by Tammy Walsh
I crossed the broad open plain of the rich red carpet. Each step I took seemed to take me less than half the distance I thought it would.
Had the room always been this big? And more than that, I’d never realized how much space the desk took up before. It took oceans of time for me to move around it and take my seat on the other side. I put my feet up on the desktop and leaned back in my chair.
See? I could enjoy myself too. I can relax when I want to.
I peered at the paperwork in my overflowing in-tray and the empty out tray. Organizing the following day’s workload was always the last thing I did each evening before heading to dinner. I needed to get through it all before I considered it a productive day’s work.
Of course, I didn’t all need to get done today. I mean, it could easily keep until tomorrow. Most of it, anyway. There were a couple of very important items I needed to take care of right away.
Well, there was no time like the present, was there?
I picked up the piece of paper on top and began reading through it. I got halfway down the page when I realized I couldn’t remember what it’d said at the very top. I went back and read through it again.
This time, I told myself, I would understand what it said perfectly.
I read the words again.
And still didn’t know what it was talking about.
I stood up and stared out the window. I just needed to reset my brain, that’s all. It’d been a tumultuous evening and morning. I needed peace and quiet to put myself in the right frame of mind for the day. There was little chance of that this morning with her staring at me the way she did.
It really was a beautiful day. Perfect for arjath riding…
Bianca would be laughing and smiling, her thick hair bouncing over her bare shoulders…
Cleb would scream with joy as the arjaths bounded through the dense forest foliage.
And there I was, standing in silence indoors, too proud to ask to join them. I knew they wouldn’t reject me—they’d already asked me the day before!
It was no good. I couldn’t concentrate.
It was a waste of time me being at work if I couldn’t focus. That was no good for anybody at all.
A day off wouldn’t kill me. A little fresh air and somewhere to stretch my legs could help me be more productive.
I grabbed a cinnamon roll and bit into it. I chugged a mouthful of hot coffee into my mouth and swallowed it along with the half-chewed cinnamon bun. I crossed the office—this time, in less than two strides—and stepped into the hall.
“Waev!” I called. “Waev! Where are you? Ah. There you are.”
He wore an apron covered in black smudges. He must have been in the middle of cleaning something. Come to think of it, I didn’t think I’d ever seen what he got up to while I was busy at work.
“What is it, sir?” he said.
“I need my arjath saddled,” I said.
“Do you intend on joining Bianca and Cleb, sir?” he said, eyebrows rising so high I was surprised they didn’t get stuck to the back of his neck.
“Yes,” I said. “Is that a problem?”
“No, sir,” he said. “Of course not. It’s just… I’ve never known you to take a day off. Are you well? Do you want me to call the doctor?”
He pressed a hand to my forehead to check for a fever.
“You do seem a little hot, sir,” he said. “I’ll call the doctor just in case—”
“I’m fine!” I said. “No doctor. Can’t a man take a day off without something being wrong?”
Waev’s expression might have been written in ink it was so clear: “But you’ve never exactly been a… normal man, sir.”
“Are you going to have my arjath saddled or not?” I growled.
Waev reached into his pocket and raised the communicator to his lips. He seemed a little unsure of how to use it. Why would he? He hadn’t needed to use it since he joined me at the house.
“Ejam, come in Ejam,” he said. “Traes wishes to ride his arjath. Yes, I know he doesn’t usually go out but today he decided he will. I don’t care if you’re still in bed. You have to come and prepare his arjath now!”
“Problems?” I said.
“No, sir. The stable staff were just a little… caught unaware. Your arjath will be ready in about twenty minutes.”
“Good,” I said. “That’ll give me enough time to walk down there.”
“Walk, sir?”
“It’s a fine morning,” I said. “I can warm-up for when I ride the arjath.”
I wasn’t even sure I could remember how to ride it. But I’m sure it would come back to me.
Ten minutes later, at a fast walk that made my legs ache, I reached the stables. The stable hands seemed unsure who I was until they noticed my sharp suit.
“Mr. Traes!”
I thought back to the name Waev had used when he called the man on the radio.
“Ejam?” I said uncertainly.
The man beamed in surprise that I knew his name. It pleased him no end. He smiled, revealing his huge front buck teeth. I could barely understand a word he was saying. Most of it was clicks and whistles.
His assistant brought my arjath out from the stables. He was a magnificent beast. He was ten feet tall when he stood upright on his back legs. His shaggy hair was naturally pink and he had a long purple mane that ran down either front leg. His back legs were short and stumpy which made climbing into the saddle very easy. The hardest part of riding an arjath was trying not to get too comfortable. Many a Titan had lost their life by being lulled to sleep in the creature’s soft mane and slipping into a ravine or getting trampled underfoot.
I tried to climb on the arjath’s back. He backed away and seemed a little skittish.
“It’s been a while since you last rode him, sir,” Ejam said. “Let him eat this out of your hand and he’ll calm right down.”
He handed me a handful of candy floss. I offered it to the creature, which licked it up with a single sweep of its long tongue. It was much easier climbing onto his back after that.
