Page 20 of Xel: Broken Bond
“Is there anything else you wanted to know?” Bo prompted me. “Cole isn’t always the best at explaining things.”
I thought quickly, sifting through all the questions in my mind for ones that Bo might be able to answer. “Are there many other staff who work here?” I asked, keen to know just how concerned I should be about my opportunities for social interaction. “Cole mentioned that you occasionally have casual staff, but he didn’t give me any details.”
“There are four casuals,” Bo explained. “One of them is only a teenager. He’s still in school. He usually comes on Saturday mornings. The rest of them are adults, and they come Saturday, Sunday, and whenever we need a bit of extra help. In terms of a bustling social life, there’s not a whole lot going on.” I didn’tquite know how to hide my disappointment with her answer. “You like to be a bit more out and about, do you?” she asked.
I thought about how to answer her. Then, based on the fact that Bo wasn’t my master, and therefore I was under no obligation to make up an answer for the sake of her approval, I decided to just be honest. “I was chosen for my training specialty on the basis of having an outgoing personality. I like people,” I said, with a helpless shrug. “I was taught how to stimulate interesting conversations, and to take an interest in other people’s lives. I’m concerned that living somewhere so quiet will be…” There was no good way to finish that sentence. Living in a house with my master could not possibly bedisappointing. It could not beboring. It was unthinkable to say that it would beunpleasant.
Bo nodded, and I hoped she understood what I was trying to say. “Well, I’ll tell you what,” she said. “I’ll have a chat to Cole and ask him if you can come and help with the visitors as much as possible. He knows that not everyone is as reclusive as he is. He just… maybe forgets that every now and then.”
That sounded like a wonderful idea. But at the same time, the implicit criticism of my master made me uncomfortable. “He’s been very kind and generous in taking me in,” I pointed out.
“I didn’t say he wasn’t,” Bo said, with a smile. “And I know we haven’t known each other long, but I’m starting to think that you being here is going to be good for him. He gave up on life, a little while back, and no one’s really figured out how to jolt him out of that. But I have a sneaking suspicion you’re going to turn out to be exactly what he needs.”
CHAPTER TEN
COLE
Iheard the door to the barn open and felt a flush of embarrassment. It was probably Xel, coming to check on me, and to find out why I’d run away the instant someone I didn’t know had stepped into the room. I busied myself with forking new straw into the stalls where the thumbits spent the night, hoping to hide my flushed cheeks under the guise of hard work.
Soft footsteps came down the aisle towards me, and then I heard Xel’s gentle voice say “Sir?”
I stopped, leaning on my pitchfork for a moment to compose myself, before turning around. “Xel. How did it go with the visitors?”
“They adopted Pancake,” he told me. “And I finished cleaning out the last cat cage.” He hesitated, then asked, “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” I said, more sharply than I’d meant to. “Sorry, I missed showing you how to clean the dog kennels. I figured I should just keep working while you were busy. I’m sure I’ll have time to show you that bit tomorrow.”
“Yes, sir,” Xel said, with a slight tilt of his head. Did he think I was a lunatic? A coward? He was staring at me again, in that calm, steady way that seemed to look straight through my soul… before remembering himself and lowering his eyes. He’d done that a couple of times in the last day, as if he wanted to say something, or ask some profound question, before thinking better of it.
“I’m pretty much finished here,” I said, dumping the last bundle of straw onto the ground and giving it a cursory shove with the pitchfork. “Come with me and I’ll show you where we keep the feed. I’ve fed the chickens and the polvers, but not the rest of the farm animals yet.” Without waiting for an answer, I led Xel to the feed room, collecting a bucket of pellets from a plastic bin and putting half a bale of hay into the wheelbarrow.
Outside, I showed him how to spread the pellets all along the feeding trough, to make sure everyone had enough space to get their share. The thumbits were naturally friendly creatures, and I had to do my fair share of shoving and scolding them to get them to move out of the way enough for me to pour the food. Most of the hay went into a rack, with the rest going to Jeffrey the camel and Clyde the donkey. Then I stood back, leaning on the fence of the thumbit enclosure.
