Well, this is awkward. I didn't expect to be thrown right into the deep end with Arawn like this. We'd only just started speaking to each other again in something resembling normal conversation and now we have to share a room. We don’t even have the buffer of Errol and Kate to lessen the tension between us. Not ideal.

"You can layer your pallet over the one given," Arawn says.

"Huh?"

I turn to him, still somewhat lost in my thoughts about the subject.

"The pallet," he repeats, gesturing to the meager sleeping pad. "You could put yours over it and have two layers."

I frown down at the hard floor. Sand is definitely more forgiving than the stone that is made of.

"What about you?"

He shrugs, turning towards the other side of the room.

"I will set my pallet down here." He glances at me over his shoulder. "Do not worry—I am accustomed to much harsher conditions than this."

"Aren't we all," I mutter, eliciting a quick grin from him. "Thank you."

He nods but doesn't make a fuss about it.

I start to unpack my things, shaking out the pallet that is on the floor before I place my own on top of it. I wouldn't trust the thing enough to lie down on it directly, but it does add a nice cushion between my own pallet and the floor.

A slide a glance over to Arawn as he lays his own down. He is such a gentleman. I never thought I would use that word to describe him, but it fits. Maybe that playfulness that I'm starting to miss distracted me enough that I didn't notice the core goodness of him. Now that he isn't crowding my feelings anymore, and we're speaking again, I can see just how considerate he is. How...sweet.

His eyes meet mine when he looks over, but I don't look away in embarrassment. Not this time.

"I am curious," he starts softly as he settles down to sit on his pallet. "How was life on your ship in comparison to life here on Tajss? I know Tajss is hard, but what was the biggest adjustment you needed to make when your people crashed here?"

I switch gears mentally, surprised at the incisive question. I can see from the intent look in his eyes, from the way he focuses on me, that he really wants to know. So I give it real thought.

"The first thing we felt was the heat," I admit, thinking back to the sharp fear of the unknown when we first landed on this planet. Knowing we had nowhere else to go anymore. "The ship's climate was always controlled, obviously, so it was always at a pleasant seventy degrees." I shake my head. "I never felt heat like this before, unless it was coming from an oven while we were cooking food," I chuckle.

Ah, seventy degrees. It sounds amazing.

"I can see you are not adapted to suffer the heat here," Arawn agrees. "For one, your people are always wet."

"Wet?" I repeat, startled. Then I have to laugh as I realize he means we're sweaty. "Oh, you must mean how we sweat in the heat. I've gotten a lot better since we started taking epis. But I bet it's pretty gross for you guys, huh?"

They never sweat. They're obviously built to conserve water, which makes sense in a place like this. I could only imagine what they might think of the fact that our skin is often sweaty when they look perfectly pristine. He shakes his head.

"I do not find the sweat repulsive," he disagrees. "Only different," he finishes, his eyes sliding over me.

Even if I wasn't inclined to believe him, the heat in his eyes when he looks at me would have convinced me otherwise. It might be enough to make me start to sweat all on its own. I resist the urge to fan myself at that look.

"And the lack of water, the sameness of the desert is a lot to take in. Though I guess the ship was a lot of the same too." I think back to the initial landing. And the horror we faced too soon after. "And the creatures here, of course," I add seriously. "We lost quite a few people to the guster before Gomul swooped in to save us."

He nods, his eyes somber as well.

"And that is why you all decided to fashion those sharp poles," he murmured. "So as not to be so vulnerable again."

I nod, smiling slightly. If nothing else, the poles offer some mental comfort.

"Yeah. I know we aren't anywhere in the same league as you guys, even with the weapons, but I definitely felt less vulnerable with one of them during the vtak attack. I'm definitely taking them on any trip I end up going on."

"Do not belittle yourself so. You fought valiantly when the beasts descended from the air."

My smile turns into a real one at the sincerity in his voice. The admiration. It warms something deep inside me to hear that from him. I know I'm not his peer, at least not when it comes to physical prowess, but I appreciate the acknowledgment, appreciate that he makes me feel like an equal in this way. He clearly outmatches me in physical strength and ability, but I firmly believe it's never a good idea to discount a strong warrior spirit, which I know I have. One that has been tempered by life.

As we continue to talk, I feel myself relaxing, opening up to him. And I feel him doing the same, warming up to me in a way that's different from before, on a level deeper than that first initial physical attraction. It's something I honestly wasn't expecting, but it's really nice.

"Are you hungry?" Arawn asks as night starts to settle in.

My stomach growls before I can answer.

"It was kind of difficult to eat much of anything with everyone glaring at us," I admit sheepishly.

He nods, smiling slightly.

"Just so. Wait here—I will go find food for us."

"That would be great—are you sure you don't need help?"

He shakes his head.

"I will be back momentarily."

And then he's gone. All right. Guess I'll just lie here and wait. Not a bad outcome.

