Sacred Trust (14 page)

After a short while, lunch arrived, and I got Ruen's for her. She didn't need any help eating, but I sat beside her at the table anyway. We both needed comforting—we were family now.

After lunch, Eonus pointed at me and then at the ceiling; he wanted to go exploring. Ruen nodded her understanding.

Although Ruen's color was returning, her energy levels were too low to join us. As she laid down again, Eonus lifted me through the open grate into the ceiling. Then I tried to help him up, but his weight was too much for me alone. He managed better on his own to hoist himself up through the access hole. Unable to replace the grate, we left it on his bed.

“Let's go further along yesterday's route,” I suggested.

Nodding his agreement, Eonus took off at a fast pace on the moving walkway, correctly deducing we would need to hurry if we wanted to go further and still get back by dinner time. Suddenly, he stopped dead in his tracks, and I had to put my palm to his back to keep from running into him. “Stairs,” he pointed out, taking my hand and leading me off the walkway at the next access/egress point.

“We call them escalators,” I told him, noting one led up, the other down. “Are you game?” I asked him.

He gave me a reticent look. “Way?”

He was leaving it up to me to make the choice of which one to take. I couldn't read the signs on the walls that apparently explained where the escalators led—obviously Eonus couldn't either—so I silently applied eeny, meeny, miny, moe to the problem and picked, “Down.”
Easy peasy
.

We stepped together onto the down escalator, and I crossed my fingers hoping we wouldn't run into a group of albinos. I didn't hear voices coming from below, but still...

I released the breath I'd been holding as the escalator took us down into a small, deserted alcove with two doors. One door was slid back into the wall; the other was closed and locked, a lock pad on the wall beside it indicating one needed a code of some kind to get in. “It's probably just cleaning stuff,” I said. “You know, sweepers, disinfectants and such. They wouldn't want anyone stealing their supplies.”

“Amenities room,” Eonus said indicating the open door. “Unoccupied.”

“Good. We're alone then.”

“Yes. Come,” he said, grasping my shoulders from behind. “Sit.” He steered me away from the door and into a nook where we could each sit back against a wall facing one another with our knees crossed and touching.”

I sighed heavily as I leaned my head back against the wall. “You're right, I need a break. We've been going for a while. We should probably start back soon.”

“Nara, friend,” he said, and clasped my hands.

“Of course, we're friends,” I said.

“Good friends.” He stared at my face.

‘Yes, Eonus.” I frowned. “I consider us very good friends.” Where was he going with this?

He rested his forehead against mine and kept my hands in his grasp. “Special friends. Mates. Spend lives together.” He took one of my hands and put it to his heart.

Taken aback, my eyes went wide, and a flutter started in my stomach. I didn't know whether it was fear or an awakening of my own desires.

I lifted my head, so I could look him in the eye. “Is that what you want, Eonus?” I didn't know what else to say.

“Yes.”

I didn't care if he saw the tears collecting in my eyes. This was a very emotional moment for me. My thoughts and feelings were chaotic. Confusing. There was nothing else I could say, except, “I need time, Eonus. I care for you very much, but I don't know if becoming a couple is what I really want.” I squeezed his hand, knowing my statement sounded harsh and unfeeling—even to me—but my shell-shocked system was numb. “Please be patient with me. I need time to think about this.”

He put both hands on my cheeks and wiped my tears away with his thumbs. “Yes. Patience. Go back now,” he said, giving me such a sweet smile it tugged at my heartstrings.

Eonus and I retraced our path back to our room. Neither of us spoke during our return journey, but I couldn't help sliding surreptitious looks at Eonus, while I imagined what it would be like to make love with him.

My emotions were still chaotic later that afternoon when Ruen finally woke from her nap. She took one look at Eonus and me and immediately knew something had happened.

“What is it?” she asked. “Something's happened; I can tell.”

I looked fleetingly at Eonus and shook my head. I couldn't discuss the situation yet; I still hadn't fully absorbed Eonus' declaration of....I didn't know what to call it.

