I manage to keep an eye on Layla throughout the morning but by mid-morning break, she’s disappeared into another sector.
Instead, I decide to wait until the end of the day and try to pull her away so we can have another night like last night. Just as she’s coming out of the mines though, I spot her cousin Amara hurrying to meet her. Amara pulls her away by the sleeve of her dress and they stop by the water bucket to get a drink.
They’ll probably head to their home cabin now. Fuck. I can’t even get near Layla right now, not with the way Amara seems to keep a sharp focus on every person who even gets close to Layla right now.
She’s probably suspicious. This is the third or fourth night over the past two weeks that Layla stayed away from home all night long. She doesn’t usually stay over so often but we’ve been getting a little lazy, a little bold.
I’m still watching them and I don’t realize it until Amara catches my eye and I blink, turning away quickly. I can’t have our secret getting out.
My cheeks heat up and I realize what I’ve done, feeling silly for panicking. Amara is tiny, smaller even than Layla. She’s not as fierce either. I have nothing to fear from her. There’s no way she could somehow guess that the two of us have been spending time together just based on a lingering stare.
I’m just being paranoid.
Don’t get me wrong. I like Amara. I know Layla finds her annoying but Amara is much kinder than Layla gives her cousin credit for. Amara has her overprotective side but it’s natural for the way that she was raised around here.
Besides, I can’t be everywhere at once and where I can’t go, Amara can. She can be places with Layla that I can’t access, can keep an eye on her more often than I can. I do the best I can but Amara is there to cover me, even though she doesn’t know she’s doing it.
Layla is so stubborn and speaks her mind without thinking through the consequences as well. If Amara weren’t there keeping an eye on her, she would end up in way more danger than she realizes. It’s only because there are people looking out for her that Layla can get away with being as brash as she is.
I watch as they continue to chat and argue with each other as they wait in line to get a drink before heading back home. My eyes don’t leave them until they turn the corner and disappear from sight.
Layla is very lucky to have a family that cares about her as much as they do. Not that mine don’t. They just show it differently.
I’m interrupted in my thoughts when another guard comes over. “Hey, Kerym,” he says.
Pulling my gaze from the corner where she disappeared, I turn to see Zeymur standing in front of me. “Keeping an eye on the miners?” he asks, glancing over to watch some of the last stragglers leave the mines.
“Yeah,” I nod. “Just making sure everyone has left for the day.”
“Good. I think some of the humans try to linger so they can steal equipment,” he sneers. “I don’t trust them.”
“What did you come here for?” I ask, redirecting the conversation.
Some of the guards are suspicious that I have too much sympathy for the human workers and I have to tread a careful line between not showing too much sympathy and letting some of the worst ones get away with being outright assholes.
“Ah, right,” Zeymur turns his attention back to me. “There’s a mandatory meeting in the briefing room tonight,” he says. “You’ll want to be there.”
“Got it,” I say, nodding. “Do you know what it’s about?”
“No idea,” Zeymur shakes his head. “Going to the bar for a drink before the meeting. Want to come?”
“Nah. I need to get cleaned up first,” I tell him. In reality I have no desire to sit around drinking and talking shit about humans like so many of the guards seem to enjoy doing every night after work.
“See you later then,” he says, waving me off and leaving to catch up with a few of the other guards.
Once I’m home, I wash up and make myself a pot of tea while I sit in my window seat, watching the others move through the streets of the camp. Layla and Amara are probably home by now. I’m glad that she’s safe.
It’s hard, sometimes. Watching her walk around looking so breathtakingly beautiful and not grabbing her and dragging her home with me at the end of the day. But we agreed a long time ago that this was a purely physical thing.
I can’t get sentimental now. I’ve been at this camp for almost a year. It might be time to put in for a transfer, to move up the ladder to the next rung. If the opportunity arises, I can’t pass it up.
Which means saying goodbye to Layla—likely for good.
The sun starts to dip below the horizon and the grandfather clock chimes the hour. It’s time to head to the base for the meeting.
Once I’ve cleaned up the tea things, I grab my cloak and pull it around my neck, heading out the door for the meeting.
Zeymur and a few of his cronies are laughing and jostling each other as they leave the bar. He waves and I wait for them to catch up to me. I’m not friends with them but they make decent company when I don’t want to be alone.
“So have you heard the one about the human who couldn’t spell?” Zeymur asks. I clench my jaw shut, refraining from playing into their stupid games.
“No, what about ‘im?” Lomas asks.
I don’t even pay attention to the punchline, tired of the stupid jokes. I’m not interested in the human-bashing that goes on. They may be different from us but they are not inferior. It gets tiring after a while. The stupid jokes, the innuendos, and worse are the ones who are outright cruel or vicious towards the humans for their position in society.
It doesn’t matter to me. Humans and dark elves aren’t all that different. There are even rumors that circulate around of humans in far off areas of Protheka who have powers like dark elves.
Once we arrive, I pull off and sit with a few other elves who aren’t quite as crude and lewd as Zeymur and his buddies.
One of them nods at me and I take a seat, the group of us waiting for the Lieutenant to arrive.
“Hello men,” he says, striding inside. Everyone goes quiet when he enters. No one is entirely sure what the meeting is about so we’re all on tenderhooks, wondering if it’s bad news.
“I’ll get right down to it. There’s a new round of guards that have just been trained up and are ready to take on their positions. Plenty of men available to take the place of anyone here who wants to move on to a new spot. If you want to put in for a transfer, please let me know and we can see where we’ve got space.”
This is good news. Many of us are from far away, some from Prazh and Oshta, or even as far away as Liiandor. The first few assignments after training is over are usually to remote locations like the camps or the remote mountains in Orthani.
Once you’ve built up a little seniority, you get better assignments and can move up the ranks to become a guard captain or higher. My brother was gone for just under a year, to Prazh before he was able to get an assignment back home and things started going up for him from there.
So it’s a big chance for me to prove myself. I certainly don’t love living on Tlouz. I would rather be back home, or near my home. I miss my family.
But if I leave, I’m leaving Layla behind. I don’t know if she would want me to stay. She never acted like she wanted anything more than what we’ve got.
Should I put my name down for a transfer? What will happen to Layla if I do? Would she even miss me?
I stand in line, debating with myself as the others sign their name on the sheet. It seems about half the guards are ready to move on from the mining camps. My mind races as I get closer and closer to the front.
“Go ahead and sign your name down,” the Lieutenant says when I get to the front and am stuck staring at the parchment.
I reach out my hand, then glance back up at him. “Do I get to choose where to go? I’ve been enlisted for over two years now.”
“You’ll get some say in where you go this time,” he promises.
I stare at the signature line and finally make my decision.
