Starfish

30.2

"Sure, I'll have one." Nina climbed one of his tall chairs and sat at the small table in the corner. She watched him bustle about the kitchen, pulling things out of the cooler and pantry and finding a condiment bowl small enough for her. 

Ardus ended up mixing what would have been a full size drink for himself, and split it between themselves. "There, that should be about right." 

Nina took a sip and nodded as she savored it. She noticed he seemed at a loss. "What's the matter, big guy?"

Ardus took the chair across the small table from her. "If I may be candid, it has been so long since I started a relationship that I do not know what to do with myself." He gave her a small, shy smile – as small a smile as the eight-and-a-half-foot Dreen could muster.

"You're fine," she told him, reaching across the surface to touch her cup to his glass. "I had an amazing time last night," she encouraged, "It's been a while since I had such a good first impression. Not bad for almost twenty years, hmm?"

Ardus flared and flashed pink. "Er, well, it was not for lack of effort. But as I was so young when Timam and I – ah, perhaps I should not speak of her."

"Why not?"

"I do not want to continue comparing you to my, er previous relationship. I do not want to give the impression that I am not able to let go."

"Ardus, you loved her. I understand that. She made you who you are, helped you start your career. If I could, I'd thank her."

"What for?"

"For doing such a good job training you as a scientist...and in bed." Nina giggled as she watched his pores cycle through pink and yellow. "If you want to talk about her you can, I'm not the jealous type. She made you happy, and I like seeing you happy."

"I like to see you happy as well," Ardus turned his glass in his hands. They looked at each other for a while, trading shy smiles and encouraging looks. Finally, Ardus asked "Would you like to see my collection now?"

"Oh, yes!" Nina slid down from the chair and followed him to a room that might have been intended as a bedroom, except for the shelves recessed into the walls filled with books, resin-encased specimens, framed drawings and another ancient desk that was not quite as large as the one in the office she shared with him but was no less beautiful with its weathered patina and subtle scroll-work. An older model of the computer terminal he used in his office sat on the desktop, not a mote of dust to be found on its industrial grey surface, and a scholastic clutter of papers, books, files and diagrams lay to either side of the keyboard. 

Nina stood a few feet inside the doorway and turned around to look at the fossils, casts, illustrations, antiques and replicas Ardus had collected over the decades. She'd been in many an office of her professors, their collections spanning their careers, but this was something far more. Among the museum of discoveries, memories peered through and Nina thought she could track the development of Ardus's mind. A matching set of books, probably much older than the biologist himself if she judged by the archaic spelling and leather bindings, sat next to an early copy of Professor Yuna's collected work. Several more books bore first- and second-edition marks, and many more showed pages yellowed and fragile with age. Almost incongruous were the newer, synthetic-paper texts and cartridges for early digital readers, the heavy electronic books that Nina had seen in some of the older films she watched as a teenager when she was learning Dreen. It had never occurred to her that some of the films she'd seen were older than Ardus or even his parents. She turned back and looked at him where he stood watching her reaction, and it struck her again that he was almost three times her age. "How long have you been collecting?"