“Which direction did the young lady and boy go?” I said.
Ejam said something—it might have been a rudimentary form of the Titian language—and more helpfully pointed with his finger. That was much easier to understand.
“Thanks!” I said.
I heeled the arjath into a gentle trot and crossed the field toward the wood. I hoped they didn’t get too far. I wasn’t sure I could stay on the arjath’s back for long.
I drew the arjath to a halt and surveyed the forest floor. At first, their tracks had been easy to identify. arjaths were not small creatures and left footprints in the soft soil but when the ground became overrun with thickets and bushes, it became next to impossible to find them.
Like now.
I’d tracked them for the past half hour and still, I hadn’t come across them. I didn’t think they would have traveled fast. Bianca was a new rider and Cleb would have been nervous taking the lead. But with how slow I’d been to come to my decision to join them, they had a sizable head start.
Was that a snapped twig? I thought. Could it have been caused by an arjath?
Maybe. Maybe not.
I didn’t want to get stuck out there looking for them. Chances were good I would end up getting lost.
Feeling a little disappointed, I clucked out the corner of my mouth and turned the arjath around to ride back through the wood.
Then I heard laughter.
High pitched and loud, it sounded like Cleb when he exploded with joy the other day in the garden.
I turned the arjath around in the direction I thought it’d come from. I listened closely but couldn’t make it out again.
But maybe I didn’t need to.
The arjath’s big ears flapped, stood upright, and faced toward a think bank of foliage. His ears were a hundred times larger than mine. Chances were, he could pick up a lot more with the satellite dishes on either side of his head.
“Can you hear them, boy?�
�� I said. “Can you hear him laughing?”
I strained to hear something but the noise didn’t repeat itself. The arjath’s ears flapped like he wanted to fly.
“Go on then,” I said. “Take me to him. Go on.”
The big beautiful beast leaned forward. I eased all pressure off the reins and let him lead me. He broke through a thick copse of leaves and stepped out into the sun on the other side.
I was wrong. The arjath hadn’t been listening for Cleb. He’d been listening for the next best thing.
Their arjaths.
Of course. They spent most of their time in the stables together. It was only natural he was more interested in knowing where they were than the young Titan or human female I was looking for.
The arjaths weren’t tied up. They were perfectly happy grazing on a small patch of nearby grass.
Bianca and Cleb were down in the shallow brook. The water flowed quickly but it was not deep. At the bottom, I spied tiny fish swimming about their feet. Cleb held his breath and dived beneath the surface for them. He exploded from the surface with a huge grin on his lips. He came up empty-handed but he didn’t seem to mind. The fun was in the trying.
Behind him stood the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever set eyes on. Her hair hung in a thick braid over one shoulder. She smiled absentmindedly as she watched Cleb diving for fish. Her smile was magic. It was easy to get swept away in it. Her costume left her arms, stomach, and legs bare.
My imagination didn’t do her justice.
Her curves and the gorgeous lines of her body that I’d imagined the night before were on full display.
Only now they were real and much more attractive for that fact.
“Meeeehh!” my arjath said, breaking the spell.
Bianca snapped to attention and reached for Cleb. She raised a hand to shield her eyes. I would look like a silhouette against the sun from her position.
“It’s only me!” I said. “I’ll be right down!”
Something rustled behind the forest canopy. I never saw what it was. Neither did the arjath, but that didn’t stop him from bucking.
He rose up on his hind legs, knocking me off balance. I fell from the saddle and hit the ground. The steep angle forced me toward the miniature cliff that descended into the brook below. I threw my legs out to dig my heels in the soft soil. I was half a roll too late as the momentum took me forward and I pitched over the side.
I fell face-first into the brook. The impact stung my face and made a wet meaty slap noise. I floundered up onto my feet, the water spilling from my mouth. I wiped the water from my hair and face. My suit was drenched, ruined.
The look on Cleb’s face was one of pure horror. He’d seen how angry I could get—not at him but with workers when things didn’t go to plan. And me falling face-first into a shallow brook was certainly not part of a plan I would ever develop.
While he might have looked upon me with absolute and total horror, Bianca wore a completely different expression. She pressed her lips together and her shoulders jackhammered up and down. Finally, unable to contain it any longer, she burst out laughing.
Cleb turned to look at her, to convince her not to laugh, but the image of me falling headfirst in the water had her wrapping her arms around her waist and her eyes screwed up. She tried to speak but it came out a high-pitched whine.
Cleb looked at me. I looked back at him.
I threw my head back and burst into laughter right alongside her. It was a deep booming sound I’d long since forgotten. I spoke in hushed whispers in my office and nothing ever happened there that produced a rib splitting explosion of laughter like this.
Cleb dared to smile before grinning and joining in with the joke. It wasn’t that funny, but we all needed a good laugh.
I wiped the tears from my eyes. Then I felt something squirming in my pants.
I reached into my pocket and extracted the fish that’d gotten itself trapped in my underwear. It was slippery and I struggled to keep hold of it.
“I think I’ve got a little present for you!” I said.
