Page 22 of Guiding Desire
“Coldis… That’s that Conduit from yesterday, right?”
Senlas nodded. “We’re team three. You’ll meet the others soon. Col’s the Team Lead. He outranks us all.”
Orrey looked up from his coffee. “Am I misremembering? I thought that medical tech called you the Lead Guardian yesterday.”
Senlas nodded and snatched up another tara leaf. He couldn’t ever get enough of them. The fruity, slightly tart taste always reminded him of summer.
“Yeah, I’m the Mission Lead. I get all say during missions, like on the ground, but Col can countermand if he feels the need. Teams’re usually mixed, but Team Three’s the only A- and S-classer team with a Conduit leading it.”
Orrey nodded thoughtfully as if that information was shifting a long-held worldview. Maybe it did.
The Conduit licked his lips. “When I go see my mother, is there anything…how does all this work?”
Relief flooded Senlas. Finally there was reason here, finally they were getting into the facts of their newfound coexistence.
“If you are agreeable, I’ll take you and pick you up,” he said. “And going forward, you can go wherever you want. The common security advice for Conduits is to simply not advertise you are a Conduit unless you’re out and about with a Guardian. And the average common-sense stuff: always have your screen on you, don’t go into surveillance dead zones for longer than necessary. Financially, you get to share what I have, although there’s only a shared account now. Yours got absorbed into that.”
“Ah,” Orrey said with an expression and tone Senlas couldn’t fully read. “That is…generous.”
Senlas badly wanted to get into the training Orrey would have to do, was nearly ready to bring up the Op-AI’s suggestion about taking him on missions, but he held back.
“We don’t know each other well yet. Barely at all. But I’d like you to be happy and have everything you want, Orrey. So do you think I can take you? To lunch with your mother?”
Orrey looked at Senlas. “It’s probably better if you come along. Unless of course something like that isn’t your thing—“
“I’ll come,” Senlas said. He pointed at himself. “I’ll even put on clothes.”
This time around, Orrey actually smiled, which changed his face considerably, making him look younger, more delicate somehow.
Senlas felt a greater sense of triumph at making his Conduit smile than he ever had mastering his powers or using them. He knew imprinting changed how a Guardian’s brain worked, in layperson’s terms, but feeling it was something else. He adjusted the way he was sitting on the couch and made sure his bathrobe covered the way his body reacted to Orrey smiling.
I’ll get you into my bed the moment you consent,Senlas thought and reached for another tara leaf slice while Orrey went back to his coffee and to silently watching the fireworks he’d slept through last night.
8
ORREY
Tara is an old cultivar that remains nearly unchanged. Other than access to water, it needs little, though it can withstand short periods of drought as well as temperatures below freezing. Nearly all parts of the plant have uses, but it is most known for the tender, juicy “eye-leaves” which branches start producing in decent size after a year’s growth.
Tara’s leaves are excellent oxygen producers and have some air filtration properties as well. The roots likewise filter and oxygenate water, which is why tara are recommended for any pool without direct circulation. Even one single plant can make using a pump or chemicals to treat the water unnecessary.
The plant’s fibers have great tensile strength and can be used to make rope and even fabric, a tradition still upheld by artisans in the Three Gamma region of the South Blue Continent.
The eye-leaves, so called because of their oval shape and darker green center, are often eaten raw, but can be substitutes in berry stews. They can be turned into jams and, combined with fire berries, they make a condiment called acha, which is widely loved in the Golden Triangle of Plumbia, Radonia, and Argonia.
(Geography textbook for Year Three, regular curriculum.)
GuardianSenlasturnedoutto be easy to be around. When they were done with breakfast—Orrey had only snacked on some fire berries and half a pancake after Senlas had specifically offered—Senlas left Orrey on the couch, although the Guardian refilled Orrey’s coffee twice.
The house was so big that Orrey couldn’t really keep track of Senlas by sound, but the Guardian was out of sight, leaving a quiet, large space behind.
Not having anything to do in the morning was like a day off, and the surroundings, from the couch that felt like clouds and the view past the window screen, made this appear to be a spa vacation.
It wasn’t. Orrey relaxed back into the cloud of a couch, wearing those strange pants, and thought about all the many ways in which this spa existence was his life now.
When he’d just finished the last bit of his coffee and was getting ready to take his mug to the kitchen, his screen beeped with a contact card. He flicked the screen on.
Hellooo, Orrey, Coldis here. This is my personal contact in case you need anything before Senlas brings you in so everyone can officially meet you. (I called dibs on giving you the tour of the Grounds!) Are you settling in okay? Anything I could do to make the transition easier for you?
