Page 34 of Lover from the Waves

She took a step toward him; her foot bumped against something cold and hard. When she looked down, her eyes fell on the dingy metal box from the abandoned cabin, which they’d set aside and forgotten while they tended to the vriga and bathed. Kat crouched and turned the box onto its side. She ran her fingers along the seam to each of the two latches. They were locked.

“Hmm,” she said.

A soft rustling of grass nearby caught her attention, and she looked up to see Ector enter the camp, his skin given an orange tint by the firelight. Kathryn smiled and picked up the box as she stood.

“I’d forgotten all about this,” she said, turning the metal box in her hands. Its contents, which clearly had a bit of weight to them, slid around, but it felt like something was padding the impact when they bumped into the side of the container. “Shall we try to open it to see what’s inside?”

Ector tilted his head. “Yes. I have been quite curious about it.”

Kat sat down next to her backpack, placing the box on the ground upside down. She picked up her knife and wedged the blade beneath one of the latches. “See if you can find a fist sized rock.”

After a brief search, Ector sank close to the ground, scooped up a stone, and passed it to her. She thanked him as she took the rock and hammered it against the knife’s handle. After a few minor alterations to the blade’s angle and the force she was using, the latch finally popped open. Anticipation rushed through her as she repeated the process with the remaining latch.

Kat set the knife and rock aside, flipped the box over, and lifted the lid. It offered a bit of resistance before it opened, releasing a quiet groan.

A faded cloth filled the inside of the box, its folds tattered and worn. Kathryn reached inside and carefully took hold of the cloth—it was thin, almost threadbare in places. She peeled the sides away to reveal a small collection of objects around which the cloth had been bundled. Kathryn’s brow furrowed as she removed the first item.

It was a small, heart-shaped shell with a little chip near its narrowest point. Kat held it delicately between her forefinger and thumb and lifted it into the firelight. Though the orange glow of the flames made the shell’s colors difficult to discern, its underside shimmered with the promise of opalescent beauty that she couldn’t wait to examine in the morning.

“A curious thing to lock away,” Ector said.

Kathryn turned the shell again, making its underside glint. “People value many things based on emotional significance, even if it’s as simple as finding something pleasing to look at.”

She glanced up to find, unsurprisingly, Ector looking at her. The heat in his eyes was not merely the result of the fire being reflected in them.

I findyoupleasing to look at, those eyes said.

Cheeks warming, she dropped her gaze and carefully placed the shell on the soft, flattened grass beside the box. She would’ve thought the intensity of his gaze would’ve lost at least some of its effect on her over the last few days, especially after what they’d done by the stream, but it only seemed to produce progressively stronger reactions in her. Fortunately, the puzzle offered by this box was compelling enough of a distraction to hold Kat’s attention—for now, anyway.

She reached into the box and withdrew the next object; a knife. Anoldknife.

There were still blades like this one being used in The Watch. It was crafted of a material for which Kathryn had no name, present on Halora only because it had been brought by the original colonists. Such knives had held their edges through centuries of use, and the people of The Watch had passed them down through many generations.

She plucked a blade of grass from the ground and dragged it across the knife’s edge; the grass sliced in half effortlessly.

Kathryn laid the knife flat on her palm and examined it. While the blade was immaculate, the grip was as primitive as the building in which it had been hidden. A bit of dingy cloth was wrapped around a piece of wood that served as the handle, which had been carved into something only crudely ergonomic. Smooth spots worn into the wood perfectly matched where fingers would naturally rest while the knife was in use.

Ector leaned closer to her. “The blade is the same as those in the Facility.”

Though she couldn’t be sure why, something in his words prompted her to pick up her own knife again, which was made of that same ancient, nameless material. She held the tools side by side. The blades were the same color, but their shapes were noticeably different—and the blade from the chest was at least three or four centimeters longer.

“I’ve seen a few different blade styles in The Watch, but thisdoeslook different than the rest.” Kathryn slipped her knife into its sheath and ran her fingertips over the other tool’s makeshift wooden grip. “Most of the knives we have left have had their handles replaced over the years, but I’ve never seen any so crudely made.”

Setting the knife down beside the shell, Kat removed another item from the box. The object was attached to a loop of frayed, brittle twine, fibers of which flaked and crumbed away despite the delicacy of her touch. She pressed her lips together and slowed her already careful movements further. Her breath caught in her throat and remained lodged there until she had laid the object on her waiting palm.

The wooden pendant was hand carved in as clumsy and amateur a fashion as the knife grip, but its intended form was apparent to Kathryn—it was an ember blossom, a species of orange-petaled flower she’d seen scattered throughout the nearby jungle. The flowers were known for that fiery color and their many lush, thin petals. Though the carving certainly wasn’t an example of skill or talent, it spoke of great time and care in its creation.

Kathryn brushed a fingertip over one of the carved petals. The wood was faded to a grayish shade, but it was well-preserved.

“I think a couple lived in that place,” she said, returning her gaze to Ector.

He tilted his head and glanced at the carving. “That item makes you think so?”

Smiling softly, she turned the pendant over. The flat backside showed more wear than the front; a patch of the relatively dark wood had been worn down to reveal the lighter wood beneath. “Just…a hunch. A feeling. This matches the way things were crafted back at the cabin, and it looks like it was worn a lot. I think it was a gift.”

Ector extended an arm and ran the pad of a finger across the back of the pendant. “If all this is to remain a mystery, I will choose to accept your speculation.”

Kathryn chuckled and arched a brow. “Even if the evidence supporting it is so thin?”

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