“Maybe we can stay for a day or two, just resting before we go back,” I tell Crat'ax as the last worry I had about Theodora melts away. “We have food, and a pottery wheel. What else does a married couple need?”
“Some juice,” Crat'ax says, picking up a toy-like thing from the little cage, which now looks more like a playpen.
“Yes,” I agree. “Juice is nice, and there’s a lot in our food stores. Also, we can make more. What else?”
“A hut would be nice.”
“And we can build one in a short time,” I point out. “Except it’s not raining now, so we can sleep by the fire like real warriors. Or in the boat. What else?”
He taps his lips. “I now wonder if it’s possible to build a boat with a hut on it. That would make it possible to sail farther.”
“It is possible, and there are many of those boats on Earth,” I tell him. “But you’re changing the topic. So that’s all you think we need? Juice, which we have, and a hut, which we don’t have but agree we don’t need at all?”
He comes over and nuzzles my hair. “Some furs, leather sheets, platforms above the water to keep us safe from Bigs, a totem pole to honor the Deep.”
“Pfft,” I scoff. “None of those are necessary! We’ll only stay here for a couple of nights.”
“We certainly need a spear,” he says, and looks around the edge of the clearing. “There are so many Bigs on the Dry.”
I reach down and stroke his hardness outside the loincloth. “This is a good spear. But I’m not a Big.”
“That wasn’t the one I meant,” he smirks as his purple stripes start glowing in the twilight. “But it means we have two spears. That should be enough.”
“We’ll see, husband.” I take a breath and check how I feel. Last time I was in this spot, I had that low-level anxiety and fear I’ve always had. There was no support in my mind, no place to go when I needed to feel good, no reassuring corner of my mind where I was safe, and where things would be all right in the end. There was no hope of a good future. But now, there is. Basically all of my mind is safe now. And it’s because of him.
I grab his hand. “I wonder if that beach works for swimming.”
“We’ll need my spear,” Crat'ax tells me. “In case the Deep wants to look closer at you and sends a velan.”
“Maybe the velan just wants to look,” I tell him as I loosen the drawstring around the waist of my dress. “Iamthe only woman on that beach.”
“You are a wonderful thing to look at,” Crat'ax says. “But that’s only for me.”
I lean into him. “Only for you. Always.”
“Always,” he rumbles, purple eyes softening. “That’s what we promised.”
“Exactly.” I lace my fingers through his, and we walk toward the water together.
The waves curl silver in the late sun. The Deep can watch if it wants. The sky can change, the saucer can vanish, dragons can lie, and tribes can do their thing, but I am not stranded anymore. I am not waiting to be saved, not waiting for Theodora to fix the saucer. I’m not constantly scared, not even of eight-feet tall cavemen. I’m on the other side of that, and it’s a good place to be.
Whatever comes across that horizon, I will meet it beside my husband, with sand under my feet, and a spear within reach. And for the first time since the galaxy stole my old life, that is more than enough.
