Thank you for being so nice.
“Please don’t thank me. This is so insignificant in comparison to what you deserve from me.” Örim rubbed his wrist nodes. “Here, let me see your datapad. I’ll add a few things you can watch for now. Do you have any preferences about the topic? I’m afraid I don’t really know what’s popular these days. Teösians don’t spend a lot of time keeping up with media.”
I liked the cooking holos and animal stories.Cassie said, and then, before she could stop herself.I want to see things about romance too.A second fierce blush blazed over her cheeks.
Örim seemed unfazed. “Simple enough.” He loaded a few onto the screen and handed it back to her. “You can practice your reading if you want to load anything else.”
After Örim helped her with her nutritional pack and adjusted her pillows, he left to teach.
Just as she was beginning to get uncomfortable sitting there alone with her datapad, a soft knock on the door announced Eleri’s arrival.
“Hey, Cassie. I’m coming in.” Cassie glanced up, switching her datapad to the writing interface.
H-I-E-L-U-R-E-E, she wrote.
“How are you feeling today?” Eleri checked her wires and the bandages at her throat. “I see Örim got everything hooked up correctly.”
I’m ok.Cassie said with her hands.A little bored, I think.When Eleri looked confused, Cassie spelled it out instead, although she was starting to find the process of writing out each letter a bit tedious compared with the speed of speaking with her hands.
“I know sitting and recovering isn’t the most exciting thing in the world, but it’s important work.” Eleri peeled the bandages away from Cassie’s throat. “That’s healing well. Hopefully, we’ll be able to remove your stomach port in a week or two and start you back on some basic solids.”
C-H-O-C-O-L-A-T-E? Cassie asked.
Eleri laughed. “Chocolate doesn’t really fall under the category of basic solid, but I’ll see what I can do. How is everything going with Örim?”
It’s good. He’s nice.Cassie blushed, reminded of how they’d woken up together. She couldn’t remember the last time she had slept so well. It seemed like it wasn’t the right answer because Eleri’s brow pinched.
“You know you don’t owe him anything. I talked to S’kasia. She said she’d be willing to have you stay with her if you’re uncomfortable here.”
Cassie frowned. She would be much more uncomfortable with a virtual stranger than with Örim. Even if there were a few misunderstandings, they were finding a rhythm together, N-O-T-U-N-C-O-M-F-O-R-T-A-B-U-L.
“Is he being helpful? Appropriate?” The second word slipped in after the first with a very different tone. “Obviously, you’re cared for. All the medical stuff is in perfect condition.”
Cassie clutched her datapad to her chest.I want to stay here.She didn’t want to leave, not where she was finally starting to feel safe again. She didn’t want to leave Örim either, even though she knew Eleri was angry with him over what had happened with her voicelock. Everyone seemed to forget she had asked for it. No one wanted to talk about how horrible it was to have her voice controlled like that.
“Sorry, Cassie. I’m not trying to make you unhappy. I just want to make sure you’re okay. It’s obviously up to you where you stay. If anything happens, I want you to know you can always come to me, ok?”
I-U-N-D-E-R-S-T-A-N-D. Cassie finished scrawling out the letters, relieved that Eleri wasn’t pushing the issue further. She understood conceptually why everyone thought she should be angry at Örim. But Cassie didn’t know how to feel angry at someone who hadn’t been trying to hurt her when she couldn’t even feel appropriate anger at the people who had.
“I’ll be back in two days, ok? You have my contact information if you need anything before then.”
Cassie nodded. Eleri packed up her things and said her farewells, leaving Cassie alone with the romance holos she hadn’t been brave enough to watch.
CHAPTER 26
Cassie
Kestrel sat in the support chair in the medical clinic while they prepared Cassie for her voicelock installation. “You won’t feel anything for the procedure. It’ll be just like going to sleep.”
“Will my new voice sound the same?”
“Of course! The voicelock utilizes your vocal cords. You’ll still sound like you. It’s just a safer list of words and phrases. That’s all we want, Cassowary, to keep you safe while you do a very important job.” The nurse swabbed something cold over Cassie’s throat.
Cassie glanced over at Kestrel, who gave a single nod of encouragement.
“Can I ask another question?”
“We have to start now. The procedure takes a long time, and we don’t want to fall behind schedule.”
