Long before Matthew’s footsteps scratched at the dirt just outside her door, Kiva felt him coming, followed his progress in her mind and looked out through his eyes as he strode across the plains of Gle’ah. She could feel what he was feeling so clearly that the closer he came, the less certain she was if the anxious feeling in her stomach was really hers, or his, or something that belonged to both of them at the same time. The feeling grew stronger with each step Matthew took across the prairie. She’d felt the feelings of others many times, of course, and heard their thoughts echo in her skull, but this was different, more intense—it felt as though Kiva was wearing Matthew’s body as a second skin. The sensation was at once delirious and painful, like a fever her body hadn’t yet mustered the strength to sweat out.
While Matthew walked through the prairie, Kiva paced her hut, but when he climbed the rise and came within sight of the village, she willed her body to be still. She sat on the ground and crossed her legs beneath her. She closed her eyes and breathed slowly through her nose.
She didn’t want to look nervous when Matthew came through the door. She wanted to look cool and calm. She wanted to look like the Vagra.
But then, when Matthew’s steps drew up just outside the hut and she felt him hesitate at the door, her eyes snapped open and she said too quickly and too loudly, “Come in!”
The cloth hanging in the doorway moved to the side, and Matthew stepped into the hut. He lingered for a moment at the edge of the room.
Kiva breathed a sigh of relief. She felt a smile curl the corners of her mouth. Now that Matthew was here all the discomfort fled from her body, and she found herself wondering what she’d been so worried about. In spite of everything—in spite of the fact that the Vagri and the Strangers were still suspicious of one another—she felt a comfort in Matthew’s presence. It was something about the softness in his eyes and the gentle curve of his mouth. Something about his broad shoulders and his long, lanky arms. Something about the way his flesh and blood called out to hers across the electrified space between them.
There was no explaining it. But there was also no denying it.
Matthew cleared his throat and seemed to be trying to find something to say.
“Come here,” Kiva said. “Sit next to me.”
Matthew walked forward and lowered himself to the ground. Rather than sitting cross-legged like Kiva, he sat with his legs stretched out, his arm draped over one bent knee. Kiva smiled at his feigned nonchalance.
“Do you know why I asked you here today?” she asked.
Matthew squinted. “I think so.”
“Why?” Kiva asked, testing him. She waited as he searched his mind for an answer.
“Because you want to know why we came to your planet.”
Kiva smiled and closed her eyes for a brief moment as she assented with a nod. “Among other things. But let’s start there. Why are you here, on Gle’ah?”
Matthew drew a long breath through his nostrils before he spoke. “We were sent by our own planet. By our own people. Sent to find a new place to live.”
Kiva was silent, waiting for Matthew to continue. His gaze left hers and dropped to the ground. A cloudy, far-off look came across his face. He picked at the dirt with a finger.
“My planet, it’s—it’s completely ruined. What’s worse, we’re the ones who ruined it.”
“How?” Kiva asked. “How can you ruin an entire planet?”
“We just … used it up. The water and fuel are almost gone. Crops are failing. And everything’s burning up. Cancers from solar radiation and chemicals eat away at everyone’s bodies.” Matthew shrugged and looked back up at Kiva with a dark look on his face. “That was how it was when I left, anyway. But that was many years ago. Things could be even worse now. My people could be nearly extinct.”
“What is your planet called?” Kiva asked.
“Earth.”
“Earth,” Kiva said to herself, the word feeling strange on her tongue. “So, your people can’t survive on this … Earth. Is that it?”
Matthew nodded, a look of embarrassment passing across his face—as if Earth was a place he was ashamed to be from.
“And now that you’ve found Gle’ah, you’ve got a choice, don’t you? You can tell your people to come to this place. Or you can let them die on Earth—the place that you destroyed.”
“Yes,” Matthew said. His voice was tentative, and he glanced at Kiva cautiously out of the corner of his eye. “What are you asking me?”
“I’m asking what will happen if your people follow you here and make this planet their own? What will happen to the Vagri?”
Matthew looked away. “I don’t know.”
Kiva craned her neck down, trying to make Matthew meet her eyes. “But you suspect.”
“Yes.”
“And what do you suspect?”
Matthew shook his head. “It wouldn’t be good for you. For the Vagri. For this planet. My people …” Matthew trailed off and paused for a moment. Then he raised his head and met Kiva’s gaze again at last. His face held no expression, and he spoke his next words so plainly that Kiva knew they must be true.
“Everything we touch, we destroy.”