Cheryl widened her eyes, and looked at the stump. “Eek! I don’t know! I hope not! Well, we’re just lucky this one is just a carving, huh?”
“Yeah.”
Cody spoke up. “What kind of animal is it supposed to be? It looks like a big dog, but it’s got those funny horns.”
“Maybe it’s a dog with a funny hat.” A younger child suggested.
“It’s a myth of some kind, like the Greek stuff!”
“Yeah okay, I know that, but what’s it’s name? All those Greek things have names.”
“Nobody knows,” Cheryl answered, “but the man that carved this stump just called it the Yute Beast.”
That seemed to satisfy the kids, but before she continued the trek, Cheryl added one more thing. “Those of you with cameras might want to make sure you get a couple good shots of the stump. Later on when you’re not allowed to use your cameras, you might wish you had!”
After that, they continued on, stopping at ruins here and there which were somewhat interesting to the adults, but mostly boring to the kids. They all could plainly see that the main attraction was getting close.
They reached the first staircase, and the teacher had to call out to a few who wanted ever-so-badly to run up them. Once on the landing, everyone could see the gap in the floor which led down to the bare ground and sand below.
“And that’s an example of why you don’t go running everywhere. Look where you leap, et cetera.” The teacher preached.
One of the would-be-runners chirped up. “I woulda seen it in time.” Probably true. The landing was large enough that unless the kid was totally out of control, things would have been fine. Still, a dark corner of Cassidy’s sense of humour wondered what it would have looked like to see the kid dash up the steps, then drop out of view with a yelp.
A quiet snicker from Cody suggested he had a similar thought.
Cheryl made a few points about the guards at the side door they went though, and the group ambled through.
The slowpokes of the group were two boys; Cody, and some younger boy who made a cunning observation about the stairs. “Wow, those are a lot of steps. These are old.” Cassidy couldn’t shake the feeling that they were straggling at the back to hang around her.
As Cassidy and her two junior escorts made it to the door, Cody stopped. He looked at the guards, one of which was Wanda, and looked at Cassidy.
“Hey.” He said to Cassidy, “You guys all have the same spear things. What’s up with those?” If he had been listening, the spears had been explained by Cheryl long ago, but kids are (as they tend to be) kids.
Cassidy was about to answer, when Wanda chimed in.
“These are replicas of the spear used by my ancestor, thousands of years ago, to defeat the Yute beast. If the beast awakens again, the sight of this spear will frighten the beast long enough for me to lead the others in the ceremonial dance that will seal the beast’s powers once again.” Wanda wielded her voice well, resounding with respect and depth.
Cody wasn’t fooled for a second, but the younger boy was wide-eyed. “Woah…really?”
Wanda smiled playfully. “Nope.”
“Let’s go,” Cassidy said, “the group is getting away from us.”
Chatter was all but silenced as the group came into the main hall. The statue gazed forward as always. It was only now that Cassidy considered how this giant must look to a child.
Some child in the group whispered. “I bet this one eats elephants!”
“Yeah.. in one bite.” another added.
Cheryl gave them some time simply to look, and absorb the immensity of it. “Anyone want a closer look?”
She was met only with mumblings of uncertainty. She thought up a way to put the kids at ease. “No one really knows what this guy’s all about, or what his name is, but I call him … Rupert. Hi, Rupert!” She waved to the statue. “Everyone else, say hi!” She waved again as a cue.
It was only a few at first, but just to play along, even the older hold-outs like Cody at least gave a “Hey, Rupert.”
“Who wants to feel his fur?” Cheryl chirped, “It’s stone, so it’s not like a real dog, but you can at least check out all the work it took to make all his shaggies!” Cheryl ran to the statue’s front paw, and took a grab. The kids followed in suit at varying speeds.
“Are we allowed? We weren’t allowed to touch the smaller wood one…”
“Yup,” Cheryl said, “I even asked. This stone’s real hard. It’d take a lot more than us to damage it. Rupert’s been surviving just fine for a very, very long time.”
“Rupert’s older than my grandpa.” One of the younger one said.
“Yeah, and I have an uncle named Rupert.”
