Page 32 of Xel: Broken Bond
Experimentally, he twisted left and right, then crouched down… which happened to pull the fabric tight across the bulge at his groin. “I think these should be good to work in,” he confirmed, happier now that he had my approval.
“I meant to ask you earlier,” I ventured. “When you worked at the hotel, did you get to wear other clothes, or just the uniform all the time?”
“Only the uniform, sir,” he said, and I nodded. Yeah, that sounded about right. My uncle would have given him the bare minimum, not wanting to waste any extra cost on him. Bastard.
“And you got some new boots as well?”
“Yes, sir,” he said. He ducked back around the corner and fetched them from beside the front door. “Leesha said these will last for a long time.” He held up the boots, which were one of the better brands available on Rendol 4.
“Yeah, they’ll be great,” I said. “Okay, let’s grab a couple of water bottles to take with us, then we can head off. All the tools we need should already be over there.”
I led Xel straight across the paddock, since it was quicker than taking the road. There was a dirt track that led back to the reception building, then swung around to the left, heading up past the good barn and along the edge of the property until it reached the old barn. For vehicles or wheelbarrows, the dirt track was great, but on foot, it was easier to brave the long grass.
As we came around a stand of trees, the barn came into view, and even after having seen it dozens of times, I was still a little impressed by the grandeur of it. It was three storeys high, with an elegantly arched roof and impressive double doors that opened across the front end, along with two smaller pedestrian doors. I noticed Xel stop, as he took in the size of it, and I paused to let him get a good look.
“This was built about fifty years ago,” I told him, smiling at his reaction. “That was shortly after this area had been terraformed. There are some holes in the roof and some of the boards in the hay loft are rotten from the rain, but if we can get that fixed and assess the structural beams, I’m hoping the bulk of the structure will still be sound.”
“It could be beautiful, with some repairs and paint,” Xel said, and I grinned. He was already seeing the potential, and we hadn’t even set foot inside yet. That was just the sort of mindI liked working with – someone who could see the possibilities, rather than the pitfalls of any given project.
“Let me show you around inside. It’s not going to be a glamorous afternoon,” I warned him. “Lots of dust and junk. Any broken planks, we’re putting over there.” I pointed to a pile of damaged timber. “Metal screws or bolts go in the drum by the corner. And there’s a fair bit of straw and hessian bags. Anything biodegradable can go in the compost pile over near the water tank.” He nodded as he took it all in, and then I took hold of the thick handle on the sliding door and dragged it all the way open. Seeing what I was doing, Xel opened the other side as well. I figured it was as well to have as much ventilation as possible, given that there would be plenty of dust and stale air inside.
“Wow!” Xel said, as he took in the cavernous interior. “This could fit a lot of classrooms. Or laboratories. With a bit of cleaning,” he admitted, seeing the amount of debris lying around.
“Let me show you around,” I said. “There’s a storage cupboard over here…” The front of the barn was largely just a wide open space, and I led him towards a pillar in the middle. A small room had been build around the central support, which now served as storage for brooms, rakes, hammers, a saw, gloves, buckets… pretty much everything I could think of that we were going to need to clean the place out.
“There are stalls down the sides in the rear half,” I said, heading around a central partition and into the back half of the barn. There were four sizable stalls on each side, and I opened one of the stall doors to give Xel an idea of the dimensions. “I was thinking that if we combine two stalls, then each one would make a good office or lab space. And assuming the hay loft is stable, then we could build another four upstairs. We could put a wall up the middle of the front room and turn half of it into a conference room and the other half into a kitchen or lunchroom. If people are going to be using it on a regular basis, we’d probably have to get the government to pave the dirt road, as well.” I paused, contemplating the possibilities. And though he didn’t say anything, I suspected that Xel’s imagination was hard at work as well, conjuring up possibilities that I might have missed. He’d already proven himself to be resourceful, and I didn’t think the barn project would be any different.
“Come on, let’s go look at the hay loft,” I said, breaking myself out of my ponderings. The ladder up to the loft was set near the storage cupboard, but before I climbed up, I gave Xel a stern look. “The ladder’s sound, but some of the floorboards are rotten. I’ve marked the damaged areas with spray paint, so don’t tread on anything inside the coloured circles. And watch the edge. There’s no railing, and the last thing I need is you falling off and breaking a leg.”
Xel seemed to be smothering a grin. “Yes, sir,” he said, perhaps amused at being treated like a toddler.
“Don’t look at me like that,” I griped. “I don’t like people getting injured on my watch, that’s all.”
Xel sobered at my words. “I appreciate that,” he said seriously. “There were a number of injuries at the hotel that could have been prevented. We were…” He stopped, then dropped his gaze to the ground. “I’m sorry. It’s poor behaviour to speak ill of one’s master.”
I nodded. “I know it wasn’t a great place to work,” I said, as gently as I could manage. “You don’t have to tell me the details. And there are certain necessary risks we have to take in caring for animals. But I try not to let people takeunnecessaryrisks.”
“Thank you, sir,” he said. Then he glanced up the ladder. “My apologies, sir. I’m distracting you from showing me the barn.”
Taking his cue, I climbed the ladder, grimacing when I reached the top. Somehow, I remembered there being significantly less mess up here than there actually was. “I thinkthe easiest thing might be to just sweep all the straw off the edge and add it to the pile of junk down below. Once we’ve got rid of it all, we can make a proper assessment of the floor and the ceiling beams. And then we can replace the rotten planks, which will give us somewhere stable to work to repair the roof.” Mixed in with the straw was a fair amount of bird droppings, plus plenty of leaves that had blown in during various storms. It was going to be a messy job.
I thought it sounded like a reasonable plan, but when I turned to gauge Xel’s reaction, he was peering at me quizzically. “We?” he asked, sounding surprised. “You’re going to stay and do the work with me?”
I repressed a sigh. “Yes,” I said, managing to keep my tone even. “As I’ve explained, I don’t think it’s fair to make you do all the work while I sit around and take it easy. It’s not an insult to you. There’s just too much work for one person.”
But to my surprise, instead of a meek acceptance of my decree, Xel smiled. “Yes, sir,” he said. “I didn’t mean to sound like I was questioning your orders. Quite the opposite.” A flash of violet rippled across the scales at his collarbone. “I think it’s… It’s nice to be able to work with my master. I very rarely saw my previous master. He had his work, and I had mine, and it was unusual for us to be in the same room together. I like…” He cut himself off abruptly, uncomfortable with… Had he been about to say that helikedsomething? Aiden had said dimari didn’t do that.
“It’s okay to say that you like things,” I said gently. I didn’t want to mess with his training, but at the same time, I didn’t want him feeling ashamed ofenjoyingthings.
That flash of colour rippled across his neck and shoulders again. “I like spending time with my master. With you.”
The words hit me like a punch in the gut. Since the fire, I could count the number of people who genuinely liked mycompany on one hand. I was very aware that there was a part of Xel thatneededto be here, that needed a master and to be told what to do. But if there was another part that actuallylikedit here… well, that was more than I had expected. Almost more than I could have hoped for.
But then I couldn’t help but grin. “You might not be saying that after a couple of hours of sweeping mouldy hay,” I warned him. “Come on, let’s grab some tools. The sooner we start, the sooner we’ll be able to go home and have a hot shower.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
XEL