A young woman wandered a long the edge of the beach, the mid-afternoon sun gave away her shadow. Alhazred quickly darted under an overhang on the cliff side. Roots from a tree hid part of him. He remained there watching her, flinching at the harsh burn on his skin. One of the stars that burned him wouldn’t be out until 3 hours after dark, and would remain in the sky until the early morning hours.. He couldn’t afford to waste much more time before he retreated back into his own home.. The harsh burn on his right arm. While the Sun didn’t bother it. It wasn’t pleasant. Slightly he cruised the woman as she wandered along the shore line. Humans were never seen this far from town. Why was she here?

Too late, her sharp amber eyes locked with his. She must have felt his glare on her.

“ Fuck.” He huffed under his breath, as the girl looked in his direction. She saw him. He stirred back, as if wishing the shadow to hide him. But didn’t work.

“ Hey, uh. I know you’re there. Are you okay?”

“ I’m Fine.” He said coldly. She could not tell he was ‘off’. His shape shifting had worked. But still. He didn’t want to risk it. “ Leave me alone.” He growled.

“ Yeah - uh. Now I’m not gonna leave some rando hiding on the beach in the middle of no where. No one even comes out this far- besides me. Where did you come form?” she was climbing under the small cliff. God dammit.

“ It is none of your business — Hey!” she was way too close to him. Her eyes quickly looked at his scorched arm.

“ OH MY GOD!” she screamed. “ You’re hurt! You’re terribly burnt! Dude if you don’t get this taken care of right now- it’s going to get infected.”

“ I’m fine.” He tried to pull his arm out of her hand. Unused to touch, much less human touch.

“ At least let me help you.” She commanded. He knew she wasn’t going to fuck off if he didn’t listen. And if he killed her— well, chances are her body would be found, or someone would look for her, and someone looking for her would mean someone finding his home and figuring out who and what he was.

“ Fine. How do you wish to help me?” he said bluntly.

“ First of all, by teaching you some manners.” She eyed him. “Second of all, dad was in the war, I’ve seen some nasty injuries. My auntie taught me how mend them- at least come back to my home, I can clean you up and wrap this up. At the very least. I think I have some medicine for you to take, too. She mused looking him over. “ How did this happen to you anyway? I’ve never seen burns line this..”

“ Cooking accident..” He lied. “ I was burning uh, the remains of some bones from one of the… creatures.. And it exploded… yeah.” She shook her head.

“Yeah, okay. Mr Secretive. But you should know better than to go messing around with the bodies slain aliens. It’s disrespectful.” She guided him out of the little cave. He stopped a bit before he ventured out of his shelter and looked at the sky. “ Hey, you know you shouldn’t be staring at the sun like that, it’s bad for eyes.” He looked down at her, smiled to himself. The star that did burn him wasn’t out, yet. He had time.

“ Very well, take me to your humble abode.” As he offered her to take his clawed hand. Her slider hand hook it and she walked him back, off the beach and through a small trail in the woods. Roughly 20 minutes passed by the time they reached the young woman’s house. She unlocked the door and welcomed him inside. It was a humble home, a habehazder studio littered with canvases and paints was to his left. If he walked forward there was a small couch. Across from it was a small living room, if it could be called that, with a fire place, coffee table- littered with drawings and paintings and books, a love-seat-, a recliner, and some lamps and unlit candles. The kitchen was simple, a wood-burning stove, then an electronic stove hooked up to a solar charging station that was outside. Solar panels were in the yard, and he assumed, on her roof.

“ It isn’t fancy, but I’m completely off the grid. It bothers dad, but what can he say?” she shrugged. “ After some dumb shit happened in town when I was 16, after the war, and just people in general. I planned on moving far away and avoiding them at all costs. So don’t worry, no one will know you were here.” She raised her eye brows at him. “ But if you try anything, I will fuck you up.” She pulled her long coat aside to show him her blade. “ With that out of the way- “ My name is Erica, by the way. I figured the least you can do is tell me your name before I start mending you and touching you.”

