“Actually… I’d rather take the main hall? It’s just, there’s so much to see! I don’t want to miss anything.”
Her face lights up as she speaks and I realize I may have judged her wrong. She might be sweet, but she isn’t one to be intimidated. I nod, thinking about this revelation. If she’s more audacious than I originally thought, perhaps she wouldn’t be completely unnerved if I asked her to have dinner with me. That’s fool’s thinking, though. Why would a small, pretty human want anything to do with a grumpy, angry Dhugaren veteran?
“Besides,” she says, breaking me out of my thoughts, “I am trying to learn my way around here. I need to use the corridors I have access to, so I can memorize them.”
I almost tell her she can use the maintenance halls, but it’s not my place to make those kinds of calls. In fact, if Iwereteam leader, it would be grossly inappropriate to use my position to invite her to use the halls at her discretion, all for the hope I might run into her there.
I still think about taking the wretched position, though, for a fraction of a second, just for that reason.
“Come on, I need to get to work.” I grumble, grumpy and mad at myself for my foolish thoughts.
Destiny hops up from the table, embracing my niece and nephew in hugs and telling them she will absolutely come back and learn to play Avalanche, a Dhugaren table game. She gives me another smile, seemingly unruffled by my gruff tone and sweeps ahead of me towardsthe common area and front door of the apartment. All I can do is shake my head, feeling dazed, and follow her.
Watching Destiny walk through the main corridor is an absolute delight. Her eyes are wide as she looks from booth to booth, occasionally craning her neck up to gawk at the second level. Some of the people we pass snarl impatiently at her candid sightseeing. I even hear one person mutter “neophyte” before I growl low in my throat and step closer to her protectively.
She smiles up at me encouragingly and says, “thanks. I know I look like an idiot, but I can’t stop. This place is incredible. Back home all we had were corn fields and concrete.”
“Don’t mind them, they just forgot what it’s like to be new here. We were all excited when we first arrived.”
She’s distracted by a booth we pass selling woven tapestries done in the Dhugaren way. I lay my hand lightly on her shoulder, minding my claws, telling myself it’s for her protection, and has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I’m desperate to touch her.
I keep my hand there the entire way back to her subdivision, just basking in her excited energy. So it’s noticeable to me when we get to her door and her shoulders slump. She turns to me and her face is wary. I pull my hand back immediately.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable,” I tell her before she can say anything.
She just looks confused, though.
“What? You didn’t at all. I’m just…” she trails off, biting her lip and looking at her front door miserably.
When she doesn’t say anything I assume she has forgotten how to get in.
“You just wave your bracelet in front of the pad there. It’s keyed to your apartment.”
“I know. I’m just… I don’t want…” She blows air out of her lips noisily, making the dark fringe of fur on her forehead wave about. “Look, if you want to come in that’s fine, but I’m not sure how my dad is going to be. I’m kind of worried about him.”
That doesn’t seem right.
“I thought you said he would be worried foryou?” I ask.
“Well, I’m sure he was. Is. But who knows what that worry did to him. I shouldn’t have been gone all night. Fuck, here goes nothing.” Then she waves her hand in front of the pad.
I’m not sure why she brings up sex at a time like this but I follow her into the apartment anyway.
“Dad? I'm home." Her voice trembles and again I'm confused. Why is she wary?
The apartment is dark but the lights come on as we enter. The place is bare. It looks like no one has moved in yet.
“Where are your things?"
“Oh, I left my bag in my room. We didn't have much to bring, you know."
From the living quarters I hear a shuffling, then a human appears from the hall. He's obviously older, I can see from the wrinkles next tohis eyes and the gray hair at his temple. He looks like he's just woken up, his clothes rumpled and his eyes dazed.
“Destiny? I didn't realize you were gone."
Her face falls at that and I get the impression that his words have deeply wounded her. For some reason, this makes me unreasonably angry.
“She's been gone since yesterday. She almost died last night. What do you mean you didn't realize she was gone?" I growl, my temper getting the best of me.
