Page 30 of Ryld's Shadows
Chapter Seven
“The researchers are still uncertain how this section of woodlands became a swamp, but it seems to have stopped growing.” Ryld looked over a railing into what used to be a small pond and now was a boggy area that stretched all the way from The Pond in the lower southeast corner of Central Park almost all the way to Wollman Rink and the Central Park Zoo. “They have renamed it a nature sanctuary. It’s now both a nature sanctuary and protected boggle habitat.”
“Really?” Hank leaned over the railing too to stare down into the water. “I didn’t realize boggles lived in Central Park. That’s… I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at something like that, but it makes me happy somehow.”
They walked a bit farther, and Ryld felt a strange, unsettled hollowness inside when Hank didn’t take his hand. It hadn’t been a good day. Counseling often made him feel better. Today, it had not. He knew Hank was trying to cheer him up with a walk in the park, which was nice of Hank.
“So, Ryld, bud, what happened up there today?” Hank walked slowly with his hands in his pockets. “We were having a nice chat. Mr. Hiltas mentions the place out west andpoof. It wasn’t a nice chat anymore, and I got worried.”
“Kai Hiltas is much different than other drow, but he is still drow.”
“True. How does that apply to the question though?”
Ryld drew a shape in the air with his finger, connecting invisible dots. “Always moving the game pieces. It’s our nature.” He paused. “I’m not sure I want to be a game piece.”
“He’s definitely a canny one, and I’d never say that I knew everything he’s thinking.” Hank withdrew a hand from his pocket and offered it to Ryld. “I get not wanting to be used in someone’s games. Especially when it’s someone as smart as Mr. Hiltas. But I do think his game in this case is trying to get as much help for you as he can.”
Ryld slipped his hand into Hank’s and instantly felt better. “I like my home here. I like that there are many humans, and not only elves. I like you. And you are here.”
“I like you, too.” Hank gave him one of those half-smiles before his expression became serious again. “So, Mr. Hiltas was talking about a trip. Not a move. When you go somewhere for a short time—to see something new or to learn something new—and then when you’re done, you come back home. No one’s saying you need to change your home. Or not come back. Or—and he should’ve said this, shame on him—that I couldn’t go with you.”
“Yes. It’s helpful to have that information.”
They continued to walk on the path and after a few moments Hank asked, “Does having that information change your mind?”
Ryld hesitated. “No. Change is hard. I’m told it’s not just me that finds it hard. But other people don’t have the shadows. It’s a great distance away. It will take a long time. It’s almost certain that just in travelling there might bea scene.”
“Okay.” Hank lifted Ryld’s hand and kissed the backs of his fingers, just a quick gesture, but a welcome one. “I don’t want it to sound like I’m trying to change your mind, but I do want to make sure you have all the information. They can’t risk putting you on a bus or, goddesses forbid, an airplane, but they do have humans here who make portals. We could step right through, from here to there. No travel time at all.”
Ryld kept his eyes ahead on the trail but glanced at Hank from the corner of his eye. “Yes. I was brought here from the mountains using a portal. I’m not allowed near one ever again. That’s what the officer in charge of monitoring Events that day said. Kai Hiltas told me one of the shadow creatures destroyed an entire room full of expensive equipment before he was able to banish it. He didn’t say the equipment was expensive, but that’s the only sort they have.”
“Oops. But he still wants to help you.” Hank chuckled softly. “He really isn’t like other drow. Anyway—if he’s suggested a trip, he’ll have thought of a way. I don’t think his brain stops even when he’s sleeping.”
“That’s correct, the cerebral cortex continues to function during sleep in mammals,” Ryld confirmed. Hank smiled in that way he did when he found something amusing, and Ryld smiled back at him. “That was a joke. Even though it’s true.”
“An excellent one.” Hank turned them down the path toward a more wooded area, probably seeking shade for both of them.
Ryld was glad for the shade, and that Hank was so thoughtful. The heat of the day didn’t bother him as much as the brightness. Sunglasses helped, but staying out of the sun was optimal. Another smaller path ended in an area with a bench. A huge weeping willow cast ample shade and almost hid the bench from view. Ryld walked through the long hanging fronds.
“It’s like a green cave.”
“Nice and dim.” Hank took his sunglasses off, tucked them in his shirt pocket, and tugged Ryld gently toward the bench. “Let’s sit down a second. Just enjoy the shade.”
Ryld sat and pushed his own glasses up onto his head. Hank still held his hand and was absently tracing circles over Ryld’s knuckles with his thumb. It was very peaceful, enough that his early stress over the idea of travelling seemed like it had happened a long time ago.
“Hank?”
“Hm?”
“Do your tusks hinder kissing?”
Hank gave him a sidelong look. “Not entirely. Whoever’s kissing me has to be a little careful, of course. And I can’t do those wide-open-mouthed, face-devouring kisses humans do.”
Ryld looked at him, horrified at the thought. He made a mental note to re-research human mating practices. “Devouring a face doesn’t seem productive.”
“Sorry. That was figurative. They don’t really eat each other’s faces. They’re just really big, wet, sloppy kisses and you know what? Even those sound kinda gross.” He added hastily, “Not that I think humans are gross.”
“Would it betaking advantageif I kissed you? Without any face devouring.”
