CHAPTER 16 #2
When our sand model is complete, Ellie and I take the plastic molds and wash them off, and she suggests we give them to a family we spot nearby.
I think it’s the same ones who were arguing in the shop, and when I realize the little girl clearly lost the battle, her shirt green and face red from crying, I decide she’s who we’ll hand the toys to.
“Merci,” the mother says, and we wave, happy to see the smile return to the grumpy child’s face.
Ellie snaps a picture of our creation, texting it to whom I can only assume is Jo, and then looks back at me. “I am somehow impressed with how well we built this, and also offended by how bad it looks.”
“I do not know Machu Picchu as well as you, but…I might have been able to tell that’s what we were going for, if I squinted?” I say, and I can feel the contacts as I make silly faces, pretending to understand our vision.
“Don’t be an ass.” She lightly pushes me, one corner of her mouth turns up. “So, I’m guessing this means you’ve also never swam in the ocean?”
I shake my head. “No, I have not. It’s not safe on my planet.”
“Let’s fix that.” Ellie stands and removes the oversized button-up shirt to reveal a solid-colored swimsuit. It’s a navy blue, reminding me of the images of athletes I studied.
I have seen this human naked, completely bare to me, and yet every time her shirt so much as falls a little off her shoulder, I become undone. This bathing suit is no different, and I am afraid my swim trunks are forming a tent.
“Don’t judge me, I know I’m pale, but my legs are even worse,” she says, as she reaches out a hand to help me up.
“Every part of your body is divine. You are as beautiful as the Earth itself,” I say as I stand, because it’s true.
To me, her body resembles flowers. She’s breathtaking, a softness to her flesh.
There’s an undeniable contour to her shape, carrying the same symmetry and attraction plants evolved over millions of years, persuading the rest of nature to assist in the continuation of their lives.
Like butterflies and bees, I am drawn to her.
Her face flushes pink. “I want you to feel the ocean with me.”
I remove my shirt, and Ellie looks at me with something I can only describe as hunger, before she starts running straight into the water. I follow right after her.
The water is cool and nice, and I smile as I pull Ellie close. Her legs wrap around me, our bodies submerged up to our waists, and we hold onto one another as we watch the sun slowly descend out of sight.
“Do sapphiro find sunsets beautiful like humans do?”
I shake my head. “I do not believe so. The twilight ring, where most of us live, is in a permanent state of sunrise or sunset, depending on how you want to look at it.”
“So what are the other zones called?”
“The star side, and the dark side,” I answer, and she furrows a brow, staring at me in jovial disbelief.
“What is this, Star Wars? Are you Darth Vader?” she asks. It was on the list of mandatory movies for Earth archivists to watch, and I am so glad I actually did my required work this time, instead of slacking off to research plants.
“I mean, we say it in Terilian, so it does not sound like that, but yes. You have figured me out. I am Darth Vader, and I have come to destroy your planet. Prepare to die,” I jest, and Ellie pushes herself off me, running in the water, her laughter like a song.
“Your destiny lies with me,” I quote as I grab her from behind, pulling her back into me.
Ellie giggles, her muscles relaxing underneath my touch, and I just hold her for a while, enjoying the beating of her heart. The stars are becoming visible, as is a faint fog.
“We need to head back to the train,” she whispers.
“I know.” I interlock my fingers with hers, and we wade through the water, making it back onto the gold sandy shore. “What is that, by the way?”
She looks up at the muted, green and pinkish fog. “I don’t actually know. Let’s look it up.” Getting out her phone, Ellie orders us a ride back to the train station, and then searches for the source of the fog, her fingers quickly tapping away. “Oh, holy shit.”
“What?”
“There’s a huge solar storm going on. Those are the Northern Lights.”
“Aurora Borealis?” I ask as she slides into her shirt, buttoning it back on. “It looks nothing like the photos I’ve seen.”
I thought the Aurora Borealis was a vibrant, surreal experience. Not a sad, pathetic looking fog that appears more like a chemical gas than anything else.
Ellie frowns. “Yeah, there’s a lot of light pollution here. We’re probably lucky we can see it at all.”
“I wish we were already in the French Alps. I bet it would be beautiful from up there, far away from light-filled civilization,” I say, and let out a soft sigh. Picking up my shirt, I pull it over my head.
“I don’t.”
I cock my head. “What do you mean? You don’t want to see those stunning lights?”
“I mean, I do, but it’s not worth it to me. The closer we get to the French Alps, the closer we get to saying goodbye,” she explains. A ping comes from her phone, and she gestures for us to hurry up. “Our ride is here.”
We hurry toward the vehicle, and it’s Yousef again. This time, Ellie asks if they can call Blake. He answers the phone, and she asks him about some cave near where he grew up in Australia.
I love hearing Ellie talk about her field, but I am struggling to pay attention as her words truly dig themselves into my chest, growing and festering like deadly weeds.
I have known this entire time that we would have to say goodbye at the end of this, but I have been living in a strange state of denial.
If I spent my time enjoying Ellie, pretending there would be no end to us, maybe I could survive this heartache?
But as I place my hand on her thigh, and she smiles up at me while discussing animal bones with these two strangers, I cannot help but recall how she normally feels. Unlikeable. And it’s so clear that could not be further from the truth.
It could not be further from my truth, and I am desperate, more than I have ever been before, to spend my entire life showing her just how liked she is.
I have to come up with a plan. An addendum, if you will, to our deal. I will let Ellie get the information she needs, and I will collect the edelweiss sample, and I will get it to Zul.
But so help me, in the name of flora and vegetation and osseous tissue and life itself, I will find a way to not have to let her go.