Chapter 64

Chapter 64: 64 We weren’t all that late for breakfast, all things considered, but I’m sure we must have looked awkward as all heck as we tried to act natural and not look at each other too much. I think the mind reading/mind projection thing was a large contributing factor. I hadn’t noticed it at first, but now that I was sober, I was suddenly forced to be mindful of everything I thought lest you ’overhear’. Not that I had much luck at keeping my thoughts censored. I honestly don’t know how you kept a straight face through all of it. We were all seated around that same long table in the same open room as the day before though there were fewer people round it this time. Aunt Yeung was there, but Gou Ngaam wasn’t and nor was her daughter. I’d asked and been told that they were resting. Immediately I felt guilty for fooling around in bed and not helping. "There’s not much you could have done," you said quietly next to me as you drank your congee. "Most the work happened last night while you were helping. Then afterwards, you were busy running around in the forest." "Mm." I got your point, but couldn’t help disagreeing, somehow. You knew, of course, so told me that there hadn’t been any casualties or even heavy injuries, the worse being the blood loss from the wounds that wouldn’t close. Thankfully Aunt Yeung had got onto that immediately and all the cases were resolved. I felt better on hearing all of that and was about to thank you when the messenger ran into the room. The once relaxed room immediately became tense as everyone’s eyes followed the stone puppet as it ran down the length of the table and took a respectful posture in front of Aunt Yeung. "Speak," ordered Aunt Yeung and her serious calm only increased the tension in the room. The stone puppet’s carved eyes glowed for a moment. "I see a pair of humans engaged in combat by the eastern border. Both have tried to gain access though neither succeeded. Now they fight each other for an unknown reason." We glanced at each other. A pair of humans? Could it be Zhan and Morgan? "Maybe..." you said, then you looked to Aunt Yeung. "I’ll see if we can tag along to-" "No one will be going anywhere," said the woman. Her gaze didn’t fall on our end of the table but the hair on the back of my neck still stood up. Could she hear us, or was she just really smart? She looked to her sentry and made a gesture towards the table. Her sentry, Cheungyi, came forward with three of her colleagues and efficiently removed not just the bowls of food from the table but the table itself, setting it aside against the wall. As for the people they, and us, also got up and made an empty space in the room with Aunt Yeung at its centre. When the food and people were away, the sentries each took a position around the woman. Instinctively I knew they were each standing in one of the cardinal directions. "Rivers flow over rocks," said Aunt Yeung in a low, melodic voice, "streams bend under stone. One’s hand dips into water and takes what it will!" As she made that final, forceful proclamation, she made a swift slash in the air and her four sentries clasped their hands in some kind of seal and I knew they’d just thrown up a Coil. Seeing as we could still see Aunt Yeung, I assume it was a transparent one. But before I could ask you if my thinking was right, the air in front of Aunt Yeung, right where she had slashed, ripped open and two human figures fell out of it. Immediately there was a golden glaive in Aunt Yeung’s hand and pointed directly at the pair of disheveled bodies. "Speak!" There were a pair of groans while one rolled onto their back and the other sat up. "What...?" "Wait, isn’t that Xu Yidi?" I asked, tugging at your sleeve. "I think it- Malcolm? What are you doing here?" you exclaimed. The two newcomers looked around blearily and the entire population of the breakfast room stared equally confused back at them. Aunt Yeung planted her glaive next to her, blade pointed upward, and put her other hand on her hip. "So, what’s all this about?" ’The guy I didn’t know but you called Malcolm’ came back to his senses first and pointed a finger at Xu Yidi. "This man! He’s trying to break into Cloud Flame Manor!" Malcolm was tall and lanky with that half-clumsy, half-bookish look that Pretan explorers always seem to associated with, though I was surprised to hear an Atlantic accent come out of his mouth. "I’m-I’m..." Xu Yidi stammered. I wasn’t sure