Chapter Four

Back at the cabin, things were very quiet. Even Blaze was being nice to me for once and it was beginning to unnerve me. We fought like knights and dragons, so seeing her following Spectra’s orders had me sitting on the opposite end of the table from them, on of worry that she was plotting something.

            Unfortunately, that left me next to Alexon.

            Clearing his throat softly, he ladled an extra spoonful of potatoes on my plate and smiled a little awkwardly. The expression seemed out of place paired up with his roguish looks and the scar that made him look even more dangerous. A face like that was more used to scowls and frowns than friendly smiles. Even the fine lines at the corners of his lips hinted that he wasn’t a particularly happy person.

            Suddenly, I really missed Ambrosia even though she just left this morning. I wanted to talk with her and see what she had to say about my worries. No one else would listen and I doubted Mr. Grumpy would be willing to open up about himself during a one on one conversation. Especially not with me. I had already proven to both of us that I got on his nerves.

            He cleared his throat again, drawing my vacant stare from the creamy blob of potatoes on my plate to his face. He mumbled something completely unintelligible while he stared at me hopefully. Puzzled, I asked, “What was that?”

            He ran a hand over his face roughly. It was huge with scarred knuckles, one of which looked like it may have collapsed at some point. “I said I’m sorry,” he repeated a little louder. The silence in the room made it easy to hear his voice. It reverberated like an earthquake, filling the room despite his intentionally quiet tone.

            Smiling reassuringly, I replied, “You don’t need to apologize. I understand that getting used to us can be…difficult.” There were some guardians that quit early on, being replaced only days later by new people. One woman was particularly cruel, always telling us that we looked like demons. She then went on to explain about the evil creatures and how since we were so ugly no one would ever love us, but we loved each other and that was enough. The jab at our outward appearances still hurt though.

            Alexon studied my face, his eyes scanning for something. Averting my gaze, I stabbed at the pile of potatoes with my fork. Potatoes were my favorites. Somewhere in the back of my head, my mind told me that Gale had informed him of this while they spoke in the forest after my disappearance.

            Then there was another thing bothering me. Looking beside Terra, who was sitting in my usual seat, I asked Blaze quietly, “Why are you being so nice to me?” She never had a problem showing how she felt about me before. Maybe it had something to do with the time I accidentally snuffed her a few hundred years ago, before Ambrosia came along and we were no longer allowed to practice attacking each other to see who was strongest.

            Her blue-orange eyes met mine and she sighed, sending a little whoosh of barely there grey smoke puffing from her nose and between her lips. “You were already upset enough.” She held up one orange-tinted hand, knowing I was going to protest. “And I wasn’t in the mood to make you feel worse.”

            Biting the corner of my lip, I nodded slowly before offering her a smile. “Thanks…and I’m sorry I snuffed you that time.”

            She waved a hand dismissively. “That was centuries ago,” she told me, her eyes glinting with what I hoped was amusement and not malice. “I’m over it.” Then, in true Blaze fashion, she narrowed her eyes and added darkly, “Just don’t ever do it again.” It was a telltale sign that she wasn’t really over it, but she was trying to enforce a truce, no matter how uneasy it may prove to be.

            Nodding quickly in agreement, I returned my attention to the food in front of me. It wasn’t so much that I was afraid of Blaze - I wasn’t - I just never really liked hurting people, especially not the ones I cared about. No matter how much we fought, she was still my sister and I still loved her.

            Dinner was a quiet affair after that. This time it wasn’t as awkward as the night before, but more of a silent agreement on everyone’s part that there was nothing to talk about.

                             

 

AFTER IT WAS OVER, everyone retired to the living room while Alexon walked outside. I excused myself from the rest of my family, wanting to ask him about the human world.

            He stood with his back to me, a strange silver device held up to his ear. “Yeah,” he said into it, nodding his head. His hair blew back in the breeze, lifting to show the tip of another of his tattoos. It was black and blue from what I could tell. “Everything’s going according to plan, Boss,” he assured, but I could hint a tremor of annoyance in his voice. He was just as hotheaded as Blaze.

            I took a few more steps toward him. “Yeah, yeah. I got it.”

