Back in Flight by Julie Steimle (best classic books to read txt) 📕

“Don’t worry. I’m sure she’s not that upset. Sandi is a hard person to get down,” he said.

Zormna nodded but still did not seem reassured.

After a few minutes of silence where Zormna stood just stirring her tsilk and Alea Arden had eaten nearly half of his cold bowl coup, Zormna looked up and asked, “Alea Arden, why do they think I’m pretty?”

He almost choked.

Reaching over, she pounded on his back, making a face at him.

“Wha…what?” he asked once he caught his breath.

“Don’t choke, Arden. It was just a question,” she said.

He shook his head. “No. Hold on.”

Alea Arden cleared his throat and drank down his tsilk quickly. Wiping his mouth, he looked up into Zormna’s expectant face.

“Zormna, I don’t know. To me you’re a cute kid,” he said.

That was not the answer she wanted to hear. Her frown made it plain.

“Sure, to you I’m just a kid, a cadet still.” She folded her arms, brooding. “But I’m an adult Alea Arden. I’m two months into my adult life, and over thirty grown men have proposed to me, and I want to know why. I don’t have that many friends so it can’t be my personality.”

Alea Arden leaned back to look her over with a more critical eye to give her a fair assessment, clearing his mind of any preconception he had of her as best as he could. Her hair, now to her shoulders since she was sent into exile, curled in waves in some parts and ringlets in others, mostly at the ends. Her skin was ghostly white and clear, ideal to the Arrassian standard. Her almond shaped green eyes glowed brightly like two jeweled stars, and her plump lips had the slightest blush to them that they stood out from her face in the just the right degree.

A shiver ran though him. For the first time he realized what people were staring at. He was so used to seeing her so childlike and eagerly looking up at him for advice, help, and guidance, he never even noticed that she had grown into a fully developed woman, now sitting before him in a fitted plain cream-colored suit that flattered her figure and her coloring so much that chills ran down his spine again. He was left speechless.

“Arden!” Zormna snapped, breaking him out of his daze. “Are you going to answer me or not?”

Averting his eyes down to his plate of cold bowl, Alea Arden blushed. “Um, I think we’d better just finish up here and get you back in uniform.”

Zormna stared at him, watching his countenance change. She pressed her lips together, slumping against the table again. “Arden? Why aren’t you answering me?”

Finishing up his cold bowl soup, Alea Arden swigged down his tsilk then stepped from the table. “You coming or not? You have KP don’t you?”

With a scowl, Zormna rolled her eyes. Grabbing her now non-fizzing tsilk, she downed the rest and set the empty glass on the table. Then she scooped up her duffle bag and marched out after Alea Arden who had already walked to his flight scooter, just trying to compose himself without her noticing. But then Zormna stopped suddenly and turned around in the doorway, peering back in.

“Wait a second, Arden,” she said.

She ran through the crowds to the serving bar where she stopped Sandi as she was collecting another tray of drinks to serve.

Zormna said, “I’m sorry for what I said. If I hurt you in any way, I—”

A grin cracked on Sandi’s face. She shook her head. “Don’t worry about it Zormna. I’m not hurt. It is tough being a waitress. You are right. And I do get hit on quite a lot. And it is a pain, but it occasionally comes with the job.”

Alea Arden waved from the doorway for Zormna to hurry, still a little red in the face, despite his efforts.

Sandi smiled. “Your superior is calling to you.”

Grinning back, Zormna walked backwards before turning to join him. “Thanks, Sandi. Thanks.”

The middlecity Guard Class girl just smiled with a wave at Zormna as she left. “Come again!”

Giving a sharp nod, Zormna jogged out the door. Alea Arden was already astride his flight scooter hiding his redness in his helmet. Zormna shook her head, tossed on her duffle bag and climbed on behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist so that she would not fall off.

“All secure?” he said, taking care to not sound too concerned.

“All secure, sir,” she replied.

They took off into the open traffic towards the Surface Patrol tunnel entrance.

After hours of scrubbing the bathroom floor with sanitizer, Zormna sat up and arched her back. She knew these tile floors well enough, already counting the ones with speckles and peculiar molding from the early years when she had scrubbed them as a child, shifting the loose ones into place with a mental note to report it to maintenance.

