Chapter 25
Cassie
When she woke the next morning, ?rim was still there beside her.
Cassie was surprised to see he hadn’t moved.
She was also surprised to see he wasn’t wearing his eyestones.
His eyes were two dark marbles set deep into his face.
Unlike any eyes she’d seen before, just bottomless, blue-black orbs.
Impulsively, she reached out to touch his face.
?rim went still, but he didn’t move away.
Your eyes?
“I suppose you’ve never seen them, have you? I do have eyes. The eyestones are just meant to filter, so I can see in daylight.”
Can you see me now?
“I can see you. You’re a bit hazy, though. There’s too much light coming in from the windows.” He gestured to the break in the curtains.
You stayed all night?
“I thought it was sensible for me to be here in case you had another nightmare. If you have them frequently, we should reconsider our nighttime habits.”
You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to.
“I don’t mind being next to you while you sleep. I can always work on my datapad.”
Cassie blushed, hoping he couldn’t see it properly with the light.
He got out of the pillow nest to check her monitors.
“We can get you a nutritional pack, and then I’ll get ready to go teach.
Eleri will be here in the afternoon.” He tapped his wrist interface to hers.
“That’s your writing practice for the day.
Don’t forget you can always send me a message if you need me. ”
I don’t want to interrupt when you’re teaching.
“If you need me, I can come back any time. I’ll be back during the afternoon recess to help you with your medical needs, and then straight back here after lessons are finished.” He repeated the schedule as if they hadn’t been following the same one for two weeks now.
“Do you want me to load some holos for you?”
Cassie couldn’t decide if she wanted to smile or cry, but crying would just make her already aching throat hurt more, so she decided to smile instead.
Thank you for being so nice.
“Please don’t thank me. This is so insignificant in comparison to what you deserve from me.
” ?rim rubbed his wrist nodes. “Here, let me see your datapad. I’ll add a few things you can watch for now.
Do you have any preferences about the topic?
I’m afraid I don’t really know what’s popular these days.
Teosians don’t spend a lot of time keeping up with media. ”
I liked the cooking holos and animal stories. Cassie said, and then, before she could stop herself. I want to see things about romance too. A second fierce blush blazed over her cheeks.
?rim seemed unfazed. “Simple enough.” He loaded a few onto the screen and handed it back to her. “You can practice your reading if you want to load anything else.”
After ?rim helped her with her nutritional pack and adjusted her pillows, he left to teach.
Just as she was beginning to get uncomfortable sitting there alone with her datapad, a soft knock on the door announced Eleri’s arrival.
“Hey, Cassie. I’m coming in.” Cassie glanced up, switching her datapad to the writing interface.
H-I-E-L-U-R-E-E, she wrote.
“How are you feeling today?” Eleri checked her wires and the bandages at her throat. “I see ?rim got everything hooked up correctly.”
I’m ok. Cassie said with her hands. A little bored, I think. When Eleri looked confused, Cassie spelled it out instead, although she was starting to find the process of writing out each letter a bit tedious compared with the speed of speaking with her hands.
“I know sitting and recovering isn’t the most exciting thing in the world, but it’s important work.” Eleri peeled the bandages away from Cassie’s throat. “That’s healing well. Hopefully, we’ll be able to remove your stomach port in a week or two and start you back on some basic solids.”
C-H-O-C-O-L-A-T-E? Cassie asked.
Eleri laughed. “Chocolate doesn’t really fall under the category of basic solid, but I’ll see what I can do. How is everything going with ?rim?”
It’s good. He’s nice. Cassie blushed, reminded of how they’d woken up together. She couldn’t remember the last time she had slept so well. It seemed like it wasn’t the right answer because Eleri’s brow pinched.
“You know you don’t owe him anything. I talked to S’kasia. She said she’d be willing to have you stay with her if you’re uncomfortable here.”
Cassie frowned. She would be much more uncomfortable with a virtual stranger than with ?rim. Even if there were a few misunderstandings, they were finding a rhythm together, N-O-T-U-N-C-O-M-F-O-R-T-A-B-U-L.
“Is he being helpful? Appropriate?” The second word slipped in after the first with a very different tone. “Obviously, you’re cared for. All the medical stuff is in perfect condition.”
Cassie clutched her datapad to her chest. I want to stay here.
She didn’t want to leave, not where she was finally starting to feel safe again.
She didn’t want to leave ?rim either, even though she knew Eleri was angry with him over what had happened with her voicelock.
Everyone seemed to forget she had asked for it.
No one wanted to talk about how horrible it was to have her voice controlled like that.
“Sorry, Cassie. I’m not trying to make you unhappy. I just want to make sure you’re okay. It’s obviously up to you where you stay. If anything happens, I want you to know you can always come to me, ok?”
I-U-N-D-E-R-S-T-A-N-D. Cassie finished scrawling out the letters, relieved that Eleri wasn’t pushing the issue further.
She understood conceptually why everyone thought she should be angry at ?rim.
But Cassie didn’t know how to feel angry at someone who hadn’t been trying to hurt her when she couldn’t even feel appropriate anger at the people who had.
“I’ll be back in two days, ok? You have my contact information if you need anything before then.”
Cassie nodded. Eleri packed up her things and said her farewells, leaving Cassie alone with the romance holos she hadn’t been brave enough to watch.