Flux

stylized boat floating atop jaunty waves. He didn’t realize that Ennek had come over to watch until Ennek moved a bit, throwing a shadow over the patch of roof where Miner was working. Miner craned his head to look up at him.
    “You must miss your books and papers,” Ennek said.
    Miner nodded.
    “Those beautiful drawings you did, the ones where you made me look…desirable. They’re all gone now, I expect.”
    “Perhaps the crew of the Eclipse is enjoying them now.”
    That made Ennek smile a bit. “I don’t know whether we can find books in our language in Donghe. Maybe we can, since it’s a major port, and all sorts of things turn up in ports. But we can certainly get you some drawing materials.”
    “We haven’t any money.”
    “Then…I’ll steal you some. It would hardly be the worst of my crimes.”
    “You’re becoming quite a villain.”
    “Hmm. You’re the one defacing property.”
    “I’m not. I’m…decorating.”
    Gods, Ennek was breathtaking when he smiled like that, his straight white teeth flashing and the corners of his eyes crinkling a bit. “You made a joke.”
    “I used to, now and then.”
    Ennek ran his hand over Miner’s short hair. “I’ll make you happy. I will.”
    Silently, Miner vowed to himself that he would do the same for Ennek.
    They never did call Akilina that day. Instead, Ennek scratched a design of squares on the roof and gathered some pebbles and bits of crumbled plaster and a few blue feathers, and he tried to teach Miner a complicated game. Miner was terrible at it, losing even when Ennek patiently explained the rules and deliberately played badly himself, but that was fine. They had fun with it, and when the bird screeched reproachfully at them they ignored it. Miner noticed that as they played, Ennek kept shifting his seating position, attempting to keep Miner’s fair skin shaded by Ennek’s shadow.
    They watched the sunset—it was spectacular from this height, with lurid colors streaking across the sky. The moon was only a thin crescent, not enough to give them light to play by, and the stars offered only glittering decoration, not practical illumination. So they ate the rest of the bowl of rice and meat and drank the remainder of the water, and then they stripped off their clothing and crawled between the blankets. Miner spooned behind Ennek, burying his nose in the hair at his lover’s neck. Ennek smelled of the sea. He always did, even inland like this. Even though Miner remained afraid of water, the scent of it now reminded him of Ennek and that somewhat reduced his fear.
    Ennek squirmed around until he was facing Miner, and he pressed small, hard kisses around the edge of Miner’s collar, where he knew the metal tended to chafe the skin. His calloused fingertips worked complicated patterns along Miner’s shoulders.
    “She’ll see,” Miner said, meaning Akilina of course, because he was certain that there was an owl somewhere above them.
    “Don’t care,” Ennek whispered into his ear. “Let her watch. I’ll wager she’s never known love of any kind.”
    And soon enough, Miner stopped caring who was watching—for a brief time, he and Ennek were a universe of two.

Chapter Nine
    h

    I f Akilina had watched them make love the night before, she didn’t say anything about it. She simply appeared at the top of the ladder shortly after dawn, her hair a nimbus in the early morning light. By then, Ennek and Miner had risen and dressed, and they had packed up their bags again.
    “Have you decided?” she asked.
    Ennek nodded. “We’ll go to Donghe.”
    “ You will go to Donghe. Your slave will remain here. I will ensure he is cared for.”
    “No. I won’t go without him. You claim you can track us anywhere. If that is true, you don’t need him here as a hostage. If I don’t keep my word you can find us, yes?”
    She worked her jaw a moment. “Very well. But if you try to escape—”
    “I won’t. But before we go—can you fix his wrist?” He pointed at the splint.
    “Why would I wish to waste my energy on that?” she asked disdainfully.
    “Because our journey will go more smoothly if he isn’t one-handed. I’m not much accustomed to travel and might run into difficulty.”
    Miner doubted whether there were any travel-related problems that he would be able to solve better than Ennek, but he remained silent as Akilina pursed her lips and considered. Then, somewhat abruptly, she strode over and grabbed his left forearm,