“It’s a good idea to just watch them for a couple of minutes,” I told Xel, while he continued paying close attention to everything I was doing. “Make sure all of them are eating and no one’s behaving strangely. You’ll get the hang of what ‘normal’ looks like for them after a week or two. But if anyone’s keeping away from the main group, or limping, or not eating, it could mean there’s something wrong.”
Xel nodded and turned his attention to the small herd… and shortly after that, he made a small noise. “That one,” he said, pointing to a female standing halfway along the trough. “She’s… very round.”
I smiled, glad that he’d noticed. We’d had to sack more than one trainee because they just hadn’t paid enough attention to what they were doing. But even on the first day, Xel was noticing small differences between the animals. It was a good sign.
“That’s Rose,” I told him. “And yes, she’s pregnant. Due to give birth any day now. One of the early signs is that she’ll get very restless. She won’t stand still, she’ll lie down then get up again, and she’ll get moody, start kicking any of the others who get too close to her. I’ll be keeping a pretty close eye on her, but if you notice any of that, please let me know.”
“Yes, sir,” Xel said again, and I found myself clenching my teeth to try and control my own annoyance. Was I going to have to carry the conversation for the rest of our lives? Didn’t he have any questions to ask? Things he wanted to know? Or even just comments to show he was interested?
It was entirely likely I was just being unfair, caught in a bad mood from being surprised this morning, but it didn’t seem unreasonable to expect him to know how to hold a basic conversation. Dimari were typically bought as companions of various kinds, weren’t they? Some for simple domestic duties, but I was sure I’d read a couple of articles about how they were sometimes trained for high-class social events, taught how to behave in fancy restaurants, or taught to play musical instruments. I opened my mouth to ask Xel what particular skills he’d been trained in… but at that moment, my comm let out a loud, high-pitched trill, and I recognised it as not only an incoming call on business for the sanctuary, but whoever the caller was had also marked it as urgent.
With a muttered curse, I answered the call, setting it to voice only, as always. “Cole Jenkins, South Hon Animal Sanctuary. What can I do for you?”
“Cole? Thank god. I need your help,” a familiar voice said, and I felt my shoulders relax at the realisation that I knew thecaller. I switched on the video channel, offering a weak smile as I saw Doot’s face appear in a holographic image. Doot was a Wasop, four feet tall with swirling black and yellow stripes across his face. But while he was generally a cheerful sort of person, today there was a dark frown on his face. “We’ve got a right doozy for you here. Hobby farm with half a dozen animals. The neighbours have agreed to take most of them, but we’ve got a rather cantankerous donkey that’s suffering from a serious case of neglect. The owner’s got dementia and no one’s been following up on him enough to make sure the animals are being looked after. Any chance you could come over and pick him up?”
Shit. My gut lurched at the idea of leaving the property and having to deal with a horde of neighbours, cops and bureaucrats. But at the same time, there was no way I was going to abandon a neglected animal. I pushed off the fence and started heading for the house, gesturing for Xel to come with me. “When you say cantankerous, how bad do you mean?” I asked Doot. “Are we going to be able to get him into the trailer?”
“Bribe him with a bit of food, and I’m sure he’ll follow you,” Doot replied. “He’s stubborn more than angry. But he’s also underweight, so we just have to get that hunger to work for us, instead of against us.”
I nodded. “I’ll be over as soon as I can. I’ll just have to call in one of the casuals to take over for the day. Send me the address.”
“Good lad,” Doot said enthusiastically, then ended the call.
“You heard most of that?” I asked Xel, and he nodded, striding along beside me. I tapped at my comm and hit call when I found Leesha’s contact. She was a Solof, and the most experienced of the backup staff. If I was going to be off-site for a good chunk of the day, she was the one I wanted to leave in charge.