Starfish

13.2

They caught a few odd looks leaving the university campus, but as Ardus paid no one any mind unless they greeted or nodded at him, Nina ignored the attention as well. Just going to a lunch meeting with my boss. My blue, eight and a half foot tall boss who just happens to have huge arms and a laugh that makes me shiver. Nothing weird about this at all. Once they exited campus grounds Nina caught her breath and enjoyed the feeling of warm sand and the seaward wind as it caught at her curled hair and pulled it over her shoulder, and she felt warm sun on her neck and cheeks. But the silence was getting to her, she had to say something. "Nice day, isn't it?"

Ardus nodded, the wind whipping a loose barbel across his forehead. "Yes, an exceptionally good one. This pattern should hold out for several weeks, which bodes well for our fieldwork. The coast where we are going is protected by a summer pattern that drives cooler northern winds farther out to sea - I would not expect any storms while we are camped."

"That's good, I wouldn't want to be caught in a hurricane in a tent."

"We will not be staying in tents," Ardus corrected, "there are semi-permanent shelters at the site, as well as access to fresh water. I hope you are not offended by cold showers." From the corner of his eye he gave her a wry half-smile.

"No tents? Really? That's better than all of my undergrad field trips. One time I had to share a tent with three other girls." Nina adjusted her bag on her shoulder, suddenly looking up. Oh no... "Ah, we won't be, um, staying in the same shelter, will we?"

Ardus laughed, the same deep, rumbling chuckle that had stunned Nina in the infirmary. He did the same head motion as then too, tucking his chin down while a real smile spread across his lips. When he looked up again, the smile stayed even as he shook his head. "I assure you, both of us will have separate shelters with locking doors."

"I wasn't worried about that," Nina forced herself to look calm. "Look, it was a stupid question. I should have thought about it before I asked."

"I am sure it would have kept you up all night if you had not asked." He strode on, steady and composed. Nina's cheeks burned. Why do I say the dumbest shit around him?

Hurrying to keep up with his long legs, she saw that they were coming up on the oceanside city with its matte pale walls, solar-paneled roofs and wide streets that let the salty breeze blow cooler sea air through open doors and windows, alleviating the noon heat. Dreenai's white sun poured down from the impossibly blue sky like sand from a pail, filling every space with gleaming light and reflecting off of colored glass windows and lamps and the stone-paved streets worn smooth and shiny in places from centuries of Dreen feet. The scent of alien flowers in a hundred colors planted in bowls on ledges and in sconces on the walls wafted up the path to Nina's nose and she stopped briefly to take in the sprawling city. Trees sheltering between buildings from the strong ocean winds looked like gnarled hands, their branches sharing that weather-beaten quality that only the very oldest coastal trees show - sun-bleached bark, worn smooth by sand blown up from the beach, and the twisted stance of holding up against strong storm winds for who knew how long. Strange birds in yellow and white and green rested along their branches, their bright bodies like flashing fruit between the trees' shiny dark green leaves, their soft cries echoing in the clear sky. "Sea gods, this place is gorgeous."

"I am glad you think so," Ardus called back from several steps ahead. He kept going and Nina trotted to catch up, wiping sweat from her forehead. How is he not hot in all those dark clothes? He's dark too, he ought to be sweltering. The stone streets looked ancient, worn by millions of feet to an almost perfectly even surface. She asked, "How old is this city?"

"Only about twenty thousand years. It is not the oldest on the continent by a deep dive, and compared to the cities on the southern continent it is young."