Nina shielded her eyes and nose with her hand while Ardus guided her through the blowing sand, nictitating membranes drawn over his eyes turning them grey and eerily blank. The lagoon had whipped into an angry green froth, fifteen-foot waves hammering the beach with enough force to throw spumes equally as high and twice as far inland. Thin ribbons of weak yellow sunlight tried to pierce the clouds but the sand and storm blotted out most of the light and broke the ribbons into smoky streaks. Nina held tight to his hand, letting him walk her blind back to the apartment complex while the wind sandblasted her legs and arms, leaving them stinging. The storm brought cold, wet air in from the northwest and by the time they reached the safety of the buildings Nina was shivering and damp and completely covered in sand. "It's even in my ears," she said, digging out the grit with a fingernail.
Ardus dusted her off as best he could before sending her off to the shower while he pulled heavy steel panels out of pocket-doors on either side of the enormous seaward window. When Nina finished getting most of the sand out of her hair, ears, nose, mouth and eyes she came back into the main room to find Ardus stacking the balcony furniture against the wall, himself liberally sanded. "Better?" he asked.
"Mostly, though I feel like my skin's been rubbed off."
"Let me see." Ardus cupped her face in his hands and gently brushed her abraded cheeks. "I have some salve that will help." He left her to rub a clear, mucilaginous ointment on her chapped legs and arms while he cleaned himself up. A heavy rain began to fall by the time he was done.
"Looks like we'll be stuck inside for the rest of the day," Nina commented, digging her tablet and a few texts from her bag and shaking the sand off into the kitchen refuse bin.
"Very likely, though now that the rain has started there will be less sand blowing around. It will tire itself out in a few hours; by then we will be asleep."
Nina cocked her head to listen to the wet rattle of rain. "Reminds me of the storms back on Earth when I was a kid," she said. "Dad would nail the shutters and we'd pack towels around the doors to keep the water out. When I was older it was a little better, because the new apartment building had a seawall. Sometimes though, the power would go out and we'd be stuck in the dark for hours. But I imagine you've been weathering here long enough that it's not a problem anymore." She watched Ardus stare off into the middle distance, listening to the wind as it shuddered the steel window panels.
"Personally, I have weathered more storms than I care to count. At this point they are merely part of the pattern. As a creature of the water, they are as familiar as my own thoughts. How is your skin?"
"Better, thanks. What was in that gel?"
"Yellow brineweed extract, I believe."
It struck Nina quite suddenly that she'd first heard of yellow brineweed on her first day on Dreenai. Had it really been only four months since she'd arrived? Four months that felt like a lifetime. What will happen in a year? Two years? Could I spend the rest of my life here? Do I want to? She looked across the open-layout apartment towards the kitchen where Ardus prepared a kettle, measuring dried herbs and pausing to listen to the rain. The way he moved, the sound of his clawed feet clicking on the tiles, the gentle seashore-tide sound of his breathing, and now the glowing points on his arms and body, all of it made her smile.
Humans don't know what they're missing, she mused. It still amazed her that she'd followed his work for years, reading his theses and emulating his ideology, never once wondering what he'd be like as a person. Before coming here, she'd only ever thought of the great Doctor Ardus as a brilliant mind and little else. Now she knew, and knew so much more besides. There's so much we can teach each other, not just me and him but humans and Dreen. We still have a long way to go before we can catch up with them, but it's not about that. The universe is finally opening up, there are probably hundreds more worlds out there to discover. Who knows what we'll find?
Ardus brought her a mug of tea – a mug made for human hands, one she'd brought from Earth. They settled in on the long couch, Nina cuddled up in the crook of his arm while she read a Dreen-language publication on the latest observations on inland ecology and Ardus scribbled citations in the margins of Meem's weekly summary report. The rain continued, punctuated by heavy growls of thunder that Ardus occasionally rumbled back to, though the storm's ferocity had quieted to a steady downpour. If she listened carefully, Nina could hear the rustlings of wild birds as they hid from the rain under the eaves of the building, little scuffling and scratching sounds as they shook their wings and adjusted their footing against the rattling wind. Neither she nor Ardus looked up at the sound of knocking on the door, taking it for a particularly strong lash of rain. They both started when the chime broke the storm's spell with a sharp, electronic ping!
"What the..." Nina slid out of Ardus's lap as he went to see who in their right mind (or not) was looking for him during such a storm. Ardus pressed the comm and spoke into the receiver, "Hello?"
A man's voice came through and Nina recognized Major Charles Birch's nasal and extremely irritating voice, made tinny over the comm and static in the rain. "Hello? Does anyone in this damn place speak English?"
