Topic: Not Such A Chore

Dani Barnes

Date: 2017-06-22 10:37 EST
For most people living on the Grove, 7:30am was a reasonable time to be up and about, made necessary by their overly excitable children. For Dani, it was a habit learned from years of school, and then months spent on Oakham Mount with her parents. Thus, when 7:30 rolled around that morning, she was waiting outside her little cottage, lying on her back in the grass and enjoying the warmth of the sun as she waited for Zachary to make his appearance.

For Zachary, it hardly mattered. With no job and no particular place that he needed to be, he was free to go to sleep when he wanted and wake up when he wanted. No one had been pressuring him to go to school or work, not yet anyway. It was enough for now to spend his time getting acclimated to his mother's home world, but that wouldn't last forever. And so, it was at precisely 7:30 that Dani found Zach wandering up the path to the cottage, dressed casually enough in jeans and a t-shirt and looking remarkably human.

She pushed herself up onto her elbows, squinting in the sunshine with a smile on her face. "I could set my watch by you," she informed him cheerfully. "Sleep well, did you?" It wasn't exactly a conventional greeting, but it served in place of one. Dani grinned, waving a hand in his direction. "Pull me up, I'm too lazy to do it on my own."

"I slept okay," he replied, as he leaned over to offer her a hand. "What about you?" he asked, returning her question with one of his own, as he presumed it was the polite thing to do.

Seizing his hand with her own, she pulled on him to drag herself up to her feet, her other hand busily sweeping the grass from her skirt. "It takes time to get used to sleeping in a different place," she shrugged lightly. "I'll sleep better tonight, I'm sure."

"Don't you get lonely all alone here?" he asked, daring to ask a question he'd avoided asking the night before. He knew some people liked living alone, as it gave them a sense of freedom and independence, but others found it lonely.

"I've never been all alone before," she admitted, gently taking her hand from his with a softer smile. "The novelty wore off pretty fast. So ....yeah, I do get lonely. I'm not used to not being able to hear someone else in the house. It was kind of scary for a little bit."

"But not anymore?" he asked, finding himself reluctant to retract his hand from hers, though holding her hand was hardly necessary. Touching her, he'd had to repress the instinct to probe deeper - something he'd done without much thought back on his father's homeworld.

"No, it's still scary," she laughed, turning to set off toward the gates. "I just told myself not to be scared, and that kinda worked for a while. I have a pretty over active imagination, so every little noise freaked me out for a while until I got used to it."

Zach shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans as he set off beside her, as if by doing so, he wouldn't be tempted to reach for her hand or touch her in any way. "I don't think you have to worry, so long as you're inside the gates," he told her. As scary as her encounter the previous night had been, there were no predators inside the gates of Maple Grove that he was aware of.

"No ghosts?" she asked in a teasing tone, tilting her head to look at him as they walked. "Only I'm really scared of ghosts. I think I saw one once, when I was at school, but that wasn't the scary part. The scary part was when I would wake up in the middle of the night, and I'd feel something sitting on the bed next to me when there was no one there, and I could hear them breathing. It was terrifying."

"Ghosts?" he echoed, furrowing his brows. This girl never failed to surprise him with her questions. "Not that I know of," he replied, though that didn't there weren't a few resident ghosts at Maple Grove that he wasn't aware of. He wasn't even entirely sure he believed in ghosts, but after living in Rhy'Din for the last six months or so, he'd learned there wasn't much that was unheard of here. "What makes you think it meant you any harm?" he asked, assuming whatever it was she'd sensed had never hurt her. "And ghosts don't breathe," he pointed out further.

"I heard it breathing," she argued with a smile. "It wasn't my breathing, it was something else, and there was no one else in the room at 2am. You don't think that's creepy' Something you can't see or touch, just sitting there watching you sleep?"

"I suppose," he replied, with a thoughtful frown, though he doubted he'd have been frightened by such a thing so much as intrigued. "It could have been something else," he said, though he didn't think listing the possibilities would put her much at ease.

"What, like some invisible perv watching me sleep instead?" she asked. Her tone made it clear she wasn't disturbed by the turn of the conversation - more amused that he thought other possibilities were somehow better.

"Maybe it's someone watching over you, keeping you safe," he suggested further, seeing as how she didn't seem to find an alternate explanation very comforting. "You know, like a deceased friend or relative," he told her. He'd often wished his mother or father would speak to him from beyond the grave, to no avail.

"But if it was something like that, don't you think I wouldn't be scared?" she pointed out, raising a hand to shake her hair back off her face. "I mean, if it was someone who didn't mean any harm, wouldn't it make sense for me not to be scared of them?"

"Not necessarily," he reasoned. "I mean, not if you didn't know who they were or what they wanted," he added, unsure if he was using the right pronoun, since there was no way of knowing what it really was that she'd encountered. "Maybe it was someone who used to go to the school," he suggested, though again, there was no way to know for sure.

"If it was that, then why would they pick on me?" she asked then, enjoying the debate more than invested in its outcome. It had been a long time since she'd had a friend she could talk to about something more than dresses, boys, and makeup. "Why not one of the other girls in the school?"

"I don't know," he admitted. Without investigating further, he had no information to go on other than what she was telling him. "Maybe ....maybe it was a former student who used to live in your dorm?" he suggested again, though that implied someone may have died there.

She grimaced comically. "Ugh," was her succinct response. "So someone died in my bed and came back to shift me out of it?" Her grin belied the gruesome nature of her query, the gentle nudge of her elbow to his arm encouraging him not to take it so seriously.

"Have you had any visits since you left school?" he asked, thinking the answer to that question would probably settle the matter. He glanced her way at the nudge of her elbow, seeing the grin on her face and unsure if she'd just been teasing him all along.

"No, not since I left school," she assured him warmly. "You shouldn't take life so seriously, you know. Most things are easier to deal with if you can laugh at them." She glanced up as the guards on the gate waved them through. "Besides, you're cute. You're a heartbreaker when you smile."

Dani Barnes

Date: 2017-06-22 10:38 EST
He blinked in surprise at her remarks, mostly about the latter comments. No one had ever called him cute before - no one that wasn't related anyway - and he certainly didn't believe himself to be a heartbreaker. He was of noble blood on his father's side, but here on Rhy'Din, it hardly mattered and no one cared. "Why would I want to break anyone's heart?" he asked, taking her literally.

"It's a compliment," she told him cheerfully. "It means you're handsome enough to break someone's heart without ever knowing they're interested in you. It doesn't mean you'd do it on purpose."

"I doubt I will break any hearts, Dani, but thank you for the compliment," he told her. Despite his attempts to acclimate, there were still some things he had to learn about the culture here on Rhy'Din and especially among humans. "What about you? Have you broken any hearts?" he asked curiously, as they approached the place where she'd been attacked the previous evening and where she'd left her truck.

She laughed, shaking her head. "Until I got out of school, I hadn't been anywhere near any boys," she admitted. "I suppose I might have broken a few girls' hearts, but the girls at my school would never have admitted to it if I had. I wouldn't want them interested in me, anyway. Too stuck up."