As she scrubbed, she spent most of her time thinking about what happened during those weeks in the uppercity. Her distaste for the P.M.s had not improved. In fact her disgust with them and the entire High Class had increased. There had been a time when she thought her dislike was somewhat unfounded, based off of talk and prejudice among the Patrol members, but now she could honestly say she thought the High Class and their military supporters were repulsive, cruel, narcissistic creatures with hardly any human feeling about them. Her opinion had set so hard when she witnessed firsthand how they treated people the lower castes, especially the members of the unmarked caste. Never in her life had she been called a rat so many times, especially after she had rejected those thirty some odd men. 

Yet in that last hour she also mulled over Alea Arden’s reaction to her question in Sandi’s. Why had he turned red? Why couldn’t he just give her an honest answer like he always had? What had changed?

She shook her head. It skipped her completely. It was true that she had overheard people say she was very beautiful, but she could never make herself believe it. The truth was that beauty was the last thing on her priority list. She did not care. Primping and dressing-up was a hindrance, an annoyance rather than a virtue. Cleanliness was enough.

A shadow fell over her as she continued to scrub the floor. Zormna looked up.

The Kevin smiled in the doorway. “Your punishment is over. You are free to go.”

Zormna stood up and rubbed her knees. Wincing from soreness, she did smile, sighing as she walked achingly to the door. Glancing up at her protector and guardian, she gave him a faint smile. “Thank you, sir.”

The Kevin stopped her, resting his hand on her shoulder. Looking up, she saw him try to smile though his eyes were fraught with worry. “Try to keep out of trouble, Zormna. I don’t know if I can protect you next time.”           

Zormna dropped her head and nodded. “Yes, sir.”

He continued. “You are the last of your family, Zormna. Don’t take risks that will endanger you. Your uncle sent you here so you would be safe. Don’t undermine that by putting yourself in danger.”

She nodded again and tried to leave. He still held fast to her shoulder.

“Promise me you won’t come in front of the Council again,” he said now, facing her squarely.

Zormna looked up with a protest on her lips, but it died when she saw how red and tired his eyes looked. She sighed. “I promise, Kevin. I promise.”

He nodded then let her go.

She did not move. She just stared up at him with wonder. It was not common that he looked at her with that much concern. It felt heavier, different.

He said, “I worried about you up there among all those P.M.s and High Class men. I didn’t think you’d last the month.”

Zormna blinked, her eyes widening.

The Kevin then gazed softly down on her. “Your father was a good friend of mine. I was the Alpha district Alea when he was in the Patrol. I knew your mother and your uncle and what brought them to the Patrol.”

Shuddering, Zormna pulled her arms closer to her body. Guilt seeped into her as she gazed at him, guilt for being so rash and careless.

“I don’t want to see you get destroyed like they did. You have to be extra careful. The P.M.s have an eye on you, and we don’t need it prying any deeper than your Surface Patrol record. Do you understand?” he said.

“Kevin, I understand,” she at last replied, not able to take it anymore. “Don’t think I don’t. I live with the images of my parents lying dead in my home everyday. I barely got rid of those nightmares.”

She then straightened up her face and held her stiff neck firm. “I just can’t live in fear of those people that murdered them. I won’t live in fear.”

His face lined in worry again.

Setting her hand on his arm, Zormna immediately added, “I will do as you ask. I won’t do anything that will bring me in front of the Council again. I’ll keep out of trouble.”

He could see that she was doing this out of kindness to him, and for a moment he felt like he was gazing at her mother and her father as they too reassured him that they would keep out of trouble while they lived in the middlecity. He trembled now, thinking that they were now just a memory.

Zormna turned from the room, still feeling him watching her as she walked down the Alpha district all towards her quarters where she could at last rest. Had she known he was praying with all his heart that she would just like a regular Tarrn for once and hide herself she would have stopped and cast him a glowering shake of her head. But she didn’t, and he turned to go back to his offices to double check security—just in case.

Publication Date: 02-27-2018

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