Page 17 of Ryld's Shadows
“A reasonable choice, little brother,” Kai said in drow, then switched back to the human language. “Very good. I’ll have a car come round since Hank should pack some things before heading to your apartment. Too much traveling for tired people otherwise.” Kai tapped a forefinger against his teeth. “One moment, though.”
He vanished through the trees, so quick and graceful he might not have been there, and Ryld suffered a rise in anxious thoughts again. Had he changed his mind?
He was back in a moment, though, holding a paper-wrapped packet out to Ryld. “You should have two shoes for going home.”
Ryld accepted the package and bowed his head. “Thank you, Kai Hiltas.”
* * * *
The world outside of the AURA building had not changed, but it seemed much larger all the same. For a time, when he had first been ripped from his world and found himself on a forested mountain, Ryld had been alone. Truly alone. For the first time ever. It had been terrifying and exciting in equal measure. He didn’t know for how long he was alone on the mountain. Long enough to have found a shallow depression that could barely be called a cave and make it his home. Long enough for the seasons to change from cold to warm to cold again. Long enough he had thought perhaps the drow ritual leaders were wrong about what became of a person after death, and perhaps the world he’d found himself in was the afterlife.
Then the strange people had come. Humans. He didn’t know that was what they were at the time. They had been kind, coaxed him with their strange words and food to come down from the mountain into the valley where a lot more humans lived. He’d started to learn their language and he’d learned their fear of the great spiders that had come to their home. One day the humans all gathered and built a large fire in a pit and made mounds of food. They’d laughed, shouted, danced and played music that had hurt Ryld’s ears, then stars started to explode in the night sky and Ryld had fled. The shadows that got away from him were huge. He had heard screams…and sometime later he was taken to another wondrous place and met Lysander. He learned he was not in the afterlife and learned many other things. This new wondrous place would be his new home.
Hank had a home too. The building he lived in reminded Ryld more of a hive. Many, many small rooms behind locked doors. They weren’t all Hank’s rooms, of course. They were shared by many, many people.
The building Ryld lived in was smaller, but the rooms were larger. “My minders have all lived in the other bedroom in my apartment. Would it be…is it acceptable for a companion to stay in the same room my minders used?”
Hank didn’t sigh. Didn’t make a face. He considered the question. “I’d say yes. It’s your apartment, right? So, you can tell me what space I can use.”
“Hank.”
Hank looked up from the bag he was packing.
“Are you unhappy? This is your home. I wouldn’t be happy if I had to leave my home.”
“Oh.” Hank looked around the room as if seeing it for the first time. “Things haven’t gone the way I’d planned. That did make me unhappy. But the apartment’s just a place to sleep. To come back to after work. It’s never beenhome? Not really. So I’m not unhappy about leaving for a bit.”
“It’s a shithole,” Ryld said. He shifted on his feet uncertainly. “That’s what a place you don’t want to live in but have to stay at is called, isn’t it?”
Hank let out one of his soft, warm laughs. They reminded Ryld of the fuzzy fabric humans sometimes used for blankets. “I guess it is kind of a shithole. Ihavelived in worse places, when I was first trying to make my own way here. But yeah. Kind of a shithole.”
Ryld smiled. He was sure the sharpness of his teeth was showing and made an effort to smile with his lips closed. He liked Hank’s laugh. He didn’t entirely understand what had made him laugh, but unlike most times when he didn’t understand laughter, Hank’s laugh felt good.
Once Hank had gathered all the things he thought he might need, they left the apartment. The driver helped Hank put his belongings in the back of the car and then they were off.
It was different having a companion already. Hank didn’t watch him constantly, for one thing. He hadn’t grabbed him or directed him once. He hadn’t reminded him of everything he needed to do. He was just there beside him. He told Hank, “I’m glad you won’t have to stay in your shithole tonight.”
“You know what? Me too.” Hank’s smile had to work around his tusks, but it was still a smile. “And it’ll be nice not being alone.”
Yes. It will.
By the time they arrived at the building Ryld lived in, he was thinking of food. “Are you hungry?”
“I am. What do you usually do for dinner?”
“I eat food. Most things. Sometimes a food looks good but tastes bad. And sometimes it looks like poison but isn’t. What type of food do you like?”
“I’ll eat just about anything. Half-goblin, half-human, I get all the omnivorous stuff going on. I really like cheese, though.”
Ryld nodded. “They each have their own names and taste different, but are all still cheese,” he recited, then smiled at Hank. “Like a family.”
“The cheese family is a large one.” Hank said it seriously, though his eyes sparkled. He took his bags from the car and swept one of them toward the building. “Lead on. I like your building better than mine already.”
“It’s not a shithole,” Ryld agreed. “I have cheese. A few kinds. Maybe they’re cousins.” He led the way into the lobby, slowing as they passed the rows of mailboxes. Hank didn’t remind him to check his box for mail. He reached the elevator doors and decided he would get the mail tomorrow.
Hank looked around at everything with interest rather than growing annoyed that the elevator didn’t come more quickly. When Ryld opened the door to his apartment, his new companion stopped in the threshold. “Wow. This is…wow. This is really nice.”
“It’s much better than the cave I lived in,” Ryld agreed. “If it’s too hot, or too cold, you press these buttons.” He showed Hank the thermostat on the wall. “This space is all one room, but you can tell by the items where the kitchen is, the table to eat on and the sofa and chairs over there for relaxing. Down here are the bedrooms and bathroom.” He led Hank to the first bedroom and opened the door.
