Page 27 of Dax: Gratefully Bonded

This entrance was up on a hill, giving a good view of the park, the pathway where people were wandering around the lake, and I was a little surprised to see there was a kiosk at the far end. A few children were running around on the far side of the pond, and I resolved to keep our distance from them. After his bad dream last night, the last thing my master needed was over-excited children running into him.

“Let’s just go sit on a bench, or something,” he said, sounding none too enthusiastic about it. “May as well while we’re here.”

The decision came as a relief. And I supposed that Aiden had probably expected something like this. Often, the hardest part of any activity was starting it. But once we were out the door and on our way, meandering another hundred metres down the hill didn’t seem like such a big deal.

We made our way down to the edge of the pond, choosing a seat a few metres back from the path. And then I pulled a small packet out of my jacket pocket and handed it to my master.

“What’s this?” he asked… and then snorted in amusement as he opened the top and peered inside. It contained two slices of bread. “You want me to feed the givarids? What am I, five years old?”

Givarids were small, furry creatures that lived in shallow burrows amidst the ferns that grew in clumps under the trees. They’d originated on a distant planet in the Delva system, and being small and quiet, they’d managed to accidentally stow away on hundreds of ships, eventually spreading to dozens of planets across the galaxy – including both Eumad and Rendol 4. And yes, feeding them bread or nuts was a popular pastime of young children, no matter what species they were.

“I thought it might be entertaining,” I told him. I’d thought it might be one small step in helping him see that there were still things in life that were worth enjoying. But if I told him that, he would find it patronising.

He snorted, but I was pleased to see there was as much humour in the expression as annoyance. “Fine.” He broke off a corner of one slice and tossed it over near the ferns. There were no givarids in sight, but as everyone knew, all you had to do was toss a few scraps of food about and…

And there it was, a small, pink nose emerging cautiously but hopefully out of the scrub. They had long whiskers and large back legs that they hopped on, plus a big, bushy tail that curved up over their backs. This one paused with his head sticking out of the ferns, looking around warily. He spotted us and examined us carefully. We both sat still, waiting… waiting… The givarid eyed the bread again, then us, then the bread… and then he finally came creeping out of the ferns. But rather than taking the food and running away, he sat there and ate it, his little teeth in rapid motion, until it was gone. And then he sat up on his hind legs and looked hopefully in our direction. Obligingly, my master broke off another piece of bread and tossed it to the creature.

He continued until the bread was gone, by which time there were five of the little creatures sitting there begging for another piece. “Sorry, folks,” my master said gently, holding up hisempty hands to show them there was no more. “Some other time, okay?”

It looked like he’d enjoyed the distraction. So it came as something of a shock when he turned to me, a scowl on his face. “I’m not a fucking child,” he said, his mouth tight. “I’ve got issues, I realise that. But I don’t need to be led around by the hand like I’m a fucking toddler. So don’t patronise me, don’t play games with me, and don’t treat me like a child. And yes, that is an order. You got that?”

“Yes, sir,” I said, ducking my head and keeping my eyes on the grass at his feet.

“I walked through hell and fought the big bad for long enough to come out the other side still alive. And yeah, now I have nightmares and a drinking problem. But I’m not stupid.” He shoved the empty bread wrapper at me and stood up. “Walks are fine, if that’s what Aiden’s insisting on. But we’re not doing this again.”

All the way home, I contemplated the new dilemma in my life. I still had to help my master look after himself. I still had to encourage him to do things he inevitably wouldn’t want to do. But according to the new order he had given me, I wasn’t allowed to use subterfuge or gimmicks to achieve those aims.

To be honest, he might have been right; I had been treating him a bit like a temperamental child. But given his general moodiness and lack of cooperation, I hadn’t seen much other option. Clearly, I was going to have to lift my game. I still wasn’t getting any clear signs that he was happy with my efforts, though he seemed willing to give me time to fumble my way through a few more attempts at getting things right. But how long that would last before he lost patience with me entirely was anybody’s guess.

I followed him through the front door, when we got home, and then immediately turned to my next important task. “Youasked me to remind you today to call Aiden,” I told him. I was about to say that he’d had some questions to ask him… but thought better of it at the last moment. I was used to my master being incredibly forgetful, but perhaps that had been the influence of the alcohol, more than anything else.

“If he comes over, I would like to ask him a few questions of my own,” I dared to say. It was imperative that I talk to Aiden, and I didn’t want to miss the opportunity, but I was also dreading the possibility of my master asking what I wanted to talk to Aiden about. The whole point was that these were questions I couldn’t ask my master.

My master looked sideways at me. “We’re both kind of fumbling through this, aren’t we?” he said, but there didn’t seem to be any real reprimand in his tone. “Fair enough. I’ll tell him you want to talk to him.” He activated his comm, pulling up a connection to Aiden, and I headed for the bathroom, intent on scrubbing the shower and working through another load of laundry.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Zeke

Given how much disruption Aiden had introduced into my life, it was a little absurd how relieved I felt to see him walking up to my front door that afternoon. I got as far as putting my hand on the door handle before suddenly remembering that I wasn’t supposed to do that. Thankfully, Dax was in the bathroom at the moment, so, with a wince, I hastily backtracked into the kitchen. A moment later, Aiden knocked on the door.

“Dax? Can you get that please?” I called, not certain whether he’d come automatically, given how I’d fucked up yesterday with the delivery man.

I heard his light, rapid footfalls, and then the handle rattled on the door. I figured it was safe enough to come out now, so I stepped around the corner in time to see Aiden coming inside, Kade on his heels, as usual.

Aiden looked us both over and seemed pleasantly surprised to find us both clean, dressed, and in my case, sober. I didn’t bother being offended by his apparent expectation that things would be going worse than they actually were.

“You said you both needed to talk to me,” Aiden said, wasting no time in getting down to business. “So who wants to go first?”

“I will,” I said, not because I thought my own issues were more urgent, but because Aiden had made a firm point to me the other day that a dimari expected his master’s desires to take precedence over his own, and letting Dax go first would likely only confuse him.

“Dax, go out the back while I talk to Aiden,” I told my dimari. Predictably, he said, “Yes, sir,” and hurried from the room.

Aiden gestured questioningly to the sofa, and we all sat down. “What happened?”

“A delivery man came yesterday and I answered the door. I forgot that I was supposed to let Dax do it.” That had been one of the cardinal rules that Aiden had impressed upon me; let the dimari do the menial tasks. If I didn’t let him do them, he would take it as a sign that I didn’t think he was capable of doing his job well enough. Every single task I did for myself was a silent reprimand to him.

“He got all upset, and my first thought was to help him unpack, because that’s what I’d do for an upset human. I didn’t actually do it,” I added, at Aiden’s frown. “Because yeah, I realise that would have just made things worse. I told him to go and unpack the delivery, and gave him a few other things to do. But my question is basically, what am I supposed to do if I fuck up like that? How do I fix it?”