Chester went cross-eyed and flailed wildly, forcing Clayton to fight to stay on top of him. Clayton held on for an impressiveamount of time. Field experience was doing wonders for his self-esteem.
When Chester finally managed to knock Clayton off his back, he began running around the room, smacking at his head, shouting, “What did you do to me?!”
“Only time will tell.” Clayton got to his feet, brushed himself off, and tried his best to sound mysterious. “Ok, who’s next?” He pointed his finger at random.
The room as a whole flinched away from him.
“Fine, fine, I'll tell ye. Geeze, such a ruckus over a few bits and bobs.” A quavery voice came from the back. The crowd parted enough to let a tiny, wrinkled old man through. His hair had long ago turned white, but the faded purple spots near his hairline identified him as a kirian.
Eira came up to him, “Grampy? What are you doing here?” She turned to face Clayton. “Guardian, this man is harmless. His mind wanders sometimes. Please don't hurt him.” Her face, once smug and proud, was now pinched with fear.
“He has nothing to fear as long as he tells the truth,” Clayton said, feeling grand and benevolent.
Being a guardian was amazing. No wonder Jack was always covered with ladies and gentlemen. Clayton had never had so many people giving him attention in his life—unless he counted the time all the toilets backed up at the chapter house and he'd been the one who had to fix it. Clayton tried really hard to forget about that day.
Clayton waved graciously. “Please continue, sir.”
Grampy shuffled closer, looking Clayton up and down. He didn’t seem impressed with what he saw, but then again, neither did Clayton when he looked in the mirror most mornings, so he didn’t hold it against the man. “Three days ago, I was taking my evening patrol?—”
Eira tugged on Clayton’s sleeve and explained, “He used to be a night watchman in the old days back home. It was decades ago, but his memory has grown fuzzy over the years.”
Grampy held himself proudly and continued as though Eira hadn’t spoken. “And during my patrol, I noticed something interesting.” He paused dramatically. When he seemed sure he had everyone’s attention, he continued. “There was this blurry, shiny patch of nothing that just popped up outta nowhere. It was gone in a flash, and afterward, our folding chair was gone with it.”
“Pay no attention to him, Guardian,” Eira said. “He goes on like this from time to time. He doesn’t mean any harm. He’s just confused.”
A flicker at the edge of Clayton’s vision caught his attention. Right at Grampy’s feet was a baby earth elemental. It wasn’t unusual. They liked kirians, even if they couldn’t be seen by them. It was something about their energy, though they didn’t tend to stick around if the kirian in question was being violent, nasty, or delusional.
“He’s telling the truth,” Clayton stated.
“Guardian?” Eira’s eyes narrowed, but Clayton’s face must have been doing something particularly Marshally, because she nodded in acceptance and grew thoughtful.
Nice. If Clayton could replicate that face on command, he’d be unstoppable. It was probably because he’d been around Marshall so much lately. Clayton should definitely follow Marshall around as much as humanly possible until he could reproduce the expression on command.
“Please take me to the place where you saw the, erm, blurry, shiny thing,” Clayton said to Grampy in the most commanding voice he could manage. He took a chance and flashed a smile he’d begun practicing in the mirror the moment he’d seen Jack flash it at him.
The room flinched as a whole.
Perhaps it still needed work.
Chapter
Four
CLAYTON
“This is where I saw it. Or didn’t see it, as the case may be.” Grampy gestured expansively at a blank space of wall next to his home.
“Wait, did you see it or didn’t you?” Eira asked.
“I saw it right up until I didn’t see it anymore.” Grampy nodded and stroked his cheek spots sagely.
Clayton pinched the bridge of his nose, but it didn’t feel as though he expressed quite enough passive ire, so he ran a hand through his hair.
Just like Marshall did.
Clayton was obviously on the right track if he was unconsciously imitating the leader of Fire. Marshall was like a god among guardians; powerful, commanding, professional…
Ahem.
