Kael was silent on the walk over to her home—or chukka, they liked to call them—across the village. Though his eyes took in Sela's people, he never once asked a question. She was sure the questions were sitting on his tongue, burning to be asked on their brief journey. Especially when she saw his nose crinkle at the sight of some freshly caught fish in a woven basket along the way. But he never said a word.

Sela watched him take in the sounds of the birds soaring overhead, of the children laughing as they chased each other with corn husk dolls that were not yet finished. He stared at the women balancing pottery and baskets on their heads as they made their way towards their loving husbands, who helped bring their stuff into their homes. He watched families leave wet fur out to dry on branches and tend to their elders, who wanted to soak in the last kiss of the sunlight and watch their grandchildren learn their sacred ways. It was a beautiful sight to behold, and one that did not go unnoticed by either of them.

Luksi hated village life. But Sela . . . Sela saw the beauty in it. In their traditions, despite not always fitting into the roles. And now she was not alone in that.

After some more footsteps and a bead of sweat across Sela's forehead from helping the limping man, they made it to her chukka. Her father had made her the biggest chukka compared to anyone else in their village with just wood, cane, and palmetto leaves. Using water reeds and sedge, they made the cover over the large top to protect her from the sun's kisses and the sky's tears.

Kael admired it with a tilt of his head. Though he was learning how to move his feet properly, he still stumbled up to her door. She had done her best to avoid the curious gazes of her village by keeping her eyes on Kael or the ground below her moccasins, but now she could finally relax. She reached forward and pushed the animal hide that blocked the entrance away to reveal the wooden door behind it.

Without hesitation, Sela pushed the door open and waddled the two of them inside.

A strong, warm scent of fresh cedar and wild flower enveloped Sela's senses as she breathed in the calming mixture. Parts of the room glowed with her sources of light made from animal fat, lilies to sweeten the scent, and pieces of moss and plants to hold a flame. She thought nothing of it, because she was used to the lighting, but Kael rushed to remove himself from her side to go to the flame. For the first time that day, he did not stumble in his steps or fall!

Sela would have gasped had it not been for Kael's fixed gaze on the light as he fell to his knees right beside it. She instead hid a smile at his curiosity and made her way over to the other side of the light source, both kneeling and taking in the look on his face. His beautiful, dark blue eyes swam with wonder as he watched the flame dance and flicker to life. The glow, similar to the color of a setting sun, caressed his sharp features and brightened the dark ocean in his hair. In a sort of awe, she watched the light move in his gaze beneath long, dark lashes as they cast a shadow upon the tops of his cheeks with each blink. She could have watched Kael enjoy the flame for the rest of time. The beauty he held and his desire to know more took her breath away.

And then his gaze clashed with hers. The flame no longer mattered.

"What do you call it?" Kael whispered.

Sela glanced down at the flickering light and then looked back up at him. "We call it a flame," she said.

"It feels warm like the sun," he murmured, his eyes boring into hers. "Like you, Sela."

She leaned back, surprised by that. "Like me?"

Kael took in her confusion and drew a hand up between them. His fingers unfurled, opening his palm to her. "May I?"

Sela looked from the center of his large palm to the flame, and back to his eyes again. She did not know what he was speaking about, but she could not deny the curiosity burning in the bottom of her stomach. Her heart pounded loud and hard in her chest, but she still found herself reaching for him, eager to grab hold of his hand.

Heat, much like before, spread like wildfire all over her body as an eruption of butterflies left her trembling.

Kael wrapped his fingers around hers in a soft yet unyielding embrace. "Warm," he insisted.

Sela cleared her throat to distract herself from blushing. "Are . . . are the people not warm . . . where you are from?" she struggled.

He shook his head. "No, not like you." He slid his hand out from beneath hers.

