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“Pollux.”
“Sorry. The bee. What am I supposed to ask about the bee, exactly?”
“Why I have it.”
“Is it not in character for you? You like bees.”
My patience wears thin. “And I suppose grown adults in Faerie just carry stuffed animals around in public?”
Pollux’s silence hits me.
“Are you serious? That’s normal adult behavior in Faerie?”
“I…fail entirely to see why it’s inappropriate for someone to have a comfort item with them regardless of their age. Comfort seems most necessary outside of comfort zones, which would usually be in public.”
I want to go to Faerie. I want to see what it’s like. I want to know what a world kind enough to level the field between adult and child looks like.
It reminds me of how Andromeda reacted when I had the talk about swearing with her.
What’s wrong is wrong, and what’s harmless…is harmless. If it’s good for a child, it’s good for an adult. It seems so much simpler than the unspoken rules humans have that tangle up maturity in superficial appearances of “adulthood.”
I extend the bee before my mind drifts too far out of my reality and into worlds unseen. “I made this for you.”
Pollux’s eyes go wide. “For me?”
“Yes. To express my inside emotions when I fake my smiles.”
His throat bobs as he covers his mouth. “When you fake your smiles…inside you’re an angry bee?”
“Correct.”
His eyes close. “Forgive me. That is too adorable for words, and it feels like my brain is shutting down.”
I am going to stab him. And, yet, this is an appropriate reaction. Finally. Took a minute to get there, but I am pleased with the results.
Pollux’s eyes open. “You really made him for me?” He reaches toward the soft butter yellow face of the angry bee, then closes his fingers. “Is it a boy?”
“It’s probably a girl. Most of a hive is female. The males are useless beyond mating, so they get kicked out during the months when food is scarce.”
“Poor little bees…” he murmurs as he gently takes the plushie from my hands. The smile that slowly overwhelms him comes with a heat that matches the sunset shades on the wall I’m certain he painted to match my dream last night.
My heart skips a beat as he wraps the bee up in a hug and shifts his gaze to me.
“I adore you. I’d thank you, but I’ve yet to teach you how to take my soul, and it would be such a waste to say those words before you know how to use them.”
Turning tomato red, I blurt, “Do you have a background?”
“What?”
“Like. A human existence that could be checked? And an email address. So I can send you a link to have your human existence checked?”
His fingers trace one round, fluffy wing on the bee while a brow arches. “Meda has the skills with which to hack into a system and alter records however she wants. I’m pretty sure that’s how she sent you her school record. If there is something you need me to have a background for, I’m certain she is not unwilling to help.”
I close my eyes for a moment, take a breath, and let it out. “Are you willing to watch a thirty minute informational video?”
“Absolutely. What sort of information does the video discuss and would you like me to take notes?”
“Um.”
