Starfish

33.2

Using her fingers, Nina pinched off a piece of kelp dough the size of her thumb and rolled it in her palms to smooth it. She dropped the dough ball on a plate and made another. The smell of soup stock hovered in the kitchen and Ardus used his claws to tear a roasted yellow worm into shreds, humming contentedly to himself while herbs simmered in the pot. Nina watched him from the side of her eye, her mouth pulled up into a dimple as her alien boyfriend tossed his head to move stray barbels out of his face. "Want me to tie those back for you?"

Ardus shook his head. "l barely realize I am doing it."

"Fair. Have you heard from Athe?"

"I have. Boda will be staying overnight for observation – it would seem that the hospital facility has closed off an entire wing strictly for those affected. Athe will return to work tomorrow, as there is nothing he can do."

Nina pinched off the last of the dough and dusted her hands on a towel. She climbed a stool brought from her apartment and dropped the dumplings carefully into the simmering soup. She began peeling sheets of seaweed and dropping them in as well, watching the dumplings roll and bump into each other. Cooking distracted her from the worst of her worries, and Ardus was obviously keeping her busy. I can appreciate that, Nina stirred the pot and separated two dumplings that had begun to stick together. Still, the visit from the Port authorities had rattled her and it was difficult to keep her mind from running immediately to the worst. If she had to leave the university, leave Dreenai, leave Ardus... They're not going to take me away, she put her mental foot down. They can't just show up and grab me, I'm under the university's protection. I don't care what the Fed does, I'm not going anywhere!

If there was anything that eased her anxiety, it was Ardus. The big Dreen seemed unperturbed by the visit and gave no sign that he was worried. His pores remained in the cool spectrum of colors – blue, green, purple and white – and there was no more certain indication of his mood. 

They ate dinner in his front room, she sitting on an ottoman and he on the floor, and discussed the progress they'd made since returning from the black-sand beach while Ardus gave his honest opinions regarding her work. The evidence of her prolonged stays lay all around the room, where a trained eye and a few untrained ones would note smooth-sanded blocks before the bookshelves at perfect stepping height, common items stored at lower levels, and a second charging dock for her tablet and other small electronics.

"I think you are relying too heavily on Professor Yuna's observations as the basis for your theory," Ardus said, "no one is going to blink if you propose a new interpretation of the data. A human perspective may be the insight needed to expand on strider migration patterns."

"To be honest, I'm not that familiar with overland migration."

"The principal is the same."

"I get that, but I never had the knack for geological factors."

Ardus chewed and swallowed a dumpling. "Invert them."

"Sorry?"

"Mountains and sea trenches are inversions of each other, they have similar effects on the surrounding landscapes. Current patterns and thus migrational habits are affected by the presence of mountain ranges, flat plains, and intermediate geography, with respect to factors such as soil erosion, weather and tectonic activity. What is that phrase humans use, 'think outside of the shell'?"

"Box," Nina corrected. "It's 'think outside the box'."

He raised an eyebrow. "I will put you in a box."

"I would love to see that."

"You would not be able to, you would be inside the box."

Nina snorted, clapping her hand over her mouth in case soup came spraying out. Ardus grinned mildly, pleased with himself, and drank off the remainder of his bowl. Nina made a face and stuck her tongue out at him. Ardus curled his lip, wrinkled his nose-bridge and gave a mock snarl, his eyes narrowing in that dangerous way Nina loved. "Oh yeah?" she said, skewering a dumpling and pointing it at him, "you want to come over here and say that to my face?"

Before she could breathe twice, Nina found herself on the floor with her hands pinned above her head. Shit! Ardus plucked the skewer from her fingers with his free hand and ran it through his teeth, taking the dumpling in a single bite before letting the skewer drop onto the table and lowering his body. He pressed his chest to her ribs and growled low and deep, rattling her teeth in her head and vibrating the dishes on the table. 

"You don't scare me," Nina laughed and growled back, her voice small and barely audible over his. Ardus's thunder intensified in response. Nina pressed her knees to his sides and the Dreen's chesty growl tapered off into a throaty moan. His eyes closed and he turned his face into her hair, inhaling deeply. Nina smiled to herself. Like warm clay in my hands.

"I do not think I will ever tire of this," the huge male said as he let his breath go, "not as long as you continue to antagonize me."

"Antagonize you? You jumped me!"

"Has no one told you it is not polite to point with a skewer?"

"Has anyone ever told you it's not polite to tackle your girlfriend when she's half your size? You could break my ribs, you know. Or my hip," Nina shifted and squeezed her thighs around his waist and got another moan out of it.

"I will do no such thing," Ardus released her wrists and propped himself up on one elbow. "You should know by now that my size does not inhibit me."

"Does anything? You've got soup on your tunic."

"Take it off me, then."

"Oh, with pleasure, big guy... Hey! What was that for?"

"Now I get to take your tunic off."