Chapter Sixteen
Later that day, after she had done everything that needed done at Kai’s shop, Austin was sitting outside her tent. She flipped through the pages of a book Kai had given her, the pages illuminated by the dying sun. Kai’s name was on the cover, so it was obvious that he had written it, but she didn’t think it was fiction. The issues seemed too real, the people too real. She was only on the first few pages, but from what she could tell, it was about a chaos dragon captured by Anathaem’s guards.
She looked up when she heard leaves crunch and saw Aiden limping forwards, drenched in blood.
When she saw him, she didn’t think. She couldn’t think. If she allowed herself to think, she would explode from worry. She tossed the book aside and grabbed at Aiden’s shirt, forgetting to be gentle. She searched his body for cuts, cataloging each one that she found.
“Austin, stop panicking. I’m okay,” Aiden said, holding her by the shoulders. He slowly pushed her away.
“You are not okay,” she argued, looking over him again. He had cuts on his face and arms. Blood was staining his shirt, which was sliced in many places, so she guessed he had more injuries there, too. He had drying blood on his face, crusting over his eyebrow, “There are chaos out there. What if you got hurt? My god, Aiden. You might be a good fighter, but you can’t just go out alone.”
“I was with Derrick, so I wasn’t alone. Besides, most of it isn’t my blood,” to prove his point, he shamelessly took off his shirt. His body was clear of any major injuries, save for a nasty cut that ran across his chest.
“Why don’t you have a water dragon heal this?” she brought out box of bandages she had stashed in her tent, another present from Kai, and nearly pushed Aiden to the ground as she patched him up. She started with the still bleeding gash on his chest.
“I like to heal naturally, if at all possible. It keeps me from getting careless,” he said, not bothered at all by the fact that Austin was so close to him, “And we’ve had a chaos prisoner here for the past few days. A group of them attacked us, trying to rescue it.”
“Did they?” Austin asked. She wiped her hands on her jeans to clean them, and placed a fresh bandage on another cut. He rolled his shoulder.
“Fortunately, no,” he shrugged, “Although we didn’t take any new ones. Not today.”
“You killed them?” she asked. When Aiden nodded, she mumbled, “Oh.”
The pit in her stomach grew heavier. She didn’t understand why. They were chaos, and on top of that, they hurt Aiden. They deserved to die.
“Have you fallen for me yet?” he asked suddenly. Austin’s hands froze.
“Aiden, I’m not going to,” she said, her eyes focused on the cut she was trying to fix up.
“Have you fallen for Kai instead? Because I doubt that will work out well,” Aiden said, chuckling. She purposely put pressure on a painful looking wound, and he winced, “I just asked because I saw him on my way home. He seemed troubled.”
“I’m not going to fall for Kai, so you don’t have to worry about that,” she said, shrugging, “And why are you such a jerk to him?”
She wasn’t going to let that issue go. Aiden wasn’t allowed to be a jerk, especially not to Kai. She and him had somehow become close friends in such a short time.
“He’s a storyteller,” he said, as if that covered everything. Austin punched him lightly not-so-lightly on his upper arm.
“He said that you used to be cool,” she prodded, “Back in the human world.”
“In the human dimension, he was more of a guardian and less of a storyteller,” he was disappointed. Austin knew that, in his eyes, she was just being difficult.
“That’s bull,” she snapped, standing up. She didn’t tolerate this in children, and she definitely didn’t tolerate it with Aiden. She was just tired of this storyteller prejudice, “I’m going to see what’s wrong with Kai and I’ll be back tomorrow morning for practice. Goodbye.”
She grabbed her bag from inside her tent, which she had yet to unpack, stuffed Kai’s book into it, and marched away. Aiden knew her well enough that, when she was having a fit, he didn’t try to stop her. Maybe he should have.
By the time Austin pushed open the door to Kai’s shop, she calmed down. The shop was empty, but she doubted Kai had left without locking the door. She searched for him and found him at his desk with his face in his hands. He didn’t make a sound, so Austin thought h was asleep. She crept back downstairs and went to the kitchen. Struck with an idea, a brilliant idea, she found the tea bags and cups. Kai did say that tea solved the world’s problems.
“Why on earth would you use that kind?” Kai asked from behind her. She dropped the box and a dozen miniature bags fell out. She put them back and shoved the box away, “Which would you prefer?”
“I keep good tea on the upper right shelf,” he reached for a box, “I’ll make it. I doubt you’ve used anything but bags before now.”
She didn’t like the condescending tone he used. She snatched the box and pushed him away, familiarizing herself with the kitchen. The dishes were piling up in the sink, mostly bowls and cracked cups. The doors to the cabinets were wide open, showing how overstuffed they were with boxes of tea and ramen. Notebooks, fiction books, cookbooks, and even more boxes of tea cluttered the counter. No wonder Kai kept the door to this room shut. It was a mess.
“Teach me how,” she ordered, wanting to feel useful. She took out a cup from the crowded cabinet, only to be stopped by Kai. She put it back slowly and reached for the tea kettle, waiting for his nod of approval.
He nodded.
