She opened her mouth as if to debate the merits of wrapping one’s manly bits in an extra layer of cloth, but then closed it again, before dropping one pair in. “But they’re good for swimming, too,” she pointed out. “There’s far too much skin showing in this place. Gives an older woman palpitations.”
“Good thing, then, that there aren’t any older women around,” I stated easily.
Constance laughed. “Flattery will get you everywhere. And no, I’m not that old, really. It’s just that I’m surrounded by a bunch of fresh-faced babies.” She handed me the pack. “Now, I just have to get your envelope…” She returned to the desk and dug out a large one from the filing cabinet alongside it. “Your class outline and general info are in there.” Opening a drawer, she sifted through it. “Ah. Here we go.” This, as she handed me a key on an elastic loop. “Half the students don’t lock up, but if you are storing that,” she pointed to the sword, “I would. If you want it more secure, we do have a safe here.”
I took the key and envelope, and then followed her back out of the office, down the hall, and into the foyer.
The elevators were busy with the evacuees, so we took the stairs. The dizziness abated with every forward step. As we rose through the levels, Constance gave me the lowdown of what was on each. My stride hitched when we passed the fourth, and I smelled food. Students passed us, carrying trays destined for the refugees.
Constance noticed my interest and smiled at me. “You can visit there once I show you your room.”
So I continued to follow her up to the fifth floor, where she pointed out the washrooms and took me down a side hall to a room with a Dragon pictogram on it. As someone who might never again fly as a Dragon, it seemed strange to be on a team with that name.
Before I could dwell too much on that, Constance stopped outside the door and rapped on it. When there was no answer, she turned the knob, and it opened.
It contained two oversized beds separated by twin dressers that sat beneath a large window. One dresser had a stack of books on it, and the neatly made bed on that side had a few spare cushions. So I tossed my pack on the other bed.
Constance surveyed the other side of the room. “Sid has a few more personal items than most,” she said. “Some of those books are from our library—it has a large fiction section as well as references.” She straightened. “I have to get back out there. Because leaving the headmaster to organize will have me sorting out the mess for a week.”
“Thanks a bunch, Constance.” I smiled at her, which seemed to freeze her to the spot for a moment.
Then she smiled back. “If you have any issues, just come see me.” And she left, closing the door behind her.
I walked to the window and looked out across the busy meadow. All those poor people had left their entire lives behind. Was it better, or worse, to remember what you’d lost?
I didn’t know the answer.
Constance had only been gone a few minutes when the door opened again, and Sid came in.
I looked up. And up. I’d worked with him at the eruption, but crap, put into the context of a room—my mouth might have fallen open, but I was too astonished to verify it. I was pretty sure I’d never seen anyone that big. He certainly qualified for the description of giant.
A truly huge man. I managed to close my mouth. Had I ever met an Anisau before the eruption? I had no idea.
He took one long stride in before coming to a halt. His sandy hair was wet and his skin damp—he’d clearly just come from the showers. He had a towel slung around his neck.
“Hullo, Riggs,” he said with a grin. “See you found your way to your bed.”
“Seems so.”
He shoved his chin toward the window. “Are they getting things under control out there? Those poor people. I didn’t know what I could do to help, and Bess sent me away. Said I was scaring them.” He shrugged and plunked himself down on the bed, which groaned ominously. Then he began to vigorously rub his thick hair with the towel. Droplets of water flew everywhere. “If they’re afraid of my human, they ought to meet my beast.”
“They’ve been through a lot.” I unslung the sword from my back and laid it on the bed. “I think Constance and Tyrez are getting them settled, though.”
His eyes followed the sword’s progress to the coverlet. “That’s one helluva sword.”
I didn’t know what to say, but my mouth opened and I blurted out, “It was a gift.”
His deep brown eyes flared yellow for just a moment, before he dropped the towel to the ground. “We all arrive with bits of our past attached. Yours is just more interesting than most.”
It was such an insightful comment that my brain struggled to equate it with the bits and pieces of memory I dredged up. Something about his kind being ruled by emotion? Of being closer to the animal than many shifters? The intelligence that gleamed at me from his eyes belied all of it.
I sat myself down on my bed, watched as he fluffed the pillows into a pile, and leaned back on them. Then he opened the top dresser drawer and pulled out a pair of glasses with half-lenses. He perched them on his broad nose and opened a book to a marked page. “I brought lots of books with me, but I shouldn’t have bothered because the library has plenty.”
Somehow watching a giant Anisau sitting on fluffed cushions, with reading glasses perched on his nose, led me to the decision that forming new memories was more important than continuing to try dredging up old, broken ones.
Into the sudden, peaceful silence, my stomach growled.
Sid arched a bushy brow, sighed, and set aside both his book and his glasses.