"Girls?" he echoed, a little embarrassed. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize," he said, sounding a little bit flustered as he realized she might not prefer the opposite sex, but her own. It was not something that was unheard of on his homeworld, though he didn't know from personal experience.

"You know, just for the sake of parity." She watched him for a moment, her smile growing. "I'm teasing you, Zach," she finally told him, unable to keep from chuckling. "I like boys. Right now, I like one boy in particular. What about you?" She paused by the truck, heaving the hood up to inspect its inner workings.

He did not really consider himself a boy anymore, and so, assumed she had a particular fondness for someone other than himself. Shrugging, he tried not to look disappointed. It would be just his luck that the first female who'd shown any interest in him was actually fond of someone else. "I prefer females," he replied, misunderstanding her question as he peered down over the hood to take a look at the engine.

"Huh." She was beginning to get the hang of the way he spoke, but found it too funny to deliberately misunderstand. "Any particular species?" Pulling the keys from her pocket, she moved to open up the driver door, inserting the key and attempting to turn the engine over.

He shrugged again, not having given it much thought before. "I'm not sure," he admitted, honestly enough. He was only half-human himself, but he wasn't too sure about mating with non-humans. He wasn't even sure if he was ready to mate with anyone. He was barely out of his teens himself.

Dani blinked, leaning out of the window to look at him in surprise. "Is that because you find other species attractive, or are you teasing me now?" she asked with a faint smile, listening to the engine grind. "Damn it." Pushing out of the truck, she returned to the hood to more closely inspect the engine.

"It's because I'm only half-human," he explained, though she might have figured that much out already, despite his looking human. He reached under the hood, a strange blue light emanating from the palm of his hand.

"What's the other half?" Perhaps it wasn't the most polite question, but he'd definitely piqued her interest with that comment. She drew back, staring wide-eyed at his glowing hand. "Uh ....what are you doing?"

Until now, most of their talk had been about her, not so much because he was secretive about his origins, but only because she hadn't asked, nor had it come up. "Your battery is dead," he replied, matter-of-factly, just before zapping the thing with a jolt of that blue light that was coming from his hand. "Try it now," he suggested, having just given the truck the equivalent of a jump start.

Ever so slightly weirded out by the lack of answer, Dani moved back to the driver's seat, turning the key once again. The engine roared to life, startling her. She hadn't actually expected that to happen. "What did you do?"

"I recharged your battery," he replied, once again as matter-of-factly as if this was a perfectly ordinary occurrence - at least, to him. He closed his hand, the blue light disappearing as if it had never been there at all. "I told you - I am only half-human."

"Yeah, and you ignored my question afterward," she pointed out, more than a little wild around the edges. The smile was gone now - she'd never met anyone who wasn't wholly human before, and his refusal to explain what she didn't understand was not helping. "I figure I've told you plenty about me. What's wrong with a little about you?"

He frowned, only just realizing that he'd upset her somehow. "You didn't ask," he reasoned, at least not until a few minutes ago. "I am half Zhodani on my father's side," he was quick to explain, before she could accuse him of being evasive again. He doubted that would help much, unless she'd heard of the place.

"I did ask, you ignored the question," she pointed out. "That isn't a good way to keep someone's trust." But he did offer an answer, even if it meant nothing to her. "I ....I've never heard of the Zhodani," she said a little superfluously. She'd never heard of a lot of things.

"From Zhodan," he explained further, though that was unlikely to help much if she'd never heard of it. He sighed, frowning. "I understand if you no longer wish to be friends with me."

Her brow rose. "You're quick to throw away friends," she commented. "How about, instead of feeling sorry for yourself, you tell me what a Zhodani is and how you did what you did to my truck" Right now, I don't know, and a lot of things I don't know about make me scared. I don't want to be scared of you."

He wasn't actually, but he didn't want to force her to be his friend, if she was too weirded out by his abilities and by the fact that he was not entirely human. He thought she might have already understood that much the previous night when he'd easily chased away predators and vaulted a ten foot high gate, but apparently, he'd been mistaken. "A Zhodani is simply a person from Zhodan, my father's home world. It is where I was born." He glanced at the sky, squinting into the sun that was already risen. "I can show you later, if you like," he promised, unable to indicate where his homeworld was located during the day. That still didn't answer all of her questions, but it was a start.

"Okay," she said carefully. "So it's another planet. I assume they're not human. Do they look like us, or did you take after your mother?" Drip-feeding her information was not going to raise her opinion at this rate. All he'd done was tell her the same piece of information in three different ways.

Dani Barnes

Date: 2017-06-22 10:38 EST
"Both, I suppose," he replied after a moment's consideration. He wasn't moving from the spot, wondering if they were still going to breakfast, or if that was going to depend on his answers. "My mother was from Rhy'Din. Zhodani look like humans, but some of us have special abilities. Especially those with noble blood."

"Noble blood" Are you a prince, or something?" she asked, her eyes widening. She wasn't annoyed anymore; just curious, lowering the hood as she gestured for him to get into the truck.

"Not exactly," he replied. "At least, not anymore." Once again, his reply hardly answered her question, but it was a little more complicated than a simple yes or no answer. He paused in his explanation as he climbed into the truck on the passenger's side. "I declined to fight for my place as leader and came here instead."

"You gave up being a prince to come here and deal with weird blondes who attract trouble?" she asked, and there was the humorous note in her voice as she started the engine again. She flashed him a faint smile, relieved he was actually telling her something. "Go on. I'm listening."

He knew she was trying to make a joke, but the answer to her question was serious. "No, I ....I came here to lay my mother's remains to rest," he replied, hoping she wouldn't get too upset with his answer. "Her name was Miriam Granger," he informed her further, connecting the dots at last to the Granger Family who called Maple Grove home, though he had already told her his name.

"Oh." Dani's smile was swept from her face as he answered her. "Oh, I'm so sorry." She couldn't think of anything else to say, struggling to find words that wouldn't seem trite or inappropriate in the face of his loss. The fact that she couldn't probably spoke volumes about her personality - she'd never really come face to face with real bereavement. She had no idea how to respond in a helpful way.

"She wanted to come home for so long," he explained, turning his head to look out the window but not paying much attention to the view. "She brought me here once when I was a child. She loved this place," he added quietly.

"What was she like?" Dani asked quietly, glancing toward him as she drove down the road, passing the greenery of the woods and out onto the forested space before the city walls. "Tell me about her, the things you remember best."

Zach quieted, as if he either needed a moment to consider his answer or to contain his emotions. He'd had months to process his grief, but sometimes it still felt as fresh as the day she'd died. "She was kind and caring," he replied - words most people might use to describe their own mother. And he'd been her only child.

Listening to the silence before he spoke, she realized how difficult it was to sum a person up in just a few short words. "You know, my mom had this thing she did when I was little," she offered, hoping to encourage him to speak about his own mother. "Every night before I went to bed, she'd give me a little broom, and she'd have the big one, and we'd go monster-hunting around the house. Just because she knew I was afraid of the dark." She chuckled faintly. "Moms are special."

