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The Drifter sat huddled by the fire, one of the sleeping bags over his shoulders, shivering in the late afternoon sun, wearing a change of clothes, his gun returned to him. His ‘swimming’ clothes were drying on one of the chairs nearby. His ghost hovered near Eris who had both fish on the table.
“His fish is twice as long as mine,” she told the Drifter over her shoulder.
“Of course it is.”
“Does that mean he won?” Crow asked.
“He didn’t pull it outta the water.” Drifter grumbled, “I did.”
“You agreed before you went off looking for rocks that if I caught a fish with your rod that it counted as mine.” Eris reminded him.
“Because you would’a pulled it out of the water. He didn’t do that. He got his ass dragged to the middle of the lake and needed rescuing. I’m the one that got cold and wet. That fish counts as mine.”
The Drifter’s ghost splayed out all its flaps, twisted slightly, and then closed all of them except for the top flap, holding it up, tilting forward, facing the Drifter.
In response to the soft clicking of his ghost’s flaps, the Drifter, without looking back, raised up a hand with his middle finger extended toward his ghost.
Crow snorted.
“As far as I’m concerned, you win, little one,” Eris said quietly.
The ghost emitted its single tone and spun its shell again, floating over to Eris’ waiting hand where it rubbed itself against her thumb.
“And now he’s sucking up to you… again,” Drifter grumbled.
She shook her head.
“I do not even know what kind of fish this is,” she said as she was examining it. “You said mine was a trout, yes?
“Yeah. The big one is either a pike or a muskie. I can’t tell the difference and they cook pretty much the same. I’ll deal with ‘em once I warm up a bit.”
“Do you want me to clean them for you?” Crow asked.
“Hell yeah. Then I can just cook ‘em and we can eat.”
“It has been centuries and a different set of eyes since I cleaned a fish. I wish to observe.”
“Of course you’d wanna watch someone rip out fish guts,” the Drifter muttered. “That’s your idea of a good time.”
“Yes. I do. And… it is.”
Crow pulled out a knife. Eris stood over the table next to him, eagerly.
The crickets fell silent.
Drifter immediately stood, his hand cannon ready. Eris put her hand on Crow’s wrist lightly and took a step back, summoning her orb to her hand. Crow placed the knife carefully down on the table, bent down, and picked up his sniper rifle from where it was leaning against the other folding chair.
Bushes near the other side of the camp rustled. The Drifter moved silently to stand between Eris and the direction of the movement. Crow aimed.
A black bear with slightly singed fur came galloping into the clearing, saw them, and ran off into the trees on the other side of the camp.
“It followed us?” Eris whispered.
“Nope. Something back there scared it.” Drifter said. “Something not us.”
Crow kept his rifle trained on the bushes. A twig snapped.
“Drifter,” he said quietly.
“I see ‘em.”
Two Eliksni exited the treeline slowly, their hands up. One had two hatchlings strapped to its midsection.
“No harm! Peace! No harm!” They said it in human English and then repeated it in Eliksni.
“Refugees?” Crow asked.
“Maybe,” Drifter said, “But how’d they get this far in without you seein’ ‘em before?”
He handed Eris his hand cannon.
“Stay with her, asshole,” he whispered to his ghost. Then he walked toward the two aliens, his arms out, his hands empty, making sure to approach at an angle so Crow had a clear shot.
Eris didn’t quite follow the entire conversation as they all spoke Eliksni very quickly, but she understood enough. Their names were Chan'a and Nifflit. They had been wandering for weeks. They had been on a ketch which had joined Eramis. They had heard the messages from Variks and had escaped, seeking peace and safety under the Traveler in the House of Light.
***
Half an hour later, the Eliksni were sitting by the fire, devouring the last of the fish, raw.
“You just had to give them our fish,” the Drifter grumbled as he pulled apart the poles from their tent.
“They were hungry. Besides, if we’re taking them back today, we can get dinner in the city.”
“I guess. Or I can cook you up something on the Derelict.”
“I’d like that.” She reached out and took his hand. “I’m sorry it got cut short.”
He smiled wistfully at her. “We were gonna leave in the morning anyway.” He pulled her hand to his lips and kissed her fingertips. “Can I at least keep you with me tonight after we get back?”
“Yes.” She handed him more tent poles.
“Maybe we do this again sometime?”
