Tanis

  *Click*

  “—with me, Oh-oh, sitting here hanging by the cliffs, there’s nowhere I'd rather be! I wonder how far we could fly? Don’t wanna wait, so let’s go and seee-.”

  Tanis slapped the alarm off and rolled out of bed with a huff. Yawning so wide her jaw popped, she moved to get ready for the day. A few minutes later, she stood, staring at her wall of clothes in the closet. She looked longingly at the lovely yellow flowered dress she had bought weeks ago, so similar to the dress her mother used to wear.

  She had planned on wearing it to surprise her father when he instructed her in the art of Weaving, the only day of the week she had a few uninterrupted hours of his time. But in the last few weeks, he had put his instructions on hold, something in his world taking up even more of the small amount of time they saw each other. With a sinking feeling she guessed that today would be no different. She sighed and moved to put on a practical outfit for physical training.

  After her morning routine was complete, Tanis walked through the connecting bathroom and opened the opposite door. She gasped in horror at the sight that met her gaze. Her little office had been a twelfth birthday surprise from her father, and it was the very essence of cozy studiousness.

  Dark honey colored wood of the bookshelves, desk, and chairs, were complemented with a smooth cream ceiling and a simple amberglow chandelier. Two large overstuffed chairs, their worn green fabric marking them as favorites, stood beside a tall window overlooking the woods. This sight was mirrored on the opposite side of the office, the left hand window overlooking the gravel drive her father used when getting home late at night.

  Both windows were wide open and papers were strewn across the room. She rushed to close the windows, wincing at every crinkling of the diagrams and notes she had spent countless hours pouring over in the last few weeks. the windows safely latched, she quickly straightened and organized the mess back onto her desk and in their respective piles, when a chill ran through her back. Shuffling and re-straightening with increasingly frantic movements, she rifled through the papers for one specific page.

  It was a small piece of paper, one she wouldn’t have noticed was gone if she had not spent the last three weeks painstakingly drawing and copying as perfect as she could manage. She scrambled again to the windows, fear and hope warring in her chest as she flung open the one facing the driveway, her eyes straining to catch a small glimpse of white.

  When she was certain it was not there, she latched that side closed and crossed to the other. Almost immediately she spotted it, the escapee waving merrily at her from a treetop a few yards inside the wood.

  At this, she hesitated. I should get the gardener. But how do I explain the importance of a piece of paper? The page flapped harder, threatening to come loose from its precarious perch. The gardener always began working from the farthest side of the garden on Tuesdays. It would take her at least twenty minutes to get there and back, even if a ladder tall enough was close by.

  The page was flung into the air by an updraft and she almost cried out. The flash of paper was flung about deeper into the trees where it caught between another set of branches. There was no way she was going to leave it for a second.

  Hardly daring to take her eyes off the prize, she slid over the ledge of the window and began to quickly climb down the three-story wall. It would have been a treacherous climb, but she had long ago found the best routes up and down, the thick ivy vines her father thought he had been so clever to install aiding her even more.

  She leapt off the wall twenty feet from the ground. It was a little dangerous, and certainly not necessary, but she needed to burn a little more of her lingering anxiety from losing the page. Her Mark stung a little as she tugged on the air to help cushion her landing into a practiced roll.

  Leaping to her feet, she tracked her eyes to where the page hopefully still was trapped, and met the eyes of one of the guards who had just come around the corner, his gun automatically raised in defense. Recognizing her, the guard quickly lowered his weapon, though he kept it primed and ready.

  She froze in horror not just at the glowing blue charge that still burned through the exhaust vents, but also at what the man must have seen. He was one of the new ones, and so probably didn't yet get the “story” behind the weird habits of father and daughter yet.

  They stood still, considering each other. He was about her age, hair grown long and braided in the traditions of war veterans, various braids and beads telling a story of his service and of the comrades he had lost. Most of the guards had similar styles. She cleared her throat and tried to pass off the awkwardness with a charming smile.

  “Hi, sorry to startle you, I was just trying to chase down a page I had lost. She pointed at the fluttering white speck barely visible to the eye. He turned to look, and squinted at the sight.

  Her face began to flush with embarrassment as a long silence made it clear he wasn't going to reply. She cleared her throat and moved towards the tree line. “Don’t mind me, I'll just be a minute.” After a moment, she heard his footsteps follow after.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  “Really, you don't need to accompany me. Its not like there are any intruders here.” The guard finally broke his silence.

  “Apologies, miss. But this is quite literally what I am paid to do. Whether it is needed or not is irrelevant.” His tone was clipped and professional. Trying to appear unbothered, she shrugged and kept walking. Peeking behind her she could see the guard keeping his eyes moving around them, on high alert for threats.

  ________________________________________________________________

  Zed

  Zed watched as the young woman stride through the trees, her bare feet making no more than a whisper on the leaf litter, as opposed to his crunching steps. He hadn't had the chance to officially meet the daughter of the boss, but if this wasn’t her, he would eat his chargecaps.

