Page 4 of A Brighter Yellow
The girl blushed and glanced at Ochre, clearly embarrassed. “Dad, I’m thirty-two. You can’t ground me.”
She looked like she was in her early twenties, but Ochre supposed that she probably would for about a century to come. Even at twenty-nine, Ochre had noticed that aging had also slowed for himself, so he was pleased to find someone in the same boat.
“Grounded!” the man barked again and then seemed to realize that Ochre was not a tree. “Who the hell are you?”
“Good afternoon, sir,” said Ochre, deciding to err on the side of manners. “My name is Ochre Lucas.” He added a little bow because he thought that Anna’s father would like it.
“Lucas? Oh, fucknuts. Are you one of Diana’s whelps?”
“That term seems a bit pejorative,” said Orchre. “But yes, Diana is my grandmother.”
“Don’t get fancy in the language department, son. I don’t like it.”
“And I don’t like people insulting my grandmother,” said Ochre.
There was an awkward silence amongst the group. Behind her father, Anna was giving him a wide-eyedwhat the fucklook.
“Wasn’t intending to insult her,” he said. “Just you.”
“Oh,” said Ochre, with a shrug. “All right then.”
“All right then?” asked the man, raising his bushy eyebrows alarmingly high.
Ochre shrugged again. It’s not like he gave a shit what this guy said about him.
“All right then,” agreed the man. “I’m Baird Allanach. Why are you running around after my daughter?”
“Bit of a long story,” said Ochre.
“You said you were sent,” said Anna icily.
“Yes,” said Ochre.
“By who?” demanded Baird. Lucky and Garett also looked highly interested.
“By my family,” said Ochre, settling on a phrase that seemed to sum up the situation.
“No,” said Baird, turning to Anna. “And go put some clothes on.”
“No, what?” asked Anna, echoing Ochre’s own thoughts.
“No, you can’t spend any more time with this puppy. Whatever his family is involved in, we want no part of it. You’re grounded, and he’s leaving. Yes, off you go, back the way you came.”
He made a flapping gesture toward Ochre and the trees.
“I actually can’t,” said Ochre. He probably actuallycould, but Azure’s instructions had been to find out what Anna was up to. He couldn’t do that if he left. “That wasn’t exactly as easy as I may have made it look,” he added, hoping that Baird didn’t know much abouttraveling.
“I’ve never seen falling out of a tree look easier,” said Garett. Ochre couldn’t tell if that was supposed to be helpful or sarcastic.
“Shut up, Garett,” snapped Anna, before whirling to face her father. “I’m not grounded, and I’ll spend time with whoever I want.”
That was nice considering that up until two seconds ago, Ochre was reasonably certain that she had wanted to spend zero time with him.
“No,” said Baird. “No, you won’t. You’re staying. He’s leaving. By the trees or by the front gate. Don’t care which.”
“Front gate it is,” said Ochre, reaching down for his pack. He could probably camp at the edge of their territory and try to talk to Anna again later when her father had calmed down. He didn’t see much point in confronting Baird directly at this point. “Is there a good place to camp near here? I need to rest before I try to go anywhere.”
“Don’t care. Not my problem,” said Baird.
