But as she went over to join the line, a public comm on the wall caught her eye. Kay grinned as she called up the directory and sent off a short message to Louis' work terminal: 'Hi! I'm waiting for you in the reception area. Kay'. Hopefully, he'd see it soon. She then joined the line, thinking that she could ask to have him paged over the intercom if he didn't arrive before she got to the front of the line.
Louis sighed after the last patient left. He was tired. He really needed a secretary. *I'll deal with that first thing tomorrow*. He looked around and realized he still had some things to organize. But he couldn't bring his mind to focus, his thoughts of Kay distracting him. He smiled when he saw her message on the terminal. *Well, I guess that means today's work has ended*.
He locked the room and left. The reception area was so full of people it was hard to walk. He looked around, finally spotting her. He waved and walked to where she was standing, smiling. "Good evening. Care to join me out of this mess?", he asked.
Kay grinned back, as she stepped out of the line. "It's good to see you too, Louis my friend", she said warmly (but left both hands still tucked in her jacket pockets). There was no point in taking any chances here. "You must have had a very long day already -- and it's not even meal-time yet", she added, "Melissa's already waiting in my quarters (and after having to wait for me to finish work first too)".
"Melissa? Oh, sure! Your friend...", he answered, falling into step with her. "Yes, my 'breda' as they say here --- the closest translation in Standard would be oath-sister", Kay answered with a warm smile, "It's a long story. But if you're interested, ask me later and I'll tell you how that all came about".
As they left the medical building and walked between the buildings, Kay suddenly blushed. There wasn't much likelihood of getting a better opportunity to talk privately. It would have to said now -- just in case there wasn't time later. And Louis deserved an explanantion. Otherwise, there'd likely be even more misunderstandings between the two of them.
So she said hesitantly "There WAS something else I wanted to say to you ... I was thinking about what we talked about this morning in the cafeteria ... and ... ummm ... I'm not ... well ... ready ... for THAT far a degree of intimacy ... with anyone ... but I do care for you ...". Her voice trailed off as she looked down.
Louis gulped. "I...I think you've misunderstood things. I didn't mean to...hum..._ask_ or _suggest_ anything...", he protested. Then he stopped abruptly, as a thought occurred to him. "Wait a second. You said you...care for me?", he asked in a whisper
Kay blushed an even deeper red, "Aye ... 'tis so indeed ... ", she replied softly, her accent falling back into the patterns of her youth, "an' differently from the way I feel for my brother Gwenn or my Da ... but nae quite like that of a mare-in-season for a stallion ...".
Then, abruptly, she shrugged, and started walking forward again, declaring "Och, 'twould take too long to explain right now ... an I barely understand it meself ... let's continue onwards ".
Kay finally summonned up enough courage to get out the rest of the words. "I sent a private-and-personal email to your quarters this afternoon, with delayed-delivery so that it wouldn't arrive before I had a chance to talk to you privately first", she explained in a very small voice.
He frowned, wondering what the message said. Well, he'd deal with that later. "Nae ... I'll not say any more 'bout it ... mayhaps I've been daft enough tae say too much already", came Kay's firm answer in response to the unspoken questions. At such close range, Louis' confusion was obvious -- even though her eyes were still upon her own big feet and she gripped her barriers close around her.
Then there was a pause before Kay continued shyly, "All I'm asking you now ... is that you read it over ... and think about it ... Take as much time as you need to sure ... I don't want you to regret your choice later". And on that note, Kay began to walk a little bit more quickly, saying "But come meet Melissa first ...". He nodded and followed her, feeling very curious indeed.
Slowing down a little (to let Louis catch up), her eyes flicked quickly sideways at him ... then away ... then back again. Yet she said nothing. Silence was perhaps better than the wrong words. And in her curent frame of mind, Kay dared not peek out from behind her bariers yet.
Suddenly, Alan's familiar touch on her mind roused her from her rest. *Melissa.... I just had to tell you... We aren't out of the city yet but we are expected to ride into an ambush... I had to let you know...*.
He broke off, and Melissa gasped in shock. She hadn't known that the mission was going to be dangerous! *But -* she reached for him frantically, *You can't - I - Alan, be careful! I love you!*. She felt him start to let go of the contact, and got an image of a large group of carriages and horsemen starting to move... Then Alan was gone, her last sense of him a mixed emotion of sadness, love, and worry.
"Oh cario, please come back to me." she whispered out loud, and sat in a small heap on Kay's bed, tears running gently down her cheeks.
