And though you should live in a palace of gold, or sleep in a dried up ditch. You could never be as poor as the Fairies are, and never as rich. ~Rose Fyleman
After grabbing some food at the cafeteria, we head back to the room. Well, I head back to the room and Ciar walks quietly behind me, staring, because the hair on the back of my neck keeps standing on end.
I’m eating fries out of the bag of food I’m carrying, mostly his fries because food like this isn’t common in the forest, greasy, fattening goodness. I lick my fingers and smirk when I stick them back into his fry bag to find the bottom of the bag holding only crumbs. Whoops.
He has some raw burgers in there, he’ll be fine without the rest of it. The burgers must weigh two pounds apiece. That’s more than enough to fill up his stomach for a little while.
Unexpectedly he steps ahead of me and opens the door, waving me forward like a gentleman. I nod my head in thanks and debate on eating one of his burgers too. Mine is small in comparison. The flash of green in his eyes dissuades me. Fry theft is okay, burger theft not so much.
For a split second the temptation strengthens. The bag is snatched out of my hands and I’m nudged towards my bed. Flopping down on it I laugh as the bag unceremoniously hits me in the chest. Digging my own burger and fries out of the bag I dig in.
I wish I was part Moss Fairy or something similar because they have the metabolism of a marathon runner so then I could eat all I want. Unfortunately, I’m something else and the calories go straight to my ass. I have to work out, daily, to keep in shape. It seems I have a penchant for chub especially in certain areas.
I look down at my chest. Some places it’s not such a bad thing.
“Why are you so against Awakening, Keri?” Ciar asks, and of course in my eloquence I choke on my mouthful of burger.
After clearing my throat, I chug some water out of the bottle that Ciar hands me and compose myself. “People like me clean toilets or park cars and sometimes we even get to trim the shrubs. We don’t have proper Awakenings,” I answer, taking that last bite of my now cold burger. “And the whole Triad of stranger’s thing throws me off.”
It’s nothing more than the truth. The entire point of this place is to gauge, groom and sell people to the Higher Fae or the rich humans. As janitors, maids, drivers, guards, occasionally tools and in rare cases, breeders. I’m not pure enough to be a breeder so I figure that until I get bored or have had enough playing by the rules with this plan of Mada’s I’ll get stuck as a maid or something similar.
“The people that encouraged your mother’s actions are threatened by what you’ll become when you Awaken.” His words send me to my feet.
Why in the world is he talking about her? I hate talking about my mother. Yes, it’s been years and she’s dead and gone but it’s a sore spot for me. Restlessly I start wandering around the room and snooping through the dressers.
I don’t want to talk about her and what happened but Ciar isn’t someone you tell that to and expect him to listen.
“Eventually you will accept this truth.” As he speaks, I feel his presence move closer to me.
So, like a scared bird I flutter away from him and open the closet door just to look busy. Frowning I lean forward and pick up the old dusty violin that’s leaning against the back wall.
It’s a strange color of blue with faint lines etched into it. The strings on it are broken and curled at the base. Lightly I run a finger down the neck of it. With a flare of heat the damn thing comes to life. The strings curl up and connect to the top and the lines lighten with red light.
In shock I drop it and it twangs in complaint.
“What the hell is that?” I demand, pointing at the possessed violin.
“That is your Conduit,” Ciar answers calmly, stepping around me to pick it up off the floor. He holds it out to me with a smirk on his face. Rolling my eyes, I take it by the neck and gently put it back on the closet floor and slam the door.
No, no and triple no.
“Keri, you can procrastinate about it all you want but it’s going to happen. Stop being a child about it,” he says, using that tone that makes me feel like the naughty child he’s accusing me of being.
Turning to face him I cross my arms, mutinous.
“Procrastination works for as long as I want it to,” I say in a very mulish tone. Go me, being a mature adult and all.
“This place will bring out what needs brought. Secure in the forest you will never spread your wings, monster girl,” he explains, turning away to cross to his dresser.
He starts putting things in the dresser from his bag, like all of this is completely normal. It takes me a minute to notice that I’m staring at his butt. Disgusted with myself I decide to follow suit.
At least if I’m busy I’m not staring at him like a lust hazed teenage girl.
His chuff of laughter makes my face heat. Gods bless it he’s snooping again. Frustrated, I start the very detailed slow process of building up my shields again. It’s something that can be done while doing other things because it’s all mental magic. And it’s a magic that I can do. Not so much some of the other stuff.
Which they’ll notice right away when I start their stupid classes. I’m so going to get my ass kicked if they actually do things like I’ve heard they do. Maybe if I suck enough they’ll throw me out and I can go home?
“Don’t even think about it, Keri,” Ciar warns without pausing in his task.
There goes that idea. Pouring more energy into building my shields I start humming a song that Nagan taught me. It’s a Centaur lullaby he used to hum to me when I was a kid. Ironically enough, it’s about war and killing enemies but the melody is sweet and soft.
My voice isn’t bard quality, but it doesn’t sound like a mule getting strangled, so I’ll take what I have gladly. Smiling at my own stupid thoughts I keep humming and straightening things up.
Before I know it, I find myself with my sleeves rolled up, cleaning the bathroom. I’m only half surprised when I realize that Ciar is in there with me, pink rubber gloves on his hands as he scrubs the shower. When he realizes I’m staring at him he smirks and flips me off.
The most amusing thing about the gloves? He looks freaking good in them.