Page 512

--donation bonus (day #25, post 5/5)--
‘Harper apologizes for his impertinence,’ said Darsihm. ‘You know how these young folks are. Once they reach a certain age, they think they know better than everyone.’

‘Oh, I do know!’ said Voreese. ‘Roman is always trying to tell me what to do. Thinks he’s the boss of everybody, this one.’

“Voreese, please--”

‘See that? All the fucking time.’

‘Wow. Roman, you should really relax.’

Roman and Harper just exchanged pitying head shakes.

‘For Harper, it’s less being bossy and more just general smugness. He’s even started doing it to me lately. It’s out of control.’

Harper wondered if they would ever get back to the point about what his ability was. He decided to take that nap he’d been wanting. Darsihm seemed eager enough to speak for him, anyway.

-+-+-+-+-

Hector could hardly focus on meditating. The anxiety was ridiculous. After a week of no news, it seemed like everyone was suddenly moving. Tomorrow, he would get into a fight that would involve more servants than he’d ever seen.

‘Are you frightened?’ said Garovel.

Sitting under his iron dome as the sun grew heavy in the sky, Hector looked over the golden brown horizon. ‘I’m... uh... I’m actually not sure.’

‘Really? It’s only natural to feel fear. There’s no shame in admitting it.’

‘Yeah... I mean, I guess I’m scared, but... I dunno... I think I’m more afraid of what might happen to everyone else than of what’ll happen to me.’

‘Ah.’

‘I’m not trying to sound brave or anything...’

‘I know. You just genuinely don’t care about yourself very much.’

‘Well... I do care about myself. K-kinda. I mean, because... if something happens to me, then something might happen to YOU. So...’

Garovel laughed. ‘So you care about yourself via proxy? That doesn’t seem very healthy, you know.’

‘Yeah, well... if something happens to you, then I’m fucked anyway, right?’

‘True, but still.’

‘I know. I just. I know.’

‘Hmm. Not too scared, huh? But how nervous are you?’

‘Aw, fuck, I don’t... I--agh...’

‘Give me a number. On a scale of one to ten. One is how you feel when you’re deep in meditation. Ten is how you feel when you have to talk to a girl.’