“Really?”
“No one will get confused, they don’t look at all the same.”
Cheryl and the kids talked about the statue, the temple, the ruins, and Aeki, on and on. Cassidy just couldn’t stop watching and her attention focused closer and closer on Cheryl. She was amazing. Kind, funny, cute… sure, Cassidy had realized that before, but it wasn’t getting any less true.
Cassidy’s eyes begged for a blink now and then. She was just floating in soft thoughts, her breathing deepened, heart racing. Clear symptoms, if she had chosen to notice it.
She was snapped out of her trance when the teacher tapped her. “I said, do you have the time?”
Cassidy lifted her hand to show her bare wrist. “Nope, sorry.”
“I guess it’s not important. My watch died.”
Another of the adults overheard, and checked his watch. “Hey, mine too.. and my camera..!”
Cassidy remembered her own similar experience, and furrowed her brow. “I…. I have a feeling they’ll be fine..” This was met with mildly confused looks, but Cassidy didn’t really have anything else helpful to add. “If they’re still not working by the time we get back to the stump, let me know.”
When Cheryl felt the kids had had enough, and questions were running thin, she led everyone back outside, to head back to the helipad.
More than a couple kids called out “Bye, Rupert!”
They only got a few metres away from the temple steps, when one of the adults asked Cassidy, “Is there a café or something? Or maybe somewhere I can get some fresh batter-“ He stopped mid-sentence, looking at his camera blink back to life.
Cassidy smirked. “Naw, nuthin like that yet, Sir. I’ll mention you asked though. A canteen or something’s a good idea. One of our guys makes some darn good cookies.”
Everyone with a watch or camera were figuring out as they walked, that all their electronics were alright. “Are... are you guys so serious about the no-pictures in there, that there’s some kind of jamming going on?” The teacher asked.
Cassidy could only answer the truth, and it was starting to bug her a little. “I don’t know. Nothing of the sort I can think of hearing about…”
~~~
The group was given a little thank you speech by Cheryl at the helipad, and they filed on, mostly satisfied with the experience. Marcus was toddling up the path as the chopper lifted off. Cassidy, and especially Cheryl were trading waves with the kids who had seats by windows.
The chopper turned to leave, and the opportunity to wave was over. “How was it?” Marcus asked.
“It was a blast.” Cheryl said, smiling wide.
“Yeah, more fun than I thought.” Cassidy’s tone was unsure, inviting further query.
“But….?” Marcus asked, having a hunch already.
“Remember my first shift, and the deal with my watch?”
“Yeah, it’s going to be a bit of an issue with the tours, I guess.” Marcus stroked his chin, glancing towards the temple. “Not much of a way around it, as far as I can see. I’m not too keen on the idea of having people surrender watches and cameras before they go in, just to avoid having the same conversation over and over.”
“Well, can you explain it to me then?”
Marcus just sort of lazily shru
gged. “He’s an old boy. I don’t think he likes technology much. Figures a lot of it’s kinda obtrusive. Kinda nosy.”
Marcus’ folksy ramblings about the spirit were one thing, but he was talking about real-life. “The ghost is turning off people’s stuff?! Do you know how that sounds?” It came out a little brasher than Cassidy intended, but the question was valid enough. Cheryl was quiet, but seemed to be curious as well.
“He likes the company and visitors, but he has the right to set a few rules. It’s his house, after all.” Marcus put his hands in his pockets, and started strolling back to the base.
Cassidy staggered a little to begin following, a hand raised in a questioning gesture. “But... but how?”
“Ask him!” As Marcus progressed down the path, he left Cassidy and Cheryl to stare at each other blankly for a moment. Cassidy looked over at the temple.
“Dear huge statue! How do you shut shit off!? Amen, Cassidy Stanton.”
Marcus hollered back at Cassidy without stopping, or turning around. “He just does!”
~~~~~
:::C /16
~~~~~
Being tour guide partners, and both being on night shift, Cassidy and Cheryl found their schedules aligning over the weeks. It was a little bit of a challenge keeping focused on the tours. This crush wasn’t going away, but Cassidy was determined to remain professional, and not go off on a rebound.
