Kai'el Brat "Guardian of the Light"
After Braze saw to it that
Dirk
was clean, fed, dressed in something finer than dust laddened animal skins, and given a comfortable place to sleep, he turned to the usual evening chores aboard the ship. Cleaning helped; it gave his hands something to do,
while the day still weighed heavily on his mind.
When that was finished, he slipped away to freshen up, letting the hot water pour over him in the silence of the refresher. For a moment, he almost wished it could wash away more than dirt… that it might take the edge off the earlier events just as easily.
By the time he emerged from the haven suit dressed in softer evening garb, the dread of what was to come next had settled in. He went in search of his student
Leos
.
Truthfully, Braze had not wanted this conversation at all. He had been avoiding it on purpose, putting distance between himself and the moment because he knew it would not be easy. He knew, too, that he may have damaged some part of the trust he had only just begun to build with his student. That sat poorly with him… but regret for the hurt was not the same as regret for what he had done. On that point, his feelings remained unchanged.
Raising a younger person was new and uncertain ground for him to tread, made no easier by the fact that he was still so young himself. Part of him had wondered if some piece of this hesitation came from wanting Leo to like him, wanting the bond between them to feel easy, like that of best friends. But somewhere amid the steam and too many circling thoughts, he had come to a decidedly different conclusion.
He was not always going to be Leo's friend… not if he was going to be his teacher.
Dirk
was clean, fed, dressed in something finer than dust laddened animal skins, and given a comfortable place to sleep, he turned to the usual evening chores aboard the ship. Cleaning helped; it gave his hands something to do, while the day still weighed heavily on his mind.
When that was finished, he slipped away to freshen up, letting the hot water pour over him in the silence of the refresher. For a moment, he almost wished it could wash away more than dirt… that it might take the edge off the earlier events just as easily.
By the time he emerged from the haven suit dressed in softer evening garb, the dread of what was to come next had settled in. He went in search of his student
Leos
.Truthfully, Braze had not wanted this conversation at all. He had been avoiding it on purpose, putting distance between himself and the moment because he knew it would not be easy. He knew, too, that he may have damaged some part of the trust he had only just begun to build with his student. That sat poorly with him… but regret for the hurt was not the same as regret for what he had done. On that point, his feelings remained unchanged.
Raising a younger person was new and uncertain ground for him to tread, made no easier by the fact that he was still so young himself. Part of him had wondered if some piece of this hesitation came from wanting Leo to like him, wanting the bond between them to feel easy, like that of best friends. But somewhere amid the steam and too many circling thoughts, he had come to a decidedly different conclusion.
He was not always going to be Leo's friend… not if he was going to be his teacher.
