James slumped down into one of the hard chairs that ringed the conference room table. His body was both stiff and wobbly at the same time as he massaged a knot in his thigh. The sun was setting through the windows as the rest of the team followed him in, each covered in blood and gore that was only visible when his fey sight activated.
The other three members of the team joined him; exhaustion and relief spread across all of their faces. For a few moments, they sat in silence, each lost in their thoughts or lack of them. Lugh was the first to sit forward, his face tired from the day spent making up stories to appease the brass.
“I don’t know about you guys, but I need to go get a drink. It’s been a longer day than I expected. We’re going to be busy tomorrow just running patrols and doing even more briefings with NorComm.”
Shifting to better see his colleagues who were spread out around the large table, James glanced around at the rest of his team.
“There’s a pub that Vic and I used to go to at least a few times every week. They have very good food there too, in case either of you doesn’t gel well with alcohol. If you guys want to take some time to change, we can head there to grab some dinner and a few drinks.”
Alyndra perked up at the mention of food, pushing herself to her feet as she began to walk towards the fairy gate in the planter. Before she got too far, James pushed himself up to his feet as well.
“Hold on. With security as tight as it is right now, we all need to be seen leaving the base for the night. We should also stop by your place to grab a change of clothes since it would be weird to go drinking in our uniforms.”
Stopping to glare back at the three men, Alyndra let a little bit of a pout come through in the tone of her voice.
“Fine, but I’m not riding in the car with those two lunks. They have terrible taste in music and conversation. Our place is two doors down from yours, so I’ll ride with you. But since you’re hosting, the first drinks are on Lugh.”
James glanced over at Lugh, who sat back and smirked slightly. The god stood and glanced over at the Dryad, moving towards the door as he spoke.
“Let's go, Gymendor. Clearly, Alyndra is sick of us, so let's make her James’ problem. I’m sure he’s going to have a fun drive home. We’ll get used to going through the motions to not trigger the humans, but for now we’ll need to go out of our way to act like them.”
The burly man moved slowly from the cracks and cuts he’d taken on his living wood armor during the half dozen fights that they’d been through. He shifted back to the uniform of the French Foreign Legion and walked out of the door without another word. When James was left alone with Alyndra, he glanced at the elf, who gave him a wink and headed for the door as well.
He stopped at his desk and scooped up his backpack before stepping out into the early evening. His fey vision lit the dimming world with etheric light that made the base feel like an Eden compared to the swirling darkness that warred with points of light erupting throughout the city beyond. As he reached his car, he deactivated his fey vision before glancing over at the elf that slouched impatiently against the door.
James stepped over to the passenger side and motioned for the elf to move back so that he could unlock it. She shifted just far enough to let him slide the key into the door while brushing against her hip. When the door was just wide enough to slip through, she stepped closer to him, her hand brushing his arm as she stepped through.
He moved around to the driver's side, shaking his head as he climbed in and started the Mustang with a roar. They pulled out of the still mostly full parking lot and headed home. When they’d gone two blocks without saying a word, Alyndra broke the silence as she glanced over at James with a semi-apologetic look.
“Sorry about that. I think I took it too far too fast. It’s been so long since I’ve had another mortal on my team that I think I’ve forgotten how to interact with them. Lugh and Gymendor are great, but being immortal makes them not think about things that are important to people like us.”
James glanced over at her before turning his eyes back to the road, quickly taking in her collapsing confidence.
“Your timing does suck, Aly, but I’m not saying no. It’s been a long time for me as well, but after the last few days I’ve had, I don't trust myself emotionally. You’re gorgeous, and I suspect that you’ll be hit on multiple times at the bar tonight. Be patient with me and let's start with being friends, and who knows where things will go.”
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Alyndra shifted slightly, sitting up straighter as she studied him, her body far more relaxed then it had been a few moments before.
“That’s fair, I think, and thank you for the compliment. So, I know you’ve been training with Vic for the last year and that you’ve been in combat before, but besides that I know almost nothing about you.”
Not taking his eyes off the road, he kept his voice casual as he responded.
“I’ll tell you more about me, but I expect the same from you. How about this, I’ll tell you one thing about me and then you do the same?”
