“Why would their opinion matter that much though?”It was Chrissy who asked, but Ginny answered.
“Because family expectations can be a bitch, even in the middle tiers, Chrissy.Maybe especially in the middle tiers.”
“That was the one thing I never envied about higher tiers,” Diana said.“We get to choose among ourselves without any drama.”
Chrissy was still frowning.“I still don’t get it.”
“Middle tiers have families that aspire to be more or higher or whatever.Traditionalists who don’t want to acknowledge that we’ve all become so mixed up that the whole tier system is basically obsolete in its original form,” Ginny said.
Wave nodded.Her problem wasn’t marrying up, so to speak, but the threat of marrying down sent grandmother into a fit if it was ever even implied.Grandmother was the queen of cold rage wrapped in sharp civility and manners that could make you bleed.Wave couldn’t remember if she had ever been hugged by her grandparents.
“Think of old human nobility,” Wave interjected, and Chrissy finally nodded.
“All right.My family is not like that, but I can see how that could make dating difficult.”
“So,” Wave finally got to the point, “the one time I went on a date with a non-human, it was my rebellious act.He was from a low tier, weak power-wise, an asshole, which was why I chose him, and much older than me.”
“You went on a date with a mountain troll, didn’t you?”Ginny asked.Wave grinned.
“Nope.Trolls are not weak.I went on a date with a stone-goblin.He wasn’t even a chieftain.”
“You did not!”Chrissy was first to speak.Diana looked troubled.
“Not all goblins are bad.”
“Of course not,” Wave hurried to say.“I’ve nothing against them as a race.This individual, though, had been exiled.I just couldn’t figure out a better option to stick it to all the expectations heaped on me.”
“So, what happened?”Ginny wanted to know.
“Okay, saying I went on a date with him is kind of an exaggeration.We never got past the gate before Father appeared with a lava dildo in hand and informed my date where he would place it if he didn’t take his hands off of his daughter immediately.”
There was a few seconds of stunned silence.The first one to break was Chrissy, then Ginny and Diana followed suit in their laughter.
“Oh gosh, I can’t…” Ginny gasped for breath after a while.Diana wiped tears from her cheeks, and Wave hugged her knees, before getting up.
“Anyways, back to the original point.I haven’t received any lectures yet, but thanks for the heads up.Gotta run!”
She was out of the door before anyone could object.That went well, she assured herself.They didn’t need to know about all the times after that when her father wasn’t there to intervene anymore.The laughter was better than pity or horror if they knew how her love life actually turned out.
Chapter 26 – Wave
Wavewasinagood mood when she greeted Mrs.Riverson.Her classes were interesting, she was keeping up with the workload, and no one had thrown any comments at her face the whole day.So, a good day.
On top of all that, her natural healing was kicking in at full force.She should be back to normal by the evening.The only problem with that was what she could tell the others.Her healing was way too fast for a mere storm spirit.
Maybe if no one asked, she could ignore it all?
“Wayla, dear, how are you doing?”
Well, there went that plan up in the ashes.Wave smiled at Mrs.Riverson.“I’m fine.”
“I heard about the party.Are you sure there were no adverse effects from Ms.Flameward’s attack?”
Flameward?Oh, she meant Elena.“I’m all taken care of,” she tried to reassure the woman.“I can work, as long as you don’t need me to wrangle the slippery ones in place today.”
“Oh, I didn’t even think that,” Mrs.Riverson said.“Of course, you don’t need to exert yourself.Why don’t you go over the request list and start locating those books?There shouldn’t be anything too difficult listed.”
“Sure, I can do that,” Wave said and picked up the list from the desk.“I’ll get right on that.”
