Chapter 20: Late Night Conversations
1652 Words
“I do not know.” Kaelonne answered honestly after a minute, wrapping his fingers around the cup. He hunched his shoulders and stared into the brown liquid, as if expecting it to have all the answers he was seeking.
“I see.” Ford offers nothing more, nodding as if understanding completely. He taps his fingers on his cups a couple times, to a beat Kaelonne didn’t know, letting the silence wash over them for a few seconds.
“Hmm”
“Would you mind if I asked a couple questions?” The detective, no, in this moment he was just a person, a father, Kaelonne could see the searching expression in his face gone.
“I’m in your home, I believe that it is only fair.” Kaelonne humors him, this man was the reason he was not sleeping on a cold bench for the night, the least he could do was answer some questions.
“No, I don’t mean it like that. You are a guest here; I want you to feel comfortable. You do not need to answer anything if you’re not comfortable.” Ford fixed him with a look, it wasn’t harsh or demanding, just enough for the young royal to pay attention to the word.
“I understand.”
“So… are you comfortable with me asking questions? It is quiet fine to say no, if you do, we’ll just continue drinking hot chocolate with no problem.”
“I am comfortable.” Talking to another person was much better than just sitting in his borrowed room and staring at starless skies. At least, this way he could ask his own questions that had started building his head since he walked into Hartley’s lab.
“Hmm. Is there anything I should not ask about?”
“I don’t know.”
“Okay, I understand. If there is something you don’t want to talk about, just tell me.”
“Tell you what, exactly?” The questions was not rude, just curious. Kaelonne could tell that the human was being quite cautious with him, he just didn’t fully understand why. Then, the Mermatian considered, hearing faint conversation of fighting and seeing bandages with no explanation would leave anyone a little worried.
“Anything you’d like, or just a simple ‘Next question’ if you prefer.”
“Okay.”
“So… have you known my son for a very long time?”
“No.”
“No?” The human raises an eyebrow at this, tilting his head ever so slight, much like Kaelonne’s own father when he received an unexpected answer and now had to revaluate a situation.
“We met that day on the beach, the day I pulled him to shore and one day about a week after.”
“Forgive my curiosity, but why not stay with him when you rescued him?”
“I did, to make sure he woke up, but I left once I heard you coming.” Kaelonne tries to stop his fingers from tightening around the cup, sipping from it to calm himself. Ford meant nothing wrong, but he couldn’t help his thoughts and misgivings from that day run through his head.
“Why?”
“Why what?” The question catches him of guard, hand unintentionally copying the beat of Ford’s fingers on the cup.
“Why leave?”
“I was not supposed to be there in the first place, if they knew that I was there, I would’ve been in… trouble.”
“They?”
“My family.”
“I see, they were on the beach to?”
“Close enough.” More like so far underwater, most creatures would balk at the pressure, but he bit his tongue on that comment.
“Hmm. So, you’ve only known my son for barely a handful of days.” The contemplative tone set Kaelonne in a short whirl of panic, was his presence going to put the young human in trouble? He enjoyed Hartley’s company and had been able to relax finally after what felt like so long, but he refuse to stay there if it would cause problems. Ford seemed to sense the rising tension in the air because he continued, “It’s just that Hartley has a couple friends, but I’ve never seen him quite so relaxed in someone else’s presence, if you know what I mean. His reaction to you in the lab almost had me convinced that the two of you had known each other for years.”
“Oh…I see, I was not aware that we came off as such.” Now that he thought about it, it felt normal to just talk to the younger human. It was as though he’d known the human for most of his life instead of a couple days. It wasn’t like the way Falkon talked to his intended, however, it was more like talking…to another version of himself? Kaelonne shook his head to abandon the confusing thoughts.
“That’s definitely not a bad thing, it means you are comfortable, I am happy for that.”
“Thank…you?” The silence continued on for a few seconds.
“So… the daggers you had, you confirmed that it is yours?”
“Yes, my uncle gave them to me.” He hadn’t been able to get it back, and his heart dropped a little at the possibility of never being able to give it back to its rightful owner.
“Them?”
“Yes… there was two with me, the one I was holding at the lab is my uncle’s, there was a second one I had with me until the boat.”
“I’m sorry, kid. You were only found with one.” Kaelonne’s expression fell a little, hands tightening around the half empty cup in his hands, “Who was the second one from?”
“My sister, she gave it to me on the day I got my tattoos.”
“The tattoos, the knives, the accent. Where are you from exactly?”
“…next question.” Kaelonne didn’t even know how to explain that to the detective, considering he had no evidence to show him, he’d just write him off as a mad man like some of the people on the streets he’d dared to ask for help. “May I ask one?”
“Sure.”
“What happened to me?” His blurry recollection of that day was an annoyance he wanted desperately to clear up, it was not often that he had gaps in his memories, and he did not like it one bit.
“What do you mean?”
“When I was found, I don’t remember much of it.”
“You were found out in the sea, holding onto a broken piece of a wooden fishing boat. We considered you as part of the crew of fishermen that got wreaked in the freak storm that took off Hartley to, but you were wearing clothes that didn’t quite match.”
“My armutas- armour… uh, the stuff I was wearing, where is it?” Kaelonne turned his feeling of wanting to slam the palm of his hand at his face by taking a mouthful of the drink in his hands. Ford looking as though he wanted to ask a million more questions but was torn between interrogating the Mermatian or insuring he was comfortable.
“The costume? It’s still at the lab.”
“What happened after?”
“Brought you back to shore, got you an ambulance. You stuff, the dagger and such, were taken because you weren’t identified on the system. We bargained to ask questions when you woke up, but you didn’t for a while and then you disappeared.”
“I panicked.”
“I see that now. We suspected immigrant or smuggled… but after the bits and piece I got tonight, I’m beginning to suspect a different story.”
“Oh.” Kaelonne wanted to ask what he meant by that but the sorcery of the liquid in the cup had his eyes heavy and mind comfortably muddled.
“Those injuries that you got, were they from someone else?” Fords eyes grew a little darker, soft gaze still intense enough that Kaelonne steeled his own on the half empty cup.
“Something like that.”
“I see.”
“You knew I left the hospital.” It was a certain statement, not a question, Ford winced.
“Yes, we had a couple officers trying to find you but since you were consistently on the move, I assume, by the time my guys were able to get the bolo, you were already gone.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Do not be, you were not at fault.”
“You recognised me in the police station.”
“Not at first, considering the first time I saw you, you were on a hospital bed.” Kaelonne watched carefully at Ford’s changing expressions, he still wasn’t as well versed in humans’ reactions, but it was still fascinating to him just how much one could express without words.
“Hartley is a good person; I went to him because he was the only person I knew.”
“And I am happy that you sought help, for I wouldn’t have been able to find you.” The man nodded, placing one of his hands flat on the table as if solidifying his statement.
“What happened now?”
“That depends. The precinct is aware that you’ve been located and considered safe, so you’ll stay with me for a while. Just until you choose to leave or talk for a case about what is going on.”
“Hmm. Can I… ask one more thing?” Kaelonne’s voice was a little more slurred, the foreign language a little harder to string together now.
“Sure.”
“What… what would you do if you knew a family member was in danger and there was nothing you could do to help?” Ford seemed to think hard on the question.
“I would find someone who can.” Kaelonne shoulder slumped at this, it was an answer he needed to hear but it was not one that would be easy to put tighter. Ford gently took the empty cup from his hand and ushered him to the couch in the open room next to the kitchen.
The young royal was already in a state of dozing like a youngling Mermatian by the time Ford spread a large blanket over him. That the was most rest he’d gotten in weeks.
- Writer
