Levi’s eyes fluttered, like he didn’t expect the gratitude. “Okay.”
As he stood up, I examined him. His body coverings were dirty after kneeling in the ashes. I also noticed that liquid beaded at his forehead and rolled down the sides of his face. It seemed to make him uncomfortable because he wiped it away every so often.
“Phew,” Levi said. “Hey, is there a place I can wash off? Like, with water?”
An exciting idea sprang to mind.
“Yes,” I said. “I know the perfect place.”
5Levi
Cleaningup the ship’s wreckage got me all sweaty and bothered. Not because I actually did any hard labor—my buff alien companion conveniently took care of all that—but because said alien companion felt me up the entire time.
I guessed Maeleons had no concept of personal space, which was strangely okay with me. To my surprise, Zat’tor’s tentacles didn’t feelbad.They were like weird, long massage pillows. With suction cups.
After Zat’tor dropped off the inert spaceship at the village, he led me in a different direction. There was a distinctly worn pathway at our feet, which made me think Maeleons went this way frequently.
“Where are we going?” I asked. “Somewhere popular, I take it?”
“Yes. It is a popular area for Maeleon couples or groups.”
I nearly choked. There it was again—Zat’tor’s complete frankness when it came to sex. I figured I’d better get used to it. Who knew how often I’d hear him say things like that until we escaped Eukaria?
“So, you’re taking me to an orgy spot?” I asked, raising a brow.
Zat’tor apparently hadn’t made that connection, so maybeIwas the one with the mind in the gutter.
“You wanted somewhere with water, did you not?” Zat’tor asked.
I sighed. “Yeah.”
His multicolored, fern-like feelers wriggled in the air. I assumed that meant Zat’tor was excited.
“You will like this place,” he promised, sounding upbeat. “It is beautiful.”
He wasn’t lying. When we reached the end of the path, I stared in awe at the gorgeous waterfall in front of us. It overflowed from thickly knotted tree roots into a raised pond bed so clear it looked like it was floating.
I’d seen images of other planets before, but none of them were this beautiful. I hesitated to say it looked like a scene from a movie or video game because it was soreal.Human minds couldn’t have imagined something like this.
“Whoa,” I murmured.
Zat’tor examined me, noting my curiosity. “Go ahead. Explore.”
Nodding, I walked closer to the edge of the floating pond. I wanted to understand how it worked. I tilted my head, looking at it from all angles and still not getting it. It was outright mystical.
But the closer I got to the pond, the muggier the air became. The earlier exercise had left me sweaty enough, but the heat and humidity here wasn’t helping. I wiped the sweat off my brow for what felt like the twentieth time.
“Levi, what does this gesture mean?” Zat’tor asked. He mimed rubbing his arm across his forehead.
It didn’t even occur to me that he wouldn’t know, but then again, why would he? We were aliens to each other. Of course our physiology was different.
“So, human bodies do this thing called perspiration,” I explained. “In other words, sweat. That’s what these little beads of water on my skin are.”
“Water?” Zat’tor sounded surprised. “You can create water?”
I shook my head. “Sorry, I should be more direct with my words. It’s mostly water, but there’s other components in it. It’s how human bodies regulate their temperature when it’s too hot.”
Zat’tor angled his head, intrigued. “You find this temperature too hot?”
