CHAPTER ELEVEN
XEL
Unloading Huckleberry when we arrived back at the sanctuary turned out to be even more difficult than loading him into the trailer.
The main problem was that he needed to exit the trailer backwards, which, for an animal that was none too steady on his feet, seemed to take a monumental amount of courage.
Offering him hay didn’t help, nor pellets, nor even a sneaky taste of carrot, though he certainly wanted the treat, for all his reluctance to move in order to get it.
The yard we were attempting to put him in was next door to the other donkey already in residence here, so Huckleberry would have an immediate companion.
But even that didn’t manage to tempt him down the slope.
Finally, my master stood back, leaning against the fence with his arms folded, looking tired, but not angry.
And that was strange enough that I stopped to take note of it.
My old master had always been short tempered, irritated the moment something inconvenient happened, and all too willing to scold any of the staff if he couldn’t have what he wanted straight away.
But my new master, though he was clearly frustrated, had not once lost his temper, either with me or with Huckleberry.
“Maybe we should just go and get some lunch,” he suggested finally.
“Give Huckleberry some time to think about it, and we’ll probably think clearer too, when we’re not doing it on an empty stomach.
” I’d noted from the clock in the car that it was well past midday at this point, and so I was inclined to agree with him.
I was about to say as much when a high pitched shout got my attention, and I turned to see a tall, purple-skinned woman coming towards us from across the paddock.
She was taller than Bo, and dressed in cut-off shorts and a muddy shirt, which was far more casual than Bo’s dress style seemed to be.
“You’re back,” she called, as she came wading through the grass.
“Oh, you must be Xel. So good to meet you, Bo told me all about you, I’m Leesha, I help fill in when things get too busy, and Cole here is an absolute darling, I’m sure he’ll teach you everything you need to know about animal care, he taught me a whole heap when I first started working here, is this the donkey?
Oh, he’s in a bit of a state, isn’t he?” Leesha climbed right into the trailer, squeezing up past Huckleberry to stroke his face as she paused to take a breath for the first time since she’d started talking.
“He doesn’t want to get out of the trailer, does he?
Oh, that’s a silly boy, but you just need to see how many friends you’re going to have once you’re out there in the big, wide world… ”
She kept up the running monologue, and Huckleberry stood up straighter, seeming both baffled and startled by the very loud creature who was now invading his safe little space.
Affronted by Leesha’s noise and the way she was getting her face right up in front of his, he took a wary step backwards.
And then a second step. And a third, until Leesha had somehow cajoled him all the way down the ramp and backed him into the yard.
And the instant she had, she swiftly closed the gate, then turned to my master with a look of triumph on her face.
“You’re welcome,” she said, when he simply stared at her in stunned silence.
Then she turned and winked at me. “Sometimes you need to just not give them too much time to think about it,” she explained, and I was a little relieved to hear that now, her voice was a much more moderate tone and her tempo back to a normal chatty rhythm, rather than the breakneck pace she’d started with.
“I do tend to talk a lot, though,” she added, and I felt my scales ripple in embarrassment as I realised my relief was apparently showing on my face.
“I’d be very pleased to get to know you,” I told her, meaning it with all sincerity.
“I have a lot to learn about the sanctuary, and I’m sure it would help my master to have more assistance in training me.
” And by the stars, having someone around who actually enjoyed chatting would be marvellous.
My master was very willing to explain things about the animals, but seemed to struggle with much conversation beyond that.
And given that I knew barely anything about animals at this point, I was finding it difficult to find anything sensible to say on that topic.
“Thank you,” my master said belatedly, and Leesha surprised me by sashaying over to him, throwing an arm around his shoulder and kissing him on the cheek. His scarred cheek.
“Like I said; you’re welcome,” she crooned.
My master rolled his eyes and headed for the car. “I’m going to put the trailer back and then get some lunch. You want some?” he asked Leesha.
“Oh, you’re a darling,” she said with a grin. “I’m just going to check the polvers again, then I’ll meet you over there.”
