“That means she’s dead.” Wyk flapped his wings a few times, resulting in annoyed squeals from his tablemates.
“He didn’t say she was dead,” Grumm corrected.
“She wasn’t dead when I visited her,” Grora said with a harrumph. “I don’t want her to be dead.”
“Maybe she died yesterday.” Wyk pinned his wings behind his back. “I saw S’samph leaving the clinic yesterday with a bag. I bet it had human Cassie’s body in it.”
Grora made a buzzy rumbling wail. “I want to go to the clinic now! Big sister Cassie can’t be dead! She promised to play Galactic Conquerors with me.”
“Too bad she’s dead.” Wyk wrinkled his snout at her until Grumm hurled a stone from his pocket at the kyrot pup’s head.
The conversation could have gone on forever, and it wouldn’t have been enough time for Örim to feel even slightly in control of his emotions. He couldn’t stop replaying his slow, painful jog to the clinic with Cassie in his arms. He couldn’t stop remembering the long moments he was certain she was actually dead, and his body just couldn’t move fast enough. Perhaps this was the reason teösians had long since eschewed the practice of romantic partnership. It was debilitating. These feelings threatening to consume him. With the students gossiping in the background, his energy core felt ready to explode.
“Enough!” His voice cracked like a thunderclap through the room. “Class, we are unfocused. There will be no more conversation about this. We will resume our study of the IA standard calculation sequence.”
“But Cassie is your mate. My dam said so.” Wyk leaned forward on his worktable.
“Teösians do not mate. We do not need to. Let’s start with sequence Ω-38.” He couldn’t talk about this. He didn’t even know if Cassie was well. He assumed she was still alive or he would have been told, but in what state he did not know. His refusal to engage with the students on the topic of his romantic inclinations elicited several grumbles and unhappy body language, but right now, if he didn’t keep his mind focused on something mundane, he would disintegrate.
Time moved in an odd, warped manner as he dragged everyone reluctantly through their sums. Wyk got bored and started throwing pebbles at the front of the room. Normally, Örim would have reprimanded him, but today he didn’t have thewherewithal. Several of the female students whispered amongst themselves. He heard Cassie’s name several times. He wished he didn’t. He wished he knew how she was.
Örim was wrapping up his lesson when he noticed an unexpected visitor slip into the back of his classroom. Eleri sat quietly, waiting for him to finish before she interrupted. Her presence only made him want to speed the lesson to its obvious conclusion. The students would survive without another set of practice sums, but he felt like he might implode if he didn’t get an update on Cassie. It had been almost three standard days without news.
He was so distracted he couldn’t even remember what he assigned for homework. As the students cleared out of the schoolhouse, chattering amongst themselves, Örim kept his attention focused on Eleri. She waited until everyone had left before coming to the front of the room.
“How is she?” Örim asked. “I know, I don’t really have any place to ask. But is she healing? I know catastrophic injuries can take months to heal even with the most advanced medical facilities. What are her chances of making a full recovery with the resources in Laurus?” His words spilled out in a barely coherent ramble.
“She is improving,” Eleri said.
“What about the Aviarist? Does she know she’s in danger?” Örim had been spending his nights trawling through online message boards on the darkwaves. He’d even made a few tentative posts of his own, asking if anyone had ever heard of someone called the Aviarist. It had only turned up dead ends.
Eleri shook her head. “I didn’t want to alarm her. S’samph has reached out to his contacts at the IA, and they’re doing some digging, but nothing’s come up yet.” Eleri glanced away from him. “The reason I’m here is because Cassie is asking to see you. I don’t think it’s a good idea. But I can also tell it makes her upsetthat I keep denying her. So, convince me. Convince me I should let you spend time with the woman you almost killed.”
Örim stilled, clutching his wrist nodes hard. He’d studied human communication, but nothing in his reading had prepared him for a conversation where he had to beg to see a person he found himself unable to stop thinking about with each passing day.
“I take responsibility for my actions. The whole thing was my fault. I should never have used Cassie. But I care about her, Eleri. I did not know it was possible for a teösian to care so much about a living being, but here I am with my thoughts consumed with worry about her. Please. Let me see her. I will do everything in my power to make sure no harm comes to her ever again.”
She considered for a long moment, arms crossed, lips flat. “I’ve heard worse apologies. Fine. But remember I am watching. We are all watching. Let’s go before I change my mind.”
“Of course. Let me get my things. I’ll be right there. Does Cassie need additional heat sources? I was doing some research on new synthesis formulas for human cell regeneration.”
“Nothing for now.” Eleri waited while he packed up his datapad and belongings in his satchel. “Please try to avoid upsetting her. She’s been fragile since everything happened.”
Örim chafed his wrist node again. “Can you elaborate?” he asked as they stepped outside of the reasonable draftiness of the schoolhouse and into Laurus’ overwhelming heat.
“She should hate you for what you did to her, even if she thinks this whole thing was her idea, but she doesn’t. I don’t think she knows how to feel angry at anyone except herself.” Eleri’s pace was brisk, and Örim had to shield his eyestones against the glare of the twin suns to see well enough to keep up.
“I think I may still be missing context here.” He winced a bit as he felt the force of the sunlight start to seep into his body.
As they reached the clinic entrance, Eleri finally slowed down. “If she seems agitated, please come get me or Aglao.”
Clearly, Eleri was dancing around the point, but he didn’t think asking her was going to get a more direct response. He would have to see Cassie for himself. He should be grateful he was allowed to see Cassie for himself. The interior of the clinic was mercifully cool. Örim blinked a few times and then tapped his eyestones to better adapt to the harsh artificial light overhead.
Cassie was still in the same bed she had been in when he’d brought her in half alive almost a standard week past. The curtains were drawn, giving her some privacy. Eleri pushed the curtain aside to go speak to her first.
“I brought someone to see you, Cassie.”
Örim heard no indication of a response, not even the soft ping of letters on her datapad. His chest node cracked. It was fitting. He’d never known heartbreak before, even when the institute had dismissed him without so much as an apology, it had been less wrenching. But now, Cassie. It was a pain he didn’t know he could experience.
