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“Oh,” she stated, a small flush heating her cheeks.

He made me a campfire, duh.It was rather obvious, now that she thought about it.He must have seen me start the last fire.

Linh put it up to being utterly freaked out. She wasn’t in an optimal state of mind, still whirling from the fact this Duskwalker spoke with voices of those he’d eaten, Bragg almost finding her again, and nearly drowning. She also struggled to think past the way her toes, fingers, and nose burned with a coldness.

On her hands and knees, she crawled over to the ring of stones. She pulled out a fire-starting kit from a decently watertight ceramic jar in her bag. She cracked her flint and steel, her numb fingers and hands shaking as she worked to start it.

Her eyes grew wide when he leaned forward until he was above her. She couldn’t feel his heat, but his presence was far too large to ignore.

After she dropped the flint multiple times while trying to ignore the way his dominating essence affected her, he eventually cupped his hand over the flint on the ground. He picked it up, then waved his fingers at her. She gripped the steel with uncertainty and turned to him.

His bony face was less than a foot from her own, and her skin prickled with how close he was. He waved his fingers at her again, and she looked down. Hesitating, hoping she wasn’t misreading what he wanted, she placed the steel in his outreaching palm.

His claws, not particularly sharp, poked into her inner wrist. She tried not to touch him, just in case, but she noted howtinyher hand was in comparison to him.

Although Linh was almost five feet and five inches tall, which was average for a woman, this Duskwalker had to be six times that in length, if not more. Now that she was utterly alone with him in a confined space, their differences in size and strength became more apparent.

He was big – and frightening. He was also quiet, making it hard to gauge him. A silent predator.

Snakes usually ate prey of varying sizes, but most were small, like mice and rabbits. That was their size difference, Linh nothing more than a tiny piece of meat.

If she were to curl herself into a ball, she thought she may be able to fit completely within his torso. His head was also huge, twice the size of her own, and she’d seen his lower jaw segments split apart like a snake. He’d have no trouble swallowing a kicking and screaming Linh whole.

She flinched as he struck the flint and steel together, and she darted her gaze to the campfire. He was able to put in a lot more strength to his hits, and he not only started the fire, but also broke off a chunk of flint. Flames slowly came to life, and it eased her.

“Were you watching me to know how to do it yourself?” she asked, hoping to fill the tense silence between them.

After placing the stones upon the ground next to her, he nodded as he pulled back to rest on himself. He huddled downuntil all that could be seen was his chest, and he crossed his arms on a coil of his thick tail.

He nodded. Okay, that means he wasn’t being creepy.She thought he’d been inspecting her, and not the task.

Since the wood was dry, it didn’t take long to begin burning. Linh removed her jacket, laying it on the ground near the flames so the rest of her could dry off. She wiggled her hands out to the heat, and even removed her waterlogged shoes and socks to better soak it in.

“Where are we?” she asked, looking up at the mossy ceiling. She received no answer. “I never would have imagined there was an underwater lake here. How did you find it?”

Nothing.

Hmm. Maybe he’ll only answer yes or no questions?He did respond earlier, after all.

Linh licked at her lips nervously. “Is this... your home?” He nodded. “Do youhavea name?”

He nodded again before laying his head upon his folded arms resting on his tail. He’d made himself comfortable, and obviously had no qualms about rudely staring at her.

The fire reflected in his ebony scales, glinting with a rainbow sheen she found rather pretty. He was quite close to the fire, and he seemed to be enjoying soaking up its heat as much as she was, considering he’d never moved away from it.

“So, you have a name. Will you tell me what it is?” she asked, trying to get him to talk. When he didn’t say anything, just stared without moving, she added, “I’m Linh Nguyen, by the way.”

He lifted his head just enough so that he could raise his hands. Then with one palm flat and sticking upwards, he drew on it with the foreclaw of his right hand.

Shaking her head, her lips pursed and her brows drew together. “Are you asking me how to spell it?”

Bright yellow lifted into his glowing orbs, and he nodded.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t understand why you didn’t just say that. I heard you speak earlier.”

This time, reddish pink flared into his orbs, and he patted at the front of his snout. He shook his head, and she tried to decipher what he was saying with his gestures.

“You... can speak, but you also can’t?” she asked, squinting one eye when she wasn’t sure.