"She sounds like a special person," he said, turning back to her with a soft, if a little sad, smile. He was realistic enough to know that not all mothers were as special as theirs, but he didn't bother to say so. The same could be said for fathers, he supposed, but that was another story.

"So does yours," she said gently. "Tell me something you remember doing with her, something that makes you smile. She wouldn't want you to always be sad when you think of her, would she?"

He had to think about that a minute, not because he couldn't think of anything to share, but because he didn't want to share anything too personal. "No matter what was going on, she always made sure she was there to tuck me in at night. Even when I was older, she always made sure to wish me good night. No matter where she was or what she was doing, she was never afraid to tell me she loved me."

Dani's smile softened, glad he'd managed to share something with her, at least. "She sounds wonderful," she said gently. But she didn't want to linger on a subject that would inevitably upset him. "So tell me about Zhodan. What is it like?"

He looked almost relieved to change the subject to just about anything other than more talk of her. "Zhodan is much like Rhy'Din. There are mountains and woods and oceans and cities, but the culture is different. Rhy'Din is a strange place in that it is such a mix of culture and people, magic and science. There is not so much variety on Zhodan."

"What do you mean?" she asked curiously. "Are they more scientists than magicians" You know, seeking the answers to why something happens rather than just accepting it on faith that it always has and always will?"

"On Zhodan, science is magic and magic is science. I am not a scientist, but all magic can be explained by science, one way or another. For example, there was a time when people thought an eclipse was a supernatural event, until science explained it," he said, offering a small example of what he meant, though it was more complicated than that.

"Oh ....so everything is explainable there?" She frowned curiously. "Doesn't that take some of the fun out of life" Some things are only entertaining because you don't know what they are or why they exist, and some things are completely made up but everything accepts them because it'd be a shame to completely prove that they're a fiction."

"Perhaps," he replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "I am no scientist. I cannot explain everything. I am only saying that everything in the known universe is based in fact. Here on Rhy'Din, though, the rules are different. I assume it is because of the Nexus. My mother used to tell me that here anything is possible."

"That's kind of the prevailing motto on Rhy'Din," Dani agreed. "Anything is possible here, because Rhy'Din is the Nexus point of the multiverse. Every possibility that ever existed or will ever exist is connected to Rhy'Din, somehow."

"And yet, nothing can be done to bring my mother back," he remarked, pointing out that perhaps not everything was possible on Rhy'Din, or maybe some things were just not meant to be.

"Death is a part of living," she said softly. "Losing people we love is a part of growing up, evolving into the person we're meant to be. We don't have to like it, but ....I guess some things we just have to accept."

"Do you think so?" he asked, turning a quizzical look at her. He had been taught that death was final, but he had learned that wasn't always the case - at least, not here on Rhy'Din.

"Well ....yeah," she nodded, her expression a little troubled. "If we weren't meant to accept it, then people would go nuts. They wouldn't be allowed to die when their time came around, because the people who loved them wouldn't be able to let them go. They'd never be allowed to rest."

Dani Barnes

Date: 2017-06-22 10:39 EST
"You think she's at rest?" he asked, curious what she thought happened when someone died. His own people believed there was a life essence that lived on after death, but it was not the same kind of physical life they experienced before death.

"I don't know," she shrugged as they passed between the gates and into the city, her attention more focused now she had to worry about other cars and people in close proximity. "I think the body is just a machine. But what happens when the person who inhabits it leaves" I don't know. But it would be nice to think that they have no more cares."

"They are free," he said, hoping she was right. It was comforting to think his mother might be at peace and free of all worry and pain. "What of the presence you felt at school?" he asked, circling back around to a previous topic of conversation.

Dani chuckled lightly. "Oh, I don't know," she admitted. "It was probably my imagination, but the experience was real to me. I'm not sure I believe that what makes a person who they are continues in some invisible, ectoplasmic form after death. But I believe that some places have a memory - places where events have imbued the area with the emotions of what happened so deeply that they replay them."

"Maybe," he replied, unsure what the scientific explanation for that might be, but sure there had to be one. There wasn't much point in arguing the fact if she wasn't planning on going back there or if they weren't going to look into it further, but it made for interesting conversation. "So, you finished school. Are you planning on going back?" he asked, changing the subject once again.

"Well, not to that school." She smiled, pulling into a parking space with about as much grace as a hippo on roller-skates. "I want to be a teacher, so that means at least another couple of years' working at it, but I'm enjoying where I am at the moment. I'll give it a year, see if there's anywhere that'll take me on."

"Teachers are revered on Zhodan," Zach remarked, obviously impressed with the news that that was what she wanted to do with her life. "What would you like to teach?" he asked, her answer sparking further curiosity.

"The basics," she admitted, killing the engine as she sat back. "You know, reading, writing, numbers, social skills ....the stuff that kids need to know before they can build on it. Kindergarten, they call it here - the first year or so of school."

"Teaching is a respectable profession," he said, seemingly supportive of such a decision, at least as far as she was concerned. "I do not know what I should do with my life, now that I am on Rhy'Din," he admitted with a small frown.

"It all depends on what you want to do," she pointed out. "C'mon, I owe you breakfast." She jerked her head, gesturing for him to get out of the truck as she opened her own door to do the same. "You won't get far in your career if it isn't something you want to do with your time."

"I do not know what I want to do either," he replied, before pushing the door open and hopping out of the truck. "You don't owe me, Dani," he told her, as he waited for her to join him and took a look around to see where they were.

"All right, what do you like to do?" she asked, trying to come at it from a different direction. "And I told you, I'm buying you breakfast. Think of it as a date." So much for his assumption that she didn't like him in that way; that was a definite flirt.

"A date ....as in a courting ritual of sorts?" he asked, gesturing between them with a hand to indicate the two of them. Everything he knew of Rhy'Din and its culture he had either learned from his mother or in the short few months since his arrival there. Dating had not been one of the things he had studied in depth.

"That's a little formal, but yeah," she nodded, her smile broadening. "I like you, Zach. Why shouldn't we get to know each other better" Unless you've already got a girl, in which case I can cope with just friends."

"No, I am not courting ....dating anyone," he was quick to point out, breaking off mid-sentence to replace one word with the other, though it seemed they both meant the same thing. "I like you, too, Dani," he told her, though they had only just met. No other female had taken such an interest in him as she had.

"Good." She flashed him a teasing grin, gently steering him into a diner that assaulted them with the scent of coffee and bacon and a whole host of other deliciousness.

Whether he was a Rhy'Din native or not, as they entered the diner, his stomach growled in the same way any other human's might at the smells that were assaulting his senses - all of them smells he recognized and could identify as breakfast smells. He followed at her back, allowing her to take the lead and choose seats, casting a brief glance about the place.

It was pretty nondescript, as diners went, generic but for the quality of the food it sold. Sliding into a booth, Dani grinned at him warmly. "You've gone quiet on me again," she pointed out. "You never actually explained what you mean by powers, either."

He waited until the waitress brought them each a cup of coffee and a menu before answering her remark. "Abilities," he corrected, preferring that word to powers, which made it sound like he was superhuman in some way. "Not everyone on Zhodan has such abilities, and they are varied for those who do."

