I run my fingers over the smooth, ridged surface of the coconut.
“How do we even open these? I’ve seen people on the Mainland try with knives and machetes and still mess it up.”
“Watch. Or—” He huffs out something that’s almost a laugh. “I guess you can’t really watch me, since it’s dark. I can get it open for you.”
There’s a soft grunt, and then a crack, sharp and clean, like a knuckle popping but ten times louder. Something splits. He presses the coconut back into my hands, and I find a rough opening at the top, liquid sloshing inside.
“Go ahead. Drink.”
I don’t need telling twice. I tip it back and do as he says. It’s slightly sweet and the best thing I have ever tasted in my entire life. I don’t stop until I have to come up for air.
“Better?”
“So much better. Oh, my gosh. You’re pretty strong to have opened that with just your hands.”
He shrugs his shoulders. “Dragon strength has its uses.” There’s something lighter in his tone now, something that wasn’t there before. “Here. Hold out your other hand.”
He places small, round shapes into my palm one at a time – guavas, I think, soft enough that my fingers sink in slightly when I squeeze. Then something harder and rougher, a nut of some kind, already cracked open.
“I can’t see what I’m eating,” I say, half laughing. “This is a weird way to have dinner.”
“Bite into the soft one first. The guava. You’ll like it.”
“I have eaten guava before,” I tell him. I bite into the fruit and moan around my food. “Oh, my gosh. That is delicious. It’s much better than the ones we get on the Mainland.”
I moan again as I take a second bite. It’s juicy and so incredibly sweet.
I hear him eating too, the soft sounds of him working through whatever he gathered, and for a few minutes neither of us says anything. We just eat, side by side on a fallen log.
“Thank you for this,” I say eventually. “I mean it. I don’t know how you do all of this.”
“It was part of our training to learn to find food in the jungle.” A pause. “My father used to take me hiking when I was young. He taught me how to live off the land. We got lucky today. This part of the jungle is abundant.”
I turn the second coconut over in my hands, listening to the liquid shift inside.
“Do you still go hiking with him?”
“No…he’s old now. I am lucky to still have both my parents. I visit them often, but there isn’t too much walking anymore. They’re in their nineties.”
“What? No…you’re kidding me.”
He chuckles softly. “Yep. I’m the youngest of six children. Five girls and then me. I’m forty-four next month…an old fuck.”
“Nonsense. Forty-four isn’t old at all. Excuse me for saying, but you don’t look forty-four.”
“Forty-three. I’m not forty-four yet.” I can hear in his voice that he’s smiling.
I smile back and roll my eyes. “Sorry! You don’t look forty-three. I can tell you take excellent care of yourself. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone with so many muscles. Your arms are like tree trunks.”
He chuckles again, and I like the sound. “Thanks…I guess.”
“No, really. You don’t have a single gray hair. In fact, most women I know would kill to have hair like yours. You look great.” I’d better stop there. I’m starting to sound like I might be interested in him, and it isn’t like that. “Are you mated to anyone? Do you have kids?”
“Are you asking me that because old people like me are supposed to be mated with children?”
I can still hear the humor in his voice, but there’s also an edge.
“No…of course not. I just thought I would ask. I don’t know much about you, aside from the fact that you head up Security Central, you come from a big family, and you’re highly skilled in combat and foraging for food. I’m just interested, that’s all.”
