Tolly and Glorina at dinner

Jelana watches

Glorina

I looked at the dresses hanging in my closet thoughtfully. There were only three of them. I was hoping to have more delivered by now, but it had not happened.

My boss was indicating that he wasn't totally pleased with me.

I fingered the black seduction dress. Tolly wouldn't like that one. Or he might. But not in this context. Not for just a dinner to get to know each other.

With a sigh, I pulled out the blue dress. It was more modest than the white and gold one. But not quite as flattering. It had originally been made for someone else. Still, with my hair and makeup freshly done, it would be quite becoming.

I had no idea if Tolly would even be looking at me.

I sternly told myself that nothing would happen between Tolly and me. Not now, not ever. I would not do that. No matter how many hints, or even direct orders, my boss sent me.

My hands started shaking. This assignment was going to be a failure. Even if I accomplished all the other objectives. And I knew how my boss dealt with failures.

I blinked. Where was I? What was I doing?

I was in my room. The blue dress was in my hands. It was early evening. I was dressing for dinner. That's right, I was having dinner with Tolly. He had asked me. I smiled, 13, friendly, agreeable, at my reflection. I could do this.

I stepped out of my room, and into the common area, and jumped a little as Tolly rose from a seat at the bar, hastily shoving a book into his pocket.

"Mr. McLichtensen," I said, covering my confusion by dropping into a deep formal bow. "I thought we would be meeting downstairs."

"Ms. Hoi," he said bowing back. "I thought . . . It's much more comfortable waiting here . . . I should have dressed up a bit, Ms. Hoi."

He was wearing the same basic blue he wore every day. "Please, call me Glorina," I said, bowing again. "And you look fine, Tolly."

He looked down at me. "Thank you, Ms. . . Glorina," he said. "And you look . . . Perfectly lovely." The admiration was genuine.

He was flummoxed by this dress? This was my most modest dress. And I hadn't even gone full out on the makeup.

Then I caught the hint of amusement in the back of his eyes. Old, tired eyes they looked at the moment. So, not quite as flummoxed as he let on. I flashed my winningest smile at him.

"Thank you," I said. "Shall we head down to dinner, then?"

He grinned down at me, and proffered his arm. "As you will, my lady," he said grandly. Again with that flash of amusement.

I smiled warmly at him as I took it, and we walked through the door.

We managed to get through dinner with little more than small talk, though I made him laugh more than once, and he made me giggle for real once, rather than those polite little laughs I usually did.

Then, as we finished, I put my hand on his, which was sitting on the table. I meant that just as a friendly gesture, not as anything else. "I'm looking forward to going out to that little parkland of yours tomorrow."

"I hope you'll enjoy it," he said. "We can bring a lunch, have a little picnic."

"Thank . . ." I began, and looked into his eyes. And froze. Safe haven, safe haven, the eyes said. And I wished I could just throw myself at him, like I had that first day, and let him wrap his arms around me and keep me safe.

Not that it would have worked.

But I was stronger now than I had been that first day, which I couldn't remember. And there were people all around. They would stare. And word would get back to my boss. Which wouldn't be good.

Tolly also seemed frozen. Wood. Stone. Looking at me. "That's fine," he said absently.

I stood, and hastily gave a formal bow, before escaping. Tolly was still laboring to his feet as I left the dining room.

I made it back to my room, and hastily closed the door and leaned on it. What had just happened? And more importantly, how would I explain it to my boss?

Yet another thing I would not tell him about.

Jelana

Daved elected not to come with me today, but his ever-presence in the back of my mind was paying close attention to all that was happening around me.

I came down to dinner at Tolly's restaurant, and sat in the dining room, across from Tolly's normal table. I let Belinda know to not say anything to Tolly about me being there. He'd probably object to me being there at all.

He was seated with a young lady, I assumed was this Glorina, at his normal table. She had dark, almost black hair, quite unusual in this land where most people had some shade of red. And everything else about her was also quite unusual. Not from Tel. She was also small, and thin. Her feet dangled below her at Tolly's over-sized table.

