Page 4 of The Mentor
Boulder squared his shoulders. “How stupid do you think I am? You’re not taking Kya into the woods.”
I stiffened.
“But I prefer to walk instead of sitting still,” Archer argued, his thick lashes framing those intense eyes that I was completely fascinated with.
“I saidno,” Boulder repeated.
To me the situation was bizarre. I was an adult and not used to anyone telling me what to do. I’d never worried about my safety in the Motherlands and I didn’t feel threatened by Archer in any way. “Are you suggesting he’s a danger to me?” I challenged Boulder.
Boulder shrugged. “Only your protector can be alone with you, and until Magni gets here tomorrow, I’m making sure Archer doesn’t get any funny ideas.”
I had already been told that Magni would be my protector and I had no problem with that, but I considered myself an excellent judge of character and Archer didn’t strike me as dangerous.
“I find that insulting to Archer,” I objected. “I don’t believe he would harm me.” Looking from Boulder to Archer, I asked: “Would you?”
“No, of course not,” he said with sincerity in his eyes.
“Then let’s do that walk and talk you suggested.”
Archer and Boulder exchanged a long glance.
“You can walk around the house and that’s it.” Boulder dictated in a nonnegotiable way.
“Do you mind me asking how you became a teacher?” I asked Archer as we started walking.
“The short version is that I love kids.”
“And the long version,” I asked with a sideways smile.
Placing his hands behind his back he kept looking straight ahead as he spoke: “It’s complicated and I’m not even sure I can explain it myself, except that when I grew up I didn’t have the best mentors, and then one person came along with a passion for teaching that lit a fire in me and my friends. Maybe it was seeing how big a difference he made in our lives that made me want to do the same for the next generation.”
“That’s nice.”
“How about you?”
“Well, with me it’s very simple. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t want to be a teacher. My favorite game as a child was playing school, and I get a buzz every time a student overcomes their struggles.”
“Yes, that’s always rewarding.” Archer’s hand slid to his pockets. “So how long have you been teaching?”
“Since I was twenty-two, so that would be four years.”
“Oh, okay, I started teaching when I was twenty and I’ll be twenty-nine in three months.”
I laughed. “That sounded like something one of my students would say. You know, I once had a boy tell me he was going to be fourteen soon. Turned out it was ten months away.”
“So at least that’s one thing our students have in common, they want to grow up as fast as possible.” The edges around his blue eyes softened in a genuine smile.
“Tell me, what do people do for a pastime here in the Northlands?”
“Ehhm, I don’t know.” He shrugged. “We get drunk in bars and watch a lot of sports, I suppose. Rugby, football, ice hockey, and fighting are the big four.”
I wrinkled my nose. “When you say fighting, do you refer to martial arts?”
“Kinda, but our fighters use a variety of techniques from old-school boxing, martial arts, and dirty street fighting. It’s more interesting when you don’t have too many regulations.”
“Hmm, I don’t think I’ve heard about this mugby and football.”
“It’s rugby, not mugby, and the reason you haven’t heard about them is probably because the sports were always for males only. And maybe because they were banned shortly before the Toxic War started. Too many head injuries and paralyzed players.”
