Page 42 of Dark Destiny: A New Thread in the Tapestry

It seemed to be working. Asira whispered something to him behind her hand, and though Bardov's expression didn't change, he leaned in to listen and stayed that way.

"Is everyone comfortable?" Bowen asked, and when he got affirmative answers, he turned off the lights.

Mattie had said that the movie was old but delightful, and she was happy to see it for the hundredth time. It was a cartoon about a boy who lived in a jungle with talking animals, and it had lovely songs.

Sullha had been watching television for four weeks now, and a lot of it. Margaret had warned her that movies and shows didn't portray real life, so she shouldn't think that this was how ordinary people lived or behaved. Still, it was a good window into an unfamiliar world. She just had to remember that the glass was not clear. It was colored.

The mothers could not follow any of it despite attending her English classes. They could count and say basic things, but they were not proficient enough even for a children's animated movie.

Not that it mattered.

When the bear came on and started singing, they laughed and swayed to the beat. They laughed when the bear scratched his back against a tree, and when he floated down a river on his back with the boy sitting on his stomach, Mirumah leaned over to Dumuz and asked something, and Dumuz translated it for her.

It was nice to watch a movie with people she cared about.

On the island, there had been a screen in the dining hall that showed things from time to time, always with a purpose and always with somebody observing to see who was watching. This was an entirely different experience.

Tomek would love this movie. He'd been watching cartoons about a cat chasing a mouse and a clever rabbit. He liked those because they were mostly physical comedy and not much was said, if anything.

Tomorrow, she would look for it in the endless library of movies that the village provided, and they would watch it at home.

The men in the movie started arguing about where the boy belonged. The boy said he did not want to go, and one of them told him he had to because it wasn't safe for him to stay, and he had to go live with his own kind.

Sullha stopped laughing and looked at the row in front of her, but the women hadn't understood what had been said and seemed to be still enjoying themselves.

She was thankful for that. The women in this room had lost their boys at thirteen, and the men on the screen were discussing the future of a young boy who belonged nowhere. It was easy to draw the parallels, but then that might have been just her, and the others would not have seen it even if they could understand the language.

She drew comfort from Yaaf's presence. His arm had been along the back of her seat since the first song, and at some point she'd leaned into it, and a few minutes later, his hand had settled on her shoulder.

She turned to look at his profile in the light coming off the screen, and wanted to kiss him so badly that she was thinking of risking doing so with Mattie and Dimitri to one side and Anita and Petrov to the other. They seemed absorbed in the movie.

Maybe they wouldn't notice?

She could simply turn her head a few degrees further, kiss him, and go on doing it for a while, while the people watching the movie with them pretended not to notice.

She waited through another song.

Then she leaned over and put her mouth next to Yaaf's ear. "I need to find a bathroom."

He turned his head and looked at her.

She hadn't planned the look she gave him. In fact, she wasn't sure she knew how to communicate what was on her mind, and yet he seemed to read it instantly, because his eyes started glowing.

"I'll take you," he said.

They excused themselves as they passed by Dimitri and Mattie, and once they were out in the corridor, Sullha walked silently beside Yaaf, neither of them speaking.

After about twenty paces, she noticed an open door on the left.

The interior was dark, but the light from the corridor was enough to see that it was a classroom, with tables and chairs stacked at the back.

"What is this room for?" she asked.

"Nothing at the moment. They used to have classes for the Guardians here, but now that most of the operations have moved to the village, these rooms are waiting to be repurposed." Yaaf looked into the dark. "Turner wanted to put the lab here before we suggested the kitchen."

"Let's check it out." Sullha took his hand and pulled him through the door.

Yaaf didn't resist, and he didn't need her to explain what she wanted to check out in the abandoned classroom. He kicked the door shut behind him, plunging the room into darkness, the glow from his eyes the only illumination. Then she had her back against the wall, and he was kissing her.