“ It’s your idea to help me.” He mused to himself. She glared at him. This human was.. Different. “ Aubrey.” He said flatly. “ You man call me Aubrey.”

“ Just sit at the table, I’ll get some clean towels.” She gestured at him to sit, then wandered off elsewhere with in her house. It was a simple cabin. He wondered to himself what he could do, how much Intel he could gather. Humans were getting too close to his own home. This one, anyway, he hadn’t see humans venture this far in years..

“ Sorry about the wait, anyway.” She came back with a warm smile, with some clean white linen, a pot of hot water, and some cream. He knew it wouldn’t have any affect on his actual injury. But figured to humor her- get her to talk. So he could get the hell out of here and figure out where he could hide, next. Or maybe burn her house down.

“ Forgive me for asking if this is too… forward. But why are you all the way out here from other hu- civilization.” He caught himself.

“ People suck. I don’t like them. So I came out here, alone, and built my own place. I have everything here that I need.”

“ People can be unpleasant.” He jumped a bit at her touch. Not because it hurt, but because he wasn’t used to being touched.. Not by anyone.

“ Is that why you’re out here? Alone? By yourself?” he asked the open question.

“ Yeah, well. Mostly, family comes sometimes. But I like my space.. Dunno why I’m telling some strange dude I found by the beach burnt up to hell that I live alone in the woods but- from what I can gather, you do too. We might as well get to know one another.”

“ I never said I lived here.”

“ I think you do.” She met his eyes again. “ I sometimes see lights up there on the mountains. I figured that’s where you’re at.”

“ …The lights?” he tilted his head. She shouldn’t be able to see the lights unless she has the second sight. To which he froze. Could she see him? The real him. No, he peaked behind her at the mirror. What glared back at him is what she saw. But the lights- they were on a layer she shouldn’t be able to see. Most people couldn’t, the ones with the ‘second sight’ were all rounded up and used during the war to see his kind among the others while they hid.

“ I don’t know, the the solar lights? I guess. Don’t worry, no one knows about them. I don’t need the military being all up in my own shit just because they think… they’re back.” She winked at him. “ Dad went though his own bullshit with that whole cover up. “Aliens” and “Sky Demons”, or whatever. Which is kind of annoying people were calling them that. Demons are some creature from that old religion that they’ve tried to uh, make more make sense. Calling something a made up thing in a negative way just because YOU don’t like it, doesn’t make sense to me. ….then all those people who could ‘see’ them were rounded up and used for canon fodder..” She was tender with his arm as she talked. He was curious now what she had to say. “ Everyone was wrong when that happened, dad did his best to keep me safe when it happened. The goverment left me alone because he refused to fight unless I was beside him- so.. I could see them, and maybe I was young and dumb. But most of them just looked scared, and lost. Like they lose everything.”

“ So what are you saying about the.. Aliens.”

“ I kind of wish we had some … compromise. I dunno, call me liberal. But I believed the stories where the humans were the ones who attacked first. Because they couldn’t understand them. Humans always fear what they don’t understand… and what they don’t know they’ll make up. I know what I saw, and what I saw wasn’t a threat. They were probably tired of being treated like shit.. And their goddess, their own creator betrayed them.. I’d be a bit fucked up too if that happened to me..” She sighed as she finished bandaging him. “ Why are you asking?”

“ Just making conversation. Don’t worry, I’m not a spy for the government.” He chuckled. While the bandage didn’t actually heal him. Her words and gentle touch made him feel a little better. He had been alone for a very long time, and hearing this earthling talk about an.. Alternative view of everything made him feel better. “ But I have to get home- he could make it back to his own home in a few hours. And he knew he’d have to be inside before 3 hours past dark.. Least the star burn him again.”

“ Let me take you back.”

“ So you can know where I live.” He scoffed.

“ But now you know where I live.” She rolled her eyes at him. He sighed, she was crafty. “ Besides, if something were to happen, we can look out for one another.”

“ Fine.” He sighed, defeated. As he led the way, and watched her lock the door behind them. The couple continued along the beach, then through the woods. He noticed she had brought a pack with her- likely more supplies to keep his burn clean. But he also smelt food. Whatever, she was quiet, and he didn’t mind that.

