A shipping container of canned food is, as it turns out, incredibly heavy. There was no way in hell we were moving it, and there was no way in hell we were just leaving it out in the open.

"Root coming up on my right," I grunted, my ankle stinging. I carefully shifted my grip on the wooden crate. "There's a bit of a hill up ahead. Do you want to switch?"

Piplup's reply was clipped- her diminutive frame was not suited for this, but I couldn't carry one of these alone. "Pip."

"Right. Stand still, I'll swing around."

The walk to the house- our home- from the beach took three minutes, now that the underbrush was cleared. The path wove between two small hills before going up to where our home was, and I took comfort in seeing our network of trails slowly build. Some of the braver bugs had taken to lurking along the trail, looking for snacks.

Carrying a crate took about half an hour the first time, and about fifteen minutes every time after. We took a lot of breaks- lunch, the hot spring, and just relaxing- but managed to get through about half the shipping container on the first day.

Embers trailed through the sky, tracing brilliant lines against the constellations. Piplup burrowed into my side, chewing on a chunk of Magikarp held between two flippers. We'd gotten very good at cutting them up. "Where I come from," I start, something hitching in my chest, "You can't see this many stars."

"Pip?" Piplup queried, talking around a mouthful of food. She blinked as she looked at me, and I could almost see her thought process moving. After a pause, moved so she could get a better angle. "Pip lup?"

I waved a hand at the prismatic smattering of stars, weaving their way in beautiful constellations and stunning clusters across the sky. "The cities were so bright that they made the dimmer stars hard to see, even miles and miles away," My heart sank, "I used to know the constellations by heart. Right there-"

A finger traced its way along the sky, following a long-forgotten memory. The stars were where I remembered them being, even on a different world. "That's the north star. My-" I paused, throat catching-

"Are you happy here, Mason?"

"I'm glad I remember it at all. If you follow my finger..." I took a long, wavering breath. Piplup moved closer again, and my hand steadied.

Ruby eyes watched, lurking in the fringes of light. It observed with interest as the human spoke of stars and shapes in the sky, his gestures firm but his trembling. The Piplup would speak, and almost without thinking the human would respond.

As the fire burned low and the voices grew quiet, the ruby-eyed creature drifted into dreams.

Setting down the last crate as the sun crept low, I let out a grunt. My back was unhappy with me, practically crying out at my mistreatment of it. Silently apologizing to myself in the morning, that grunt turned into a painful groan as cracked my back. Wiping a bit of sweat out of my eyes, I plopped down on the crate. "That was..."

"Pip lup," Piplup agreed slowly, wiggling its flippers in a way that I found difficult to describe. She looked sore and tired, moving herself to ease pained muscles. I leaned over to ruffle the feathers on her head, which she accepted with good-natured grumbling.

Looking at the wall of crates we'd made- two high, on account of Piplup's height- I sighed. "Thanks, Piplup- this can't be easy work for you."

"Lup. Piplup lup piiip," She replied, rubbing a flipper against her back, "Pip pip lup?"

I paused, attempting to guess and digest her statement. "You're sore," I began, encouraged by her nod, "And want to go to the spring?"

She puffed her chest out and nodded, pausing for a moment to gesture at my head. "Lup."

I shrugged, leaning over with a grin as my back prepared for discomfort. "Sure."

She leapt onto my head and starting pointing with a flipper. "Piiip-lup!"

"So what are we going to do with the crates?" I asked, my back unknotting itself in ways that were not exactly present. The heat of the water was a comforting weight on my aching muscles as I looked into the steam.

Piplup tapped a flipper to her beak, which drew a smirk out of me. Seeing just her head out of the water was a little bit silly, somehow. "Piip..."

I shrugged. "I don't know either, honestly. It's probably all food, which is good- and it won't spoil any time soon. We could turn parts of the crates into siding for the house, I guess."

Giving a noncommittal grunt, Piplup sank into the water completely. I followed the trail of bubbles as it looped lazily about the spring. Something unknotted inside of me-

"Are you happy here, Mason?"

I smiled as Piplup rose from the water, settling into a slow drift towards me. Bugs I probably couldn't name chattered as the sun set. A cool breeze wandered through as I watched the stars.

I'd seen the ruby eyes at the edge of the fire last night. They'd left before dawn, heading to wherever it hunted or lived, but I knew they'd gotten very close to us. Given we were still alive and unharmed, it wasn't out to get us.

And there those eyes were, lurking in the steam. I made eye contact with Piplup, flicking my head towards the ruby eyes. She nodded- she'd seen them too, apparently.

"You can come in. We won't hurt you," I said softly.

"Lup, lup piplup," Piplup said. You're safe here.

"Are you happy here, Mason?"

A few scratches as claws hit stone, and a plip as something slipped into the spring.

Yes, I thought to myself, I think I am.

Author's Note:

Apologies for the incredibly short chapter and the very long delay. This chapter has been struggling to escape my brain for several months now, and has actually reached the point where it inhibited my ability to try and write other things. While it's not my best work, it is an important stepping stone for getting back into the swing of things.

Regards,

Verdin Grey