"Finn—I—I'm sorry," said Lena shily.

"What?" he turned toward her and, when Lena stepped closer, walked backward before she could take his hand. Her feet froze to the spot. "No."

She feared to be neglected. Her head still swayed in indecision when she inhaled to start half a sentence anyway, and when Finn shook his head, she lost the spirit to say anything at all.

He rubbed his neck and looked as though he'd been tortured. "Don't apologize to me, you have nothing to be sorry for."

Lena breathed in reassurance. Her legs were able to move again, and when she attempted to close the distance between the two, she was thankful that Finn let her come closer.

"I understand," he began, his eyes walking the snow between his own feet, "why you think of me like that."

"I don't," she said and made a step forward.

"It's okay. If I look past my ignorance, I can see it, too. I'd like to deny it, but it'd be beggarly to argue that I'm in the right. Lena, I should be the one apologizing, not you. My head and heart are fighting each other, and I've lost track of what they're fighting over. It must be something stupid." His palms covered his eyes. "Why can't I be good to you?"

Lena made another step toward him, now close enough to remove both hands from his contrite self. She let him look at her forgiving eyes, but to him, they were every reminder of his guilt and shame.

"I'm a mess," said Finn, unable to enjoy the beauty in her eyes, which he typically fancied. "Bit by bit, my life is falling apart."

"Your life is not falling apart, it is just beginning."

Lena planned to take his hand but alternatively went an unintended route to the left side of his chest. There, her hand perched flat on his heart. Embarrassment was an understatement regarding the emotions dressing her face. 

Awkwardly, she stood there, while he did not seem to feel the same. To hide away from that humiliating moment, she wanted the world to pause, but never would she have guessed that her impossible wish would come true. It was a matter of seconds. 

Finn's eyes had focused on the holes of her worn-out glove, where little of her skin showed through. Before Lena could take it away, Finn's hand covered hers and held it dearly. And that was when the world stood still.

"May I say something?" Finn asked and found it in his heart to let himself see her eyes. Like a reflection nebula, her eyes changed colors. They were never the same, but never too different. Finn loved everything about them.

"G—go ahead," said Lena, not determining the source of her nervousness.

"For thousands of years, humans have tried to understand the universe. The smartest man in the world could work an entire lifetime to achieve the comprehension everyone desires, and if the mountains of Thrake resembled the universe, that oh-so-smart man would discover as little as the branch of a single snowflake. 

Knowledge is a very depressing goal to have because the closer you get to achieving it, and the more you stretch your arm to grasp it, the more you realize that your fingertips will always be at least an inch too far to reach it. Because the more you know, the more you see what you don't know. I just grasped that. 

The universe is unimaginably large, and we know that by knowing practically nothing. Most of it is empty, but where it isn't, incredible things happen. If I were to know how many things happen at once, even just on Boreas alone, I'd die of old age before I could utter the complete number. And each second, that number changes. And of all of those things happening, each has consequences. 

It is so enormous that it is unthinkable to put it in an equation. If we view it from a scientific angle, our existence alone should be impossible. The chance of being born is just too small, to the point where the number would be a zero with a period and many more zeros to follow. 

There just isn't an explanation that withstands the dark truth, that you and I shouldn't even be alive. Yet, we are. We grew up on two different planets, parted by the one we stand on right now. What are the odds?"

Lena took her hand back to rub her arms. "I'm freezing. What's your point?"

"I could be the smartest man in the world, knowing every secret that our universe holds, yet I'd think life not as a gift. I never have, and those claiming it as such were obtuse fools to me. I thought life as nothing more than a noun used to disguise a very boring assembly of dismal adjectives; pointless, painful, and unfair, cruel and meaningless to name a few. That all changed——when I met you. 

You taught me how rare and unique it is to exist. I had forgotten what it feels like to laugh, to genuinely feel happy, even if it only lasts a second. With you, I feel alive, I see that life is beautiful, with a meaning. And every time I hurt you, I lose that—that feeling. The feeling that I matter. 

A few weeks ago, you told me that the universe is a mystery, a puzzle to which you see no fit. And I think it's right to tell you that I felt the same way. My entire life I felt like a lost planet. Existing somewhere in the universe, alone, not belonging to a solar system. My heart was a cold core, within a dark body, and with nothing but darkness around me. 

Every day, I tried but failed to understand life. Until you walked right into it. It was as if I had found my sun at long last. You brought light into my life and replaced the dark with hope, and every day since, my life has been rotating around you. You make me happy, every day you make me smile. 

You are what I needed to understand the universe. You are the centerpiece to the puzzle."

Lena was speechless.

"I'm saying that you're important to me," he said after it became clear that she was not going to speak. "I thought I was smart, but the more I learn, the more I know that I'm not. I make many mistakes, but you can teach me to do better—to be better. I need you, otherwise, I run blindly through the dark, hating myself for all my errors. 

Sorry for babbling; I don't like talking about my feelings, in fact, I deliberately avoided it most of my life, but with you—it's much easier to open up. I can't tell why. I would if I knew. I can only hope to one day bare my soul to you."

"You do that already," said Lena, deeming that there were many better things to say in response.

"It bothers you."

"No. Not at all." She smiled.

Finn could not hold back a little grin either. "Good."

"Can I say something, too?"

"By all means," said Finn.

"Some coincidences are greater than the chance of existence. When you landed on Pluviam, when you stepped out of that rocket, I saw you for the first time, but only because earlier that day someone stole food from me, and I was at that part of the city to get it back. I thought to myself that my day was ruined and that life was unfair like you said. But then I saw you. And suddenly life just kind of seemed a little less unfair. And everything that happened after, happened because little coincidences caused a chain of reactions. And here we are now."

"All wasn't a coincidence. If you hadn't come to talk to me, we wouldn't have met."

"Well, yes," she agreed, "you can't leave everything in the hands of fate. Sometimes we get to make our own choices."

A mild breeze of cool air drifted a few strands of hair across Lena's face. With a soft touch, Finn picked up the strand and laid it behind her cold ear. She felt his palm stroking her cheek and a sudden burst of heat warmed her entire body.

Finn came closer. "Your smile tells me you forgive me."

Lena hadn't even noticed that she was smiling. His hand was still by her cheek. "Yes, always."

"I'm growing icicles over here," cried Arrakis when the wind reached him too. "Mind finishing the chit-chat?"

Finn and Lena had forgotten all about Arrakis. They turned and started walking toward him.

"I've made a choice," said Finn regarding their issue with Arrakis. "We'll take him."