"Well ....how about telling me what you can do," she suggested. "Apart from glow and fix cars." She sipped her coffee, making a face as she remembered she hadn't put any sugar in it.

He furrowed his brows thoughtfully as he considered her question. "You have not asked how I knew you needed my help," he pointed out, having wondered when that thought was going to occur to her.

She frowned back at him, just as thoughtful. "I, uh ....I kind of assumed that you were already out and about and heard me running," she shrugged. "I guess that's not how, is it?"

"No." He wrapped his hands around his coffee cup, not having taken a sip yet, frowning thoughtfully again, almost worriedly. What would she think when she found out the truth' Then again, this was Rhy'Din, and he wasn't as strange as some others who called Rhy'Din home. "It's hard to explain, but I felt your fear ....and their hunger."

She certainly wasn't concerned that he'd felt anything from her - after all, it had been a timely intervention. "How does that work?" she asked him curiously, leaning forward on her elbows. "Is it like hearing a voice in a crowded room?"

"Something like that, yes," he replied, a little relieved that he hadn't sent her running for the hills yet. Her analogy was probably better than any comparison he could have made anyway. "If I open myself to it, I can hear the thoughts of everyone in the room."

Dani Barnes

Date: 2017-06-22 10:40 EST
"Wow." A flicker of mild concern flashed through her mind. "So, uh ....if you opened up, you'd be able to hear what I'm thinking all the time" Doesn't that get, you know, loud after a while" I'm imagining serious migraines here." She glanced up as the waitress came by, ordering breakfast for herself before turning expectant eyes onto Zach.

He paused a moment to order breakfast for himself, before turning back to Dani with an explanation. "Yes, but it goes against our principles to read others' thoughts without their knowledge or permission, except in dire circumstances, such as what happened last night. There are ways to shield your thoughts, but it takes knowledge and practice."

"I trust you not to read my mind." She shook her head with a smile. "Thank you for reassuring me, though. So ....it's something you consciously turn on and off" So is there, like, a minute when you first wake up when you can hear everyone's thoughts?"

He paused to take a sip of his coffee, while it was still warm, before considering her next question. "If there were, I would never get any sleep," he replied, with what appeared to be a slightly amused smile at her question. "No, it is something that I must consciously turn on and off, like a light switch. As I said, unless there are dire circumstances ....or if I am sick."

She blinked, surprised but interested. "So if you got, like, the flu, you'd know everything going through my head without needing to consciously look" That'd be a cool way to find out how annoying you are when you're not well." She flickered him a cheeky grin.

"It's just harder to control when you're sick," he explained. "Do you have nightmares when you are sick" It's a little like that, I suppose." It was difficult to explain the differences between them without a point of reference, but these were only a few of his so-called abilities. "People are afraid of what they don't understand, Dani. It is one of the reasons my mother feared my return."

"Yeah. It's why I got kind of pissy with you when you wouldn't give me a straight answer earlier," she added, but her smile was gentle. "I'm not afraid now I know more. And yeah, Rhy'Din has its share of bigots and fascists and idiots with more balls than brains, but so does everywhere. Random opinions don't matter. The opinions of the people you respect and care for do."

"And what is your opinion?" he asked, a little nervously. Though she'd already said she liked him, that was before she knew what he was telling her now.

"That you can't help the way that you're made, same as everyone else," she shrugged. "You can do things that I don't understand, but I don't have to understand them, because I trust that you won't use those abilities against me unless you think I need you to. It's really none of my business where you're from, or how you're made. But thank you, for telling me."

That was enough said about his abilities for now, he thought. Enough said where others might overhear and misunderstand. He didn't want to fear what others might say or think of him, but he remembered his mother's warning about how people feared and sometimes hated those who were different. Things had calmed in Rhy'Din in recent months, but there was no way of knowing how long that peace would last. "I would never use my abilities to hurt you, Dani," he assured her again. In fact, he would never use his abilities to hurt anyone, except to help people and protect them from danger.

"So what do you like to do with your time?" she asked him as their breakfasts arrived, smiling at the waitress before turning her attention to her meal. "What kind of thing do you enjoy doing, Zach?"

"Doing?" he echoed, furrowing his brows as he skewered a forkful of scrambled eggs. "What do you mean?" he asked, unsure if she meant activities he found enjoyable or what he might like to do with his life.

"How do you like to spend your time?" she clarified, chewing on a mouthful of bacon herself. "What do you do for fun" You can't be all about being serious and heroic all the time, you'd never stay sane."

"Oh, well, I am still learning what Rhy'Din has to offer, but I have been reading a lot, and I like music. I like to swim and spend time outdoors. There are so many places to explore and things to do, I don't know where to start," he replied, having spent most of his time on Rhy'Din so far learning about the place and how to fit in there. "My cousin Dominic has been helping me figure out what I want to do here."

"Have you ever tried surfing?" she asked with a tilt of her head. "There's a great beach for it about half an hour from the Grove. I've only tried a couple of times myself, but I'm pretty much hopeless at it. I wipe out within about half a second."

"Surfing?" he echoed again, a curious expression on his face. He had clearly never heard of such a thing or, at least, had never seen it done or given it a try. "No, what is it like?" he asked before taking a bite of his toast.

"It's ....Well, it's a little hard to describe," she admitted with a low chuckle. "It's basically riding waves in the sea, on a board. There's a lot of skill to it, but I always have fun, even though I can't stay on the board for more than a second when I stand up."

It figured he had never heard of surfing since he had arrived during the winter months, when it was too cold for such a sport. His eyes widened a little at her description. "It sounds dangerous," he said, though it also sounded exciting.

"I guess it is, if you're doing it alone," she admitted. "But at King's Cove, there's always someone there. They even lay on lifeguards in summer, when the tides are at their best." She eyed him with a thoughtful smile. "Do you, uh, wanna give it a go, sometime?"

"Are you asking me on another date?" he asked, with a rare hint of amusement in his eyes. He didn't have to read her thoughts to know she was hinting at taking him there someday and showing him what this surfing thing was all about.

Her smile turned a little coy - not shy, but not exactly confident enough to come right out and admit that she liked him that much just yet. "You know, I think I might be," she conceded. "If you're interested."

"I'm interested," he acknowledged with a smile, unwilling to admit just how much he was starting to like her, too. He could have opened himself up and reached out for her thoughts and feelings, but he knew it would be wrong, especially when he'd promised her he wouldn't. "Does this mean we are courting now?" he asked further, at a loss for another word to describe what he meant.

"Um ..." Her smile deepened as she leaned forward. "I think this means we're dating. Dating is ....getting to know someone, finding out just how much you like them, whether you can live with their little quirks and flaws. Dating is a casual sort of thing, until you decide together that you're a couple. You don't make any vows or expect to get married, but there's always the hope that that's where you'll end up. Does that make sense?"

"That sounds very much like courtship," he replied, understanding that the two concepts were very similar, but for the name. "I would very much like to get to know you better, Dani, if you would like the same from me."

