Page 11 of Xel: Broken Bond
My skin prickled as I heard Xel’s tone darken. I’d spent a great deal of time, first in my ecology degree, and then here in the sanctuary, listening to animals convey their needs to me through behaviour and body language, given that none of my charges could speak in order to tell me what was wrong. And Xel’s body language – his averted eyes and the slight slump in his shoulders – told me that he was far from happy with the version of events that Aiden had given him. I didn’t know much about the dimari, but I grabbed onto the little I did know.
“Well, the way I see it, it’s more the other way around, isn’t it? Aiden told me that a dimari’s main purpose is to serve their master. And there’s plenty of work around here that needs doing, that would make me extremely happy to have some help with. So in that sense, you’d be looking after me, rather than me looking after you.” Was I pushing this too far? I didn’t want to undermine anything Aiden had said. He was the dimari expert, after all. But at the same time, he’d admitted that he’d never dealt with a dimari who’d lost his master before. I glanced back at Aiden, apprehensive about already having screwed things up. But Aiden smiled and nodded encouragingly. So it seemed I was doing okay after all.
Xel relaxed again, a small smile quirking his lips. “Yes, indeed,” he said. “I will do my best.”
“Let’s take a quick walk around the property,” I offered again. “I can show you the animal pens, and the house where I live, and then we can see if you think you’d be happy here.”
I knew immediately that I’d said something wrong. Xel tensed, his jaw tightening, and he looked away. “As you wish,” he said, his tone flat.
Fuck. What had I done wrong? “How about you and Kade go and wait outside, and Aiden and I will be out in just a moment,” I said. Was I overstepping my bounds by trying to give Aiden’s dimari orders as well? Was Xel even going to listen to me, given that we hadn’t yet confirmed whether or not I was going to be his master? This was all so confusing, and I wasn’t even five minutes in.
But Kade nodded, leading Xel outside, and I anxiously turned to Aiden. “What did I just do wrong?” I asked. “Xel got all stressed and dejected. Why?”
Aiden just nodded, as if he’d expected this very thing. “The first thing, and probably the most important thing you need to understand about giving a dimari instructions is that you have to tell them what you want. Tell them what to do. Don’t ever ask them what they want. They simply don’t understand the question. You implied that the choice to stay here or not would be up to Xel. That likely confused him, but he’ll also take it as a sign that you don’t want him to stay. And dimari do not deal with rejection well.”
“Couldn’t you have told me that five minutes ago?” I asked, not meaning to be rude. But this was already hard enough as it was, without finding out belatedly that I was missing vital information.
Aiden, to his credit, took no offence at my complaint. “The short answer is that no matter what I tell you right now, this is going to be difficult for you. There are aboutthree hundreddetails in that instruction manual,allof which are vital pieces of information. The unfortunate part is that I have no way of dumping all of that information into your brain right at the get-go. If I tell you about how a dimari’s mind is wired to serve theirmaster, the problem you run into is asking him what he wants. If I tell you how to make sure they get enough sleep, you can run into problems with their diet. Dimari need physical affection as part of their reward system, but most people freak out about that if I give them too much information on the first meeting.
“I said before that this was going to be uncomfortable. And a big part of the reason is that there’s no way for me to guess exactly what information you need at which stage of the process. The long-term solution is for you to read the manual and get a better understanding of how a dimari’s mind works. But the other very necessary skill you’re going to have to learn is how to recover from the mistakes that you inevitably will make. And at the same time, Xel’s going to be learning what to expect from you. Life here is going to be very different from what he was used to at the hotel, so he’s going to be fairly off-balance for a couple of weeks.”
Talk about a steep learning curve. “Okay, then…” I thought frantically. How was I going to make this work? “Can you give me maybe the top three rules to follow so I don’t upset him? Just something to get us started?”
Thankfully, Aiden nodded. “All right. Number one: Don’t ask him what he wants or likes. Tell him what you want and he will happily do it for you. Number two, and this is an important one: Give him a direct order to tell you if anything is causing him pain, and make it clear that that’s never your intention with any of your instructions to him. As a general rule, dimari cannot refuse to follow their master’s orders, even if it’s going to harm them, so you have to deliberately give him an out. Number three: Praise him on a regular basis. Whatever task he does for you, either tell him he’s done it well, or give him clear instructions as to how to do it better, if it’s not up to scratch. Physical touch is a big part of the reward system for a dimari. Put your hand on his shoulder. Hug him. Stroke his hair. Whatever works for you. Butpraise and affection are two vital keys for a dimari’s happiness. As I’ve already said, there’s a fair bit more to learn, but that should keep you out of trouble for the first few days.”
I nodded. A few bumps in the road were par for the course in a situation as complicated as this one.You can do this, I told myself firmly.Xel’s depending on you.“Okay. Let’s go start this tour.” I led the way out of the building, leaving Bo to a little peace and quiet for a while.