One early afternoon, Cassidy awoke to Wanda making her bed. Not entirely awake, she just remained on her side, and watched Wanda. After a bit, Wanda noticed Cassidy looking at her, half asleep.
“Hey.” Wanda said quietly. She raised her eyebrows, and nodded a look over and behind Cassidy. Cassidy lazily turned over to see Cheryl laying on her side, a bit more awake, and smiling.
Cheryl was curled up, smiling, staring right into Cassidy’s eyes with a warm smile. Wanda discretely left the room.
“Hey, Cassie.” Cheryl said softly, and slowly propped herself up on her elbow.
“…..mrrh?” It was the most intelligent thing Cassidy could come up with, half asleep, and with those eyes boring into her.
Cheryl’s smile widened a little. “Wanna go hunt aeki?”
Cassidy blinked hard, and forced herself into a more alert state, sitting up. “Say wha?”
“Aeki!” Cheryl sat up as well, legs over the side of her bunk. “Want to go on a hunt?”
Cassidy felt the horrors of her own morning breath, and aligned her brain to reality. For a moment, she had thought Cheryl was going to pounce her. She guessed Wanda had assumed the same thing. Wasn’t Wanda overdue for a shin-kicking or something? “You want to go hunt an aeki? Jeez, Cheryl, you gotta let it go about the shower. They’re harmless.”
“No no no, I don’t want to kill them, I just want to find one. I’m starting to warm up to them. I just think I’d rather meet one while I had clothes on.”
“Fair enough.” Cassidy rummaged for her toothbrush and paste. “I guess so. I have nothing better to do. You got a plan?”
“Yup! Kind of.” Cheryl grabbed her clothes, and started changing under the blanket. “They’re pretty docile, right? They’d probably just let us pick them up outside if we didn’t move too fast. It would take some time to find one out there, but we’ve seen them in the ruins during tours while not even looking. It can’t be that hard if we try.”
Cassidy re-adjusted her hat a little, and got her stuff together for the shower. She took her showers after sleeping, because Cheryl took hers before bedtime, and having the shower at the same time proved to be too taxing on her sanity. Bad enough that the blanket leaked a peek of thigh or some such as Cheryl was getting dressed. “Kay, lemmie just grab a quickie. Er, a quick shower, and a bite.”
“Kay!”
Cassidy started walking towards the showers, and Wanda peeked around the corner to notice Cheryl getting dressed. Wanda couldn’t resist, and whispered to Cassidy, “Damn, you’re fast!” Her joke only earned her an elbow in the ribs. It didn’t stop Wanda from giggling about it though.
During Cassidy’s shower, an aeki wandered over the partition from the neighboring stall. As it crawled its way down the wall, Cassidy gently stepped forward and cradled her hands around it, taking it from the wall as it clung to her thumb and a few convenient fingers.
Well, she could just take this one out, and the hunt would be done.
It had struck her before how brave the aeki were to wander in here, but holding it like this, she could see a total lack of fear. It had never known a human to be a danger. None of the humans around here were. She enjoyed a little moment of peace, staring at the curious creature, as it stared back.
She put the aeki back on the wall and finished up her shower, hastily dried off and got dressed, tucking her hair through her hat as usual. She went to the hall to find Cheryl waiting with a toasted bagel.
“I thought I’d grab you brekkie, and we could get underway right away.” But then Cheryl saw Cassidy had a strange expression. “Oh. I thought you liked bagels...”
Cassidy smiled softly. “It’s fine. But we don’t need to rush. We have all afternoon to find one of those lil guys.”
They headed out into the ruins at a leisurely pace, feeling the sun as it climbed up the sky. Looking around lazily as they walked, hoping to see a dark spot of motion, Cassidy pointed out a route that would keep clear of Maxine’s exercise yard. She didn’t need Maxine rolling her eyes at them, or giggling. “Let’s head that way.”
Cheryl followed Cassidy’s lead. “Any reason? See something?”
“Nah. I just haven’t been out that way much. May as well give it a peek.”