Dani Barnes

Date: 2017-06-22 10:40 EST
"Oh, I'd like the same," she assured him, albeit with a teasing smile. "Fair warning, you're gonna get kissed a lot." Her smile broadened into a wicked grin for a moment before she filled her mouth once again.

"Poor me," he replied with the ghost of a grin on his own lips in answer to her tease. For the first time in a long time, he was actually starting to feel hopeful about his future.

She giggled around her mouthful, washing it down with a gulp of coffee. What was it about him that made her so girlie, she wondered. There had been plenty of young men on Oakham Mount who'd caught her eye, but Zach had something they didn't. And it wasn't just hero worship, either. "So what are you gonna do with your day today?" she asked curiously. "I gotta run to the store before we head back to the Grove."

"I don't know, but it is probably time I find some direction and sort out what I want to do with my life here on Rhy'Din," he admitted, though he was unsure just where to begin with that. He'd had few prospects on Zhodan, but here on Rhy'Din the possibilities were endless.

"So you need to work out what it is you like doing," she reiterated with a faint smile. "What you're most confident with. That's where you start, and with any luck, it'll lead you somewhere you'll be happy to spend your life."

"I wish I knew what that was," Zach replied with a small frown. They'd already talked about some things he enjoyed doing, but what was he good at' How could he best put his talents and abilities to good use" That was the real question.

"Well, you had good things to say about teaching," she offered, shrugging a little as she set her empty plate to one side. She had a bad habit of inhaling her food, learned from years of communal dinners with bitchy little girls. "What other professions do you admire?"

He might have used a word other than "profession" to describe one's life calling, but he got the gist of her meaning. He shrugged again as he finished off his the last of his scrambled eggs. "There are many worthy professions," he began, "but I mostly admire those that help people, in some way."

"Well, you could talk to Mr. Storm, or Captain Rogers," she suggested, hoping to be helpful. "They live on the Grove - Mr. Storm is a firefighter, and uh, the captain helps people. Oh, and Doctor Rogers is a ....doctor." She blushed at the obvious ending of her sentence.

"A medical doctor?" he asked, knowing there were scholars who were also, for some unknown reason, also called doctors. He'd yet to meet everyone who lived at Maple Grove, including some of his own family members.

"Yeah," she nodded, glad to see him showing a little interest. "She doesn't practice at the moment, but I'm pretty sure she'd enjoy talking to you. She's kind of stuck at home with twin newborns right now."

"Could you introduce me?" he asked curiously, hinting at a touch of shyness. He wasn't too sure how to approach people just yet, especially strangers, whether they were family or not.

Dani's smile warmed. "Sure I can," she assured him. "I've babysat for the Rogers a couple of times ....Well, not exactly babysat, but Vicki volunteered to take their twins for an afternoon, so they know me."

"My mother always told me that my abilities are a gift and that such gifts should be used to help other people," he confessed with a thoughtful frown. "But it would not have been possible if I'd stayed on Zhodan."

"It's possible here," she said gently. "For what it's worth, I think it's a good idea. At least talk to people, find out whether what they do is something you'd like to do. Where's the harm in finding that out?"

"There's no harm that I can think of," he replied, taking her question literally. "Dani, do you know, are there others like me on Rhy'Din?" He didn't mean others from Zhodan so much as others who possessed the same kinds of talents and abilities as he did.

She couldn't help smiling at quite how literal he was with everything she said, but his question had her nodding. "Of course there are," she told him. "Obviously not exactly like you, but there are ....humanoids with abilities. Like Felicity Storm - she can make flames, and control fire. Actually, so can her dad. And her little brother reads minds and moves things with his brain, and her little sister feels emotions. Her cousins have their own things, too. Oh, and there's Lyneth, although she's a Fae, so it's not exactly what you're looking for."

"A fae," he echoed, mostly unfamiliar with that term, though he knew there was still a lot about Rhy'Din and those who called it home that he didn't know. "She is one of the children who live at the Grove," he said, recognizing her name, even if he didn't quite know what a "fae" was.

"She is," she nodded. "Precocious little troublemaker is what she is, but you don't have to tell her or her parents that I said that." She grinned, digging in her pocket for her wallet as the waitress dropped off the check.

"Troublemaker?" he echoed again, taking her literally once again. He did not quite understand the concept of sarcasm just yet, though he could tell from her grin that she was not entirely serious. His glance darted briefly to the check, but she had insisted on buying him breakfast, so he said nothing about it.

"She's an adorable little girl," she tried to explain, "but she knows she's adorable, so she uses it to test the limits of what she's allowed to do all the time. And she has fairy friends who do pretty much anything she asks them to. She's not afraid to set them on you if you stop her having fun."

"I do not see why I would stop her from having fun," he said, though he supposed if she were causing mischief, he might have no other choice. Still, she was a child, and how much mischief could one child cause" "I see there is still much I do not know," he murmured, mostly to himself.

"Trust me, you'll pick it up fast where Lynnie is concerned," she assured him warmly. "Shall we" I've got a list here somewhere of what I need from the store."

"Yes, of course," he replied, draining what was left of his coffee before moving to his feet. "Do you mind if I come along?" he asked, unsure if he was welcome or not.

"Well, I kinda figured you were coming," she pointed out with a grin. "I'm your ride home, after all." She bit her lip as they stepped out into the street, deciding after a moment to go with her gut and slide her hand into his. Hopefully he wasn't going to pull away as though she'd put a wet fish in his palm.

The touch of her palm to his was a simple one - innocent and yet with obvious warmth and meaning - and he found himself enjoying the way it felt to hold her hand in his. There was a sort of sharing in that touch that seemed to draw them closer together somehow. Instead of pulling away, he closed his hand around hers, accepting and grateful for this small gift she had given him. "Where are we going?" he asked curiously as they walked side by side, hand in hand.

Dani Barnes

Date: 2017-06-22 10:41 EST
As his hand closed about hers, her grip tightened just enough to hold rather than simply be held, her soft smile betraying how much she was enjoying that innocent touch. "There's a grocery store, just on this corner," she told him, gesturing ahead with her other hand. "Some other time, I'll take you to the market, but today, I need the basics."

"The basics," he said, grasping for meaning. "Food, clothing, shelter," he added, the three things that were necessary to survival, though if he understood her meaning, the basics she was looking to buy today had to do with food.

"Or in this case, milk, bread, and butter," she smiled, squeezing his hand. "Look, I wrote a list and everything." She handed him her list, scribbled on a piece of paper that looked as though it had definitely seen better days. There was more there than she'd listed aloud, but less than she would have liked. Budget constraints being what they were.

"These are things you are buying for your home at Maple Grove?" he asked, as his eyes glanced over the list, one hand still holding hers, the list held in his free hand.

"Yeah," she nodded. "I moved in before they were ready for me, so there's nothing in the cupboards. I need food, or I'm going to get skinnier, and my mom already says I need to put on few pounds."

From the look on his face, this puzzled him. "But it's Maple Grove," he pointed out. Maple Grove, where everyone was family, or at least, treated as such. "You don't take your meals at the main house?" he asked, having assumed that she did, at least, in part. As for him, he was living with his great aunt, and she provided most of the food and did the cooking, at least for now. He knew that eventually he'd be expected to find a place of his own and provide for himself, but it wasn't something he had to worry about just yet.