Yes, I did. I didn't need to fool myself. In his own way, Eonus had told me he was in love with me. Were my feelings for him love as well...or merely those of a close friendship? Or did that describe what love really was?

Both Eonus and Ruen needed to wait until I understood my own emotions before I could talk about them—to even Eonus. And he seemed to understand.

What I needed to do right now was deflect Ruen from her concerns. “Let's update your game,” I suggested to her. “Perhaps you've remembered more details.” Although Eonus and I hadn't discovered much on our independent foray, I pointed to Eonus, me and then at the grate in the ceiling. Ruen got my message.

We added another sheet of paper to our previous layout. I had no idea how big our project would become, but I believed we had a lot still left to explore. Before we had a chance to try the game out, and perhaps add some new rules, our dinner arrived.

Our meals had gradually improved over the few days we'd been here, but I still wanted to be let loose. I tried to decide whether I should throw another fit. However, perhaps that was why Ruen had been taken away and interrogated. I didn't want either Eonus or me to have that experience, so I held off on adding to my acting experience.

We tried out our updated game, while Tata and I whispered more new information to Ruen. She fidgeted, so I knew she wanted to go exploring the next time we went; her energy had obviously returned.

The evening snack eventually arrived, but I motioned sleepiness. I really did think our evening food contained drugs, so we quietly flushed our snacks and started our bedtime ablutions. Eventually, Eonus and I sat on our beds, across from each other. He took my hands in his, and I couldn't seem to look away from the worshipful look in his eyes.

“Excuse me. If you don't mind, I need my rest,” Ruen said and then pointed to the amenities room. Obviously, she'd correctly deduced the change in our relationship.

I could feel the heat of embarrassment rush into my cheeks as I quickly dropped Eonus' hands. He grinned as he stood up and pointed to the amenities room as he held his other hand out to help me up. I couldn't refuse him. He and I needed some face-to-face time, and the amenities room was the only place for privacy.

Once we were in the amenities room and Eonus had closed the door behind us, he turned and asked, “Happy?”

One word meant so many things, I thought. “If you mean, am I happy to be abducted? No, of course not. But if you mean am I happy to be here with you? Well, yes, I am.”

He took my shoulders, pulled me close, and then gently rubbed our foreheads together. “Together. Happy couple?” Eonus asked.

I understood his question now. “Yes, Eonus. I have thought about us a great deal today, and I do want to be more than a friend to you. I want us to be a couple, as you suggested.” I put my arms around his neck and raised my lips to his.

An initial hesitancy on his part made me speculate whether or not Arandi look upon kissing as we Earthers do. However, Eonus soon adjusted and kissed me back.

After I broke the kiss I looked up at him, worried. “Eonus, we're from two different worlds. It's going to be hard for us. We have vastly different backgrounds, cultures, and, in case you hadn't noticed, there are physical differences. I don't know if we can mate much less make our relationship work.”

“Easy peasy. Work fine.” Had Eonus just made a joke? Actually, how would he even know this expression? It didn't take me long to realize I had used it more than once.

He pulled me toward him again.

“No, seriously. Our differences are huge. You don't have a...” I could feel my face reddening. “...well, you know.”

He gripped my shoulders. “Smart. Adapt, if willing.”

“But can we reproduce? I would eventually like to have children.”

His expression drew tight. “Unsure. Perhaps. If not, adopt. Maybe medical methods create children. Whatever must do, will do.” He started to smile again, and his eyes softened. “Love most important.”

“Wow...I've never heard you speak so many words at one time before.”

“Learning.” He winked at me and tapped my nose.

I gazed into his sparkling eyes. “You're right. We'll adapt—no worries.”

“Easy peasy.”

We both laughed. Then Eonus pulled me tight to him and began to nuzzle my neck. A tingle started to spread throughout my body, and a warm one, at that. “Hmm, this is nice,” I murmured.

A smile flickered on his face as he looked down at me and pressed his lips to mine.

