Page 61 of Guiding Desire
Col went up the steps leading to the front entrance. They were worn with time and the strength of thousands upon thousands of light footfalls. Orrey slowed, faces cut from stone catching his attention.
“I forget you grew up with an artist.” Coldis pointed at the little weather-worn sculptures. “You’ll find those around some of the building entrances. They are supposed to be house guardians. Mythical creatures, you know.”
Orrey looked up, then followed Coldis. “I’ve never heard of that.”
“Honestly, it could be just something the art community here made up. And our art community is sizeable. On the other hand, we have a well-stocked historical section in the library. Maybe some old-fashioned myths lived on in there.”
“That’s very impressive,” Orrey said and wondered what it would have been like, coming here every day for schooling. Most likely, he’d have boarded here to return home only for weekends. His entire life would have gone a very different way. “The students outside aren’t wearing any uniforms,” he said.
“They aren’t required to. During classes, yes, outside of classes, no. And not many do, to be honest. Well, when we’d go outside, we would sometimes. There’s a regular-run coffee shop not too far away from the North Entrance, and they’d give Conduits coffee for free.” He grinned as he put his palm on the scanner by the door. “The fancier drinks, you’d have to get a Guardian to buy for you. Or that’s what I did.”
Orrey nodded. “I usually brought a thermos to school.”
Col closed his parasol and Orrey followed suit. The building was cool, less bright, light only filtering in through windows. A fountain purled in the antechamber, a skylight above making it appear as if the stone woman was pouring gemstones from the jug she was holding.
“Is everything okay in your room? Did they set up things the way you like?”
Orrey nodded at Coldis. “My prints. I like how you hung those.”
“Oh, Vin did that. Taros wanted to make it all random, but Vin wouldn’t have that.”
“Ah. I should thank him.”
“I’m not sure Vin knows how to handle people thanking him, but go ahead.” He pointed to what appeared to be a solid wooden door which had probably cost about as much as a year’s rent at Orrey’s old place. “They have the fancy pieces through there. Ready to check them out?”
Orrey nodded. “It’s really okay for us to be here?”
“It is. I have a whole tour planned out for you, but I already fed your bio-data into the system. That means you can go wherever you please without a chaperone. Senny won’t like that, but you can.”
Orrey nodded. “Good to know.”
Coldis pushed the door open. It creaked in its frame. Solid wood then, something that had taken time and precious space to grow. It was humbling.
“Do you get along well with Senny? It looks like it, but he can be an acquired taste.”
Like the antechamber, light flowed into the gallery behind the door through windows, tall ones that were spaced far enough apart to still create a mosaic of shadow, fleeting art made new every day.
The statues rested between the play of light and dark, unmoving while the light paced slowly from one corner of the room to the other. Orrey saw fins of sea creatures, wings, men and women, androgynous dancers and thinkers and story characters. His mouth fell open, a gasp wanting out.
“This is impressive.” He took a step forward. “Sorry, you asked something?”
“Yes. Whether you get along with Senny okay.”
“He’s very accommodating. Considering.”
Orrey walked to one of the statues closest to him, a four-winged hask, beak open, eyes staring, each wing suspended at a different stage of flight.
“Considering? What did he say that makes you say it like that?”
“He didn’t. He’s said something about me being ideal, but I’ve been thinking. It cannot be ideal to imprint on someone like me. Someone who doesn’t know anything and who hasn’t”—Orrey gestured around at all the beauty surrounding him—“hasn’t grown up with all of this. And he said something about sexual exclusivity I suspect he wouldn’t have had to explain if I weren’t a regular.”
“Well, you grew up as a regular but aren’t one. I can see how it’s confusing to think that your partner doesn’t want you to be with other people.” He shrugged. “There’s a Conduit in Ferrea. We work together on a lot of coding and security protocols. She has a Guardian who imprinted on her. A-classer. Supposedly, the S-classers are the very possessive ones.
“Anyway, my friend’s been in a relationship with another Conduit before all that happened, and they managed a compromise where they don’t all live together, but my friend still spends some time with—and this is a quote—the woman she loves. Maybe time is the key.”
Orrey frowned as they slowly made their way to the next statue, a Guardian surrounded by flames made of a different stone, obsidian dark and sharpened like blades.
“I don’t have anyone else. I hadn’t been dating or looking to. It’s just a strange need and, well, a presumptuous request. And the channeling, it’s…so new, but not bad. I don’t know how to explain it. What I mean to say is, I am a Conduit, yes, but also not. If I’m a Conduit, that cannot be changed, and comes with responsibilities and rules, and I don’t know what any of these are.” He shrugged, reached out to touch the obsidian, then pulled away at the last moment. “I knew how to be a protector and what to do. I don’t know what to do now.”