Despite what Kael told her, his hand was more than warm to her. Hot, even. But perhaps that had more to do with his human form. She did not know. She was just trying to focus on something other than how cold her hand felt without his touch. It was an odd thought, and one she did not know how to welcome. She had been close with the man her father wanted her to marry and even touched his hand before. But never . . . never did it feel like that.

Kael stood up from where he was crouched and looked around her chukka. There was not much to look at, admittedly, but it was warm and comforting to her. Though her father made the space abundant enough to separate her chukka into two sides, it was more than good enough for them until Kael was healed. She had everything they would need, including extra clothes for him, considering she was getting ready for a betrothal.

Speaking of, Tushka, her soon-to-be betrothed, would not be happy to hear about Kael living in her chukka.

The thought of talking to him about it made her want to bury herself under the soil. The only thought that eased her worry was that they had not been wedded yet, and he would be in his own village for a little while until his next visit. So maybe he would not be so upset. But seeing as how she grew up seeing Tushka with the early talks of their union by their mothers and fathers, and knew his jealousy, she very much doubted he would be understanding about it.

But he had no choice in the matter. So she will just have to deal with it when it comes. For now, she wanted to focus on the man from the sea.

"It must be hard to be away from your family. Will they worry?" Sela wondered, thinking about how much her family would miss her if she were the one stuck in the sea instead of him on land.

Kael looked back at her, a frown twisted upon his lips. He held a hand against his bandage as if reminding himself of his injury to not go to them in the moment. "They will worry, but they know I am not dead. Great Mother would send a messenger to tell them if it were true."

Sela rose to her feet at this. Her eyes, already wide, widen even more. "She speaks to you?" she whispered, imagining The Creator, the Great Mother, speaking to the people of the water. She had heard of The Great Creator communing with the elders, but Kael was obviously not an elder. Can she talk to anyone? Why not speak to anyone on the land?

Kael looked away from her to study the bear fur on the floor in the larger room he had been staying in. Much to her relief, the animal was not killed when she got the fur. Hunting was strictly for survival, and they did not hunt bears often anyway. But on her father's hunt, he found one that had not been dead for long in the forest and got to work on it.

"Sometimes," Kael eventually answered. "But she doesn't communicate in the way you think. She communicates through a silver-scaled fish, through the dance of seaweed, or even the echo of a shell. Anything really."

Sela frowned. "Oh."

Kael turned to her again. "It's my turn to ask a question, Sela."

She tried her best not to appear affected by him saying her name. Though her stomach did do a little dip. She waited for him to stand up completely and came to her with a new light of curiosity in his eyes.

"What am I going to do here? I know nothing of your land, and I have to stay until my memory returns and my wound heals," he remembered, frowning down at his chest.

Sela wanted to reach out and touch his hand again, but she did not. Instead, she moved in front of him to regain eye contact, forcing him to look back at her. "I will teach you the ways of my people. Starting tomorrow, after we both get some rest, I will take you out into the village."

His eyebrows furrowed. "Will that not draw too much attention?"

She sighed. "You are going to draw attention no matter what. Most of my village already saw you when we brought you to my Pokni's and then here. We just need them to believe you come from another village, but after hitting your head and almost drowning, you lost your memory and cannot remember where you are from. We will use that to explain why you do not remember some of your old duties in your village. My father is the chief of our village. What I say . . . they will believe."

That last one she hoped was true. But Tushka and Luksi and the few who know her well might not believe that. Even Luksi tried to question her on their walk back from the water's edge.

Kael himself did not look convinced, but what choice did they have? Hiding him would gain more questions and suspicion. And she did not need either of those.

"The sun will set soon. Maybe we should eat something and sleep?" Sela suggested, hoping to ease his nerves. "My village eats together at night with our elders, but for this night and the next, we should stay in my chukka."

Kael did not go back and forth with that. He stood against the side of her chukka by where she kept most of her food in woven baskets. She kneeled down and gathered two long multi-colored bundles of corn, some beans, and dried deer meat. Her tribe was best at farming, but they were not selfish and traded their goods with other tribes who had their own skills. It may not be fresh turkey or rabbit meat over a warm fire, but it will have to do.

