While she was distracted, the lady bug finally lodged itself against her ear drum.
Seeing Elena wasn't moving, Fyr gestured at her boots. "Aren't you going to wear them?"
Elena slowly reached for them. "Of course."
Grabbing the boots, she stuffed her feet into them one-by-one.
"Testing, testing. One. Two. Three," Uncle Jin said, sounding like he was right next to her. "There we go. Now, we can talk freely."
At least he could, anyway.
"Let's go," Fyr said impatiently.
The blankets shifted as the lu-ong spawn slithered under the hem of Elena's shirt, hitching a ride. He wound up her back to her shoulder and then down her right arm where he curled around her bicep.
"Don't worry, Elena. I’m here," Uncle Jin said.
Fyr gave Elena a suspicious look. "Why are you smiling?"
Elena hopped down from the bed. "Just happy to be alive, I guess."
"And that's how you're going to stay," Uncle Jin exclaimed.
The makings of another smile tugged at Elena's lips before she controlled her expression. It wouldn't do to seem too happy in the current situation. Fyr might actually start to think that she'd lost her mind.
Fyr shook his head, striding out of the room with a disgusted mutter.
"What a rude bastard," Uncle Jin grumbled. "Don't worry, Elena. You could take him if you had to."
I know, Uncle Jin, Elena answered silently, hurrying to catch up.
"You don't like me," Elena called at Fyr's back.
"I barely know you."
Elena walked beside Fyr, her hands clasped behind her. "Is it because of the other children? Are you afraid my presence means bad things for them?"
Aunt Kira used to always say that Aunt Selene had the best poker-face she'd ever seen. To most, she was inscrutable.
It made her hard to read and led some to believe she was incapable of emotion.
That wasn't the case. Elena's aunt felt deeply. Sometimes too much so. She was just better at hiding her feelings.
As a result, Elena had gotten good at reading the micro expressions of others.
It was why she noticed the faint flex of Fyr's forearms. The way the muscles in his back and shoulders tightened before he forced them to relax.
"What would you know about that?" he asked.
Elena lifted a shoulder in a careless shrug. "Just a little."
Fyr stopped to face her. "You pulled your last blow."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Is this a game to you?"
Elena scowled. "Of course not."
What kind of person would dare play with life-and-death stakes?
Fyr resumed walking. "You certainly act like it."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing," Fyr said dismissively. "You're right, new girl. Your presence here threatens our survival. For you to live, one of us must die. Stop trying to be friends with us. If you want to survive, you'll have to do it on your own."
Fyr didn't say anything else after that, ignoring every attempt by Elena to strike up a conversation. Even when they reached the crèche, he remained stubbornly silent, disappearing into his room and leaving her standing alone in the common area.
"He has a point," Uncle Jin said softly. "These children don't have the luxury of caring about others when they can barely keep themselves alive."
"You're not like that. Aunt Kira isn't either."
"Your aunt's a strange bird. No one else in the universe would have come back for me in the circumstances she did. They would have taken the escape the forty three offered. It's why I'd die for her. Why she'd die for me too. But you can't judge others by those standards."
Elena glanced at Fyr's room.
The conversation she'd overheard made her think Fyr wasn't so simple. He was protective of his companions. If he wasn't, he wouldn't care about Elena's presence.
Like Uncle Jin said, caring was a luxury. For Fyr to go to such lengths, it pointed to a strength similar to her auntie’s.
Maybe that was why she didn't hate him the way she should.
With a heavy heart, Elena headed for her quarters.
Pulling open the door, she froze.
"Hello, child," Elise said calmly from her seat on Elena's cot. "I think you have some explaining to do."
Kira - Rothchild
Kira rolled onto her back, burrowing deeper into the covers as she fought the tug of sleep. Not quite willing to start her day, she cracked her eyelids, coming a little more awake as she spotted Graydon's fully dressed form leaning over her.