Chapter 11

After that, he asked me how to fill out a form I had never seen before. It seemed like the word quietly spread because not long after, more and more Ta’als passed by the stall, and I found myself answering all sorts of questions or noting them down for later. Yeah, they really did have a sense of community.

After several hours and many glasses of tea, we finally left Da’Nur’s stall and walked home. It was still raining. I was fine, but I could see their clothes were soaking wet.

“Aren’t you cold?”

I glanced at Mai’Ri, but she seemed unbothered.

“No”

“You can use magic to stay warm, I can show you!”

An’Ri smiled.

“It's easy, even I can do it.”

Mai’Ri glanced at me and then quickly wrapped her arms around the girl.

“Let’s think about what we will eat when we get home.”

“Fu’Ri, come and eat with us!”

I nodded, making her smile. I'd rather have weird food than have anything to do with Tau if I didn’t need to. At least Mai’Ri seemed to understand and didn’t push for that crap again. I gave her a quick glance, but she looked away the moment our eyes met. Was she still upset about the incident?

I was freezing when we finally reached our block, but it was probably better to have that to focus on. I didn’t really want to dwell too much on what had happened at the market. I guess I would need to ask the Major about most of their questions, and then return next week. Great. But at least it gave me something to do.

My flat was silent and empty as I walked in and hung my wet jacket by the door. Only then did I notice the white ribbon pinned to it. Great, I’d forgotten to remove it after work, but at least it could explain why they had flocked around me with all their questions. Would Mai’Ri notice if I took it off…? I sighed, and in the end, I let it stay.

I changed into dry clothes and glanced around the empty flat. She’d said I could come at any time, and I didn’t really have anything to do here, so… I stepped over to the sliding door and opened it. The rain hadn’t stopped, and the floor was covered with puddles of water. It would be weird to go around just to knock on their front door, right? I braced myself and ran over the balcony to their side.

An’Ri let me in and closed the door behind me, and once again I was surprised by how different our flats were inside. Mai’Ri stood in the kitchen making dinner, and the smell of food filled the air. It was weird seeing such a homey scene, almost like seeing the other side for the first time. Somehow familiar yet different from anything I knew. I had only seen these kinds of sets in the movies, and those generally meant that one of the characters would die a heroic death at the end…

I sat down on the floor, feeling out of place again.

“It will be ready soon”

Mai’Ri put bowls and plates on the floor and sat down with us.

“Thank you for helping us earlier”

“I didn’t do much...”

“It meant a lot to us.”

“Why? They could have checked all this stuff themselves. I know as much as they do.”

She sighed and looked at me.

“We’re not used to using the internet…and dealing with the government. Any government…”

She sighed and looked away. Yeah, I got it, but I didn’t want to fuck up again, so I let the silence fill the room and didn’t ask any further questions. For the first time, I wished I could do something, but I didn’t dare. Who knew how weird a simple gesture could be for her…

“It should be ready”

She got up and came back with a large ceramic pot that she placed in front of us. She helped serve before we began to eat in silence. It tasted weird, like the previous times, but it was warm, so I didn’t mind. I guess I would get used to it, as I had almost got used to their tea by now. I would probably miss it when I was reassigned to another place, but it was what it was.

As much as Vanity had tried to keep us together, we had slowly drifted apart. With Raptor and Cage on the other side and almost everyone else demobbed, it was probably inevitable. Having a unit reunion in a year or two would be fun, but I knew it would never be the same as it used to be. Our group chat had become increasingly irrelevant to me with every passing day, filled with family photos and discussions about potential employment. Maybe if Vix and Nico finally got married, we would get a chance to chat about the good old days, but I doubted it. The world had moved on, and I’d stayed behind...

“Let’s have some tea!”

An’Ri got up to prepare a kettle.

I blinked. Had I zoned out again? Mai’Ri gave me a concerned look.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah…”

I nodded and glanced at her. Her tail was flickering, and her ears were pricked, but I had no idea how to read it.

“I guess I am just tired.”

She tried to smile, but before she had a chance to say anything, An’Ri came back and placed the kettle in front of us.

“Put your hands on it!”, she beamed. “You don’t need to do anything, it is just a tradition”

I had seen it being done at the market as well. Even if I didn’t get its meaning, there was no harm in doing it. I rested my hands on the kettle, and they joined in, and our hands touched for the second time that day. I looked away, pretending I hadn’t noticed it. Soon, I could feel the warmth radiating under my palms. Tau… It wasn’t enough to activate my implant, but still, it made me uneasy. This stuff was weird at best, but I tried to relax.

“It should be ready”

She pulled her hands away and gave me a reassuring smile. I leaned back as she served us. Had she noticed my discomfort? Was that why she had stopped? The tea wasn't as hot as usual…