Chapter Text
Tamala, formerly of the Order, was having A Day. It had started when she decided, sleepless in the night, that she deserved some eye candy. So she took the pinpoint of fresh blood she’d taken from Pavel last time he was helping her out and inserted into her good old scrying machine, a sturdy piece of now-illegal magitech. But what did she see? The miner, sure, but he was being dominated by the new bird person? She was good, getting him to stay still like that without ropes, but seeing the one she always kept on screen for such nights with someone else was jarring. Still, the show was enjoyable enough until he went all loving on the creature, which is when Tams decided she was bored of watching. Now irritated, she slept badly, woke late, and almost got flattened! By the little Pavel girl, riding some narrow metal contraption, in the middle of her domain! And now, some silly village child was looking at her with sparkling eyes, calling her a witch. To her face! The disrespect. She was a Herbalist, an Alchemist, thank you very much! “Do you want to try one of my potions?” she offered, because she might as well get a test bunny out of it. Apparently, nobody knew he was here.
The list was almost complete, just one last stop; Tamala. Yeah, no, nope. Kenny was going to ‘forget’ that last one, even if it left the list unfulfilled. Sauntering into Nai’o’s arms, dangerously close to the plaza, she got herself a reward for all her hard work today by kissing him roughly behind the transport station sign. Surprising her with his boldness, he gave the sign to meet up at the inn, and went to get them a room. Rawr, she had trained him well. While waiting a few minutes to not make it overly obvious, Kenyatta glanced at the list again. Hodari had been weird today, he hadn’t been one of her suspects before, but if he got that antsy from hearing the Order was coming could it be? Was HE the Bahari Ripper? Had his limp been a disguise? Was that bite-mark on his neck from a victim ? Kenny had decided, his picture was going on The Wall.
Today was a great, splendid, wonderful day! Sure, Elise still wasn’t winning the Great Bahari Bake-off anytime soon, but she could make cookies and buns with the help of a majiri now, and the morning had been amazing! So even if she just realized that today was a work day and she had skipped out , the healer wasn’t scared to apologize to her new boss, nope, not one bit… okay maybe one bit. She could offer him cookies? How could she forget? But this morning had completely wiped all thought of anything but dates and the Pavels, and then about the baking she needed to learn, and it had been fun so she ended up hanging out with Delaila a bit longer. Now, slinking to Chayne’s house, she felt like a dog that ate something important. Knocking on his door, she prepared her deepest bow for deployment.
“Chayne, I am really, truly, so so sorry! Delaila taught me about baking today and I completely forgot it was a work day!” she was bent as far as would be appropriate, trying her best to express her sincere regret. “I was just settling in for my evening meditation. Care to join me?” Oh she was in trouble. He did not do his mild ‘oh no not a problem’ like she had hoped. She was SO in trouble. This felt like that time her favorite lecturer caught her and a male student in the lab room, studying each others’ anatomy in an intimate manner. Placing the tin of cookies on his table as a peace offering, Elise was sweating. Had her power been needed? Or was it the principle of it? He had closed the door and his stare was intense. Actually settling for meditation, she copied his stance as best she could. Was this a punishment, psyching her out? He was silent, so she dared not ask. Minutes passed. Sweat trickled down her back. “A Watcher is coming, from the Order” he stated. Not the theme she had expected but she’d gladly take it. “Kenyatta told me. Meeting is at noon tomorrow in the mayor’s garden. I promise I will be at work in the early morning and be punctual to the meeting”. She was still looking down in repentance, but risked a glance up. “The order is some sort of law enforcement organization, right?” Chayne blinked in confusion, was this common knowledge that she should know by now? “Yes?” “Well, nobody here seems to be breaking any laws, right? Why is it such a big deal that there is a meeting about it? Or were we just due for a village meeting?”