“ So why are you all the way out here?” she finally asked.

“ I promise you, I hate humans more than you do.” He said it all too quickly.

“ I’ll say, this is quite a ways, why so far, further than I live. What happened to you? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“ They took everything from me.” He narrowed his eyes. Quick, and short. It bothered him how easy it was to talk to her.

“ During the war- with the ‘witch hunts’?”

“ In a manner of speaking, yes.” He found himself talking more than he should have. “ I don’t want to talk about it.”

“ It’s okay, the war took a lot from me too.” She reached for his hand, he shied away from it at first, but found comfort in her warm touch. Her energy was.. Familiar, and warm, and made him feel safe. Which was weird, only one other person did that.. And so, he took hers in his own. The two grew quiet for many long moments. “ And, by the way, I thought you were kind of cute. Even I you’re a bit hard to read, and were a little rude at first.”

“ My apologies for being an asshole.” He chuckled, “ But cute? I’ve never been called cute. You might wanna get your eyes checked.” He teased at her.

“ Take a compliment. Because I’ve never found anyone attractive before.” She teased back.

“ So no one has ever been successful at courting you?” he found that hard to believe. A few stars started dotting the sky, and he was relieved as they ventured into his own home. It was well hidden, and he did the incantation to remove the charm and trick to the eye that hid his cabin from the sight of most eyes. Erica didn’t look surprised when it slowly came into view as the turned the game trail that winded up mountain. He opened the door and let her in.

“ No, never. Not that anyone ever tried, and not that I’d even say “yes” if they did.” She smiled at the sight of his home. “ This is actually really nice.” She placed her pack on his table. He hoped it looked Normal enough to trick her. And took a spot for himself near the fire place, as he attempted to light it up. As he did so, a clap of thunder shook the walls.

She jumped in fright. “ That came out of nowhere.”

“ Heh, the trees probably hid it coming over the herizon....” He peered out the window.

“ It’s dangerous to be out in thunderstorms, let along on mountain tops. There’s granite everywhere, crap..”

The strange man who called himself Aubrey mused on what to do, now he was stuck with her. But he could pry more information out of her. And he didn’t mind her company. “ I guess you’re spending the night.” He let out a light laugh. She relaxed herself at his invitation. “ Not that you were intending on leaving anyway, I can smell the food in your pack.” He he nodded at her.

She relaxed herself, and looked around his home. It was indeed powered by solar power, and a lot of the tech he scrapped from his own race, and some were Frankensteined together with older teach from the humans. His lab lay in the back, beyond a door which was impossible for anyone to open besides him. His ‘kitchen’ which was in the front of the home looked more like it belonged to a mad scientist, which he was. So it worked. To their left was a living and den like area with books, scrolls, stones, a raised area that gave to a small set stairs that went to a large telescope- clearly build from scrap. Around it were tables with papers and maps plastered on the walls. A screen flickered with stars mapped and information written below it. Books, and spheres of various planets and the sky on pillars lay around it.

In the back of house, gave way to a hallway that made a sharp right into the mountain side, inside the stones was his bedroom. Warmly lit with more books scattered everywhere. The beg was quit large, with pillows and blankets, and other things.

“ Well, it was something I intended on giving you to eat while you let your arm heal. Its just some fruits and vegetables, and some canned goods, easy to prepare...” she was really mesmerized by his home.

“ What do you do up here anyway.”

“ I study the stars.” He told the truth.

“ Oh, well. If you’re trying to find another world where there aren’t any people on it, you’re gonna have to look pretty far. Earth, for all its flaws, is our home. And we’re never gonna find another just like her. There’s a reason everyone else in the universe wants to live here. Including the the aliens from the war. Earth really is perfect.” She nudged next to him to watch the lighting display as it lit up the sky around them.

“ Heh.” He chuckled. “ Yeah, I supposed so..” He wasn’t looking for another planet, he was just trying to map which stars were a threat, and which ones he needed to monitor for their brightness. Least he get burnt again.