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It sucked that he looked kind of relieved. “Nope,” I said, taking the crutch he was offering and grimly forcing myself to my feet. “I was upset by the word you used for helping me move.” I paused, though, and ran a finger over my own temple. A shiver of unease went up my spine as I felt hard, circular ridges beneath my fingertips.

“You did not have the universal speaker,” he said, tentatively. “I am not knowing how you moved through locations without it, and I am not feeling you are less important because of it. Forgiveness is desirable.” And he looked at me with big, soft green eyes that could’ve been used to sell anything from pet food to adult toys back on Original.

I really did need that nap. “Do I sound as weird as you?”

He looked puzzled. “I am not knowing how you mean.” And he was blushing again, his throat and chest going a deep purple as his eyes dipped down to my throat.

Had I just accidentally hit on an alien?

This whole thing was too bizarre. “You know what?” I put the crutch down. “I hurt and I’m tired. Please haul me to the bed.”

He hesitated a moment, but scooped me up again. This time I paid attention, but still couldn’t feel his hands—tentacles—on me, and he held me much lower, almost at hip height. There was some sort of scar running from the centre of his lip down his throat and it was comfortingly silver. I don’t know why the colour of his scar made me feel better, but it did, just like the smell of salt that clung to him.

It was about three steps, but in those three steps I’d realised he didn’t have body hair, that his skin was a little rough, and that he didn’t have nipples.

That kinda seemed like a shame?

“Are you a mammal?” I asked, then wished I could snatch the word back.

He set me down in the giant cat bed like I was a snake. “I am a Sea People Not Yet Identified In Your Language.”

“I’m sorry.” I grabbed the blanket, struggling between fury at the situation and absolute shame that I was making such a mess of it. “Look, I’m going to try not to be a dick, but it comes naturally to me. I’ll have to work on it.”

His eyes ran over me as his colour deepened. “I do not think the universal speaker is working for this,” he said. “I am not knowing how to help you be comfortable, but please use words if you have concepts to share.”

I’d just called myself a dick and he’d taken it literally.

Wordlessly, I nodded, curled up like a cat, and pulled the blanket over my head. If I was eaten, that probably would only be a good thing, at this point.

* * *

I assumed it was night,because when he returned, he turned on a glowing lamp thing that crouched in a driftwood cage and emitted a pale pink glow. I watched, fuzzy-headed from sleep and pain, as he moved around in a kitchen area. He glanced over at one point and I tried not to think about our communication breakdowns. “Hi,” I said. “I’m Eve.”

He rolled his hand at me in a weird way, then touched it to his chest. “I am eager to have seen you, Before. How is your body comfort?”

Before? A moment of confusion was all it took before I realised my name had a literal translation and he probably just got it. I was “Before.”

Jesus Christ. I didn’t have the brain juice for this. “My body isn’t comfortable.” I didn’t know what painkillers would translate to, but surely that statement and my best puppy eyes would do it.

He nodded. “I can help reduce your body being uncomfortable, if you will allow me to haul you through water.”

There he went with the hauling again. It was lucky my possibly-vegetarian alien looked like he could deadlift a truck. “Sure.”Don’t be a dick, Eve.“If you’re okay to do that. Thank you, Dreamdiver.”

He nodded again, turning his back quickly and bringing whatever passed for food to his mouth. Pain pounded me as I waited. Moving was hard, but I got to my feet to make his job a bit easier. My throat was dry as a desert. Before I could figure out how to express that, he was in front of me, holding out his arms.

I wanted coffee, some paracetamol, and a couple ibuprofen with a tequila chaser. That was a beachy mix, right?

When he picked me up and started walking, I settled back as much as my aching body would allow. Outside, the sky was dark. The obligatory two moons hung in the sky. They showed similar amounts of shadow. Shouldn’t they be different?

He carried me in silence away from the hut. I wanted to be able to enjoy the landscape, but Ihurt.And also, for some reason this guydidn’t have nipples.He was straight up and down, no abs, no pecs. Just rough, streamlined purple flesh.

“We will enter water soon,” he said to me. “You are not a Sea People or Name of Aquatic Beings Not Yet Identified In Your Language, so you will need to hold onto me.”

I heard splashing before that could process. Aquatic beings I didn’t know about? The image of merfolk swam through my head. I surprised myself by wondering if Dreamdiver could answer the age-old question of how they reproduced.

“I will put you in the water to shift how my hold is on your body,” he said.

The universal word thing was unhinged. “Cool.” I glanced over the water, uneasy, as he lowered me. Flashes of deep burgundy with frothy pink waves were all I could process. The water was warm, but the pain was phenomenal.