Chayne just realised that in the hubbub after Tish’s injury, and her subsequent treatment, he had never explained his worries to Elise. “They might not look favorably upon an unregistered flow user, even if you technically do not use flow. They might capture you for research purposes. They might cage you and keep you healing majiri for the rest of your life”. His poor, innocent student, the kind of person law enforcement should protect. She looked alarmed, understandable. “Could we… talk to them? I could heal in different places, like, Monday to Friday, during normal work hours? If they want to study me, could a researcher follow me at work?” He blinked. That was very sensible, but she did not realise just how scary these people could be. “It would be best not to engage, not to be seen”. She tipped her head to the side, and his chest hurt again. Should he ask her to look at it? “So I should hide from the law? That seems wrong”. Oh Maji, how wrong it was, he hated it. “Such is the world we live in”. “Huh”. She was clearly thinking hard, trying to solve something that could not be solved without a major change in politics, law, and government… he did not know what to tell her. There would never be true freedom for her in this world. “So you’re not mad that I spent all day baking with the farmer, and forgot work?” Wait, what? Oh, she hadn’t dropped by today, there was that. “Oh, no, that’s not a problem” he assured her, actually glad she’d started making friends. Laila would be wonderful for her. Elise gave him a huge smile of relief, she had worried about that?
“I actually have a few other things I wanted to ask about, do you know if Tish is back at work? I don’t want to hurry her, but I will need that rain tarp soon, might even get a mattress to soften my nest. My human friends will probably help me get it up, they built a ladder!” Clearly, she had decided that if she couldn’t change it, she also would not fret over it. Admirable, practical. Chayne was proud to be her master. “Tish is assisting Ashura in replacing bridge boards that have broken, but you can ask her after the meeting tomorrow.” She still hadn’t gotten a mattress? Oh, more importantly; “there was a new human today, named Mudan. He seemed to settle in fast”. She blinked, surprised; it was her first new neighbour since she got here. “I’ll be sure to ask how he’s doing. Thank you for the time, Chayne” she was getting up to leave, but he wanted her to stay.
Swallowing down an odd heartbeat, there was that other theme he wanted to discuss. “About Hodari Pavel” she stopped, settled back down, and gave Chayne a nervous smile that made him look away. He couldn’t face her when she was clearly so happy with Pavel, and the thought bothered him. He was only her mentor, a coworker, he should not be jealous of others for having her affections. Shelving that for now; “Your relationship was quite sudden, and he is both older and physically stronger, I just need to know that he is not pushing you into this”. Her laugh was genuine, she found the concern funny? “Sorry, it’s just? Dari, pushing ME into it, you know how shy he is! I gave him the chocolates first, don’t worry, I will treasure him” she ended it jokingly, as if it was Mr. Pavel he should worry about, not her. Shy? Hodari? A word like “Shy” applied to a man like… the priest realised he might have done it again, judged the book by the cover. Look at the facts, Chayne told himself sternly. Well, the man was a bit introverted, turned red if complimented, never showed up for events, hadn’t had a relationship for years, and he did get uncomfortable in social situ- wait, he really was shy? Did Najuma get it from him? Who else had he completely misunderstood, wasn’t this the one thing he was supposed to be good at? His mind, now on autopilot, kept going through the list for new couples;
“Are you staying safe?” Another laugh shocked him back, and he must have been really out of it to ask that one to a different species. “I do not think he can get me pregnant, Chayne. Is this a standard survey for lovers?” This was embarrassing. “Yes, sorry, I wasn’t thinking”. “Don’t worry about it! There is a pregnancy in the valley, but it isn’t me” she said with a secretive smile, finger on her lips. Oh no, was it Kenyatta? “She will tell you tomorrow!” Elise seemed happy, and they were going to tell him, so it was a good thing? Who could..? “Delaila?” he asked, incredulous. Was that why his apprentice had spent all day with her? “If she asks, I did not tell you, okay?” Technically she didn’t, he mused. Laila, having a third baby? The Daiyas must be ecstatic! But with her age, the risk- Elise had poked him, right between the eyebrows? “No need for the worry wrinkle, she has us, right? We will be there for her, every step.” Her calm smile was reassuring, and she was right. Visibly worrying would make Laila worried, too. Elise excused herself and went home. Chayne needed time to clear his mind, so he opted to stay in the meditation pose for a while longer, the ghost image of her still meditating next to him somehow warm.