The path they cut wandered from the remains of one ancient building to the next. Sometimes this meant a near-complete wall in the way, but more often the obstruction was far less intact. Swing a leg over a ledge, step over a bump, or just walk over a flat, differently coloured band of earth, the last whimper of a wall. It was hard not to wonder about the people who once lived and worked here. Did they become the Aguei they now knew, or did they just die off? Was that once someone’s kitchen they just entered? Was this some shop, where the crafts, or necessities of daily life were traded?
No longer. Now this place was just a mystery to be looked after, for untold ages, the realm of little meek lizards that humans called ‘aeki’.
And just where were these suckers anyway? Aeki seem cheeky enough to show up whenever they please, invited or not, but now that they’re looking for one, the aeki decide to be scarce. It had been over an hour of wandering, but neither Cassidy nor Cheryl found cause to complain.
Cheryl paused and looked over to the horizon, out of the ruins and across endless sand. “Ya spend too much time looking where you’re going, you don’t remember to see where you are.”
Cassidy smirked, and took a second to appreciate all facets of the scenery around her, and sighed. “Well, you’re the deep one, aren’t you?” Damn those shorts.
The sun was doing its duty, and a nearby wall offered its stark shadow as a respite. Cheryl gravitated towards it and lazily slid down to sit against it. Cassidy followed suit less than a metre away, resting her back against the same wall. For a moment she wondered if putting pressure on it was wise, but the wall had made it this far through ages of weathering. Two people leaning on it wasn’t likely to cause it to fall.
Cassidy ran her fingers through the base of her ponytail, up where it came out of the back of her cap.
“Still wet?” Cheryl guessed.
“Yeah. I didn’t think it would be much of an issue in the sun.”
“Well, most of it’s under that hat. We’re in the shade, your hair won’t dry out badly if you take it off.”
“Take it off, huh?” Cassidy couldn’t help but smirk.
“Yeah, seriously. You need some time apart from that hat. That kind of co-dependent relationship can’t be healthy.”
Cassidy relented. She leaned her head back and pulled her hat and elastic band back, down her ponytail, unt
il her hair fell free onto her shoulders. She ran her fingers though it to loosen it up, and looked back at Cheryl. Was she blushing?
Cassidy made a passing glance around, in case any aeki had decided to reveal itself. “They’re not cooperating, huh?”
“Hm. It’s no big deal.” Cheryl said softly, “It’s not like we have to find one today. Maybe we should have gone to that courtyard Maxine likes. I know aeki go there.”
“Yeah, maybe, but then we would have run the risk of running into Maxine.” Cassidy also found her voice becoming soft. It must have been the surrounding quiet. It didn’t seem right to be loud.
“What’s wrong with Maxine?” Cheryl idly traced her finger in the thin layer of sand on the stone floor.
“Nothing.” Cassidy realized she was edging on dangerous territory. “Nothing. She’s cool, she’s just been a bit of a pest lately.”
“How so?”
Cassidy looked at Cheryl. She wasn’t an idiot. “She thinks.. well, we’re both… and we’re the only ones in the unit, so she figures…”
Cheryl blushed noticeably now, and looked down at the ground. “Oh… so… you are...”
“Yup. Kind of thought it was common knowledge.” Oh damn. Why was it getting hard to breathe?
“I wasn’t sure. Someone mentioned you had a breakup just before coming here, but I didn’t pry, and I didn’t hear if it was a ‘he’ or a ‘she’.”
Cassidy found she couldn’t look at Cheryl anymore while she talked. “Yeah. So... I’m very anti-rebound, and then there’s professional etiquette to be considered,” It came out of her mouth less smoothly than she had been telling herself in her mind. “and then Maxine and Wanda ‘miss-know-it-all’, just assumes that just because…”
Cheryl moved her hand out along the ground shyly towards Cassidy, both of them still avoiding direct eye contact. “Maybe she’s a bit nosy, but maybe she would like to see you happy... And maybe being professional isn’t such a problem for two people who can behave like grownups….and maybe you don’t seem so fresh off the last relationship, maybe you wouldn’t be rebounding.”
Watching Yute Page 12