She filled it with water straight from the tap. She ignored his sound of discontent. He could deal with having tap water. She put the kettle over the stove, switching the temperature to high, “I have no idea what to do after this.”
“It’ll be a few minutes until it boils,” Kai said, “Warm some milk while we wait.”
“Should I be taking notes?” she teased, doing just as he said. She dug through the refrigerator, which was miraculously organized, and took out the milk. She poured the creamy liquid into a bowl, setting it over a low flame.
“Warm the pot, too,” he said. She followed his gaze to a light blue teapot, glazed over from years of use. She filled the pot with hot water, dumping it out once the pot grew warm. The kettle whistled and she lost her grip on it. She watched, her eyes wide with horror, as the pot hurtled towards the ground.
Kai grabbed it, his hands neatly closing around the handle. He placed it carefully in her hands, “Careful. That’s almost as old as I am.”
“Really?” she asked. He chuckled and shook his head, but in such a way that she couldn’t tell if that was a yes or a no.
“Now what?” she asked. She held up the box of tea, “Is it time?”
Kai nodded and she whipped out a spoon. She heaped on the tea leaves and went to dump it into the tea strainer. Kai’s hand on her arm stopped her.
“That’s way too much,” Kai said, moving her hand so that the spoon rested over the open box. He shook out most of the contents and then moved her again so that she would put it into the teapot instead, “You put the leaves here.”
“I really should be taking notes,” she laughed, doing as he said. Following his next instructions, she poured water in from the kettle and left the tea to steep, “It really is different than normal tea.”
“I would think so,” Kai said, sitting down in one of the chairs. He moved a pile of books from the center of the table to the floor, “This was kind of you, Austin.”
“How do you know I wasn’t just using you? It’s always been a life goal of mine to open a tea shop,” she said offhandedly, grinning, “I just needed to learn how to make the tea.”
“That’s a lie. You wanted to be a horse, then you wanted to own horses, and then you wanted to be a cowgirl. What do you want to be now?” he asked. Kai was sett
ling back into his role as her guardian, and Austin wondered if that was such a bad thing.
“I’m pretty content with being the storyteller’s assistant, actually,” she said, looking in the pot. A few minutes had gone by, and the liquid was a dark brown. She brought the pot to the table, as well as two small cups and the milk.
She tilted the detailed tea pot slowly, not wanting it to spill the tea that she had worked so hard to make. The tea ran out and the first two drops hit the center of Kai’s cup, its dark appearance contrasting heavily with the white ceramic. She adjusted the tilt, fearing that it was coming out too quickly, and that caused it to miss the cup entirely, running over the pot and scalding her hand that supported its spout. She flinched, but managed to keep her hold on the pot firm. Kai stood up to help her.
His hands folded over hers, cold in both temperature and emotion, and his movements were quick and precise. Once the dark tea filled his cup halfway, he let go of her hands, choosing then to mop up the mess she had made with a thick napkin.
She was now used to the sudden contact between them, so it didn’t affect her. She calmly poured her own tea, replicating what Kai had done. Most of the tea went into the cup this time. Its smell, a sweet scene that reminded her of honey, permeated the kitchen air.
She inspected her cup, now holding it in both hands. A blue spiraling line followed the rim, the only detail on the otherwise plain white cup. The tea was dark, so dark that she couldn’t see the bottom, and that made her suspicious. Wasn’t tea supposed to be light and see through? What Kai had made for her last night, when he thought she was in shock, had been like that. Still, she tried it, watching Kai’s expression as he did the same.
He grimaced just as the liquid hit Austin’s tongue. Her expression changed, but in the exact opposite way than Kai’s had. Her lips curled around the cup’s edge in a smile. It tasted just as it smelled, which meant that it tasted insanely sweet, almost like juice.
The hot tea filled her mouth and she swallowed, feeling it warm her from the inside out, “This is amazing.”
It’s good,” Kai agreed halfheartedly. In a lower voice, he added, “For a first attempt.”
“It’s amazing,” she said again, silently daring him to argue. He did.
“It gets better,” he replied, but raised the cup to his mouth once more.
“Liar,” she said, pouring her own cup. When she tasted it, she couldn’t see what got him into such a fuss. It tasted perfectly fine to her. Better, even, than what she was used to drinking, “It does not get better than this.”
Kai added more than enough milk to his, hesitating before he asked, “Did you mean that?”
“About you lying? No, because you are a liar if you think this tea is stupid,” she said decisively, sitting down across from him. She smiled.
“No, about you being content with being my assistant,” he looked down into his teacup. She leaned over and touched his hand affectionately, thinking that physical contact would make him feel better. It didn’t, at least not visibly.
“Well yes, but I didn’t come here to be your assistant. This was a social call,” she shrugged, taking another sip. She really liked this kind of tea. The flavors were richer and more mysterious. She remembered having some that tasted like this yesterday, when Kai thought she was in shock.
“Most people don’t pay me social calls,” Kai said, “Especially not when they get to know me.”
“Are we talking about Derrick?” Austin asked. Kai shrugged and she knew she had guessed right, “I don’t care who you’re into, Kai.”
