So I found this while going through some notes that I had written before I wrote Lux. I thought I'd lost it. There's about three of these mini-chapters so I might just post all of them.

Anyway. This is just a quickie. More like a blurb. I didn't really edit it but meh.

Before

He met the Terran not long after departing Harobed.

He wasn't expecting to come across any living creatures in this, the most barren of Na Pali's grassland wildernesses, and by the look on the Terran's face, she was just as surprised to see him as he was to see her.

The travelling priest froze in his tracks, two of his hands clutching a walking staff and the other two balled into fists at his side. The road dust that had collected on his body blew off of him in gusts with every flap of his spun flaxwort cloak.

The Terran was standing on a hill not far from the path he was travelling, and she was all alone. When she caught sight of him she did not move, but held his gaze with her wideset eyes. She seemed to recognize him as a friendly entity, but she didn't make any move to approach him.

He raised one of his hands to her in greeting. After a moment, she raised one of hers as well. It was bandaged from her wrist to her fingertips, but it didn't seem to be paining her much.

The Nali approached her cautiously. She let him get one or two paces away from her before she took an uncertain step back. Even with the advantage of standing above him on the hill, he still towered over her. He stopped. She regarded him silently, the tangy smell of metal and mothballs wafting off of her skin.

"Hello," she said. He bent his head in greeting. The Nali knew some of the softskin's language, but he wasn't going to try to truly communicate with her. Too many words would be lost.

"I'm lost," she went on, looking over her shoulder uncertainly. The Nali found himself becoming fascinated by the way her short, curly hair caught the sunlight as it shifted in the gusting winds. "I was travelling with a couple people but we got separated by…by…." Her eyebrows furrowed. "…A monster."

She shuddered and turned quickly back to him. "You're a monster too, aren't you? Four arms and all. Although you're not at all like the other ones." She smiled. "And I've seen a couple other monsters like you and they've all been pretty nice. So you must be nice, too."

The wind was picking up. The Nali looked up, a little concerned. The puffy black clouds that had been whispering against the horizon that morning had danced towards the mainland quicker than he had expected, and were now billowing over the little hill that they stood on, casting massive shadows on the waving golden grasses. The Terran placed her bandaged hand on her chest; the blue material of her strange outfit rippled underneath her fingers. "My name is Mary," she said slowly. "Mar-ree. Say it like that."

The Nali dutifully repeated the pronunciation. It stuck in the back of his throat like sap, thick and sweet. The Terran snorted a quick laugh. "You make it sound like 'meh-ree' but that's okay. 'Merry' sounds like 'Mary' anyway. What's your name?"

Her hand pressed lightly against his chest and he couldn't help but puff with pride that he had actually been touched by a Terran. A member of the sacred race. Kin to the messiah.

He said his name slowly and carefully as she had done and waited until she had sampled it on her tongue, like tasting a new drink.

"Mee-sha. That's a good name. Easier to pronounce than some of my crewmembers' on the Kran." She looked at him searchingly. "You don't know if there's any way to get off of this planet, do you? Have you seen others like me?" She pointed to herself.

The Nali shook his head and shrugged. The wind smelled like sand and fog. The clouds were going to break any minute.

Mary pouted and turned away from him. "I should never have given Connectof my translator," she sighed. "I should never have been on that stupid ship to begin with. I should have stuck with art school. Or fast food delivery." Her head jerked up when the first fat droplets began hitting her skin, plastering her dark hair to her forehead. "And it's raining. Wonderful."

She looked so helpless and small that the Nali's heart gave a massive tug, and he decided to stay just a little longer at her side.

The priest shifted closer, and without really knowing what he was doing, took one edge of his loose cloak in his hand and stretched it over the Terran's head. She made a soft noise of surprise and looked up into his face. He stubbornly kept his eyes straight ahead and his face a mask of placidity.

She is a member of the sacred race, he firmly reminded himself. She is small and helpless but she could be our savior so of course it is not indecent to stand this close to her and protect her from the rain.

He heard her laugh softly, and she stepped closer to his body, the heat from her skin making his own flesh prickle with her warmth. Unconsciously, he dropped his arm around her shoulder. They both stiffened at the sudden contact of skin. It was too intimate, too strange, too…comfortable.

He was about to draw away when he felt the worn cotton sleeve of her flight suit wrap around his waist. Her arm was trembling and suddenly she was holding tightly onto him, burying her face in his ribs and locking his torso in a vice grip between her arms. He looked down in surprise.

"Thanks, Myscha." Her voice was muffled by his body and the sound of the rain. "I'm glad I met you."

The Nali's head was uncovered and the cold water was streaming into his eyes and mouth, but he couldn't remember the last time he had been so warm.

So they stood on the hillside, watching the hoary spray flutter down in misty waves, making the high grasses whisper and dance around their legs.

And together they waited for the storm to pass.

Points to whoever gets the reference to Mary's nickname. It's really convoluted.