When my Captain called me to his office and told me he had sent in for help from Greenland, I laughed. He did not. He said there was a missing persons case- this woman's specialty- which was also somehow tied to a ship from Canada that was supposedly smuggling things off the log. I’m good at what I do, good at adapting. But this… this was like nothing I’ve ever experienced.

I find her intrusive, and I really don't understand why she's here. How can somebody who doesn't understand the area, climate, or the people here solve a crime? I won't lie, she's intelligent and really hot, but that's besides the point. I just don't understand why extra help need to be brought in, like I'm not good at my job or some shit like that.

She finally managed to persuade me to join her in the bar tonight- we’ve been sleeping with each other for about a month now. She’s perched at the bar, wearing a dress I know she'll regret because of the cold. I walk into the bar in slacks, hair loose, and she almost smiles when she sees me. Almost immediately, she starts getting harassed by locals. I understand, and try to defend her. They start harassing me, next.

They keep calling me a name I know she won't understand, yelling at us for daring to show her face here, how it’s my fault Tolko is missing. She tries to buy me a drink, but even the bartender refuses to service her; plus I'm eight years sober. She dawns her coat, and helps me into mine before taking me out of the bar. “What was that about, Echo? Why were they calling you A-Akinitsivuk?” She struggles to pronounce it, as most people do, and I sigh. We go back to my place.

“That’s me real name.” I say, and it’s almost lost to the wind outside my door. We don’t talk about it again. I makes us dinner, and pour her drinks. I feel the need to apologize because I don’t have anything to satisfy her sweet tooth, but she says the Vanilla Bean chapstick I wear and the Coconut-Pear smell of me are enough for her.

When she wakes up, she wakes up to the softness of my mattress and covers, the fur blankets piled on top of us, and my dog- a Greenlandic Husky named Meriwa- curled up at the end of the bed. I'm curled around her like I'm trying to keep her safe even sleep, but our bodies remain sepertaed- just like me, to be so convinced that just being with her will guarantee our ruin. Holy fuck, this woman is complicated.

So, naturally, she decides it's a bright idea to cuddle my naked body into hers. She watches with a smirk as my eyes shoot open and flick down to where her chest, which is barely contained by her bra, presses into mine. I can fuck her stupid, but then I can’t see her naked in an intimate setting without going bright red. She's something else, that's for sure, and I'm fucking stupid..