Page 30 of Evergreen Conservatory
Still, I couldn’t help it if an inquiring question or two slipped out. “Is it just me, or is Callan extra focused this morning?”
“Extra sexy, maybe,” Coral said with a smirk. I rolled my eyes.
“I’d be throwing myself into my work, too, if my mom was interfering at my college,” Yasmin said sympathetically. “I get that she’s on the Board of Regents, but still.”
I didn’t say what I was thinking, which was that Callan was facing more than interference with the school. His mom was pressuring him to go into politics when anyone who even slightly knew Callan could see that that path wouldn’t make him happy.
At the end of the class period, I strolled over to him.
“Have a second?” I asked.
He shrugged his book bag across his body. “I always have time for my tutee.” There was a playful edge in his voice, and I grinned as I fell into step alongside him.
“Want a quick tree walk? I need to collect some cellulose fibers from the silk-cotton tree for Plant Adaptations, and you can get to it more easily than me.” It was a blatant excuse to spend a few more minutes with him, but it wasn’t false.
A lazy smile pulled at the corner of his mouth. “Always tempting me with a good time. Let’s do it.”
We scaled a nearby tree, and Callan led the way while I stayed close on his heels. The trees dipped their branches together to form a solid path for him as we approached, and I matched his pace to catch the tail end of it.
“I heard one of the aquatic affinities found an assignment today,” I began.
“Right. That was Conway.”
“And it seems to be a medicine-related project,” I prompted.
“Yeah, I’m happy for him. I think it will be a good fit.”
“Maybe you can join him sometimes?”
He shook his head. “It doesn’t work like that. But I’ll make do with what I have.”
“Wait a minute. Do you know your assignment already?”
He gave a little shrug, still putting one foot in front of the other. “I found the envelope last night when I left the treehouse.”
Memory of that conversation had my cheeks burning, butthankfully, Callan was walking in front and couldn’t see me. Given that his assignment had arrived last night, he’d likely been the first one to receive an assignment, not Conway. But it fit. He wasn’t one to tell tales about himself. The news would spread like wildfire on its own, eventually, since he was a founder’s descendant.
“Do you want to tell me about it?” I didn’t want to press too hard, given what his mom had said about the plans for his future, but I was dying to know.
“It came in a pine-needle envelope when I was walking back to campus, right at the edge of the forest. It was floating past me in a rush of leaves.”
My heart rate sped up, but I kept quiet and let him continue.
“I’ll be working at one of the local field offices.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad,” I offered tentatively. The local field offices weren’t known to be overly political.
When Callan spoke again, his tone was calm, almost disassociated. “It comes with a requirement that I report our findings directly to our connections in Sacramento.”
Aw. Now, I understood, and my heart sank. Was that why he’d been quiet during class? I tried to put a positive spin on it. “Maybe you’ll have an opportunity to share some of your medical findings with the botanists in Sacramento. I’m sure once they see how much you excel at it, your advisor will have no choice but to support you in that goal.”
“I don’t know if that opportunity will arise. But maybe… Maybe you’re right,” he said after a moment.
I didn’t say the rest of what I was thinking. That life was short. Sometimes cruelly short. I closed my eyes momentarily, thinking of my mother, gone at age thirty-two. A woman so full of hopes and dreams that she could have conquered the entire world if she’d never been in that car accident. But I had never shared any of that with Callan.
I cleared my throat and stumbled forward as I missed a step.Immediately, I felt a gust of wind press along my back. Once I was stable, I noted Callan hadn’t even looked back at the disturbance.
Of course. He had made a wind cocoon for me like he had done for Aurielle and me during Orchard Lantern Tag. I hadn’t felt it this time, which meant he’d been intentionally subtle.
