We eat in comfortable silence, sitting side by side at the edge of our shelter, staring out over the pool. The mineral water glows before us, pale blue shifting to white where the dim light catches the steam.
I try the comm after breakfast. The static is thick and unrelenting. The storm is doing exactly what D'Rett warned it would, turning our communications into useless noise. I cycle through frequencies, trying every trick I can think of. On my fourth attempt, a voice breaks through. Fragmented, but recognizable.
"…ody? Cody, do…read, over?"
"D'Rett!" I grip the comm tighter. "Yeah, I read you. Barely. We're okay. Sheltering in the caves beneath Brishar."
"Copy…storm is…" Static swallows his words. "…Stay there. Storm is bigger than…projected…could be…" More static. "…at least another day, maybe…"
"Say again? You're breaking up."
"…stay put. Do not…fly in this. L'Zaen says…" A burst of interference. "…everyone here is…safe. Chelsea sends…"
The transmission dissolves into white noise.
"D'Rett? D'Rett, do you copy?"
Nothing.
I lower the comm and look at A'Vanti. "Sounds like the storm's bigger than they expected. He said at least another day."
A'Vanti absorbs this with characteristic calm. "Then we make ourselves comfortable."
"You're taking this remarkably well."
"I am trapped in a beautiful cave with healing springs, adequate supplies, and—" She pauses, and a playful expression crosses her features. "Acceptable company."
"Acceptable." I put my hand over my heart. "You wound me."
"I would not want your ego to become unmanageable." But she's smiling. That real smile, the one that reaches her eyes and transforms her whole face. The one I'd do just about anything to earn.
"Acceptable," I repeat, shaking my head slowly. I close the distance between us in two strides, and her eyes widen. "I'll show you acceptable."
I catch her around the waist and pull her to me, and the laugh that escapes her, startled and unguarded, echoes off the cavern walls. The sound does reckless things to my pulse. She doesn't resist. If anything, she leans into me, her hands coming up to rest on my chest, her fingers curling into the fabric of my shirt.
"That is not what I?—"
I kiss her before she can finish the sentence. Not gently. Not slow and tender. This one has a point to prove, and I make it thoroughly. Her protest dissolves into a sound that vibrates on my lips, and her hands stop pushing and start pulling, fisting my shirt and dragging me closer.
"Still acceptable?" I murmur against her mouth.
Her answer is to hook her fingers into my collar and walk backward, towing me toward the shelter. She moves with fluid grace, navigating the uneven cave floor without looking, her eyes never leaving mine.
"That," she says, her voice low and slightly raspy, "remains to be seen. Perhaps you should make your case more convincingly."
I don't need to be told twice.
I follow her into the shelter, and for a good while after that, neither of us has much to say at all.
Afterward, we lie in a tangle of blankets and limbs, pleasantly wrecked, staring at the tent ceiling with matching stupid grins.
"Verdict?" I ask.
A'Vanti rolls onto her side and props her head on her hand. She studies me with a look of exaggerated appraisal.
"Adequate," she says.
I grab a pillow and swing it at her. She catches it out of the air with an impressive display of reflexes. She whacks me right back, giggling as she does it.Giggling.
