Page 45 of Suncatcher

Pearl touched Driz’s face. Driz shuddered and closed her eyes, but quickly opened them again, unwilling to miss a moment of Pearl.

“You are beautiful,” Driz whispered, her chest aching with it.

The corner of Pearl’s mouth lifted, and she let out a huff. “I’ve got many qualities. Beautiful’s not one.”

“But you are.”

Pearl rolled her eyes. “I imagine most humans would be, if I’d been staring at goyles my whole life.”

The ache turned into a clench, uncomfortable and jarring. Driz pulled back, and Pearl’s hands fell.

The way Pearl had cupped Driz’s face hadn’t felt like disgust, but Driz must have been wrong again. She wouldn’t leer over Pearl like the monster she was.

“I didn’t mean that,” Pearl said, sitting up as Driz scooted away.

“But you said it.” Pearl must have meant it, because it was true to her. Driz was ugly. She had never minded so much before.

She stood. Her insides churned, and the rest of her still craved to be close to Pearl, while also needing to retreat. She tentatively held out her hand, and Pearl accepted, slipping her own into Driz’s palm and letting her help her to her feet.

“My collection is over here.”

The waterfall fell larger after the rain of the previous days, though it had slowed some. Driz stepped through, pausing on the other side and raising her wing to divert the water, creating a tunnel. The sensation rushed pleasurably over the webbing. After a moment, Pearl ducked beneath her wing and joined her on the other side.

The narrow top of the grotto didn’t let in much light, and Pearl’s eyes scanned and strained in the darkness. Driz boldly took her hand again, enjoying the excuse to touch, and led her to the brighter side so Pearl could see all the treasures better.

Driz had always been proud of her trove, but to a human, it probably seemed like a collection of junk. And it was. But Driz liked it anyway.

“Where’d you get all this?” Pearl asked.

“From all over. I have been collecting it for as long as I can remember. I used to have several stashes around, until I found this place, and put everything together.”

Nearly two hundred items lined the ground and lay tucked on natural shelves and in pockets of the irregular stone walls.

“Some things do not last more than a few seasons,” Driz explained, picking up the remains of a soggy book that fell to wet chunks in her fingers. “I used to be sad about that. But I have come to realize that it simply leaves room for new treasures.”

Pearl revolved slowly in the space, taking it all in. “What’s your favorite?”

Driz would have had a hard time answering that before she met Pearl. But it was easy now. She withdrew the harmonica from her pocket.

“This.” She walked over and placed it on a ledge above the broken eyeglasses. “And this.” She picked up Pearl’s stained handkerchief that was folded on a shelf, but an object fell to the ground with a metal slither as she did. Driz stooped and picked it up, recognizing the old necklace she had already forgotten she’d placed with it. It was the first treasure, so old she didn’t remember finding it. She’d simply always had it. “And this.”

“What’s that?”

Driz held it out, and Pearl cupped the pendant in her hand, the tarnished silver chain dangling over her fingers. A clear jewel hung suspended in the center of the simple fractal shape made of silver and gold. It was one of the few items that might not have been trash to anyone else.

“Pretty,” Pearl said, handing it back and moving away. Driz considered and then folded the necklace back up in the soft fabric and slipped them into her pocket. She really liked having pockets.

Driz could tell Pearl still had a harder time seeing, so they left the shadowed grotto, Driz using her wing again to shield Pearl from the waterfall.

“Thanks,” Pearl murmured.

“Are you hungry?” Driz asked. “There are fish in the stream. I can catch you one.”

Pearl tilted her head. “Are you hungry?”

“Yes. I have not eaten tonight.”

Pearl sank down on a flat rock, kicking her feet out in front of her. “I’ve already eaten. But you go ahead.”