She agreed with a nod before turning to better look at him with her shining emerald green eyes. James took a deep breath and began to speak.
“So I was born and raised here in Boston. My mom lived here until she passed away a few years ago and my Dad died in Africa for some politician’s games when I was three. I always wanted to be like him despite how it ended, so I joined the Corp to follow in his footsteps. What about you?”
For a moment, the elf sat back and studied him, her face pulled tight as she tried to find a way out of answering. James clicked his tongue in mock disappointment as he spoke.
“So you do only want me for my body. Such a shame. I’d hoped that we might really have something.”
The joking barb broke through her nerves, as she swatted at his arm.
“Okay, okay. That’s a fair assessment if I don’t play fair. I’m from a small village in Tir Na Nog that isn’t even big enough to have a name. My dad was a rancher and my mom still serves as the village administrator.”
She lifted a hand and nervously played with a single strand of hair that had escaped her tight ponytail.
“I never fit in with the people in the quiet community. So when the imperial guard recruiter showed up, I jumped at the opportunity to do something bigger. From there I ended up getting my sharpshooter’s assignment. The rest you can probably guess, since I’m now assigned to a special taskforce run by a god.”
James glanced over at the elf woman that looked like she couldn’t be more than twenty five. He gave her a warm smile before turning back to the road and responded.
“See, that wasn’t so hard. We can get to know each other without risking too much pain. Do you want me to drop you off at your place or just head to mine so that you can use the fey gate?”
Her flirty attitude returned with a wink as Alyndra responded.
“Your place is fine. I’m sure your neighbors will be shocked to see a woman walking in for the first time ever. Besides, it makes sense to get people used to all four of us moving back and forth from your place.”
The Mustang took the freeway exit to his neighborhood as Alyndra shifted to sit closer to him as he responded.
“You’re full of jokes today. Is this something I should expect from you all the time or is it just a one off?”
Another smirk came in response as she playfully slapped his shoulder again. James glanced over at her with a raised eyebrow.
“So assault is something else I should plan for. Got it. I guess I’ll start a list just to keep track of these things.”
Her somewhat serious facade broke at his dry sarcasm, sending her into a fit of laughter as she tried to bury her face in his arm. Despite her grip as she laughed for nearly a minute, James let the broken rule go, enjoying the contact that he hadn’t felt in a while. When she finally began to calm, she hugged his arm while glancing up at him.
“Thank you for that. You have no idea how long it’s been since I’ve laughed like that. The rest of our team is great, but a sense of humor isn’t something that comes easily to either of them.”
The car pulled into his driveway before he tipped his head to rest it on hers for a moment, finally giving up on the rules he’d set earlier and returned her hug. As he shut the car off, he shifted so that he could look her in the eyes.
“I’m glad that we can be friends and we have someone who we can talk to about everything. It’ll be nice to talk about things openly without hiding it from normal people. Can I ask you a question that I’m curious about, but it may be a little too personal?”
Alyndra’s face shifted to a much more serious look as she met his gaze and responded.
“As long as it’s not too personal and you’ll accept a ‘no’ if it is, then yes. I’ve never been a fan of talking about my life, since it’s been messy, but I’m trying.”
James let a warm smile cross his normally neutral face and he asked the question that had been pulling at the back of his mind all day.
“So in mythology and stories, your people are either immortal or live long enough that by human standards, you basically are. Is that true, and if not, can I ask how old you are?”
Her face instantly relaxed into a soft chuckle as she reached over and took his hand.
“It’s normally a little imprudent to ask a woman her age, but given the framing of the question I’m okay answering it. Tolkien probably didn’t help anything either. His books are good, but he exaggerated a lot about our people even after spending time in our cities.”
It took James a moment to wrap his mind around the information she just dropped before he responded to it.
“Okay, so that opened up a lot more questions that I’ll want to hear about later. But are you going to answer the real question?”
She chuckled again before leaning her head on his shoulder.
“So, we do live longer than humans, but our entire lifecycle is just a drawn out version of yours. By your standards I’m 25 which equates to 44 in our years. It’s not a big difference between us now, but it used to be in ancient days because we didn’t have to deal with major illnesses that ended human lives a lot earlier.”