She assembled the food into three bowls and gestured for Kael to come over and help her. He grabbed all three of the bowls with ease, though gazed at the food, having never seen it before, and followed her over to the cane table Tushka had gifted her. Kael placed the bowls on the table and mimicked her by sitting down on one of the short chairs. Though his face flushed with uncertainty, he did not voice his discomfort aloud.

Sela, having almost forgotten, grabbed a clean cloth made of clean animal hide, and dipped it into the bowl of water she gathered just before going to the sea with Luksi, and rubbed the cleaning bundle onto it. Mixed with wood ash, oils, and different plants, the small bundle keeps them clean. So, after wiping her hands, she gave the cloth over to Kael.

"Rub it over your hands," she encouraged. "It makes them clean before we eat."

Kael, still unsure, followed her instruction. She watched to make sure the touch of water would not turn him, and when it did not, she relaxed. He quietly handed her back the hide and watched her as she sat down across from him. His gaze left her face hot and body alight with a strange stirring in her chest, but she did her best to ignore it as she plucked a shucked corn from a bowl and handed it to him. He grabbed the corn the same way she did and held it in his hand. His lips pursed in a frown, eyebrows pulling together.

Sela swallowed back a small laugh and grabbed her own corn. "Here, watch me."

Kael's eyes flashed back up to Sela and watched as she drew the food to her mouth and took a bite. He swallowed thickly and with cautious movements, drew his hand up to his mouth with the corn and took a hesitant bite out of the side. He moved his head back, surprised by the pop of the corn on his teeth, and chewed it. His eyebrows relaxed, forehead smoothing from their scrunch. Even the tenseness in his sharp jaw relaxed.

She smiled, pleased at his satisfaction. "Do you like it?"

Dark blue eyes flickered back up to her and the ghost of a smile curled at the tips of his perfect lips. Her fingers nearly dropped her own corn at the sight of it. She could not imagine how her body would react with one of his full-blown grins if he were ever to release one on her. Tushka was handsome, but the Creator took her time carving her sea children to perfection.

"It is really good," he admitted, taking another bite and swallowing it down. "Thank you, Sela."

Sela nodded, unable to find her voice at the moment. The two of them continued to eat all the food laid out for them until there was nothing left and the two of them brought the bowls to her water basin. He had her teach him how to wash them properly, so she did not have to do it all herself, even if she had no problems doing it. But she was still pleased that he asked and was eager to learn their ways.

Sela straightened her body up after putting everything away and took a deep breath, noting her exhaustion. The sky was darkening, and now that they finished their meal, her body was more than ready for sleep. So, she gestured for Kael to follow her over to the wooden bed in the same room. She usually used it for relaxing or sewing her dresses, but for now, it will belong to Kael. Though the bed was not very tall, it still came off the ground and was long enough for him to sleep on with a warm blanket of bear hide tossed over the straw to prevent any discomfort. She also placed an extra one over it for him to cover up in case he gets cold and turned to speak to him, when he beat her to it first.

"Is this where we sleep?" he questioned.

She almost choked on her words. We?

"This is, uh—where you will sleep," she said, trying not to sound as baffled as she felt.

Kael frowned. "But then where will you sleep?"

Sela moved the deer hide covering her doorway and pointed to the attached space where her own bed was. "I will be in here. But if you need me at all, please do not be afraid to wake me up."

He nodded, understanding. "Sleep well, Sela."

She offered him the final smile of the night. One that was soft and reassuring. He had be safe there with her, and she would take care of him for as long as it took to get him safe or healed. And with the softening of his own eyes and the relaxation at the corners of his face, he caught on.

"Sleep well, Kael," she said, ducking into her room.

The moment her body fell onto her bed, she succumbed to sleep and fell in the prettiest dark blue waters she had ever seen.