" "I bet there were," she replied." "I bet there were," she replied. "After all, even his early humans were radically different from Sap Terra. Like himself, for instance." Nickolai nodded. "I'm going to wander." "Okay," she said, trying to be cheerful. "I'll be done in about half an hour." "'Kay," he said. He spent the half hour lost in thought, wandering down to the beach and circumnavigating the island at least once before walking back towards the building. "Whaddya think?" Furry asked as he came up the path. "That's really good," he said. "If you can draw that, why can't you draw people?" "I don't know. I can't even draw animals... I tried to draw cats for a while, but they always came out funny." She flipped the sketchbook closed and inserted the pencil back into the pocket over the thighs of her pants. She hugged him close and said, "I don't care what the rest of this is for. All I know is that I love you." "God, I love you too," he replied, returning the hug. There was something about her that grounded him, that made every tension and discomfort in him seem to flow away; he almost wanted to collapse against her, the confusion of Shardik's visit vanishing in her reassurance. "C'mon," he said gently, "Let's head back." She looked around. "It's so pretty out here. Come on, walk with me once more around the island?" "Okay," he said, smiling. |