            My hand reached out to touch his shoulder. “A’ight, later.” He closed the object just as I placed my palm on his shoulder. Back stiff, he turned his head slightly, his hand clasping mine and jerking me so I was in front of him. “What are you doing?” he nearly growled.

            So much for our earlier progress.

            Swallowing, I replied in my steadiest voice, “I want you to tell me about the human world.”

            His eyebrows rose, disappearing under the sweep of his long bangs. “You don’t know anything?” he asked, voice sounding surprised.

            Tilting my head to the side, I touched a finger to my chin as I thought his words over. “Well,” I began, holding up a finger. “The earth is round and vast.” Another finger. “They have running water. Listening to her explain it had made me feel a lot better, I thought water had evolved and had feet.” My eyes widened at the prospect. “…like me…” I added quietly, looking down at myself with a dazed expression as the realization that I was exactly what I’d found so ludicrous when Ambrosia told me about it hit me. I could have sworn I heard a soft chuckle coming from our new guardian.

            Shaking it off, I thought about what else she told me. “Um…your horses no longer run wild, you have them in pastures…” I was running out of things to tell him. Ambrosia hadn’t been very forthcoming about the many changes the world experienced over the years. “Is there more?” I asked him, moving close and clutching his forearm in anticipation.

            Lips twitching in amusement, he pulled me over to a fallen tree that wasn’t there this morning. The roots were pulled up from the ground and I knew the only reason for that would be because Gale was practicing making tornadoes again. (Something Ambrosia never tolerated.)

            “Well,” he began, eyes sparkling.

            We spent hours sitting on that tree, him telling me about crazy things like cars and skyscrapers while I just sat there, completely enthralled with my eyes glued to his most miniscule movements in hopes that I wouldn’t miss anything.

            Tugging on his arm, I pointed at the dark sky dotted by thousands of stars. “Does your sky look like ours?” My eyes went back to him as I leaned forward, waiting for his answer.

            With a genuine smile, he looked up and seemed to think about that answer. His eyes traveled over the stars and he pointed at some of them. “Do you see that bright star right there?” I leaned over and followed his finger before nodding my head. “That’s the North Star or Polaris, follow it down this way and you see the handle of the big dipper…” He went on to tell me about a bunch of different things he called constellations that I would forget by tomorrow but was more than happy to hear about today.

            “So, yes,” he concluded, a boyish grin stretching across his face and making him look a lot younger. “We live under the same sky.”

            Leaning against his shoulder, I let out a sleepy yawn. “Do you go to the mead hall a lot?” I wondered aloud, voice muffled behind my hand.

            He turned his head and looked down at me, a question in his eyes. The same question fell from his lips moments later. “What the hell is a mead hall?”

            Looking up at him with wide eyes, I whispered, “Where you were earlier with all of those men when that woman came up to you…”

            Understanding lit his face. “We call them bars now,” he explained, raking a hand through his hair roughly. “I only go there to see my…friends. The women there aren’t any good.” A ghost of regret crossed his eyes as he absentmindedly traced the scar that ran the length of his face.

            Smiling at him, I got to my feet, knowing he needed to be left alone. Ambrosia always said men preferred to be alone with their problems rather than whine about them to someone else. But there was just one thing that I was curious to know.

            “Did you love her?”

            Alexon jumped, seemingly startled by my question. His eyes met mine, the emotion that was there gone and hidden behind a wall built of the strongest metals. A little crack had formed for a moment while he was telling me about where he came from and I had seen who he was on the inside, but now it was gone and even I was smart enough to know when to leave something alone.

            You shouldn’t touch dead things, Ambrosia told me on one occasion when she found me mourning over a sparrow. This conversation was about as dead as dead could get.

            “Never mind.” My voice carried to him, I knew it did.

            Turning away, I walked toward the house, dead set on getting some sleep before everyone else woke up and started forcing me out the door. I didn’t get very far before he called out softly in a voice I knew wasn’t meant for me to hear, “I thought so, I really did.” I didn’t acknowledge the sad words as I went toward the house, knowing he wouldn’t appreciate it.