“Are you sure? You don’t have to spare my feelings,” Kai’s fingers tightened around the fragile cup, “It doesn’t bother me when people leave.”
Austin stared at him, her mouth still curved into a sad smile. Kai was old, she knew, but maybe he was too old. She couldn’t imagine how lonely he must feel if he thinks everyone will leave him in the end, “I’ll stay. You don’t have to worry about me.”
“Everyone promises that. Dustin, Chelsea, and now you,” Kai’s glasses were sliding down his nose, revealing the wet eyes beneath. Kai either didn’t notice or didn’t care, probably the former.
“Losing your girlfriend must have been hard,” Austin told him, latching onto the only thing she could. Kai said Dustin’s name with a familiarity that only comes with friendship, and that confused her. She couldn’t bring that up now, though. Not when Kai was so unsteady.
“I’m gay, not bisexual,” Kai informed her, open about it. She didn’t think that he would be, after how nervous he had been when she found out.
“What?” she asked. She distinctly remembered seeing them walking through the halls, his arm slung around Chelsea’s slender frame. They were a couple. Her throat closed as she remembered how happy her lab partner had been. She was always so happy.
“Chelsea was not my girlfriend,” Kai said, “That was our cover story. We needed an excuse to always be together, an excuse that humans would understand. Dragons don’t assume that a girl and a boy are automatically together, but humans do. We went with it.”
“She was my best friend for the better part of thirty years,” as if an afterthought, Kai added, “She liked me. I never told her about Derrick, and she liked me.”
The cup slid from his grasp, hitting the table and spilling its contents all over Kai. Once it had done its damage, it rolled off the table. Kai didn’t catch it, and Austin winced as she heard it break.
“I stood by as she threw herself in Dustin’s way. I stood by as she died,” Kai bent down and picked up the pieces, the edges slicing into his palms. Austin sighed stood up. She dug through his cabinets, looking for something to fix up the cuts that she knew he had gotten. The shelves were a mess, the complete opposite of the organized shelves that stood outside the kitchen. It was impossible to find anything here that wasn’t a book.
By chance, she stumbled across a box full of bandages.
“It wasn’t your fault,” she said, ripping open the packaging. Kai swatted her hands away and took the bandages himself. He picked out the pieces of glass in his skin and wrapped the gauze around it. Water dragons must not be able to fix themselves up.
“Yes, it was,” he said. His shoulders dropped, “It’s my fault in every single way. I was there when Dustin was growing up, but I wasn’t there for him. His parents were gone, but I could have raised him. I could have protected him when the chaos came. But I didn’t. I stood by and watched, which is something I seem to do a lot.”
“You knew him before he was a chaos?” she asked, her auburn eyes flashing.
Kai nodded, “I watched him grow up. His parents were gone, missing but presumed dead. Even so, you could never get him to stop smiling. He would come into my shop most cold days to warm up, but he never read. I could have been there for him, but I wasn’t. I could have saved him from what he is now, but I didn’t. I was there when the chaos raided our city, near twenty years ago. I watched as they took him away. He screamed for help, and I watched. Stand by and watch, that’s what I do best.”
“You never mentioned knowing him,” she said, her voice blank.
“We’re discouraged from doing so,” Kai said calmly, throwing the sharp pieces into a trash bag, “No one talks about the chaos except to condemn them. We may mourn the dead, but we may not mourn the chaos. We cannot remember the people they used to be. We can only curse them. We can wish them dead.”
“Still, not your fault,” she managed to say. Kai’s words were bursting out of him now, and even just listening to him made Austin dizzy.
“Of course it is. He kills people, Austin. He kills and kills and kills. He murders. Sometimes he gets creative with them, but most of the time it’s quick. Emotionless. Killing is second nature to him now,” Kai’s eyes were wide now, crazy, “You are one of the few to ever escape. He kept you like a pet, or maybe he managed to make you believe that
you two were family. It doesn’t matter, does it? He’s a monster now. He killed so many people. He killed Chelsea.”
Austin didn’t want to hear this anymore. She was fine with being here, but she wasn’t ready to hear about Dustin. Not tonight. She grabbed a pen off the counter and shoved it into his gauzed hand, “Write. That’s what you do, isn’t it? It sounds like you have more words than you know what to do with.”
“Yeah,” he nodded slowly, somehow managing to still look eager at the idea, “Yeah. Stay here. Drink tea. I’ll be upstairs for a few hours.”
She ignored what he said and followed him up the stairs. He sat on the desk and fed a piece into his antique typewriter, so involved with his actions that he didn’t notice Austin.
His fingers ran across the letters, typing faster than Austin thought was possible. He never seemed to run out of words. Austin was more impressed with that than Aiden’s sword fighting, but she didn’t say that. It might seem like too much of a compliment.
“What are you writing?” she asked, taking a seat on the floor. She leaned against a shelf full of books Kai had written.
He didn’t take his eyes away from the keyboard, “A letter.”
“Oh,” she nodded. She fell asleep that way, with hardback books as an uncomfortable cushion. Her dreams were peaceful for the first time in months, filled with the sounds of typewriters and paper.
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