“Let’s start with the cattery and kennels,” I said to Xel and Kade, once we caught up to them. The small animal building was both the closest and the simplest. “There are also some storage sheds where we keep the-”
My explanation was cut off by a shrill beeping from Aiden’s comm. He checked the incoming call, then cursed softly. He unclipped an earpiece from the side of his comm and slipped it into his ear, pacing a few steps away for a semblance of privacy.
“Hill here,” he said, as he answered the call, and I waited patiently, sure he wouldn’t be interrupting our activities if this wasn’t urgent. He’d already made a point about how important Xel’s welfare was to him. As I watched, I saw his posture stiffen, then his jaw clench. “Yes, sir,” he said, sounding rather alarmed about whatever he was hearing. “When did it arrive?” He ran a hand through his hair, pacing forward, then turning around again. His gaze met Kade’s, something dark and fearful in his expression. “No,do notopen it!” he barked suddenly, and I saw Kade stiffen at that. Aiden was silent for a moment, listening to whoever was on the other end of the call. Then he said, “Yes, sir. We’ll be there as soon as possible.” He ended the call and came striding back towards us. “Cole, I need to talk to you privately for a moment.”
I could only nod, and I followed him a short distance away.
“Kade and I have to go back to the base,” he said, his expression grim. “We have a dire emergency on our hands, andas much as this is absolutely shitty timing,I have to go. And I realise this is an absolutely unfair question for you, but do you think you’ll be able to look after Xel? Long term, I mean. I should be able to come back in a couple of days and give you a more thorough rundown on everything he needs, but you have the instruction manual and there are a lot of questions that Xel can answer himself, about his skills and experience and what-not. So what do you say?”
Talk about being put on the spot! I gaped at Aiden, frantically trying to view this from every angle. It was a big ask, and a very sudden change to my quiet, reclusive life, but I couldn’t come up with any real reason to refuse. I had a place for Xel to live. I had work for him to do. I knew from experience that I had the patience to help him work through his issues – hopefully with a bit of extra support from Aiden, but that would come in time. Being thrown in the deep end like this was far from ideal, but from the sounds of it, Aiden had no more control over this than I did.
“Yeah,” I said, trying to sound more confident than I felt. “I think it should be fine. I’ll need to speak to you again about some of the details, but I don’t see why it couldn’t work.”
“Oh, god, thank you,” Aiden said. He tapped at his comm. “Here’s my contact details. Send me any questions you have, but for the next couple of days, I might be a bit slow at replying. Xel’s got a bag with his clothes in the car, but that’s pretty much all he owns.” He set off at a run towards the carpark, calling to Kade as he went. I dashed after him, then waved for Xel to come along as well.
“I’m so sorry about this,” Aiden said again, as he handed me the duffle bag of Xel’s clothes. “Kade, we’ve got to get back to the base. I’ll fill you in on the way. Best of luck,” he said to me, as he slid into the driver’s seat. “You’ve got this.”
The wheels spun as the car backed up, then they were disappearing in a cloud of dust, leaving me and a very concerned looking Xel staring after them.
CHAPTER SIX
XEL
Istood in the driveway, watching Aiden and Kade rush off like a voxel-beast was chasing them, wondering what the heck had just happened. Had they just abandoned me here with this man who seemed none too enthusiastic about being my new master? Had I been wrong in trusting Aiden?
“I’m so sorry,” my new master said to me. “Aiden got a call about an emergency back at the military base. He had to go and sort it out. But he said he’ll be back in a couple of days, and he’s given me his contact details, so I can ask him any questions we have about learning to work together. I’ll send them to…” He glanced at my wrist and stopped mid-sentence. “Ah, um… I’ll have to get you a comm,” he said, seeing there wasn’t one on my wrist. “But once we get you one, I’ll send you Aiden’s details so you can ask him any questions you have. And I’m really sorry about the sudden change in plans. I thought we’d have a bit more time to show you around before Aiden had to leave.”
He looked around, seeming uncertain as to what to do next, and I felt my gut churn. So far, he didn’t seem to know what to do with me. That really shouldn’t have surprised me. He hadn’tbought me, hadn’t chosen me specifically out of the Eumadian’s catalogue. Was it any wonder he wasn’t impressed with me? But at the same time, it sounded like he was intending to keep me. If he was buying me a comm and expected us to ‘learn to work together’, then that meant I was staying, didn’t it? It meant I would still have a master, albeit a reluctant one. That had to be better than the alternative.
He subtly composed himself, straightening his shoulders and putting on a more cheerful expression. Given that I’d been trained to pay close attention to my master’s body language and tone of voice in order to better anticipate his needs, I could tell it was forced. But I wasn’t going to say as much.