Page 7 of The Centaur
After my nap, I tracked down Nolan, who was floating on cloud nine after successfully helping Zephyr strengthen the anchor to the human world. The Sanctuary now also boasted anemergency exit that opened into The Lair, and Nolan seemed delighted that he'd managed to convince Zephyr to build it.
I asked Nolan a bunch of questions as Zamir hung off his arm, a cat cradled in his other arm, and concluded that the Sanctuary wouldn't fall into utter destruction if Zephyr wasn't around for a few hours. That was all I'd needed, so after thanking him, I went in search of my next target.
I found Touya by the farms, a clipboard in his hand as his eyes scanned the rows upon rows of plants. Touya worked as Zephyr's assistant, and his work had only multiplied since the problems started cropping up. With Zephyr so focused on maintaining the Sanctuary and keeping it from collapsing, all the day-to-day stuff fell to Touya. I'd never heard him complain, though. Instead, he seemed to relish all the responsibilities.
"Hey, Touya. Could I have a moment?" I asked as I drew closer, and he glanced up, a smile lighting up his face.
Touya was one of the few people I could be eye-to-eye with. I was small for a centaur, barely reaching 5'5", and Touya was only an inch or two taller than me. He was Japanese, with chestnut brown eyes and silky brown hair. He also had a hint of magic in him that let him see the supe forms of people, though he'd long since learned to control his power and keep it turned off at home.
"Of course. What's up?"
"You maintain Zephyr's schedule, right?" I asked, trying not to be too obvious about it. I hadn't told anyone about the mate thing yet, because I wasn't sure where Zephyr stood. I wouldn't mind if he wanted to wait until the Sanctuary was back to normal before doing anything about it, but I figured that would be harder to do if everyone knew. My friends could be a nosy bunch.
While Touya himself wasn't a gossip, anything he knew, his mate Silas would too. And Silas wouldnotkeep it to himself.
"I do, yes. Did you want to know what he's doing tomorrow?"
"Not exactly. I was wondering if you might be able to clear his schedule for tomorrow? At least for a few hours?"
Touya blinked, his brows furrowing in thought. "Hmm... the anchors took a lot less time to set up with Nolan's help. I could move some things around. May I ask why?"
"I was thinking of dragging him out to the human realm," I said, and Touya grinned.
"That's a good idea, actually. He needs a break. Though will everything here be okay, with him gone?"
"Nolan seems to think so. He said now that their magicks are familiar—whatever that means—he can chip in if something happens."
"Oh, that's good. Okay, I'll clear his schedule. He needs to do some maintenance in the Mountains tomorrow, but everything else can be moved. He'll be free by ten."
"Thank you!" I exclaimed, then leaned forward to give him a quick hug. Touya patted my back, then pulled away. "I'll leave you to your work, then. See you at dinner."
As I trotted off, I started making plans for tomorrow. I'd need to use the stupid wheelchair to hide my lower half, but I'd practiced using it before, so at least Zephyr wouldn't have to push me.
We could visit Khush and Dustin. Maybe go to a café? I wanted to watch a movie in a theatre too. I remembered Dustin took Khush to one where they had accessible seating. I'd have to ask him which one that was.
I didn't want to add a lot of activities to the list though. I wanted Zephyr to relax. Maybe we could find a park to have a picnic in. While there was more than enough greenery in the Sanctuary, right now this place was the biggest source of Zephyr's stress, so I wanted to take him away from it for a while.
Hopefully, I could get him to have some fun and forget about his troubles for a while.
Four
Zephyr
Keoni found me justas I was stepping out of the Mountains area. Some of the mountains in the area had turned a little...spongy for some reason, and I'd had to rework the spell from scratch. It'd been magically draining, and I wondered if I might have to push some of my other tasks to the next day.
"Let's go," Keoni said as he took my left hand before I could even think of finding Touya to discuss changing my schedule, and I glanced over at him as he led me toward the exit.
"Where are we going?"
"Out," he replied, as if that explained everything.
"I can't leave. The Sanctuary..."
"Will be okay. Nolan's here, and they'll contact us if anything big happens. Or use the brand-new emergency exit."
"But—"
"Shhh. Come on."