  He already felt like he had; biting the shock capsule was almost nothing to the surprise he had when she fell from the sky to land in front of him. The landing had been uncannily gentle, something about it raised the hair on his neck as he replayed the moment in his mind. Unsettled, he focused his attention to their surroundings. Trusting that there was nothing to fear was a good way to get ambushed.

  Miss Tanis stopped at the base of a tree, peering into the branches with hands on her hips. It was a large oak, spanning around four feet in diameter, the lowest branch twelve feet from the ground. Zed didn’t get why she just stood there, staring at it. She couldn’t possibly be considering climbing up the tree. If the piece of paper was really that important, why didn’t she call for help? A ladder at least was needed to get close to the branches. There was no way she could reach that far up-

  His questions halted as she turned her eyes to his, a calculating glint in them. He tensed, knowing that look well from comrades who were far too comfortable with making a game out of a treacherous situation. Her slow smile and next words were proof of his concern.

  “So, big guy… How about a boost?”

  Zed suddenly found himself being positioned with his back against the trunk. Miss Tanis was looking up, assumedly checking the angle. She nodded, and started to back up. He started to protest, even as he knew he couldn’t really dismiss a direct order out of hand. He rationalized that he could probably refuse based on the hare-brained and dangerous nature of the suggestion.

  But she lowered her green eyes to lock on to his, and he felt his breath catch in his chest. There was no hesitation in them, ablaze with determination and excitement. He saw complete trust in her movements as she prepared to take a running start.

  Something settled in his gut. He had a job to do, and despite his reservations, she would be going through with or without his help. He spread his legs and bent his knees, bracing partially against the rough bark, his hands ready to catch her foot. If she was going to do this, she would have a better chance of succeeding if he aided her up and down the tree.

  She flashed him a smile and sprinted forward. He matched her momentum, using his whole body to catapult her upward in one flowing movement, his eyes glued to her as she practically flew up and caught hold of the branch. A few tense scuffling seconds later and she was perched on top, grinning down at him.

  Does she ever stop smiling? He wondered. Even working her way to stand and beginning the climb in earnest, she looked like she was having the time of her life.

  He waited and watched as she began her ascent, prepared to break her fall. A few worrying moments obscured her from view, but she soon climbed down, triumphant and steady, a rolled paper stuck in her pocket. Halting on the branch, she readied herself to leap off.

  After seeing her fall from a greater height before, Zed knew he shouldn’t worry, but standing by while she willfully flung herself down right in front of him was not something he could allow. “Hold on, miss. Let me catch you.” And walked closer, the young woman staring at him confused.

  “Why? This is hardly a dangerous leap for me.” Zed coughed, a bit embarrassed.

  “Yes, but if anything were to go wrong, whose fault would that be?” the reminder was presumptuous on his part, but if any word if this little adventure was shared, he could end up with him being fired, or worse, before his first paycheck if she suffered so much as a bruise.

  Miss Tanis seemed to let that comment slide, and nodded. She directed him farther away from the trunk, to prevent scraping against the tree. Slowly, she lowered herself to her knees, stomach, and finally she fully hung down from the branch, and called out, “Ready?”

  “And steady.” He called back. And she let go, falling a little backwards to give a better angle for him to catch. She landed in his arms and he broke the rest of the momentum by rolling onto his back. After a moment, they disentangled themselves and stood up. Zed moving to retrieve the gear he had set aside. Walking back, Miss Tanis insisted he walk beside her, a smile still pulling at her lips and mischief still sparking in her eyes.

  “So, my knight in black kevlar, what’s your name? I haven’t seen you before, so you must be new.”

  “I am. You may call me Zed, Miss Tanis.”

  “Zed? As in the letter z? Would that be short for something?”

  “Z-E-D. Yes it is.”

  “…Well, are you going to tell me what it is short for?”

  “No, miss.” He knew from experience this should have made any young woman lose interest in this line of questioning, but she was still smiling at him.

  “Alright then, Z-E-D. Thank you for your assistance this morning, abrupt as it was.” Her voice changed suddenly. “I don't think I need to tell you we should keep this little adventure to ourselves, do I?” The tone was still light, but there was a brittle sharpness to the words- like sunlight reflecting off a glass shard.

  “It is understood, Miss Tanis. It was… a pleasure to be of service.” And to his surprise, he meant it. He watched as she split off from his route towards the building, half-expecting her to start climbing back up the wall she had first dropped from, and being surprised at her turning away from it, heading towards the driveway entrance.

  Watching her back recede towards the manor, he let out a great breath that turned into a laugh. It had been so long since the last time he experienced it, he nearly forgot how it felt. The feeling of being trusted so completely, the feeling of coordination that flowed so smoothly form step to step, the connection that it brought to a relationship… he shook his head. A smile gently forming on his face. That was the most fun I have had in a while.

  He straightened his gear, and resumed his patrol, wondering what he would say to people asking why he had taken so long on the route.