if he was more nervous from the sudden accusation or from all the unfriendly eyes now fixed to him. With all those wary eyes I’d also be nervous if I were him. "I know Bran’s come back, so I sent a letter, but I didn’t get a reply, so I thought I’d come here," went on Malcolm, overriding the poor Xu Yidi. "That’s when I ran into him trying to break in." "I wasn’t!" Xu Yidi finally managed to gasp as he desperately searched in his pockets. Malcolm gave him a condescending look (making me dislike the guy even more) before he turned back to Aunt Yeung again to speak, but Xu Yidi didn’t give a chance. "Here!" Xu Yidi held up a small card. Aunt Yeung stepped forward, leaving her glaive to stand upright all by itself, and took the card. "The SSD?" she said. I stepped forward. "I know him," I said. "He’s really from the SSD. He’s a colleague of Tuesday’s." Aunt Yeung’s eyes flicked from me to you. "Bran?" "Huh? Right," you nodded and stepped beside me. "We know Xu Yidi." "Very well," said your aunt. She gave the card back to Xu Yidi then gestured for the sentries to drop the Coil. The tension in the room fell along with the magic and everyone started to breath easy. "Say, have you two had breakfast?" So with the false alarm quelled, everyone sat back down to have lunch and given you and I knew our unexpected guests, they were seated next to us with Malcolm on your side and Xu Yidi on mine. In answer to Aunt Yeung’s question earlier, Xu Yidi absolutely wolfed down the food set in front of him while Malcolm merely picked at his. By the time I’d finished eating and Xu Yidi’s speed has slowed, most of the people in the hall had already left to go about their day of repairs and other things related to fixing the damage of the night before. I glanced at you to see if I could get going too but you were deep in conversation with Malcolm. I turned away, feeling, let’s be honest, a little jealous. I really shouldn’t have, but I just found it so easy to dislike the guy, plus he had a longer history with you. You said I didn’t have anyone to be jealous of, but did Malcolm see it the same way? The longer I sat here and eavesdropped, the more uncertain I became. "Did you figure out a solution to your creator bias problem?" you asked. "Funny you ask! I actually got a working prototype working the day after you left and I might have an idea for your little problem," replied Malcolm. "Really?" you asked, clearly surprised. And happy. "How’d you do that?" "You’ll like this." Malcolm pushed his breakfast bowl a little further to the side and used his chopsticks to set out an area on the table in front of him. "You remember that first set of tests I got you to run?" "Yeah, but I thought they were unusable. I fried all the sensors." "You did, and I thought it was unusable as well, but then I realised that the infrared cameras I have set up all over the lab for the robot vacuums could be used to recreate a lot of the fried data." "Ohh, very smart." I tried to ignore your clear admiration for the man and his research, tried to keep my mind as empty and still as a misty lake, but, yeah, it was impossible and you stopped talking to Malcolm and turned to say something to me. "Ah, you haven’t introduced me to your new friend, Bran," said Malcolm, cutting in. "Mm." You pointed at him while looking at me. "This is Malcolm Best, he’s that acquaintance of mine from Pretan." "Just an acquaintance, Bran? That’s a cold way to refer to a friend..." said Malcolm with a laugh. "What friend?" you asked blankly. "That hurts, Bran!" said the wounded man. "We lived together for over two years!" "I lived in your lab for two years," said Bran curtly. "There’s a difference." You turned back to me. "No. You don’t need to be jealous." I don’t know what was worse, not being able to stop myself getting jealous over nothing or having you know and then console me over not being able to stop myself from getting jealous over nothing. I forced a smile. "I know," I said. "Actually, going back to my research-" Malcolm began, but you cut him off. "Misha." "Yeah?" You took my face in your hands and kissed me. I don’t get it. In bed, you’re the shyest little thing but outside, you have no qualms about public displays of affection, not to mention how expressionless you are through it all. The gap moé is extremely strong with you and I like it very much. You turned back to Malcolm with a finger pointing at me. "And this is my boyfriend Misha Long."