He's back within fifteen minutes, but he doesn't come into the room right away. I hear him moving things around just outside the door and sit up.

At least I think it's him. A little more concerned at that thought, I climb to my feet and creep over to the door. If the welcoming party hadn't been so hostile, maybe I wouldn't immediately start thinking it might be someone up to no good, but there you go.

I open the door just a crack, slowly so as to not make a sound. When I peek out through the narrow opening, I see something I could never have predicted. It is Arawn. But he's not coming in for a reason.

I watch as he places flowers on a large stone, flat enough to double as a table which is obviously his intention as he settles food and plates on it for us, a thick squat emergency candle set there as well, lit and ready to go. I feel my stomach clench at the sweet scene. I take it all in warily, feeling myself tense up again. This looks a heck of a lot more romantic than I'm comfortable with.

Is he expecting more to come out of this sleeping arrangement than just talking? Because, honestly, that's all I feel up for.

"Fallon," Arawn murmurs, spotting me when he turns. I jump a little, feeling slightly guilty for watching without him knowing. "Come—I wanted us to be able to eat outside where it is less..." He struggles for a word.

"Depressing?" I finish for him, smiling despite myself as I open the door wide.

He sighs, nodding.

"Yes, depressing," he agrees. "This is the best I could assemble for us. I miss the communal meals with the Tribe."

I feel my shoulders drop a little at that. Communal meal. I look at the table again and relax a bit more. Yeah, it looks romantic. But now that he brought up the communal meals, I can get the vibe he was going for.

"It's lovely," I say, touched at the effort he put in for us. "Thank you."

He smiles, gesturing to the smaller rocks he's arranged on either side to be our seats.

"Please, take a seat," he murmurs.

I nod, gingerly sitting down on the hard rock. It isn't terrible, but it does bring home the fact that we aren't welcome guests here.

Despite Arawn's excellent efforts. At least I'm relaxed enough to actually eat now that the New Villagers aren't glaring at us, ready to pick apart any word we might say.

We've been banished to the edges of the village, so I'm not that worried that people will hear us either, though I suppose it would be prudent for Jackson to have someone watching us while we're here. Just in case, I keep my voice low, as does Arawn.

"We do not know whose ears are nearby," he murmurs when he notices me matching his decibel level. I nod. But then we don't speak of it again, moving on to topics that won't be an issue even if people do overhear.

"Did you ever see this settlement before the Devastation?" I ask, looking around at it.

It gives me the same feeling as the city does. Probably because it was obviously built well but has been worn down by time and lack of maintenance. Though the New Village has also been battered by the meteorite showers without the benefit of the shield the city has on line.

Arawn shakes his head.

"Not this particular mining settlement, no," he says. "But I have seen others before. The metals that can be found here on Tajss can be quite precious, a valuable commodity."

I nod.

"I'm guessing there must be a good amount here, or there was at some point, if they went through all the trouble of building this place."

"Yes, this is a fair assessment..."

We speak about the village, about the mines. Then we talk about the journey here before switching back to the city and how it used to be before the Devastation. The topics flow, one into another, with Arawn asking me questions about the ship, about the tunnels, even as I ask him about Tajss.

To my surprise, I don't even realize hours have passed until Arawn looks up at the sky.

"Perhaps we should be retiring," he says reluctantly. "Tomorrow will likely be a full day."

I nod, feeling a surprising stab of disappointment. I was having fun. Arawn is a surprisingly good conversationalist. I feel a twinge of guilt at that thought. Perhaps he always was, and I just wrote him off as a boneheaded alpha male without giving him a chance. I'm learning a lot more about him on this trip than I expected to.

"Thank you for dinner, Arawn," I murmur.

Then I do something I've been wanting to do all throughout the night. Maybe it isn't a smart move, but...

I lean forward, across the stone acting as a table, but pause a few inches away from Arawn's lips, wanting to give him a chance to pull back if he wants to. I wouldn't blame him, not after how I behaved the last time we were physically intimate. But he doesn't pull away, as I half expect him to. His eyes travel down to my lips, the heat in them clear.

He wants this.

Just like I do.

So I close those last few inches between us and kiss him. His lips are just as soft as I remember them being. They move against mine in a clinging, shallow kiss that does more for me than it probably should. It's only a few seconds, but my breath is already coming faster when I pull back, my heart beating fast. I open my mouth to say something, but I don't know what. So I just bite my lip and straighten, taking a step back.

Arawn watches me, the force of his attention strong enough that I feel it on my back when I turn around to go back inside. I move over to my pallet, feeling a little unsteady after only a kiss.

Arawn follows me in a moment later and for a second, I worry that I gave him the wrong impression, that he thinks I want more than just that kiss.

But I shouldn't have worried. He goes straight to his pallet, settling in with a sigh. Like the gentleman I now know him to be.

"Goodnight, Fallon," he murmurs, his deep voice soothing in the dark.

I swallow, feeling myself relax once more.

"Goodnight, Arawn."