She shook her head with a gentle smile. "No," she told him. "I'm not part of the family, Zach. I don't eat with them; I have to feed myself. And it's not because they haven't offered. I just don't think it's a good idea for the children to get used to having me there, eating meals with them. They should be looking to their parents, not to the nanny."

"Then, you could eat meals with us," he suggested - "us" meaning himself and his aunt. "I'm sure she wouldn't mind," he said, not realizing that he should probably ask his aunt first. "I am sure she would like to meet you."

"Really?" Dani wasn't entirely sure what to make of that offer. "That's ....that's really generous of you," she smiled. "I'd like that. If Mrs. Granger doesn't mind. Some people don't like strangers dropping in and eating their food."

"I will ask her," he said, not even stopping to consider that his aunt might say no. They were family, after all, connected by not only the bond of blood but that of love, as well - if only because of his mother.

"But I still need the basics, because there'll be some days when I'd rather eat alone, or when I'd like to have you come to me for dinner," she pointed out. "That, and I have to make my own breakfast and stuff. So food is important."

"I won't argue with you there," he replied. Food was important, and he had a feeling she wouldn't want to take all her meals with him and his aunt. "Are we walking or driving?"

"Walking," she chuckled, pulling him to a halt outside a busy grocery store. "In here. C'mon." She drew him inside, into the first whiff of fresh bread that seemed to make up the scent of every grocery store she'd ever been in.

He noticed the smell too, as soon as she'd tugged him into the store with her, but thankfully he'd already eaten and wasn't too tempted by the smell of fresh bread. "It's an indoor market," he said, as he cast a glance around.

"Mmhmm," she agreed, letting go of his hand to pick up a basket and consult the list. "All the basics, and a few treats, all under one roof, for convenience."

"Can I help?" he asked, seeing as she only had two hands to juggle the basket and list, as well as the items she wanted to buy.

Dani glanced at him, her smile warming at his eagerness. "Sure." She handed him the basket. "This way, noble explorer, we're on the hunt for cow extrusion."

He smiled for a moment, happy to help, before the smile was replaced by a look of confusion. "I'm sorry?" he asked, unsure what she meant by that. Whatever it was, it didn't sound very appetizing.

"Milk," she chuckled, leading the way toward the chiller cabinets. "You know, it comes out of cows?" She paused thoughtfully. "Do you have cows on Zhodan?"

"Not like the cows here on Rhy'Din," he replied. "And we don't call milk cow extrusion." Which in his opinion sounded disgusting. There were actually a lot of differences between Zhodan and Rhy'Din, but there were some similarities, too.

She laughed. "I was being facetious," she assured him. "We don't call milk cow extrusion, either. You're gonna have to get used to me finding lots to laugh at in life, sweetie."

"Sorry," he found himself apologizing. "Aunt Lucy tells me I'm too serious, but I can't always tell when someone is being serious or not," he explained with a small frown.

"Hey." She stilled, turning to meet his gaze with a gentler smile. "You shouldn't have to change yourself for anyone's opinion," she told him in a soft tone. "You'll learn about me and the way I do and say things, just the way I'll learn about you. But not understanding is not something you need to apologize for, ever."

"I haven't been here very long," he explained, "here" meaning Rhy'Din. "I visited once when I was a boy, but that was many years ago. Have you always lived here?" he asked, suddenly curious, or just trying to make conversation as he followed her around the indoor market.

"Yeah, I was born and bred on Rhy'Din," she told him, carefully marking words off her list as she added to the basket in his grip. "I haven't always lived in the city. When I was little, me and mom lived on this old farm with Austin, and then we moved around a lot. Soon as I was old enough, I went to a boarding school in a little kingdom down south called Tirisano."

"Who is Austin?" Zach asked, unsure who that was. Could she mean her father, and if so, what had happened to drive her parents apart and get them back together? "I have read about Tirisano," he admitted, glad to know something anyway.

"Austin's my dad," she explained. "Not biologically, but he's the only dad I've ever known. He finally married my mom a few months ago. It was romantic." She grinned, delighted with her own part in all that. "Tirisano's okay, I suppose. It's a bit ....mired in the past."

Dani Barnes

Date: 2017-06-22 10:41 EST
"You never knew your father?" he asked, though that seemed to be what she was saying. He had loved his father, but sometimes he'd wondered what his life might have been like if he and his mother had stayed on Rhy'Din and never returned to Zhodan.

She shook her head. "Never," she confirmed. "Mom never talks about him. I don't think it ended well between them, but I'll probably never know the truth. It's not really my business, and I have Austin."

He felt a little confused again, as he tried to sort out her family's history. She had never met her birth father, but this Austin was like a father, and yet, she had started that he and her mother had not been together in a decade. "Why did your mother and ....Austin break up?"

"Uh ....I'm not completely sure about that, myself," Dani admitted with a faint frown. "Something about Austin working too hard to support all of us, and Mom not wanting him to give up on his dreams. She left him, but it kinda broke her heart. And he never got over her, either."

"And now they are back together," Zach said, though that much was obvious. He might have asked about the older man's dreams, but he deemed it was none of his business. "I suppose I will have to meet them," he mused aloud, presuming that was the custom now that they were courting - er, dating.

"Yeah, you will," she grinned, nudging him gently as they found their way into a queue for the till. "Don't worry about it, though. I won't make you visit them until we know each other better. Seems a bit cruel to march you up there this weekend."

"You have met some of my family already," Zach pointed out, as he followed her into the checkout line and starting emptying the basket onto the conveyor. Some but not all. Not even Zach had met all his family members yet. "There is supposed to be a family reunion soon," he added - a chance to meet any family he didn't know yet, or at least, those who bothered to attend.

"Well, you have a very big family," she answered with a smile. "And they do pay my wages - it'd be a little weird if I hadn't met them, seeing as how I spend my afternoons playing with their children." She pulled a canvas bag out of her pocket, shaking it out. "That'll be fun," she commented on his reunion mention. "At least you won't be bored."

"Would you go with me?" he asked, a little bit shyly. "To the reunion, I mean?" He wasn't sure if she'd be expected to help tend her charges that day or if she'd be free to accompany him, but he thought it didn't hurt to ask.

Surprised, but pleased by his request, Dani's smile softened again. "If you really want me there, sure," she agreed with a nod. "I might have to help corral the kids, though, so you might end up as a walking climbing frame. For some reason small kids can't resist climbing on tall men."

"They can't?" he asked, obviously surprised by this tidbit of information. Children was one subject he didn't know much about. "Why would they want to climb on me?" he asked. He wasn't a tree, after all.

"Because it's fun," she chuckled, starting to pack the bag full of the groceries as they came off the conveyor. "Children are pretty simple in the reasons why they do what they do. They're either curious, or they want to see what happens, or they're enjoying themselves."

"It doesn't sound like much fun for me," he pointed out. A bunch of children climbing on you sounded more painful than fun to him.