Please, Moondust, please.
“Yes.”
“There’s another spot, far from here, up in the mountains way over in the west. I’d love to take you. Natural hot springs. Water just boils up from underground. It’s real nice. Not so much camping as a day trip. Go in the morning, come back at night. Soaking in the hot water un-scrunches all yer muscles and the view is really something else. I wanna take you there. Share that with ya.”
“I would like that very much.”
“Maybe next weekend or the one after? Hidden get weekends, right?”
Please please please please.
“I’ll talk with Ikora. We’ll find a good time.”
“Ok.” He reached out an arm and squeezed her in a sideways hug. His fingertips lingered on his belt around her waist.
“Hmmm…” She smiled, realizing what he was touching. She leaned against him briefly before walking over to finish folding up the table and chairs.
“All right,” Crow said as he packed his things into his sparrow. “So the plan is, Eris rides back with me. You stay here, Drifter. And then Eris will fly your ship back to pick up all the camping gear as well as yourself, Chan’a, Nifflit and their hatchlings, while I keep going to let Mithrax know you’re coming?”
“Yup. Also,” the Drifter snapped his fingers and held out his hand. His ghost flew over and he plucked it out of the air. “You stay with her and help her fly the ship. Let her know where shit is and what to do if it starts rattling bad or how to whack it if the engine pukes on her. You got that?” He opened his hand.
The soldered ghost emitted its single tone and flew over to Eris’ waiting palm. She climbed up behind Crow on his sparrow. Glint tucked himself into Crow’s hood.
Eris grabbed the Drifter’s shirt and pulled him into a quick kiss before they sped off.
***
He stood and watched them disappear into the trees before returning to sit with the two Eliksni by the fire. The Drifter picked up his scout rifle and checked it was loaded before slinging it over his back. He did the same with his hand cannon. Something was still off and he could feel it.
“Your nest-mate will bring ship, yes?” Chan’a asked.
“Yeah. Half an hour maybe. Nest-mate, huh? Can’t say I don’t like the sound of that. Not sure we’re quite at the point of uh… nesting… and neither one of us are really the nesting type but… still sounds nice… maybe someday.”
Chan’a put two of her arms around Nifflit. “We are nest-mates.”
“I can tell. Don’t you worry. Mithrax is a good kell. You’ll fit into the House of Light just fine.”
“It is good your nest-mate is away and safe. We are happy you did this.”
Nifflit nodded in agreement, holding their hatchlings.
“Yeah, well, I miss her already.”
“She is kind and gave food.” Chan’a continued. “We are happy she will not be here.”
The Drifter’s eyes narrowed. He pulled out Trust and held the hand cannon loosely in his fingers.
“Please understand. They told us they would kill us.” She wheezed. “Crush our hatchlings. We are sorry.” She made a clicking sound several times, remorsefully.
“You’d best start talkin’ real fast, Chan’a, before I start shootin’.”
“They will be here soon.”
“How many?”
“Twenty plus the leader. They are very well armed. It is you they want.” Chana explained.
“Who’s the leader?”
“We do not know his name.”
“Fine. What’s he look like?”
“We did not see his face.”
“We would have protected you.”
Nifflit stepped forward and removed the Eliksni scarf from around his neck. Beneath it was a blinking device.
“We are sorry,” he said.
“You stupid lobsters. Whoever this is is just going to kill you when they're done. We could have helped you.”
“If it was your nest-mate, you would do anything, yes?” Chan’a’s head swayed from side to side. “We are sorry.”
“Not as sorry as me. Let me see that you overgrown grasshopper. Did they collar the kids too? Of course they did. Ok…” He looked around the clearing and the camp, evaluating. “...we can still win this. Here's what you're going to do.”
***
“Hey, Moondust!”
“You ridiculous creature. It hasn’t even been twenty minutes. Crow is still driving.”
“You remember Europa, right?”
“It will remain forever frozen in my memory.”
“Then you remember how very, very romantic it was.”
“Hmmm…”
“That time with the zigzag.. zig…whatchacall it…”
“Ziggurat.”
“Yeah… you remember that, right? When that first touched down in the snow?”
“I do.”
“Something right now just reminded me of that. I had to call ya and let ya know. I miss ya somethin’ fierce. Wish you were here right now so we could be all… romantic like that together again. Anyway, gotta go!”