She smiled up at Tolly, and he looked down at her and laughed. I studied them both, but couldn't tell much of anything from this distance. Though from the fluid grace of her movements, it wouldn't have surprised me to find that all her moves were practiced and deliberate.

Then, she touched his hand, and everything changed. I don't know what happened in that moment, but suddenly they both backed away rapidly, and Glorina got up, bowed deeply, and fled. There was no other word for it.

Tolly took longer to get up, but he also left, going stiff-legged and haltingly in the other direction.

"Oo, lover's spat?" Belinda said to me, looking after them.

"Are they lovers?" I asked.

"No, until today I'd say they were merely friendly," Belinda admitted. "But that looked . . . fierce."

"I don't think that was a spat," I said. "Something else. They both looked spooked."

I finished my meal, no point wasting it, then made my way up to Tolly's apartment.

I didn't immediately see him, but I heard the repeated clanging of his exercise equipment, and went to find him.

Tolly was lying on the bench, pushing the bar up and down rapidly. As I entered the exercise room, he sat up, and moved the pin down on the weights to make them heavier, and started lying back down again.

"Hello, Tolly," I said.

He sat back up and glared at me. "What are you doing here?" he growled.

"Glad to see you, too," I said. "I wanted to see that girl, Glorina, before you brought her out to our place tomorrow."

"Well, she isn't here," he said, and laid back down to begin exercising again.

"No, I saw her downstairs."

Tolly grunted. "She could have seen you."

"You didn't, and you know me," I pointed out.

He just grunted again.

"Even if she had, I'd have been just one of the faces in the crowd."

"There wasn't a crowd tonight."

"Not like sometimes, but enough," I said. "Tolly, what happened? Why are you upset?"

"Not upset," he growled, working faster.

"Yes, you are," I said. "I can tell by the way you're exercising."

"I always exercise," he growled.

"Not like this," I said. "When you're working with this much intensity, you're usually angry."

"Not angry," he said. Then he sat up to glare at me. "And if you think so, then might I suggest that you leave me alone?"

Oh, much worse than I thought. I backed through the doorway, leaving him to it.

The clanging continued with increased fervor for several more minutes, then abruptly stopped. I came back in, and he was sitting on the bench, breathing hard, his head down, and hands on his knees.

I got a cold glass of water from the sink, and handed it to him.

"Thanks," he said, and gulped it down. He grabbed a couple of towels from the nearby shelf, and began drying himself off. Then he glanced at me. "You didn't add anything to that, did you?"

"Sure, ask that after you drink it," I said. "And, eww, no."

"Just checking." His voice was much calmer now, his face mellow.

"Want to talk about it?"

"Not particularly," he said, still sitting there.

I waited.

"I'm not getting out of this, am I?" he said. "I ought to not let you up here."

"And how would you keep me out, brother dear?"

"I'd find a way," he growled, but his heart wasn't in it. "Tell you what, let me get cleaned up, and I'll meet you in the living room."

"And then you'll talk?"

"Maybe," he growled.

A little while later he joined me in the living room, clean and neat, his hair damp. I resisted the impulse to reach out and dry it for him.

"Don't know what you saw," he said.

"You were having a good time, then you touched hands with her, and everything changed."

He glared at me. "You saw that? Can't a man have privacy anymore?"

"Not in a public place," I said. "Now, what happened? Why did both of you freeze and flee?"

He put his face in his hands. "Don't know. She just looked up at me with those frightened eyes, and I just wanted to gather in my arms, and protect her from everything that might harm her.

"Why didn't you?" I asked, with interest.

He glared at me. "Because I don't know that she's actually frightened. I don't know how she'd react. And because everyone was watching us."

"Not everyone," I said. "Just me." And Belinda, I didn't say.

He glared again. "Bad enough."

"Are you still bring her out tomorrow?"

"I expect so," he said. "Unless she calls off. I'll let you know."

I looked at him thoughtfully for a moment. "And were you able to discover anything?"

"Not a thing," he said. "She dodges questions more skillfully than a politician."

"You should know," I said.

He snorted, but did not deny it.