Patrol 3: Darkness & Light

Chapter 35

"Is this going to be a daily occurrence over this week of being off?" Vania asked as she opened the door to find Eddin on her doorstep. She finished fastening her cloak around her shoulders as she stepped back to let him in.

"That depends," he replied easily, ducking his head to step through the doorway. "Am I bothering you?"

"Well—no." Vania swallowed and glanced down to where Eluri lounged on the hammock. "I like being with you; you know that."

"Then, yes, I'll keep stopping by. Until we return to work, when I can meet you at the office, or you tell me not to." He smiled at her. "I like being with you, too."

Vania bit her lip, glancing at him and looking away again, eyes falling to her bare feet.

"What?" Eddin placed a hand on her shoulder. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No. I. Um." Vania swallowed. "Just not used to seeing you out of uniform."

"Oh." Eddin glanced down at his cream shirt and dark green tunic, flexing his six fingers in his black fingerless gloves. Prant, in his usual place on Eddin's shoulder, also looked down at Eddin's hands. "Sis said this was one of my better outfits, but I can go change. I'm sure the commander won't care if I'm in uniform or not." He looked over to Vania, noting her brown outfit and hastily donned dark blue cloak, and smiled a little. "You still look good in brown."

She flushed, even the back of her neck turning pink.

"And your cloak matches your hair perfectly." He eyed the mass of blue tendrils piled on her head, held stubbornly in place by pins. "But... you could wear it down, you know. I don't think you need to tie it up when you shouldn't be getting into fights with any vagrants. You're off duty."

She scowled as she looked up at him. "What did I tell you about telling me what to do about my Mark?"

He sighed. "Not to." After a smaller sigh, he added, "I wasn't even thinking about that, though. I was just thinking... it looks like it takes a lot of time and trouble to curl and mound your hair up like that, and while it looks nice, it is probably much simpler to let it hang loose or braid it, like you did the other day. It's lovely like that."

"If you take your gloves off for the day, I'll let my hair down for the day," Vania replied, still scowling. After a moment of silence, Vania said quietly, still staring at the curtained window, "Your sister... chooses your outfits for you?"

"Sometimes," Eddin replied, smiling as he inwardly sighed with relief. "Today, she actually approved of my outfit, so she didn't need to choose for me."

"Well, she..." Vania slowly turned to look over at Eddin again. "...was right. It looks good. Um. With your... complexion."

Eddin chuckled. "Yes. She insists we look good in darker colors, to go with our darker skin, and bright colors work well for accents."

Vania looked at the sleek ivory fabric clinging slightly to his biceps and blinked quickly, looking away. "Accents. Yes." She cleared her throat. "Um. Can I... get you something to drink?" She hastily stepped away, toward the counter. Her toe caught on the black strap of the satchel leaning against the leg of her bed. She tripped, the satchel tipped, and she and a flurry of papers ended up on the floor.

Eluri and Prant both leapt from their places, landing amidst the papers and scattering them in the mayhem as they investigated the incident.

"Vania." Eddin immediately knelt beside her as she anxiously tried to rake the papers into a pile. "Are you all right?" He extended his hands to help her, fingers catching on one of the sheets of paper, eyes automatically scanning it before setting it aside. "What... are these?" He grabbed up another sheet, eyes skimming its contents. "These... look like they're part of a file."

"Yes," Vania replied quickly, snatching the page away from him. "They're from Nanda. It's part of a lost section of file; I reclaimed them when I got Taric from her. I was going to turn it in next time we were working."

He grabbed her arms and stopped her from shoving the papers back into the satchel. "Did you read those?"

She looked up at him, meeting his eyes and slowly pulling her arms out of his hands. "No." She jammed the papers into the satchel.

He sat back, settling onto the floor. "I think you should."

"The file is old. There's nothing in there I need to see." Vania crossed her arms, covering over the satchel in her lap. "And whatever else is in here, we don't need. The Dark Eaters are gone. There's nothing else we needed from Nanda. If we ever really needed anything."

"Vania," Eddin pleaded quietly. "It's about your parents."

"I know," Vania snapped. She looked down at the black fabric, the single red star mocking her. "I've dreamed about that night many times; there is nothing else for me to learn."

"So... you know which of our coworkers Du l'Tagne manipulated into killing them?"

"Yes," Vania replied stiffly. Her grip on the satchel loosened and she slowly looked over to Eddin, the anguished look on his face telling her all she needed to know. "And now you do, too?"

Eddin nodded. Prant jumped into Eddin's lap and climbed up to his shoulder, whining anxiously. He whispered, "So, that's what broke up the dream team."