"You'd be surprised," she assured him. "Just ....trust me, okay' It can be a lot of fun, letting children lead the way. It can also be excruciatingly embarrassing and sometimes quite painful, but the fun kind of cancels that out. Finish loading the bag for me, would you? I need to pay."

"I do trust you. I am just not sure I trust them," he pointed out. "Um, sure," he replied to her question, with a glance at the half-empty bag of groceries before doing as she asked and packing the rest of the items very carefully into the bag.

"Oh, they're not so bad," she promised, handing over a selection of coins to the guy at the till. "If they were so terrible, would I really be considering spending the rest of my life in close contact with twenty of them at a time?"

"Twenty of them ..." he repeated, before realizing that she was referring to her desire to be a teacher - a profession he thought was not only worthwhile, but honorable and needed. "That is a lot of children."

"It's about average for a class size," she shrugged, taking her change with a smile to the cashier before turning to leave, her hand claiming the straps of the bag automatically. "Most kids know what to expect from school when they start going, anyway."

"I can carry it for you," he insisted, refusing to let go of the bag. "We had schools on Zhodan," he continued, hardly missing a beat of the conversation, even as he insisted on carrying the bag for her.

Dani chuckled, relinquishing her grip on the bag as he insisted on keeping hold of it. "Were they like the schools here?" she asked curiously.

"I am not sure what the schools here are like, so it is hard for me to compare," he admitted. "Most children learn how to read and write and do math and science, but those of us who are born with special abilities are also taught how to control and use them."

"I don't actually know where children with powers learn how to use them," she admitted thoughtfully. "I guess they must have specific schools. Or maybe there are private tutors. Would that make sense?"

"I suppose," he replied, though he wasn't too sure. Maybe it was a question to ask his aunt later. He picked up the bag, making it look effortless as he slung it over one shoulder and followed her toward the door. "Where do the Storm children learn to use their abilities?" he asked, as the thought crossed his mind.

"I ....I genuinely have no idea," she mused. "I never really thought about it. I just assumed they were being taught how by someone." She eyed him curiously. "Thinking about exploring teaching yourself?"

"Me?" he echoed, a little surprised by that question. He'd never considered that profession for himself, and yet, he needed to do something with his life now that he was no longer on Zhodan.

"Well, wouldn't that be a place to start?" she suggested mildly. "You have these abilities. If you discover there are children who share some of them and who need to learn how to use their abilities, then would you be interested in teaching them that?"

"It's a thought," he admitted and something he hadn't considered before. He knew he wanted to do something useful with his life, and he thought he should put his abilities to good use, but he hadn't yet sorted out how he was going to do that.

Dani Barnes

Date: 2017-06-22 10:42 EST
"It's not like you have to make your mind up today," she pointed out gently, sliding her fingers between his free fingers to hold his hand once again as they headed back toward her truck. "You've got the luxury of time to work out what it is you really want to do with your life."

"What if I make the wrong choice?" he asked, unsure how this career thing worked. Back on Zhodan, he would have been expected to fight his siblings to the death for the right to lead their people. This was what he'd been raised and trained to do, but now that he'd rejected that right, he wasn't sure what direction his life should go in. This, too, was a learning process, it seemed.

"Well ....I don't think there is a wrong choice," Dani offered. "If what you choose to do doesn't make you feel fulfilled, then there's no shame in admitting that and finding something else that does. People do it all the time."

"I see," he said, turning quietly thoughtful a moment. "But what if you become a teacher and then decide you no longer wish to do that?" he asked, using her as an example.

"I guess ....I guess I'd have to keep at it, while I was trying to work out what else I could do," she shrugged, a little bemused by the question. It had never occurred to her that she might do anything else with her life. "I'd have to find a way to train for that something else while still doing my job."

"You seem certain that you wish to be a teacher," he said, not really having to use any of his special abilities to figure that much out. He sighed. His parents' deaths had turned his world upside down and even after six months, he was still trying to adjust and figure it all out.

"It's just something that I've always wanted to do," she said almost diffidently. "I've always liked little kids, and I guess I'm good with them. I find them fun to be around, and it just seems to make sense to choose to spend my working life doing something I find entertaining."

"I wish I was as certain as you are," he said as they wandered hand in hand back to the truck. But then, everyone had to start somewhere, didn't they, and he didn't think this was a bad place to start.

"Not everyone is certain," she pointed out. "There are some adults out there who've been trying different things for years, and they still haven't found what they truly want to do. But the things they've learned on their way make them amazing people to know."

"So, you are saying that even if I try something and don't like it, I will have learned from the experience, so it would not be a waste of time. Is that right?" he asked, hopefully.

"Exactly!" She beamed a bright smile at him, reaching to open the trunk of her truck. "Put the bag in, and we'll go home."

He did as he was told, before turning to face her, a bright smile on his face. "I have really enjoyed spending time with you, Dani. Thank you."

"We'll have to do it again some time," she answered with a coy smile, closing the trunk with a loud thump. "I've really enjoyed myself with you, Zach. Next time, we should do something fun, rather than chores."

"Like surfing?" he asked with an almost playful twinkle in his eyes. He remembered that she'd suggested it a little while ago, though he still wasn't too sure what it was all about. Whatever it was, it sounded fun, albeit a little bit dangerous.

"Yeah ....like surfing," she agreed, leaning into him with a fond smile. "So you need to make sure you've got some swim trunks, or you're gonna be riding the waves buck naked." Her own eyes sparkled teasingly as she grinned up at him.

He didn't really need her to explain that to him, as it was sort of self-explanatory, and he actually chuckled at her remark. "I will keep that in mind," he promised, with a smile of his own.

"There now, I finally got a laugh out of you," she chuckled with him. "You should smile more. You're incredibly handsome, and I happen to like looking at you. Besides, it takes more effort to frown than to smile, so really you're doing yourself a favor by being cheerful, too."

"I am?" he asked, brows arching upwards in obvious surprise at her statement . No one had ever commented on his looks before, at least, not in the same way that she was. "If it pleases you, I will try to smile more," he promised.

"It does please me, but you shouldn't be smiling just to make me happy," she pointed out in amusement. "Just let yourself be amused by things. You're a little serious, and there's nothing wrong with that."

"I don't always understand humor," he explained, with something of a worried frown on his face. He might be half-human, but he'd spent nearly all his life on his father's homeworld - a world that was very different from Rhy'Din.

She reached up, smoothing her thumb between his brows to ease the frown from his face. "You worry too much," she told him. "I could probably put a smile on your face that has nothing to do with humor, if you'd like."

She might have smoothed the spot between his brows, but he was still frowning down at her, this time with a curious expression on his face. "How would you do that?"

Tilting her head to one side, her own smile reappeared, just a little coy. "Like this." Tall herself, she didn't need to rise very far on her toes to touch her lips to his, letting her fingers trail teasingly down over his chest as she kissed him.

From the look on his face, he certainly wasn't expecting that, pleasantly surprised by the touch of her lips to his. It was the first time a female not related to him by blood had kissed him, and he found himself enjoying the sensation of those warm, soft lips against his.

