Page 7 of Guiding Desire
“I’ll take your screen too. Just the protector issue one. You can keep the private one on you.” Col held out his hand.
Orrey hesitated, and Senlas wondered whether he’d get to search his Conduit, a thought he could rationally examine and recognize as wrong. He was still thinking it though.
“I’m not really supposed to hand these over,” Orrey said.
Coldis smiled. “I haven’t properly introduced myself. Coldis Solara, G&C sixth rank operative. I think that means I outrank you. By a bit.”
Orrey blushed and hurried to get his screen out of a baggy pocket in his pants. “Apologies, Conduit.”
“Col’s fine. I’m getting the notion we’ll be seeing a lot of each other.”
“And where’d you get that notion?” Senlas asked.
“Careful, he’s really pissed right now,” Karmine said. He was shielding himself with one hand, not that it would stop Senlas.
“Clearly. Pissed enough to miss that his Conduit is my colleague to-be. And the little brother I’ve been hoping one of you would give me.”
The day’s brightness was shut out the moment the vehicle pulled into the Center’s underground garage. The vehicle was supposed to carry Conduits in case anything happened at the parade, and so rather than stopping, it went through two internal security barriers that opened automatically, perfectly timed by the building’s AI.
They stopped right in front of the elevators and filed out of the vehicle, Orrey only with some pulling that Senlas kept as gentle as he possibly could. On the way to the elevators, he noticed Orrey’s neck, painfully red, especially against the paler skin hidden by his collar that became visible when he dropped his head.
Now that they were walking side by side, that cap hid his face even more. Orrey pulled it off himself finally, revealing regulation short hair that still managed to be matted by sweat. Where it fanned out against his skin, the downy fringes looked to be an even brighter auburn, and Senlas wanted to touch them.
Instead, he bared his teeth at the angry red skin on Orrey’s neck. “How long did they make you stand out there?”
“Huh? Since earlier. It’s my job.” Orrey said.
The knee-jerk reaction was to tell him that, no, it wasn’t anymore. Instead, Senlas said, “It’ll be a lot easier if you accept what you are.”
“You’ll make him cry. You will actually make your Conduit cry on the very day you two met, and then I’ll have to mitigate the fallout from that for weeks to come,” Col said. The elevator doors opened automatically for him, but he spun, stopped. “I suggest instead of telling me and Karmine to shut up, you do. Also, let go of Orrey. He’s perfectly safe here, and having you all over him in the vehicle was probably enough for him to handle for the moment, yes?” he asked, pointedly looking at Orrey.
“Uh, yeah. I’m not going to run.”
Karmine didn’t even try hiding the side-eye he was giving Senlas, and Senlas, while he did let go of Orrey, hated the fact that Orrey’s mind went to running off, first and foremost. There was no reason. He was Senlas’s Conduit, and there was no changing that. There was barely reason to talk it through, and the sooner Orrey came around to that, the sooner they could make adjustments.
Only somewhere in the process of making adjustments, Senlas would find out who’d been responsible for testing Orrey as a child, and then he’d see them demoted.
“Why would you run?” Col went on. “Are you familiar with Senny and Karmine here? By reputation, I mean.”
“Uh.” Orrey stuffed his cap into a pants pocket and ran his hand through his short hair. Senlas followed the movement of Orrey’s hand, wishing it were his own. “I suppose they are A-classers?”
They moved into the elevator finally, and the doors closed behind them noiselessly.
“Sixth floor,” Col told the AI, which acknowledged with nothing but an affirmative beep before moving the cabin. “I take it you don’t have a list of favorite Guardians. Or glossy photographs on your wall?”
“I just…it’s not my thing. We all appreciate what you do, of course,” he said to Senlas and Karmine in that way people who cared more about their everyday lives than anything else often did.
Senlas didn’t mind it. He’d never lived for the fame, for all the public events, but it would have been nice to be recognized for what he was. Not to mention, it would make things a lot easier.
“Oh, understandable. Believe me, going off grounds and strolling along the streets without a Guardian in sight can be extremely relaxing. Our Senny here’s an S-classer though. And while I trained him to answer to Senny—you can thank me later—his name is Guardian Senlas Warrak.”
Orrey’s eyes widened, which told Senlas that he’d at least heard the name Warrak before, not really a surprise because there only were five S-classers in Argentea, and the news liked to remind citizens of that.
Orrey barely breathed an “Oh” before the elevator arrived.
The Center’s sixth floor was, by and large, the administrative heart of the Grounds, certainly as far as missions were concerned. In addition, those administrators of higher ranks had their offices here with Col being a notable exception. He’d opted to have his office closer to the team’s offices, one floor up.
The sixth floor was pretty, smart glass walls that showed bright, abstract patterns which changed daily. Today the color scheme was peach and lavender, five-pointed stars and waves that slowly shifted color from one end of the rainbow to the other.
