The empty look on Wyny’s face only added to her fit of hysterical laughter. Whenever it eased down into giggles, she made the mistake of looking at him again and that set her off once more. After the fourth time, she managed to keep from looking in his direction. The giggles scattered into an occasional chuckle. Her cheeks and belly ached. She wiped away the tears which had rolled from her eyes, unstoppable. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed this hard. In fact, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed out loud before meeting Wyny.
‘Okay, okay, I’m all good now. I’m sorry for my… outburst.’ She still didn’t look at him, and a snort escaped her. ‘I shouldn’t laugh at you so hard, I know it’s just cultural differences and all. Or should I call it realm-differences? Thank you anyway.’ She wasn’t sure why she thanked him, and he probably understood even less.
‘You are quite welcome.’ His voice sounded serious, not a single hint at the mocking he must be doing. Her head shot up, all snorts and giggles gone.
‘I am not quite sure what okay means, but I assume you have had a lonely life and thus many unleashed emotions. You saved my life several times now, and for that I owe you a debt. I will gladly absorb all the emotions you hurl at me. I hope that will help you feel better by the time we have to part ways.’
She blinked. She noticed that her jaw hung slack, so she shut it and swallowed the accumulated spit. That man! That man… The nerve! How did he suddenly turn into a shrink! She was just about to say something particularly nasty when he spoke up again.
‘As for my Squares, I did not have the time to call for them when the Blurghs were upon us. They do not take that long to appear, but sometimes it can be too much. Here’s what I could have done.’
He stood up, not caring about his glorious nakedness, and held the L-shaped sticks on the short ends, holding out the longer ends. Kinda like holding a gun, Nadec thought curiously but still furious at what he’d said. What’s he going to do, shoot out imaginary bullets? A grin started on her face but stopped midway when the stick did just that! Except that the bullets weren’t imaginary, and they weren’t bullets. The end of the long side seemed to grow before a piece dislodged itself and shot away. His sticks were shooting cubes!
‘See,’ he said, ‘I could have easily hit their red spots, to turn them around before they got close enough. If only I had a few more moments longer, and was not feeling so sick from… what did you call it? Ah, shifting.’
He gave her a look she didn’t quite understand, and slapped the sticks together, the shorter lengths on the opposite sides. Quicker than she could follow, he folded the sticks—the Squares?—on itself a few times. Before she could blink, his hands were empty. He looked at her with an intensity she couldn’t place. That deep stare stirred up butterflies in her middle. Her mouth felt dry. With a massive effort she tore free from the gaze. Why was she breathing so fast?
‘I need to be alone. Come Kitty.’ She picked up the lead and the cat jumped on her shoulders.
‘Wait! Don’t go! Did I say something wrong? Do you need something?’
‘No! You’ve done enough. Just… just stay here. I’ll be back soon. I just need… I don’t know. Stay.’
With that she turned around and walked off, Kitty on her shoulders and her thoughts all jumbled. She didn’t understand why she felt so confused. She wasn’t going to get a hunky other-realmer get to her with his silly words, was she?
‘Lonely. Urgh, I’m not lonely. I’ve got you,’ she muttered, while accepting and returning the feline’s headbuts on her cheek. ‘I don’t have unleashed emotions. What the hell. He has no idea what he’s talking about. Some king straight out of a fairy tale, what does he know!’
Yet she couldn’t stop her mind from returning to the events which had led to her being recruited by her current employers. She hadn’t realised she’d stopped walking until the sound of snapping branches startled her. Her head whipped to the source of the sound but her tears-filled eyes prevented her from seeing sharply.
A blurry figure, a blackness, rammed into her. A yell escaped her before a sharp pain on the head preceded the loss of consciousness.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
This story is part of the quirky continuing story, temporarily called Nadec. To read the story in its whole, the previous chapter with this one attached, go here. Thanks for reading 🙂 This chapter was a little bit less ‘action-packed’ than the previous ones, but it gave us a little hint at Nadec’s past. I don’t know about you, but I have so many questions! New chapters will be released every Sunday, so check back in weekly. Or subscribe to get a notification for every new post. Ps: today is the first time I’ve written multiple chapters. Which means that I already know what’s going to happen in the next one, and it’s pretty exciting! At least, I think so, haah.