My master climbed into the car, then called to me, “Xel? You coming?”
I hesitated for a moment. “I’ll walk back to the cottage,” I told him. “I’ll meet you there.”
“No problem,” he agreed, then headed off down the dirt road that led past the reception building and around to the house.
On the walk back to the house, I contemplated what I’d just seen.
Doot had treated my master with the normal level of respect that I’d have expected of any professional person.
Leesha was less formal with him, but in a way that remained perfectly friendly.
And neither of them seemed to have any problem with his physical appearance.
Nor did Bo, for that matter, or Aiden, or Kade.
So why was my master so flighty around people?
Why did he closet himself away on this property, refusing to speak to anyone, when there were plenty of people who accepted him just the way he was?
Was that what Bo had meant when she’d said I would be a good influence on him? Was I supposed to encourage him to go out more, to talk to more people?
But based on my master’s abrupt reaction to the visitors this morning, I suspected there might be more to the situation than I was currently seeing.
I resolved to keep an eye on things for the next few days.
I didn’t want to create problems if I was misunderstanding something.
But at the same time, letting my master wallow in his own self-pity couldn’t make for a very comfortable life. For either of us.
Back at the house, some ten minutes later, I was washing my hands at the kitchen sink and preparing to make some sandwiches, while I listened to Leesha fill my master in on what she’d been up to that morning.
And it surprised me to find that my master seemed to have no objections to her running monologue.
He asked a few questions, laughed at the appropriate spots, and then gave her a rundown of what we’d seen at the property where we’d picked up Huckleberry.
It was the most natural and comfortable conversation I’d heard in years.
Even at the hotel, talk had usually been done in hushed tones, where our supervisors wouldn’t overhear us, and most of it had consisted of comments or complaints about work.
And yes, this conversation was also about work, I supposed, but in a way that conveyed a general enjoyment of the various tasks, rather than a consistent dislike of them.
For all the isolation of this place, I was already getting the impression that it would be a significant improvement on my previous situation.
“What about you, Xel?” Leesha asked, as I set the plates of sandwiches on the table. “How are you dealing with scooping up animal poop and negotiating with grumpy cats? You have met Midnight, right?”
I smiled at the memory of the cat I’d met that morning.
He’d tried to take a swipe at the visitors who’d come to adopt a pet, and they’d both reacted with unfortunate but understandable trepidation.
“I’m enjoying it so far. I think I have a lot to learn,” I added, though I wasn’t feeling quite as daunted by the whole situation as I had been that morning.
“This isn’t the sort of work I’m used to doing.
But I really enjoyed the drive to collect Huckleberry this morning.
I haven’t had the chance to see much of the city.
” I hoped, in a vague and insubstantial way, that my master might pay attention to the comment.
It was not my place – nor would it ever be – to ask him to let me explore the city, with or without his supervision.
But if there were occasions when he or any of his employees had to attend to matters offsite, then I wanted him to be aware that I was more than willing to go along and help.
“How old are you?” Leesha asked, in a sudden change of topic, and I had to think about it for a moment.
“Uh… Twenty-three,” I said. I wasn’t entirely sure that was true, but it was close enough. Dimari were typically sold when we were roughly twenty years old, and if I’d been at the hotel for three years, that would make me twenty-three.
“Not bad, not bad,” Leesha said, talking around a mouthful of her sandwich. “That’s still young enough to get out and explore the world a bit. Not like Cole here. He’s twenty-six,” she said, in a conspiratorial whisper. “So he’s turned into a stuffy old man.”
“Screw you,” my master grumbled at her, to which she stuck her tongue out at him. I tried to suppress a grin, and when that didn’t quite work, I stuffed the corner of my sandwich into my mouth. It was oddly soothing to see them banter with each other.
“I’m twenty-four,” Leesha rambled on, “which means I’m a spry young thing. I can still go out to parties that finish after nine o’clock in the evening.” She nodded in an exaggerated way, looking pleased with herself, while my master just rolled his eyes.