"Ugh, this guy..." Nina rolled her eyes. "Don't answer, I've had enough of talking to him for the year. Hell, for the rest of my life."
The comm buzzed, and the voice came again. "Doctor Ma'atanoa, we've already checked your apartment, we know you're here. The Federation's sending an evac shuttle in thirty-four hours."
"What?" Nina stood abruptly, nearly upsetting her mug in the process. "An evacuation shuttle?" She pushed between Ardus and the comm panel and jabbed at the button, frowning at the harsh sound of her own voice in English. "Why is the Fed sending a shuttle?"
"The situation at the Port has turned critical, Fed's commanding the return of all personnel from Dreen-held stations."
In spite of the rapidly sinking feeling in her stomach Nina reminded him, "Well this isn't a station, and I'm not Federation personnel."
"Ma'am, this is a safety matter. I have orders to collect you, Doctor Fred Yang and Doctor Martin O'Connell and return you to Federation space until this is all resolved."
A warning tone crept into Nina's voice. "I'm perfectly safe right where I am. Like I told you earlier, I'm on a three-year contract through the university, not the Federation. I'm not going anywhere." She could hear Major Birch grumbling to himself, something about a "stubborn woman". Rain hissed against the outdoor receiver.
"Doctor, we don't have time for this. If we don't get off the ground in thirty-six hours the Fed's going to shut down all travel between Federation and Dreen space. You'll be stranded."
"Wow, that sounds terrible." Nina looked up at Ardus, rolling her eyes and miming a flapping mouth with her hand. The Dreen smirked. "Sounds like it's raining pretty hard out there," she asked with only a touch of sarcasm.
"It's pouring!"
"Oh, well I don't want to go out in that, I'll get wet. You should get inside before you catch a cold. Good night Major!" She flicked off the comm panel, cutting off the Major's voice in the middle of an angry squawk. Nina looked up at Ardus and switched back to Dreen. "Sea gods, was I that annoying when I first got here?"
"At least you spoke a language I understand," the big alien knelt down beside her. "What did he want this time?"
"Apparently the Fed made up their minds – they're sending an evacuation shuttle tomorrow afternoon."
Ardus's large blue eyes widened and he reached for her. "Starfish..." Nina took his hand and held it with both of hers, shaking her head. "Don't worry, I'm not leaving. Birch can talk all he wants, but I'm not in their jurisdiction. I don't have to go anywhere if I don't want to."
"But an evacuation-"
"Fed shuttles can't get off the ground if it keeps raining like it is," she reassured him. "More likely than not the storm will ground anything they send unless they commandeer a Dreen ship. I'm not going anywhere, big guy, I'm going to stay right here with you."
"Is that wise?"
"What are they going to do, court-martial me? I'm not in the military, I'm not a government employee, the only contract I have is through the university. They can't touch me." Nina smiled and watched his worry ease, his pores moving away from yellow towards green. "Everything's going to be fine."
Ardus hugged her, his enormous arms crossing behind her back and squeezing her against his broad chest. "As old as I am, I cannot refute that in good conscience – in my own experience things have turned out all right, no matter how terrible they seemed at the time. After all," he kissed the side of her head, then withdrew and rested his hands on her shoulders, "seeing where I am now, it is worth the trouble. So, should we get back to work?"
"To be honest, I'm still irritated from Birch. That guy just rubs me the wrong way, you know what I mean?"
Ardus chuckled in his basso voice. "I do not need to understand him to share the feeling, for such a small man he is a large annoyance. What would you like to do instead? There is nothing we can do about the storm, but it will blow itself out."
"Want to lay around and be lazy until we fall asleep? Storms knock me out."
"That does sound inviting. But you must do one thing for me."
"What's that?"
"When you do fall asleep, it should be on top of me."
Nina laughed, shaking her hair back. "Okay! But I have condition too: if I fall asleep on you, you have to carry me to bed. After that you can do anything you want to me."
"You are far too permissive," Ardus raised a hand and ruffled her hair.
"Would you prefer I was mean to you? I can do that, you know." Ardus snorted and Nina pretended great offense. "Oh really?" she said, fists on hips. "You wanna try me, big guy?"
Laughing, Ardus rose to his feet and walked away. Nina lunged after him, wrapping her arms around one thigh and latched on like a lamprey. Ardus stopped, looking down at her. Nina grinned up at him. "I told you you'd have a hard time getting rid of me."
The Dreen shook his head. "I have no desire to rid myself of you. What I do wonder, though, is what I am going to do with you." He started off again with Nina clamped around his leg, giggling.