Then his hands found the skin beneath my top and, very shortly, the undersides of my breasts.

My breathing quickened.

* * * *

The next morning, my private fears were realized—Eonus had disappeared.

“He will be fine,” said Ruen. “I survived the encounter so he should have no problem. Now, let us try my game again.”

Such a sweetheart, Ruen wanted to keep my mind occupied so I wouldn't worry as much about Eonus. I tried to go along with her ploy and started up a conversation as we played.

“Ruen, I have a question. It's a personal question, if you don't mind my asking.”

“I do not mind. Ask away.”

“I only hear you talk about your father. What about your mother? Where is she?” I asked. The Basilian family structure had proven to be similar to the Arandi and humans, although unlike the Arandi, most Basilians seemed to have siblings.

“My father and mother live apart,” she said. “They both have stressful lives, and needed a break. Mind you, the time apart stretched into cycles, and recently they severed their alliance. Currently, I live with my father, but I occasionally reside with my mother.”

Ruen looked down at the game board rather than at me. Should I pursue this conversation? I wonder when the breakup happened. It must be pretty hard on a teenager, and I know Ruen doesn't have any siblings.

I decided I needed more information in order to understand Basilian society. “What does your mother work at that's so stressful?” I knew what her father, Officer Kikess, did.

“She is a diplomat, like your parent.”

Surprised, I didn't know quite what to say.

“Her name is Raen Title, and she lives in your building, on the eleventh floor,” said Ruen, lifting her shoulders. Her action reminded me of a shrug.

I'd never been to the eleventh floor of our building, but I thought I would've heard about her from my father, by this time. Although, with different last names, he may not have known about the relationship between Ruen and Raen.

“We're practically related,” I said.

Ruen laughed. At least I'd lightened the moment a little. And my comment had also made me smile. However, I still worried about Eonus.

Last evening had been a revelation to me, in many ways. Despite our differences, and the number was not trivial, I knew we could make our relationship work if we worked at it—but now he was missing. Although Ruen had been returned, that didn't mean he would be too.

We didn't add much else to our game board—the map of our captivity—but Ruen and I played for a while anyway. Every time we added something, the rules needed some tweaking to make the game more interesting. So working on the rules gave us some much needed distraction.

Similar to Ruen's disappearance, Eonus transported in just before our lunch break. When her eyes went wide as saucers—I knew she'd accept my transporter theory sooner or later—I squealed with delight, upending my stool as I jumped up and ran into Eonus' embrace.

His arms felt comforting, even safe, but I was still concerned about his health as I drew back and peered up at him. “You look pretty good,” I said. And he did. His color remained normal and, physically, he seemed calm—not shaken up.

“Knew before be fine,” said Eonus.

Of course. He'd had Ruen's experience to rely upon. “Difference?” Holy cow, I sounded like an Arandi!

“Same. Truth serum, questions.” Eonus sat down at our table.

“Same questions?” I asked, surprised by the truncated speech patterns I was developing.

“Possibly.”

He's right
; how could he possibly know since he wasn't at the first interview.
Interview, my ass.
Interrogation seems like a better word. My blood pressure rose. Our situation was at times a bit much to handle.

The first food tray clunked onto the shelf. We retrieved our lunches and sat at the table, after we'd cleared off the game board and pieces.

We ate in silence. I had lots of questions, but our captors were listening. An idea popped into my mind, so I gathered up Ruen's game board. Since it recorded what we knew so far from our excursions, I used it to point to an area I thought the three of us should visit this afternoon. I wanted to investigate farther in the direction the three of us had first explored and as quickly and far as we could go in our allotted time.

Ruen and Eonus seemed to understand my hand gestures since they both nodded and finished up their lunch in a timely manner.

We tried to be as quiet as possible as we climbed up into the tunnel and jumped on the walkway. Jogging on the path, we passed by the greenhouses, camels and hippos, along with the apartments we'd discovered. We didn't get off the walkway until it suddenly ended.