Starfish

23.2

Nina settled the pot on the coals and poked a few driftwood sticks around it. "Ardus, just because I ask doesn't mean you have to tell me anything. I was being nosy, it's really none of my business."

"You are curious, and curiosity is a prerequisite for our line of work. And, with the Dreen and human relationship still in its infancy, as well as our working relationship, there is much we do not know about each other. You have told me much about your life on Earth, it is only fair that I tell you about mine." The cakes sizzled.

"Are you sure?" she asked, tucking a stray hair behind her ear. "Athe said Dreen go dark when something traumatic happens, something that causes a lot of stress or pain."

"That is true, but I believe I am past that. Is there..." He paused. "Is there a reason you do not want to know? Do humans not talk to each other about private matters?"

Nina shook her head. "No, it's not that. I just... If something hurt you so much that it made you go dark, I don't want to bring those feelings up again."

Ardus poked a charred stick deeper into the red coals. "I appreciate your sensitivity, but I assure you I feel comfortable sharing now. We work closely together and you have asked several questions, perhaps my answer would explain some of my behaviors."

Nina shrugged. "If you want. Nia did say you were weird, even for a Dreen."

Ardus huffed. "She would say that." He took a settling breath. "Bear with me, I have not spoken of it in..." His eyes widened in surprise as he realized the passage of time. "Sea gods, has it been that long?" He rubbed his hands on his knees. "In any case, what I should start with is why Dreen can go dark. As I have explained before, our pores and the unique patterns they create on our bodies is a form of social communication – it is how we recognize each other at a distance. Going dark is not well understood beyond the physical effect of not producing light, though some theories link the physical response – or rather, the lack thereof – to stress. And losing someone I thought I would spend the rest of my life with caused me a great deal of emotional distress."

Nina sat up straighter. "You were married?" There was an odd cast to her gaze, surprise and something else, interest and...relief? Ardus frowned at the strange word. "I do not know what 'married' means."

"Oh, um," she pulled her braid around to her shoulder, running it through her hands and inspecting the end. "So, where I'm from, when people – usually two – decide they're going to be together, usually for a long time, they can sign a legal agreement to share their stuff. Sometimes they have a religious ceremony or throw a big party for their family and friends. The ceremony can be different depending on where you're from, but the whole point is to show that they've committed to the relationship."

"Ah," he bent and shook the pan again. "I see. We Dreen can do something similar, but as most have drifted away from the old rituals many choose to simply share their home. Such was the case with...with Timam and I."

"Timam? That was her name?" Nina paused, looking up at him across the fire with her head tilted slightly to one side. He saw curiosity in her face, along with something guarded. "What happened?"

Ardus took another slow breath, staring into the fire. It still hurt, but not as much as it used to. In fact, merely deciding to open up to Nina was somehow relieving the old pain, like taking off a bandage and applying fresh salve to a wound. "She died unexpectedly – well, to me it was unexpected. I found out later that she'd been hiding a long illness from me, a subtle disease of the heart. It normally strikes much older Dreen, which is why I never realized that she was ill." He hesitated often as he spoke, working through the dull stabs as the memories floated back to the surface. "I was much younger then, and ignorant. She managed her symptoms well enough that I did not notice until it was too late – she hid her symptoms from me because she knew I would try to stop her from doing the things she loved. I was... I was angry with her when I learned she had been hiding it from me, but by that point she..." He shook his head. "There was no point in it by then, she was already gone. One day she was there, the next..." He squeezed his eyes shut against a particularly painful twinge in his chest. "She died in her sleep. Even if I had known, I never had a chance to say goodbye." He looked up and the sadness in Nina's beautiful grey eyes took him back, dredging up other memories. "Nina... I have never said this before, but... Your eyes are almost identical to hers."