the city. She would go straight to the military base just outside the city gates and report what she had found. She should still be well ahead of the horde, but preparation time would be less than ideal.

Then, she would take Chuck to her parents' home. That would be interesting.

She feared that her parents could have lined up suitors for her return. Hopefully, none staying with them, but she wouldn't put that past them. She needed to warn Chuck about this, but there she was, just assuming he would want to be with her. She really hoped he would.

A growl from above jerked her out of these thoughts. She cursed herself. She had not thought of attack from the ledge above.

She gripped her spear and knife.

The zryth dropped down slightly closer to her than to Chuck, thankfully. She tried to plunge her spear into its chest, but it swiped that away and jumped towards her, growling even louder.

Because she was still crouched down and it didn't have much room for its jump, she was in the best position possible.

As its jaws opened and were rapidly nearing her throat, S'ra thrust her knife, a tool she was much more comfortable with, up into its throat. The spear she was still holding and had twisted back, pierced its chest.

The zryth died. Which wound had killed it wasn't worth considering. It was dead and that was good enough. However, it still fell on her and its body was heavy and took the breath from her lungs. Its sharp claws tore through her top and cut her right shoulder and its teeth cut her left cheek.

She lay with her arm twisted as it was still holding her knife that was now embedded in the zryth's neck.

Then, the weight lifted off of her. She realized that Chuck was doing this and heard him saying, in his own language. "nu, nu, nu!" She held onto her knife as he thrust the carcass away, but dropped it to her side. He came back, hovering over her. She felt teardrops falling on her. "S'ra!" he cried out in anguish.

"I am alive," she told him quietly.

The look of relief on his face helped her get her breath back, which was just as well, as his lips covered hers straight after. She tried to ignore the pain in her cheek and shoulder as he did this, but he obviously sensed it and pulled back.

He scrambled for her backpack and quickly found the conith, clarek and pake. He knew exactly what to do with each. When he handed her the pake, she hesitated to chew on it because of its sedative nature, but he insisted.

Once the wounds were clean, he bound the clarek to her shoulder. He had torn a piece off for her cheek, but didn't know what to do with it. They had no mean of keeping that in place other than wrapping a vine around her head which he was reluctant to do. She guessed why. He didn't want to get it near her eyes.

She would help him with that in the morning. When she slept, she would lie on it, keeping it in place. Before that she was happy with how he gently held it against her face. He was incredibly gentle when needed.

His tears had stopped, but he looked at her in the same way she had when he had been hurt. He said the same thing, "I thought I had lost you." She knew that feeling. "I never want to lose you, S'ra."

That made her smile, although smiling was not helpful for the wounded cheek, but she didn't care. He wanted to be with her as much as she wanted to be with him. "I don't want to lose you, Chuck."

As the tiredness seeped back into her body and the soporific effect of the pake started to take effect, she lay down and let him place the blanket over her.

She fell asleep thinking about how they would be together from now on and how they would make that happen.

A/N: End of day three. I know Chuck seems less scared than the canon one, but don't forget he always put his fears aside if Sarah was at risk.

Please let me know what you think of this chapter in a review.

Glossary (pronunciation in brackets)

People:

B'rack (Bur-Rack)– S'ra's previous boyfriend (we never meet him)

Frakku (Frack-Ku) – purple-skinned savages

S'ra (Sur-Rah) – first person Chuck Bartowski meets on the new planet

.

Plants and animals:

Clarek (clar-Rek) – plant that produces leaves that people use to clean themselves

Conith (Con-Eeth) – leaves of this plant produce fast-acting, healing liquids

Deak (Dee-Ack) – small plants that manage to grow in the crevasses of rocks in the mountain ranges

Gritch (Grit-Ch)– flesh of this plant used to clean teeth and breath

Ixtag (Eecs-Tag) – black-colored predator that live in forests

Landic )Land-Ick) – deer-like herbivore

Pake (PayK) – plant, the flesh contains pain-killing properties and is used for that purpose

Vetia (Vet-Ia) – leaves of this plant very flexible and used by Chuck to cover himself. Sap burns people from the planet but didn't affect him

Xaxic (Zacks-Ick) – foul smelling leaves of this plant used to ward off predators

Xynth (Zinth)– flying predator

Zryth (Zreeth) – stone-colored cat-like predator. Related to the ixtag

.

Places:

Garverd –(Gar-Vert) mountain range

Grillain (Grill-Ain) – city state S'ra comes from

Niteth (Nee-Teth) – largest of three moons that circle the planet

Retith (Ret-Teeth) – the planet Chuck was now on

.

Other:

Bract (Br-Act) – nutritious bars carried to eat when access to other food hard to achieve