Her eyes. They are alive, excited, expressive, and deeper that the roots of an ingop tree. They speak more than words ever could. Which is one of the thousands of reasons I love her, and also the biggest reason we are still alive.

We are surrounded by the fog of hades. It is deadly if inhaled directly. I struggled for months to make masks that would allow us to breath outdoors. The only flaw is that we can’t speak while wearing them.

It’s day two out of the three days that we decided to leave our homes in search of food. We’ve been hunting and forging constantly. I’ve killed thirteen grood yuppies and gathered pockets of heles to make soup with. She’s found folded kibs and trapped several species of gide.

This morning we were trudging along the trail when she spotted a spiked jopple. I was at least six strides behind her and with my mind wandering I did not see it. She quickly turned to get my attention. It worked. With out speaking a word, her eyes told me every single detail I needed to be able to survive an encounter with such a creature as a jopple. It being a spiked breed of jopple increased the danger level dramatically.

The first moment of eye contact said “we are in danger. What are we going to do?” then they immediately changed into “I need you to pay attention and cooperate.” After several years of being by her side I knew she would do everything in her power to strategically and intelligently change the situation from dangerous to calm. As long as I didn’t screw it up. The next look said “lay down. Slowly.” I did. With every muscle in my body straining from how slow they were moving, I made it to the ground, laying face up on my back. With my eyes still locked with hers she stepped toward me. The jopple has yet to see us. I’m amazed because we are inline of his massive head and eye sight.

She makes her way to me. As she lowers herself to the ground next to me she realizes that the plants on both sides of the trail are poisonous leaves. Instead of laying down amongst the harmful plants she carefully crawls over me to lay on top of me. Both of our hearts are racing. Never breaking eye contact we communicate our urgent emotions. Her eyes are always saying, “don’t move. If we are still it won’t see us. We can survive. We will survive.” I tell her “We are safe. I won’t move. It’ll be gone soon.”

I slowly look over her shoulder to see if the jopple has left. Praise the Maker it has. I don’t move immediately. The weight of her body on mine is so comforting. To be held. A sadly unfamiliar experience.

Finally I move to let her know we are safe. We lock eyes again. She looks for one more conformation. I give it to her. Her body relaxes and she shifts to stand up. The moment before we break eye contact I think I saw something. She’s never looked at me like that before. I must be imagining it.

She looks at me again but this time she’s saying it’s time to head back to Base Coom. I nod in agreement. We’ve gather enough to survive for a week or so. I turn back and in doing so take the lead. I follow the path back to where we came from.

We make it home safe, without anymore dangerous encounters. She stops me before we enter into the sanitation chamber. She grabbed my arm and looked me in the eyes. She was searching for something. I was confused at first, I was waiting to understand what she was trying to communicate. But the I became overwhelmed by the beauty her eyes carried. They swirl with vibrancy and life. I could look at them all day. Then she found what she was looking for. Her eyes squinted slightly as she smiled under her mask. She looked down and entered the chamber, waiting for me to follow.

Its too much to hide now. I’ve tried for so long. She knows. And I hope she feels the same.