Something in the way he reacted told her he'd never been kissed before, spurring her sometimes competitive nature to make it good. Easing closer, she slipped her hands to his waist, gently teasing his lips apart to deepen that kiss before drawing back with a soft nibble on his lower lip. Apparently she'd had a little practice at it herself.

Though he was older by a few years, it seemed she was the more experienced of the two of them, at least when it came to kisses. He knew what he was supposed to do, in theory, but he had never done it before, and though he was unpracticed, his kiss was warm and tender in return, albeit a little awkward.

Pulling away, she brushed a last kiss to his lips, opening her eyes to smile impishly up at him. "So ....is that worth smiling about?"

Dani Barnes

Date: 2017-06-22 10:42 EST
It was certainly a kiss worth having waited a lifetime for and one he hoped would not be his last. He rewarded her with a smile, different from the last, not so full of amusement - a warm and almost contended smile. "You know it is," he replied, eager for more.

"I'm very glad to hear it," she murmured, her smile growing to a grin. "Want to come home and kiss some more until I have to go to work?"

There went those brows of his again, unsure if she was serious or just teasing him. "When is that?" he asked, wondering how much time that gave them to practice.

"I'm due at the big house at midday," she told him, trying not to find it too funny that he even had to consider this seriously. "It'd be much more comfortable at home, but you could ravish me here on the truck in the middle of the city if you really feel the need."

"Ravish you?" he echoed, wondering again if she was just teasing him. After all, the word ravishing implied doing something against her will, but here she was asking him to do it. "I-I think it might be better to wait until we are where no one can see."

She giggled, brushing another quick kiss to his lips. "Teasing again," she assured him fondly. "Get in the truck, sweetie." Gently pulling away, she moved around to unlock the doors, clambering in to sit behind the wheel and turn the engine over.

"What is sweetie?" he asked, as he climbed into the truck beside her, settling himself into the passengers seat. He assumed it was a term of endearment, but he'd never been referred to it before by anyone but his aunt.

"It's a term of endearment," she explained. "Would you prefer something else? Sweetheart, gorgeous, darlin' ....any of those taking your fancy?" Pulling away, she set her attention to pulling out of the parking space and into traffic.

"No, it's just that I thought terms of endearment were usually shared between ..." He trailed off before he could finish his thought. Of course, his parents and even his aunt had sometimes referred to him in such ways, especially when he'd been small, but he'd thought people who were unrelated only did so if they were romantically attached.

"You can use a term of endearment for anyone you feel close to," she assured him. "People use them between friends, lovers, family. It's just what you're comfortable with, that's all."

"I see," he replied, with a nod of his head. It seemed he still had a lot to learn, even about the smallest things. "What would you like me to call you?" he asked, realizing they were more than friends, but not quite lovers, and certainly not family.

She smiled, glancing at him cheerfully. "That's not quite how it works," she said gently. "An endearment just sort of flows. If you want to use one for me, then you will. I don't mind."

He nodded thoughtfully, though he wasn't too sure what term of endearment he might use in reference to her. Maybe something would come to him eventually. He had only known her for a day or two, after all. "Do you think we are going too fast?" he asked, never having been in a relationship before.

"Uh ..." Dani blinked, her cheeks coloring as she frowned. She hadn't been expecting to have it implied that she was rushing him into something he wasn't ready for. "What do you think?"

Zach shrugged. He knew that if they were dating, they were more than friends, but he wasn't quite sure how to define that relationship if someone asked. "I think I like you, I like spending time with you, and I like kissing you," he replied, honestly enough.

"Does it feel like we're going too fast?" she asked curiously. She really didn't understand what was going on here, but she figured the best way to avoid a meltdown was to keep asking questions.

"On Zhodan, courtships usually end in marriage," he explained, pretty sure that was a little too serious for her just yet when they'd only just met. So, what was this "dating" thing that was going on between them"

"Well ....we're not getting married," she pointed out, laughing to cover her confusion. "We're dating, Zach. Dating is what happens before you decide you want to marry someone. I guess what you think of as courting is what we think of as being engaged to be married to someone."

"But we might someday," he pointed out further. This was something neither could confirm or deny, as the future was unknown, even to him. "I don't understand. If we are dating, then we are not just friends, but if we are not just friends, then what are we to each other?"

As he made himself clearer, Dani breathed a little easier. This she could explain. "On Rhy'Din, and in a fair number of cultures, we'd be called boyfriend - that's you - and girlfriend, which is me. I'm your girlfriend, and you're my boyfriend. If we date for a while, and fall in love and decide we want to get married, we'd be each other's fiance. And after marriage, it's pretty obvious we'd be husband and wife. But for now ....boyfriend and girlfriend."

"And it is permissible to kiss one's ....girlfriend?" he asked, though it seemed she had already answered this question for him by initiating such kisses. At least, he seemed to know what a kiss was and didn't need that explained to him.

"Yes," she assured him. "Sex with one's girlfriend is allowed, too, when you feel ready for it. It's probably a bit freer than you're used to, but most cultures that start with a formal way tend to evolve toward this more casual approach."

He blinked, clearly shocked by her mention of sex, though, thankfully, he did not blush in embarrassment. "I do not think I am ready for that," he replied quietly, doing his best to ignore the urges of his body that told him different.

"I'm not going to jump you on the day of your first kiss, Zach," she assured him gently. "I've never gone that far with anyone, I'm not ready for it either. So maybe we'll be ready together, someday. It's not compulsory."

"So, this dating is about spending time together and getting better acquainted?" he asked, as he tried to sort it all out in his head. He wondered if he should ask his cousin Dominic to explain all this to him better later.

"Yeah, it is," she nodded, relieved he was moving away from sex. "There's no pressure, Zach. If we can't stand each other, then we don't have to keep dating. That's how it works. It's a period of time in which you find out if you're falling in love or not."

She was the one who'd brought up sex to begin with, but he didn't mention it again. What he wanted to know was where did they go from here and what was expected of him' "But what happens next?"

"Uh ....we spend time together, outside work and family time," she said, unused to having to explain this to anyone. "We go on dates, talk, make out. The only way to get to know someone is to spend time with them, Zach. It's really not that complicated."

"Make out?" he asked, unfamiliar with that phrase, though if he thought about it hard enough, he could probably figure it out. Six months in Rhy'Din was not enough to understand everything.

She bit her lip, grinning through the windscreen as the truck trundled out through the gates and onto the road leading to Maple Grove. "I'll demonstrate when we get back to my place," she promised.

"Does making out involve more kissing?" he asked curiously, the conversation circling back around to that subject again. He couldn't say he'd mind if it did.

Her grin broadened. "Yeah, it does," she nodded. "Lots of kissing." She didn't mention the touching, and she wasn't even going to hint at the heavy petting that might make itself known. He was having enough trouble with words right now. Show was always better than tell.

"I think I am going to like this thing called dating," he admitted, smiling at last. After all, he had already decided that he liked her and he liked her kisses, so what did he have to lose"

She laughed fondly. "I'm very glad to hear it." From a miscommunication on the nature of rescue, to making out in her house, all in less than twenty-four hours. Maybe they were moving a little fast, but there was no law against it. If it felt right, where was the harm in continuing? After all ....show was always better than tell.