A Strange State of Affairs Ch. 8

            As soon as Pona had left, it had begun to rain.  The afternoon swiftly transitioned into night, and the deep sky filled with grey storm clouds that poured their contents unto Puri Beach.

The doorbell sounded during dinner.  Elevine looked up curiously from her seat on the polished kitchen counter, where she had been hunched over a plate of chicken.  Human food was one of the only things she adamantly refused to give up.

            Fye got up from the dinner table, traipsed into the living room to turn the volume on the television down, and then flew down the parlor hallway and to the front door.  He opened it and suddenly exclaimed, “Riyel!!”

            El hopped off the counter and made a mad dash for the parlor.  She reached the hallway and cautiously poked her head around the entrance.

            A tall man was shedding his hat by the doorway, revealing a head full of shaggy jet-black hair.  The deep, impenetrable color contrasted sharply with the paleness of his skin �" this ‘Riyel’ looked as though he had been cut from a sheet of fresh paper.  His face was sharp and angular, his eyes a steely blue.  His figure was domineering, and he easily loomed over Fye �" a difficult feat.  The man jammed a thin pair of silver glasses onto his face, brushed the water and wrinkles from his clothing, and looked around.

            “This is a pretty nice place you have here,” he remarked.

            “I guess…,” Fye replied, “How’ve you been, Riyel?”

            “Alright,” the man said, “I’m conducting some new biological research over in Western Kor at the University of Ummanaq.  We’re a bit short on funding, but that’s not a big deal at the moment.  You?”

            Elevine chose this moment to dash out from her hiding place and meow loudly in the stranger’s direction. 

            “A cat!!” the stranger exclaimed, approaching El.  He bent and patted her head.  “When did you get it?” he asked Fye.

            It?  That stung.  Elevine winced and hissed; Riyel hastily withdrew his hand.

            Fye saw her twitch.  “She,” he corrected, “Her name’s Elala, and she is not an IT.”

            Elevine pricked her ears and purred.

            Riyel smiled and stood.  He sniffed the air.  “Are you cooking something?”

            “Shellfish stew,” Fye replied, “Want some?  I don’t think I can finish it all, and Elala doesn’t like seafood…”

            “What?!” Riyel exclaimed, “A cat who won’t eat fish?  That’s odd.  And Kor has the best seafood in the world…”

            Fye shrugged and went into the kitchen, clanging some pots and bowls around.

            “Well, at any rate you know I’ll eat it,” Riyel said. 

            Fye snorted.  “I know, which is why I’m glad you don’t come over more often,” he joked.

            Dinner resumed shortly, and this time Riyel’s eager soup-slurping mingled with the sounds of the television and the rain.

            “Why exactly are you here, Riyel?” Fye asked.

            Elevine listened intently while finishing the rest of her dinner.

            Riyel shrugged innocently.  “Fye, I’m one of your oldest friends.  Can’t I come and see you every once in a while?”

            “You never have in the past,” the artist retorted, “Look, I know Pona sent you here.  Right?”

            Riyel slurped his soup.  “Of course.”

            “…crazy, anal-retentive, overbearing control freak of a human being…,” Fye muttered darkly.

            Riyel suddenly set his bowl down with a loud clatter.  “Fye, would it kill you to humor her?  She just got engaged to Vert, and she really wants you to be happy as well.  Pona’s one of your oldest friends, Fye �" as am I.  Pona and I have your best interests at heart, and you know that.  Can’t you just make things easier for yourself, too, and humor us?”

            Fye sighed.  “Riyel, you don’t understand.  I don’t want to just…to just depend on others for my success.  I want to be a self-made man, independent.  This girl…her father is one of the most respected art patrons in all of Kor, right?  And if I start a relationship with her, then that just catapults me straight to the apex of art; I’ll have my fortune before the age of 25-”

            “-every man’s dream,” Riyel murmured.

            “But not mine,” the artist retorted, “I want to make an honest living, Riyel.  I want to know that I’m capable of being great on my own.  I can’t lie to myself.”  Fye ended his rant, chest heaving.

            The silence was broken only by the staccato sound of raindrops on the roof and the murmuring coming from the television.

            Fye took a breath.  “Look , Riyel.”  He ran a hand through his thick brown hair.  “I’ll do what you and Pona want �" not because I expect anything from this date, but because it would be rude to cancel.  Nothing more, alright?”  He didn’t wait for an answer, but stood and took his plate to the sink.  He washed his plate in silence, then stomped off to the bathroom.

            Elevine quickly swallowed her last bite of food and hopped off the kitchen counter onto the smooth flooring below.  Her paws thudded quietly on the tile as she padded over to Riyel and then sprang onto the table right besides his bowl.  El mewed at him.

            Riyel was still looking in the direction of Fye’s stormy departure. 
            “He’ll come around,” he murmured to himself.