Avi unlocks their cabin and slowly peeks inside to ensure there are no traps waiting for them. There aren’t, so she pushes it open and excitedly hops inside, throwing her violin case onto the large bed.

“Look at this!” She spins to face him, arms out and gesturing to the space.

Tammy follows inside, “for how much money we paid, it should be this luxurious.” He walks over to a large cabinet of polished wood and, standing on his toes, gently sets his violin case on top.

“Was it a lot?” Avi asks, moving to the fridge and swinging the door open. Each shelf is fully stocked with expensive-looking cans. Some of them are drinks, others are meals, but she can’t read the labels to see what’s what. Next to the fried is a cabinet full of dishes, a sink, and a microwave.

“Yes, it-“ Tammy shakes his head. He was about to give an exact amount, but remembers his partner has no real conception of money. “If the average citizen of this planet skipped one meal a day and saved the money he would have spent on those skipped meals, it would take seven years for him to save up enough money to afford this boat ride.”

“That’s a lot!” Avi pulls back from the fridge, her arms full of cold cans, “wait, do we have to pay for these?”

“No, they’re complimentary. And low quality anyway.” Tammy rubs his chin, looking up at his case on the dresser, far above him. He looks around for a table, and spots one on the far side of the bed. A small circular table with four wooden chairs.

Avi sets the cans on the table, then grabs one to look at the label. “This one says you’re really smart,” she says with a smile.

“…what? Also, could you bring that chair over here?”

Avi pulls a chair over, two legs brushing over the carpet. She sets the chair next to the dresser, then grabs Tammy’s hand to help him step up. “Compliment-ary drinks.”

He looks down at her, forcing his face into a frown.

“That was pretty good, right?” She pokes his side.

“No.”

“But you’re smiling.”

“I’m not.”

“You’re heart is.”

“Anyway!” He turns to his violin case and clicks it open. “It’s time to work.” He pulls the violin and sets it gently to the side, then digs through the bottom compartment, beneath a collection of music sheets, to pull a folded metal stand. Each of the music sheets display a song far too advanced for Avi to understand. He hands off the metal stand and she unfolds it to Tammy’s height. Leaving his music sheets inside, he hops off the chair and moves to the bed, “you brought your sheets?”

Avi snaps her fingers, “ahh, dang.” Her tone is forced and stiff. “I think I forgot them. I guess I’ll just have to watch you play.”

Tammy pops open Avi’s case, removes her violin, and sorts through her bottom compartment. “Ah, here it is.”

“What?!” She rushes behind him, placing her hands on his shoulders and her chin on his head. In his hand is the beginner music sheet full of the basic notes Avi needs to learn. “How did that..?”

Tammy turns to the stand and sets the sheet on the holder. “I was really excited to practice with you, so the night before we left, I made sure to check and confirm it was inside. Good thing I did, since it wasn’t in there, haha.”

“Ha… haha.”

Tammy puts his hands on his hips and shifts his weight to the side, still smiling. “But it was the weirdest thing! I know how messy you are, and I wanted to make double sure you had your sheet. So the morning we left, I checked again while you were in the bath, and it wasn’t there!”

“O-oh, is that right?”

Tammy nods, “so I took the liberty of adding it back in.”

“Thanks, Tammy.” She says, dryly. Tammy’s a smart boy, but he is still just nine years old and trusts Avi completely. He doesn’t suspect a thing.

He heads back to the dresser and grabs his violin, then sweeps his hand in a gesture to hers. She takes it off the bed and stands at his side. Tucked under the left side of their chins, they hold their bows in their right hands.

“Now let us begin.”

Avi looks down at the sheet and needs a moment to remember which string corresponds to which note. She presses down on the string by the neck of the violin, then begins strumming.

Tammy strums with her, giving Avi the correct pace to keep up with. He’s smiling with his eyes closed since this was one of the first songs he memorized. Playing a beautiful instrument with his partner, wife, and best friend. What could be better?

Avi’s face twists into a frown, her eyelids, brow, and mouth twitching. She quickly falls behind, every other note is wrong, or off key, or the bow accidentally rubs another string and ruins everything. She bounces her foot in frustration, and her tail comes loose under her thick skirt, slapping the carpeted floor. By the time they’re halfway in, Avi’s eyes skip a line on the music sheet. Tammy starts doing something completely different than what she’s seeing, and she’s totally lost.

She pulls her bow away and removes the violin from her neck. Looking down at Tammy, he’s still happily strumming away and doesn’t even open his eyes until the song is finished.

But when it’s done, his face grows so bright, and he looks up at her with an infectious smile. “Perfect, eyy?!”

“Y-yeah! Perfect!”

He wiggles his eyebrows up and down; a suave move he saw a man use on his wife back in the tribe. “Wanna play again?”

“Sure, Tammy.”

They put the violins to their necks and Avi strums the first few notes. Tammy joins her, but when Avi pulls her bow away, Tammy keeps playing.

“It’s a two-minute song,” Avi thinks. “Plenty of time.”

She walks to the bed and tosses her instrument, then plops down in one of the chairs. She grabs a can from the tabletop, takes her tail and stabs the needle into the top of the can, and rips it off. With a deep sigh, she starts sipping.

“Hmm. Peaches. Usually there’s a lot of extra crap put in, but I guess the fancy people get better stuff.” She looks at her partner and sighs. “Don’t think I’m trash at playing? Yeah, right. You aren’t even listening.” She takes a gulp of the canned peaches. They’re supposed to be put in a bowl and microwaved, but a bone-tail isn’t concerned with such things. “But I guess I can’t blame you. I’m just a lost cause, so it’s fine. At least you’re not getting frustrated and beating the crap out of me, haha.”

The end of the song approaches, so Avi gets up, grabs her violin, and returns to Tammy’s side just as he finishes.

He opens his eyes and turns to her, “I think that was a really good one!”

Avi raises an eyebrow, “better than the first one?”

“Yup!”

“What about the first half?”

“I feel like that was a lot cleaner. Kinda. Like, it flowed better? Is that the word?” He hands the bow off to his other hand, and slaps her toned shoulder, “see? You are improving!”

“I guess I am. Wanna go again?”

“Uhh, duh!?” He has such a giggly face, really showing his youth.

Avi strums the first note, then quickly dumps her violin on the bed. She returns to her peaches and enjoys the show.