When they reached the residential complex, Kay led the way directly to her quarters. She knocked lightly upon the door and called "Hello? Melissa ... it's Kay" before palming the door open.
"Enter and be welcome, my friend", Kay said, turning to Louis, gesturing that he should come in. Then she stepped into the room and suddenly noticed the look on Melissa's face (and the fresh tear-tracks glistening on her cheeks). Behind her, Louis walked into the room and immediately noticed the young woman on the bed.
"What happenned, breda mea. Did someone disturb you while I was gone ?", Kay asked, her voice full of loving concern for Melissa. Louis, forgotten for the moment, stood near the door, not wanting to interrupt. He looked around and smiled. Kay's dormitory room was very cozy.
Melissa looked up as she heard Kay come in. "No, it's just that I heard from Alan just now, and the project he's working on, it's an assignment of some sort, and out of town, and it's dangerous...he just told me that he might get into - " she couldn't say what was actually in her mind. "...into trouble...or hurt..."
She then noticed Louis standing just inside the doorway. "Oh, I- I'm sorry...". She stood up, hastily wiping her face. She looked from Kay to Louis and back again. "Please forgive me. I didn't mean to make a spectacle of myself..."
"Oh dear", Kay replied, with a small worried frown, "I hope it's not too dangerous. And don't worry -- you're not a spectacle". A thought wandered up from the back of Kay mind and suggested that if this was a matter for the Guard, then maybe it involved Gwenn too. Firmly, Kay pushed that thought aside for now; she'd deal with it later.
Louis smiled at Melissa. "Don't worry about me. Just pretend I'm not here, ok?"
Glancing back over her shoulder, Kay wondered why Louis was still waiting by the doorway. "If you're still certain that you want to hear this", she told him matter-of-factly over her shoulder, before seating herself on the bed beside Melissa, "you're welcome to shut the door and help yourself to my desk chair". Hopefully he'd stay, but it was only right (in the name of honourable behaviour) to offer one last chance for him to back out.
Melissa looked at Louis curiously. Was this Kay's, erm, friend? She watched him to see what he would do. Kay herself was acting strange - as if she didn't want him to stay really... It was too confusing. So Melissa simply waited for Kay to show her whatever it was...
Noticing Melissa's reaction, Kay sighed. "I know this must look strange to you, breda ... and I can't explain it yet (or even tell you this man's name) --- not until he freely chooses whether to be drawn futher into the matter I wish to discuss", she said nervously, hoping that Melissa would understand.
"If not for what I showed him unasked, he wouldn't be caught on the horns of a dilemma", continued Kay, her green-brown eyes looking directly at Melissa's and shining with a mixture of hope, anxiety and frustration. "To some degree, I feel responsible for having disrupted his life to no small degree already. I did NOT intend to do it -- but I did. And what's done is done. So it would be dishonourable of me not to offer him one last chance to change his mind. Part of me wants to offer a warning to stay far away from ALL sorcerers. But another part of me knows that ignorance never provides a good defense against anything", Kay added.
Then she turned back to Louis, eager to hear how he would decide. Would he stay ? Or would he leave ? The answer would determine how much she would tell (and show) Melissa.
"I'm not running away now", he said, grinning. "Really Kay, you scare me. I'm staying, of course", he concluded, closing the door and sitting on the chair. He looked at Kay and waited.
Seeing that the young man was staying, Melissa looked over at Kay hesitantly, then smiled at Louis, extending her hand Terran-style.
"Hello, I'm Melissa. I'm a friend of Kay's from -" she hesitated for a minute, "- Thendara." She finished, not wanting to give away too much before Kay had a chance to explain herself a bit more.
"Louis Couvillon, also a friend of Kay from...the corridors", he said. Pretending not to have noticed Melissa's outstreched hand, Louis simply gave a small nod, then he looked at Kay and smiled.
Melissa looked at Kay with a puzzled grin, saying "Well breda, you have us here, and we're not going anywhere... Perhaps now it would be best if you could show us what you've been sitting on for so long...?" She looked at the expression on Kay's face, and could feel the tension emanating from her.
With a light touch on Kay's wrist, Melissa added *Remember you are among friends here.* She sent a reassuring squeeze with it.
"Yes, please", Louis agreed. "End this mystery...", he mocked.
His comment earned him a small disapproving frown. Then Kay's fingers reached up to her braid, and began nervously tugging strands of hair loose. She sighed in frustration, letting a tiny trickle of emotion leak out. "Very well then", came her decision, in a very flat tone of deadly seriousness, "But there is something I must tell you both first ... something that I've never told anyone ... ".