Page 27 of Horns & Heart
Chapter11
As it turned out, the horned blue monster group had actually thought about the place they’d picked.The water was running, and it even had one of those rain recycling tanks in the garden.I didn’t understand how it worked, and when Nokim asked me to explain the system, I could only shrug.I also couldn’t tell him how the microwave worked or why the power and water were still on in some places, but not in others.This house had solar panels on the roof though.
“They convert energy,” Nokim said proudly while we were standing in front of the sliding patio doors, from which the water tank was just visible.“There were several, uhm, brooches about it when we found the house.”
“Brooches?You mean brochures?”
He’d made me follow him to the part of the first floor they hadn’t covered in carpets, and I could see why.Nokim had made this into his workspace, and there were metal shavings on the floor.He’d made me put on shoes before we came in here.
“Yes.These?”He walked over to the unfinished part of the open-concept space, the one that had the workbench.He grabbed some brochures about solar power from a good-sized pile he had collected and flipped through the top one.“They’re good, but I wish they had more of the science.We found science textbooks.”The way he said the words made me think he hadn’t been able to use them as much as he’d wanted to.“I like chemistry.At home, I work with metals and acids especially.We use acid batteries for gilding, but there are so many more uses for electricity.”
He showed me a few knickknacks from the workbench.There was a little metal sculpture of a butterfly he’d decorated with LEDs.A small solar panel like the ones in old calculators made the lights glimmer.The whole thing was about the size of the palm of my hand, and his design was more filigree than clunky, and prettier than something like that should’ve been.
There were also a lot of metal parts.I didn’t know shit about metalworking, but the stuff he showed me looked like jewelry.Pretty pieces with ornate and almost organic designs wound into alien shapes, and the colors of the metal shifted when I tilted it between my fingers.He’d also made a stylized cow from metal.It was beautiful.
“You could make these into brooches.”I pointed at some of the things he’d collected—beads and what looked like charms, but also pieces of wire.“Actual brooches, something decorative you pin to your clothing, you know?”
He grinned and nodded.“Yes, I know what they are.I just confused the words.Would you like me to make you a brooch?Or maybe a clasp?For a scarf?”
I scratched my neck, and his eyes tracked the movement of my hand.“It’s summer.Bit warm for a scarf.”
He tilted his head back and forth.“But a brooch is fine?”
I shrugged.“I don’t want to make you go to any trouble, not when I can’t even explain a microwave to you.”
He clicked.“It’s not trouble.I like making.”
Something occurred to me when he went about picking out things from the apparent chaos on the table.
“Is that why you wear a different color?Because you don’t run around with swords but make stuff instead?”
Nokim made a whistling kind of noise.“You should never run with a sword if you don’t have to.I’m a scholar.I was trained like the others were, but they’re scholars second, protectors first.”
I nodded, but by that point, Nokim was already happily working away, fiddling with all the metal bits.
“He’ll be doing that for a while,” Lissir said, making me jump.
“Y-you!”I could hear the blood rushing in my ears while I wondered whether all of them moved this quietly.Lissir was standing just an arm’s length away from me and I hadn’t heard him move at all.
Lissir tilted his head.“Yes, who else?You spook easily.Come, we should bathe.”
I liked the idea of bathing, didn’t like the “we” in that sentence.Lissir, however, wasn’t asking.He took my hand and pulled me along.
“I’m fine with a shower, you know.”
“Vergis said humans prefer those.”Lissir led me through the carpeted living room, then past it.“I don’t understand.There’s no pleasure in showering.Although it must feel less annoyingly with your lack of horns.”
“Less annoying,” I said absentmindedly, then wondered whether correcting their grammar was rude, especially since they all spoke human pretty darn fluently.Their accent was growing on me too, fast.
“Ah, less annoying.That’s right.”Lissir glanced back at me.“Maybe by the time I find my mate, my English will be more perfect.”
I smiled back at him as he led me through the house.He didn’t pull me directly to the metal staircase, but past the kitchen.There was just a powder room on this floor, not a full bathroom, so that surprised me.
From a room ahead, I could hear Inkiri and Fellisse talking in their language, and Inkiri ducked out of the door just as Lissir and I came along.He froze when he saw the two of us.
Lissir stopped.“We were about to go bathe.Although…I wonder.Maybe you wouldn’t mind helping Rory?That department store really interests me.I’d like to go see it.”
Gosh, he was such a shipper.I blushed, although there really wasn’t any reason for that.Inkiri and I had had sex, after all.He’d deflowered me.My cheeks heated further.
