Starfish

Twenty-Two

Ardus yawned and rubbed his fingers through his barbels. Staring into the fire he willed the pot of black kelp tea to boil and resisted the urge to poke at the embers with a stick. He sat on one of the driftwood logs with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders, his webbed toes curled into the damp sand. Down the sloping beach the sea hissed with the morning tide, the black sand turning the foam dirty grey. Attracted by the light of the fire several birds swooped overhead and investigated the strange sight. He looked up at the sound of the other cabin's door creaking open, watching Nina stumble out and stare at the sea with a foggy expression. She stretched and her oversized tunic lifted, showing a few inches of her brown belly and the waistband of her soft trousers. "Morning," he said, trying not to stare.

She turned, and his heart surged at the fuzzy mass of hair stuck to her cheek and her eyes squeezed into a squint. Ardus smiled – she looked adorable. "Please tell me you have coffee," she croaked.

"I do not know what 'coffee' is, but I have black kelp – it will wake you up."

"Good enough." She wandered over and sat on the opposite log, stretching her feet towards the fire. He saw her shiver. "Here," he tossed his blanket across to her, catching her in the chest.

"Oof! Thanks." She slung it around her shoulders. Being a Dreen-sized blanket it swallowed her from her neck to her feet, with room for another person. "Oh, it's warm!" She grinned sleepily and huddled down in it.

"Would you like some breakfast?"

"Mmm, yes please."

Pulling forth a camp kit, Ardus took out some tools and a pan and rooted around in one of the boxes of rations and preserved food. Breaking apart a compressed block of dehydrated eggs he added water and spices and some flaked fish. While the scramble cooked on one side of the pan he heated a few vegetables on the other, and the smell attracted wildlife. Birds perched on the roofs of the shelters and a few small lizards peeked up out of the sand, their tongues flickering out to taste the air. One of the local mammals sniffed around the boxes and Ardus growled sharply at it, baring his teeth. It scurried away, terrified, and when he looked back to the fire Nina was staring at him with enormous eyes. "Something wrong?"

"What was that?"

"That?" He looked towards the creature's retreat. "Nest-robber, they will chew through-"

"Not him, I mean that thing you did just now."

He blinked before he realized what she meant. "Ah, I see. Did it frighten you?"

Nina shook her head, though her eyes were still large. "No, I've just never seen you do that before. Actually, I've never seen any Dreen do that."

Ardus cringed inwardly. "Er, well, most Dreen consider something like that to be primitive, even vulgar. I hope I have not offended you."

"No, no, it's just..." she gave a nervous laugh, "I hope you never have to do that to me!"

"I cannot think of any reason I would," Ardus checked the pan, the eggs sizzling and the vegetables browning. "Unless, of course, you are trying to steal my food." He smiled at her.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Nina grinned back. She seemed more at ease, though occasionally she still gave a wary sideways glance. To him it had been merely a warning, something to tell the nest-robber to go find somewhere else to snoop around. To a human, he'd probably looked terrifying. I forget I am twice her size, and I have much larger teeth. A sharp hiss alerted him to the can of boiling black kelp, and he fetched it off the fire and poured a steel cup for himself and filled a smaller bowl for her. When she took the bowl without hesitation directly from his huge clawed hands, Ardus decided she was not as afraid of him as he worried.