Page 50 of Guiding Desire

“Oh.”

Orrey followed Vin down the staircase. Vin navigated it easily and looked elegant doing it. Orrey felt as if he were one wrong step from dropping his coffee all over Vin’s back, which would be doubly sad, given it was an import and a Guardian’s back. And maybe suicidal rather than sad was the better word. There was something about this Guardian that hid behind the others, but now that no one else was there, Orrey could feel it: claws barely sheathed, intent that could outpace instinct with a neat killing blow.

When the staircase ended and Vin stepped into the downstairs swimming pool area, Orrey nearly dropped his coffee with sheer surprise.

The pool was not neat and rectangular like Orrey would have expected from the upstairs but had been organically shaped, the largest part, ovalish, pressing against the window wall, and Orrey could see that you had a view from there, could dive and look outside at the same time.

The pool continued into a narrower canal that fed into a cozy grotto. From there, it rounded back to the bigger pool, a circuit, and it was huge. In the middle, where the staircase touched down, the servi-floor looked smooth and sandy, holding nothing but a single lounge chair with a towel spread out over it.

Vin made for the grotto, and a purple head of hair caught Orrey’s eye.

“Beautiful! Did you bring your bathing suit?” Taros asked. He interrupted his swim, putting his forearms on the servi-floor, and grinned at Orrey.

Orrey pointed at his face. “Can’t”

“But next time, yeah? We should be doing more down here. It feels like I’m the only one using this pool.”

“He lies,” Vin said.

Orrey looked over to him. A little arched bridge crossed over the canal on the left to the grotto, which had either real multicolored moss or some impressive fake one growing there. Vin was standing on the bridge, clearly waiting for Orrey. He followed.

So did Taros, but he stayed in the water, cutting through it in neat strokes, his head dipping beneath the surface before he came up for air again.

“I only tell nice lies though,” Taros mumbled.

Vin crossed the bridge to a wall which looked as if it was an interior one, seeing as it wasn’t transparent. At least Orrey thought it wasn’t. He could barely see it, given that it was covered in dark green foliage.

“You know what these’re?” Vin asked, putting the plastic bowl on the ground next to him.

Orrey crossed the bridge and took a closer look at the plants. “Are these tara plants?”

“They filter the water. The ripe ones are ready to be picked.”

“Wow, that is impressive. I didn’t know there was any more agriculture in the building.” Orrey approached the wall and watched as Vin picked out one bigger leaf that had a set of two smaller ones growing above it, gave it a good twist until it came loose, then dropped it in the plastic bowl. All while continuing to caffeinate, slurping less now that the drink had cooled.

“Oh, are we having tara leaves for breakfast?” Taros asked.

“I made porridge, actually,” Orrey said. “It’s still cooking, but should be ready soon.”

A splash made Orrey turn in time to watch as Taros heaved himself out of the water. A curious thought made Orrey drop his eyes to see if all Guardians were similar in size, and he didn’t manage to stop himself, likely an aftereffect of the blast.

“I know I’m gorgeous, but thank you,” Taros said and walked over to the lounger on which he spread out, well within view. “I’ll just dry off before we eat.”

“Right,” Orrey said, turning back to the fleshy leaves to hide his pinking cheeks. Then again, he hoped the shedding skin there was enough to do that.

Vin and Orrey filled the bowl quickly and emptied their coffee mugs even quicker. Vin handed Orrey the bowl with the tara leaves and took both mugs, then headed to the stairs. Taros wrapped his towel around himself and followed them upstairs.

“Do you shoot?” Vin asked.

“Are…are you talking to me?” Orrey asked.

“He is. I make guns jam, unfortunately,” Taros said.

“I learned how to handle guns during training,” Orrey said.

“What types?” Vin headed along the corridor back to the kitchen, but this time, slowed down enough to walk next to Orrey.

“Well, the average T-1000 handgun. N-toxin bullets and e-charge bullets. Rifle training is compulsory too.”