Page 24 of Sheltered in the Storm

I lost my own bet by a margin of three days.

On the fourth morning after she first woke in my home, I entered the bedroom after breakfast to find Calla propped up with pillows, gritting her teeth and muttering curses as she lifted heavy cooking pots with each hand as weights.

Despite my resolve to remain as distant as possible, a chill swept over my body. “Calla!” My sharp tone made her jump. “What are you doing?”

She dropped the pots on the bed and glared. Beads of sweat ran down her face. “Practicing low-altitude flight patterns. What does it look like I’m doing?”

Poe must have brought Calla the pots. I had not specifically instructed my companion not to do such things, but I had thought both she and Calla would have better sense than this. Clearly, I had been mistaken.

I stalked to the bed, fully intending to confiscate the pots. “It looks like you are causing yourself pain and risking re-injuring yourself.”

She tightened her grip on the pan handles. “Yes, it hurts a little. Exercising hurts sometimes. I know that as well as you do. I’ve been working out every morning of my life.”

I started to speak, but she cut me off. “Don’t treat me like an infant, Vos. And don’t act like you know my limitations better than I do. I’m not going to overdo it on day one of what’s probably going to be a long process. I’m also not going to just lie here like a Barmian wood slug anymore either, listening to the rain and daydreaming of the beaches on Jakora. Treat me with some respect.”

Stung, I folded my arms across my chest. Even as I kept my expression cold, my tentacles swayed with a combination of worry and their never-ending desire to hold her like the treasure she was.

“I have nothing but respect for you,” I countered. Thankfully, my voice was steady, if not entirely clinical.

“Funny then that the first thing you did when you walked in here was bark at me and assume I can’t tell when I’ve done enough versus when I’ve done too much.” She took a deep breath and flinched. Her abdominal and chest injuries were taking the longest to heal. “I know you see me as injured and weak because that’s all I’ve been since you met me, but I’ve been fighting for my lifeallmy life. I’m tougher than you think.This—” She gestured at her body “—is not who I am.”

“I have never seen you as weak,” I countered. “I recognized your fortitude aboard the raiders’ boat when you bit the Atolani and gave me a chance to kill him and free you.” I let myself look on her with gentler eyes. “Since arriving at my home, you did over-exert yourself a few times, have you not? And felt pain as a result?”

“Okay, yes.” She let go of the pots and flexed her fingers with a grimace. “But I haven’t done that since that first day, right?”

“That is fair.” I regarded her. “I apologize for ‘barking’ at you, and for assuming unfairly that you would not know your limitations.”

“Apology accepted.” Calla sighed. “Sorry I lashed out. Nobody’s really cared whether I got hurt…well, ever. Except my squadron mates, I guess, though they’d probably egg me on rather than tell me to be cautious.” She slid the pots aside. “Please don’t take them away yet. I can do a bit more once we get done in the bathroom. I’d like to bathe as well, if that’s not too much trouble. A good soak in hot water would really help with all the aches.”

That request caused me concern, as she could not yet stay upright without something or someone propping her up. If she slid down, I was not sure if she could sit up or get her head above the water.

Still, I could not with a good conscience refuse her cleanliness or pain relief. “I will draw a bath and ask Poe to help you,” I said. “To ensure you are safe in the water.”

She tried to hide it, but disappointment flashed in her eyes before she forced a smile. “Thanks.”

Calla liked Poe and had formed a friendship with her—as their whispered conversations would seem to prove—so why would she not want Poe’s assistance?

Puzzled, I started the bath, added minerals and some sprigs of local foliage that made the water smell pleasant, then went in search of my Anomuran companion.

The rain had slowed to a drizzle. I found her outside in the yard, tending to her garden with two eyestalks swiveling at the surrounding forest and one on her plants. “Poe, Calla needs help with her bath.”

“Poe,” she said without looking at me. Her tone and body language seemed dismissive.

Frowning, I tried again. “She is not yet strong enough to be left alone in the bathroom and will need help sitting up while in the bathing tub. I can keep watch on the house.”

She turned to me and waved her pinchers before using one to point at the house. “Poe,” she said firmly, her eyestalks bobbing and waving, which I had long ago learned meant she was disgruntled.

“Are you refusing to help her?” I asked, now thoroughly befuddled. “Did she anger you?”

Her eyestalks dipped, meaning no, but she didn’t budge. “Poe,” she repeated, and pointed again at the door.

“I would prefer not to help her in the bath,” I said in an undertone. I doubted Calla could hear me but I did not want to risk hurting her feelings. I needed to keep my distance from her emotionally, but that did not mean I wanted to be unkind.

“Poe.” This time she sounded frustrated.

“I bathed her when she was unconscious, but the situation is different now,” I said. “She is awake. She is…complicated.”

I did not want to be in the water with Calla. Even being in the sameroomtested my resolve, which was why I slept and stayed in the living area and spent most of my days and nights outside. Water was my home. Bathing Calla would be intimate. I was not sure I could pretend otherwise. Even if I stayed outside the tub and simply held her upper body above the water’s surface with my tentacles, I feared my determination to remain distant would crumble like poorly made bricks in the Iosan rain.

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