The Final Frontier

He shook his head slightly, standing up with his bowl and going to go wash it.

"The soup was great, Jules. Thank you."

 

"And you do it well," he said, giving her a small nod. "Even though I try desperately to prove otherwise."

 

"If I didn't have my plans to distract me, I would lose my mind."

 

He huffed, flapping his hand at her to spray water droplets.

"Rude."

 

He laughed, shaking his head playfully.

 

"It's worth it," he said, turning to go.

 

He glanced over at her, his face brightening.

"Oh. That's right. It's not very exciting, but it's this... mapmaking kit, I guess you could say. It looks pretty old, but it's used to calibrate the distances between stars..." He shrugged, looking uncertain. "I thought you might like it."

 

He gave her a genuine smile.

"I can go get it," he said, heading for the door. "Give me a second..."

 

He returned a couple of minutes later, holding a linen bag, pulled with a drawstring and offered it to her. Inside was old, wrinkled papers and mapmaker tools, made with old silver.

 

He gave her a smile.

"I'm glad. I'm gonna go take a nap, alright?"