Page 18 of Jewel of the Sea

“Sheep’s wool. The original colonists brought many things from Earth when they landed — machines, plants, and animals. Sheep were among those things.” She peeled back a smaller cloth that was draped over the basket, revealing a variety of food within. Arkon recognized much of it from the supplies Aymee sent Macy.

Plants.

As far as he’d been able to discern from the Facility’s old lab reports, kraken could safely eat many of the same plants humans did without getting ill, but he hadn’t dared to try any yet.

“We shear the wool from them when it gets long enough and use it to make clothing and blankets,” Aymee continued.

Arkon pinched the fabric and rubbed it between his fingertips. “Is it like their hair?”

“Yes. We use dyes to change its color, like this.” She lifted the hem of her blue skirt. “This isn’t made from wool, though. It’s made from whitesilk flower, which is native to Halora.”

Arkon looked at the material between her fingers, but his attention soon drifted to the smooth curve of her calf. Did that skin feel different than the skin of her hand?

She released her skirt and rummaged through the basket.

Her movement tugged Arkon from his distraction. Her words hit him suddenly, tugging his mind in a new direction. Unthinking, he reached forward and touched her skirt. “This was made from flowers? What sort of process yields this result?”

Aymee chuckled. “When the flowers bloom, they leave behind these long silky strands. We gather those and spin them into thread.” She removed a small, cloth-wrapped bundle from the basket and held it out to him. “I wasn’t sure what you’d like.”

Furrowing his brow, Arkon accepted the offering and unwrapped it. Though he couldn’t guess its source, it was undoubtedly meat. The outside was browned and bore faint scorch marks — signs it had been cooked, like Macy did with all her meat.

If this had come from the sea, it was cut from a creature he’d never eaten before.

“What is it?”

“Krull.”

“The long-necked beasts that live in the jungle?”

“Yes. You’ve seen them?”

Arkon nodded. “One of the times I went with Jax to forage for Macy. He voiced his curiosity regarding their taste.”

“Now you can tell him what it tastes like.”

“I think I’ll tell him I know and leave it at that.”

Aymee grinned. “He’ll have to hunt his own.”

Arkon grinned, too. “He just might. It’s not often I can say I tried something before him, so I must relish these experiences as they come.” Raising the meat to his mouth, he sank his teeth into it and tore off a bite.

Most of the kraken’s prey yielded soft, sometimes chewy meat. This was tough, but the flavor quickly burst over his tongue and flooded his mouth. It was startlingly complex, and Arkon realized it wasn’t solely the krull meat he tasted — the little flecks on the meat, which appeared to be finely-diced plants, added to the taste, altered it, enhanced it in ways he hadn’t known possible.

“Do you like it?” she asked, chewing her own piece.

He shifted the meat to one side of his mouth. “I’m not sure. It’s...a lot. Almost overwhelming. I’ve never had anything like it.”

She swallowed. “You don’t have to eat it if you don’t want to.”

“Idowant to,” he replied, and took another bite. “This is just very different from what I normally eat. It’s even different from the cooked meat Macy’s had me try.”

“Does all of her food come from the sea?”

“The meat, yes.”

They ate in companionable silence, enveloped by the sighing of the waves. Aymee turned her face toward the sea as she bit into a wedge of fruit. Arkon watched the wind lift locks of her hair, brushing them over her cheeks and shoulders.

“Is she beautiful?” she asked suddenly. “Sarina, I mean.”

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