Chương 58: [I'll Be Keeping My Eye on Him]

Kai set his mug down and looked at Rika.

"So," he said.

"Why would she be looking over at Leo more than anyone else?" Rika opened her mouth, stopped what she was about to say.

"I was joking," she said unconvincingly.

"Were you?"

"Yes." He turned to Shai.

"Has he said anything to you?"

"No. We've spoken, he's shown us around, explained things. That's it."

"You've spoken more than the others though."

"I'm the captain. It made sense for me to be asking the questions." He nodded slowly. Then looked at Rika again.

"Rika. Is there something going on?" Rika glanced at Shai, her wings flapping nervously. Shai looked back at her, she was holding her tail, now was not the time for the thing to make matters worse.

"I was joking," Rika said. She wouldn't meet his eyes, the question rattling her more than she wanted to admit. Kai's ears shifted forward. He looked at Shai directly.

"Is there something there. With this man." Shai was quiet for a moment.

"I don't know," she said. The tip of her tail curled once before she caught it. Kai said nothing.

"Maybe," she said.

"I haven't thought about it as much as everyone seems to think I have. He's a good person. Interesting. I've known him for days though, that's all it is."

"Different how," Kai said. She shifted slightly.

"Anyone from back home or the surrounding villages who knows what I do treats me a certain way. Like I'm better than them, or a prize to be won." She paused, choosing the words as she went.

"His people don't do that. Not with anyone from what I've seen. To them I'm just Shai." She stopped.

"I don't really know what to make of it. It's nice though." Kai was quiet for a moment.

"I trust your judgement," he said.

"I want you to know that." He looked at his hands.

"I just."

"Kai."

"Your parents were my closest friends," he said.

"Both of them. I made them a promise when they died and I've never taken that lightly." He looked up.

"That's all this is." Shai's tail went still.

"I know," she said.

"You've never once made things difficult. You've just made things safe. I know where this is coming from, don't worry." She smiled at him. Small and warm. Kai looked at her for a moment. Then cleared his throat.

"I'll be keeping my eye on him," he said.

"Just so you know."

"I know," Shai said. He stood, nodded to Rika, and let himself out. The door clicked shut behind him.

"Torren, you can stop hiding now," Shai said.

"Thank the gods. I was worried that was about to go much worse," Torren said from the kitchen. Torren came through from the kitchen with his teapot and refreshed each mug in turn before settling back into the armchair. Rika looked at him.

"Why did you hide? That wasn't fair at all."

"I tidied up and made some more tea, people's cups were running low..." Torren lied.

"Don't give me that, you were in there the entire time. I had to sit through Kai interrogating me." Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Torren poured the last of the tea into his own mug and set the pot down.

"You brought it up in the first place, love. Your own fault." Rika huffed and reached for her mug. Shai was looking at the door.

"It's not so bad. He's just doing what he thinks will keep me safe. You know how he is." Rika and Torren looked at her. Rika grinned, the mood she was in vanishing in an instant.

"So," Rika said.

"You don't know, huh?" Shai turned her mug in her hands.

"I've noticed him looking sometimes. Not in a way that makes me uncomfortable, just." She stopped.

"He looks and then looks away, like he's shy around me. I've seen people do that in the past but it was obvious they were looking at me like how a peasant might sneak glances at a passing noble. I don't like that. Leo feels different. And when the others tease him about it he just goes red and takes it. Doesn't make it into something." Rika opened her mouth. Torren gave her a look and she closed it, reaching for her mug instead.

"When he speaks to me he treats me like anyone else," Shai said.

"It's strange how much that stands out." She paused.

"I asked him to tell me more about anime on the way into the pub. This was after Phil tried to embarrass him. He said okay and smiled at me. That must have taken courage given the timing." She smiled. Rika looked at Torren over the rim of her mug.

"Sounds like a lot more than 'I don't know'," Rika said softly. Shai smiled at her tea.

"Not yet."

The morning was cool and dark at the edges. Leo came out with a travel cup, the coffee inside doing most of the work of making him functional. Phil was already on the pavement, eyes half open, another travel cup in hand. Parmo appeared a minute later looking like a man who had agreed to something in his sleep and was only now understanding what. The trainers came out of their houses at the same time, joining the group without ceremony. Kai was already looking sharp, which Leo found deeply unreasonable at this hour.

Rika fell into step beside Lucian as they turned onto the street.

"How did you sleep?" she asked.

"Later than I wanted," he said.

"Kept hearing things from next door." Rika grinned.

"I can probably guess what kind of things." Lucian stopped walking for half a step. Looked at her.

"How long has that been going on?"

"No idea," she said.

"I found them behind the barracks a few days ago though." He laughed quietly.

"I'll keep quiet about it."

"Good," Rika said.

"Don't want to spoil it. Watching them pretend not to get on is my favourite pastime at the minute." She paused, glancing ahead.

"Well. That and..." She looked across at Leo, who was walking near the back of the group, eyes forward.

"And what?" Lucian said.

"Nothing," she said.

"Talking to myself." She was already moving, dropping back through the group until she reached Parmo and Torren. Whatever she said made Parmo's head turn and Torren's shoulders start to shake. Leo was towards the back of the group, half listening to Sam saying something about the Codex and what had gone in overnight. He glanced past Sam and looked at Shai. Shai was a few paces away, walking alongside Kai, saying something he couldn't hear. She turned her head slightly, caught him looking, and smiled.

He looked away. Sam was still talking. Leo nodded along and kept his eyes forward. The training ground was bigger than the day before. Someone had been out early, the grass cut back further, the corner posts moved out to mark the new boundary. A row of equipment from the gym sat along one edge, barbells, benches, a rack of kettlebells, all of it pulled from Max's inventory and arranged along the edge before anyone else had arrived.

People were already waiting when the group arrived, more than yesterday, gathered in loose clusters along the near side. A few faces Leo recognised from the day before, most he didn't. Word had spread fast. Shai looked across the ground, taking it in.

"Right," she said.

"Let's get started." Max was already moving before Shai finished speaking, crossing to meet the newcomers with a phone in hand. He'd spent part of the previous evening sorting it, a spare from the phone shop in town, software transferred across using a cable and a laptop Mike had signed off on charging. Solar was rationed carefully and anything drawing from it needed approval, but Mike hadn't hesitated when Max explained what it was for.

He'd pulled Mars aside to show him how to run the test, walking him through it while the newcomers lined up. Once Mars had it down Max would hand it off entirely and get back to his own training. Aldric would pick him up where he'd missed. The original group peeled away from the newcomers without being told, finding their trainers. Leo fell in with Kai. Yesterday Kai had said perhaps ten words across the entire session. Today he spoke from the moment Leo took his first stance.

"Feet wider. You're giving yourself nowhere to go when you need to move." Leo adjusted.

"Guard up. You dropped it when you shifted your weight forward yesterday and you're doing it again." Leo brought it up.

"Again." He reset and found the stance. Kai walked a slow circle around him, looking at the line of the blade, the angle of his shoulders, where his weight was sitting.

"Again. Faster." Across the ground Shai was working with Phil, correcting his off hand for the third time that morning. She glanced over once, noticed Kai's posture, and looked back at Phil. She'd be having words later. At the next break in her session Shai crossed to the edge of the ground where the second group of guards from Stonehall had arrived and were waiting.

She kept it brief, pointing out the directions she needed covered, the southern edge where the wall was going up, the north where the Wilds started, a few to watch the west in between. She told them she'd find them properly once training was done, give them the full picture then. For now just eyes on the town's edges, nothing more. They nodded and dispersed without needing anything else said. She turned and walked back to her group.