Starfish

Four

That brought back something that continued to bother Nina. As she passed aDreen whose dark coloring closely resembled Doctor Ardus, she took note of the brilliant points on the fellow's stomach and chest. Dreenmen most commonly wore tunics of light fabric in some bold color,their hems tucked or bloused into the wide waistbands of their gathered trousers. Some, depending on their occupation as much as their personal preferences, wore their shirts open halfway to the waist to better display their colors. Also, Dreenai was a warm planet, so ventilation was key. But Doctor Ardus chose dark colors as well as closed, long clothing that covered a much greater portion of his skin. Is he embarrassed? As she looked around, she saw no other Dreen – male or female –wearing anything quite so concealing and unflatteringly dull. Also,she saw no others without their pores glowing brightly. That must be it. He's the only one around here who doesn't light up. Poor guy, maybe that's why he's such a butt. Nina grinned. Yes, that's all it is.You remember what that's like, being different. 

She'd gone to university on the mainland, where she was one of only fourteen people who weren't white or Asian, and the only Pacific Islander. It's not that different being the only human. While she knew that wasn't quite true – Doctor Yang and Doctor O'Connell were also in residence at the university – Nina had not seen another human in days, she realized. Do I really mind, though? Do I miss human company? Despite Doctor Ardus's general crabby attitude and weirdness, Nina was enjoying her stay. Dreenai was beautiful, the Dreen were friendly enough, the work was interesting now that she had finally started getting her hands on the specimens, and the food was amazing. Athe brought her around a corner and Nina stopped short. "Hey, I've been here before, Doctor Ardus took me here a few days ago."

Athe pulled up so suddenly Nina ran into his legs. "What was that?"

"A couple of days ago I bought some dinner to take home, but I dropped it so Doctor Ardus showed me this place."

Athe stared at her. "He showed you..."

"Yes, he walked me right to it. What's wrong?"

"Nothing. You said you were hungry?"

"Oh yes, I'm starving."

Settling into their table, Nina sitting on a box from the kitchen that had once contained fruit of some kind, they endured the strange looks from restaurant patrons as well as the cooks and waitstaff. Nina was used to this. Ignoring the sideways-cast eyes and whispers, she perused the menu and tried to decide between the baked eel – she'd tried it last time and it had been very good – and a thick soup made from local fishes and algae and thickened with pulverized kelp. She decided to go with the soup. Tasting a yellow beverage that strongly reminded her of mango and carrot juice, Nina watched the Dreen and admired her new clothes."Athe," she asked, "is it all right if I pick this up?"

"What, lunch? I suppose if you'd like to, yes. Thank you, Doctor Ma'atanoa."

"Please, you can call me Nina while we're out. Doctor Ma'atanoa sounds so formal."

"But you are a doctor, it would be discourteous of me not to."

"It's all right," Nina assured the Dreen, "All of my friends call me Nina. It is my name, after all."

Athe's hairless eyebrows raised. "You consider me a friend? A Dreen?"

"Of course! Mm," She held up her drink, half-empty, and declared "This is delicious."

"It ought to be, it's sailorfruit juice. Long ago before we discovered powered sailing, we Dreen used to pack literal tons of sailor fruit for long voyages. If the food ever ran out, Dreen sailors could subsist on them for months until they found shore again."