I hurled the fish onto the riverbank. Cleb’s eyes widened and he followed it out of the water. He dived for the flapping fish.
As the laughter died down, Bianca looked over at me. She had a greater effect on me with those eyes and lips than a thousand daydreams ever could.
“Glad you could join us,” she said.
“Me too,” I said. “Me too.”
We sat by the river for the next hour or so, eating breakfast with our feet in the cool water and slurping coffee Bianca brought in her flask. Cleb drank lemonade.
None of us said a word as we sat in the sun as it dried our clothes. We sighed every few minutes with satisfaction.
“Do you miss the office?” Bianca said.
“No,” I said. “Strangely.”
“Why is it strange?”
“I haven’t missed a day at the office in… forever.”
“How does it feel to be out?”
There was only one word to describe it, especially with her looking at me that way.
“Wonderful,” I said.
Cleb emerged from the wood with a bouquet of wildflowers clutched in his tiny hand. He extended them to Bianca.
“These are for you,” he said.
Bianca clasped her hands over her mouth in dramatic fashion.
“Thank you so much!” she said. “They’re beautiful.”
“There’s one of each of the plants we learned about yesterday,” Cleb said. “Except a couple. I couldn’t find them.”
“Can you name them all?” I said.
Cleb looked at me shyly and shrugged his shoulders.
“Want to give it a try?” I said. “I bet you can do it.”
Cleb swayed his hips left and right. I could tell he wanted to try but he was worried he might get the answers wrong in front of me.
Bianca was right. I never should have ignored Cleb. He needed a caring and loving parent figure in his life. Even if I wasn’t his father, I was his godfather. The least I could do was give him some of my time.
“Go on,” I said. “Try.”
Cleb stared at the flowers but wouldn’t start. I drifted over to Bianca’s side. As delicious as the flowers smelled, they didn’t have a patch on her.
“How about… this one?” I said, picking the most common flower among them all.
Cleb answered quick as a flash.
“Very good,” I said. “What about… this one?”
Cleb went through every last plant until we got down to the final two. He seemed to have trouble remembering them.
“That’s ten out of twelve,” I said. “Pretty great if you ask me. There were some you got that I couldn’t remember.”
“Really?” Cleb said, astonished. “But you know everything!”
I chuckled.
“I can promise you, I don’t know everything,” I said. “When I was your age, I loved nature.”
“Me too!” Cleb said.
“What do you like about it?” I said.
“I like that it’s alive! And it breathes like we do.”
“Well, not exactly like we do…” I said.
“No. They use a process called photosymomsis.”
Okay, so he mispronounced the word a little. Who cares? I was impressed he even knew about it at his age.
“Photosynthesis?” I said. “I didn’t think kids your age learned about that for a few more years.”
“They don’t usually,” Bianca said. “But once Cleb started developing an interest in nature, he couldn’t stop learning about it, could you?”
Cleb nodded his head.
“You know, we study a lot about nature when we’re looking for a new place to mine and dig up,” I said. “Not just plants and animals but rocks and minerals too. Do you think you might be interested in that?”
Cleb’s eyes slid over to Bianca.
“We could study it next, if you like,” she said.
Cleb nodded.
“Can Bianca come with us?” Cleb said.
I smiled at her.
“I wouldn’t dream of leaving her behind,” I said.
Bianca smiled and leaned her body against mine. She was so warm and soft, I wanted to wrap my arms around her.
“I’ll keep them and put them in my room when we get back, okay?” Bianca said, sniffing the bouquet once more.
“There’s one more thing you should know about flowers,” I said. “They don’t only attract bugs and birds. They attract girls too.”
Bianca gently nudged me with her shoulder.
“Don’t tell him that!” she said. “He doesn’t need to learn about that yet. Let him enjoy his childhood before you corrupt him.”
“It’s not corruption!” I said defensively. “It’s a part of nature too. One of the most important lessons you’ll ever learn…”
Bianca laughed and slapped me on the arm. Her hand lingered a little longer than necessary.
And we looked at each other.
Her lips were full and fresh and red from the chill breeze and the icy water. It would be so easy to lean forward and take them…
But Cleb was watching and I didn’t want to spoil the relationship he had with his governess.
I cleared my throat.
“How about we move on to another spot?” I said.
“Yes,” Bianca said, jumping to attention. “Good idea.”
I got to my feet and offered her a hand. She took it and I helped her up.
She lost her footing and I caught her. I felt her body against mine.
“Careful,” I said, my voice thick with desire.
“I always am,” she said, peering up at me through her eyelashes.
With her in my arms, that instinct buried deep inside every Titan reared its head and caught the scent of this incredible female in my arms.
And unless I missed my guess, I thought I spied the human version in her eyes staring right back at me.
Judging by that look, my daydream last night had been far too tame.
Too tame by half.
We pulled to a stop on a hilltop overlooking a broad field. A quiet road marked the boundary of where my land ended. Local townsfolk worked the field, where they grew crops of popular Titan fruit and vegetables. They were in the process of weeding the newly planted crops and harvesting that which was now ripe. They piled it in floating wicker baskets they would lead back into town.