Several days passed since Eudokia found Dareia. Their second meeting went better than the first, as they actually carried a conversation. Eudokia wasn’t entirely certain why, but she knew something was different. It was all still very new to her.
Awkwardness might have been the best thing that described Eudokia’s actions. She didn’t try to find Dareia anymore. The routine returned. The library was the place she stayed.
Her last patrol ended the day before. She rested more than enough from the two-day marathon, her team still slept. Inside the library, she laid against the bookshelf with a book masking out much of her face. It was a little oversized in her hands, making her seem even smaller than normal.
On a normal day, she never would have noticed the approach, but her mind wasn’t in the book. It sufficed best as merely a failed attempt at a distraction. She paused on the page she had been unable to finish for the last ten minutes. Her eyes darted over to the far side of the aisle, the book lowered.
No one was there, yet. A moment later, a head surfaced, as Eudokia foresaw. Not expecting to be spotted immediately, they ducked away. Eudokia listened to the scurrying feet along the marble floors. Her eyes tracked the movement behind the shelf until they popped out a little closer. She wondered if it was their attempt at stealth. “Hello,” she said, the moment they surfaced.
“Ah!” Dareia yelped, falling over. Her tiny voice carried further through the library than thought possible.
A raised eyebrow was all Eudokia managed. ‘I figured she’d show up again, but she’s still easily frightened.’ Understanding that the reading ended, she closed the book, leaving it to rest on her lap. She waited for Dareia to recover before taking any further action.
Once she realized that Eudokia stared at her, Dareia jumped up to try to compose herself quickly. It ended up creating more problems than resolving. “I’m so sorry!” pleaded Dareia, after she gave up on her efforts.
“Why?”
“Huh?”
Eudokia leaned forward resting her head on her arm, propped up against her knee. The source of the disruption stood before her. She had to admit her curiosity, especially since it made her routine difficult to continue. “You haven’t done anything requiring you to apologize to me. Maybe the library, but it’s wasted on me.”
The words were clearly stated as a fact, one that any outsider would have understood. However, Dareia was in the middle of the conversation. “I-I’m sorry!” She cowered a little, putting her arms up against her chest for security.
“I thought I already told you it was unnecessary.” A minor twitch in her eye responded to Eudokia’s emotions. Dareia started to open her mouth, but Eudokia lifted her hand. The look in her eyes was too easy to read for Eudokia. “Let’s put this path of conversation to the side for now. I’m more interested in why you’re here.”
Chapter 202 – Child of Lies
It took nearly a minute of convincing, on Eudokia’s part, to get Dareia to sit down. She didn’t want to be directly across from Eudokia in the aisle. It meant being too close to Eudokia. Eudokia didn’t want to carry a conversation from across the entire library. A compromise came down with her being in the aisle, but at a diagonal distance of five meters apart. Eudokia felt like she actually measured it out, as it took her several adjustments before she stopped. Though, she might have only stopped because Eudokia started glaring.
“Ready to talk?”
Taking in a breath, she froze up for a moment. The piercing stare from Eudokia shattered Dareia forcing her to exhale suddenly. It made her cough, only prolonging the delay. Pouring out the minutes, Dareia saw the looks she received. Part of her straightened out. She granted a meager nod to Eudokia. “Yes,” she responded, several delayed moments later.
“We didn’t really get anything said the last time. I want to know why you’ve been following me for months.” Her voice came out very commanding, even with Eudokia trying to reign in her tone. The mixed success came clearly across Dareia’s face. It made Eudokia frustrated a little with herself. ‘I’m so used to ordering them around. It’s difficult to turn off. I’m not used to someone so frail.’
“Wel-Well I-I…” Her words cut off too quickly. She realized how much she stammered. “I don’t know.” Dareia blurted out quickly, as though if she didn’t something bad would happen.
Eudokia wanted to fall over after hearing such a thing. “You have a reason. I want to know.”
Demands did little against Dareia. It only made her clam up more. The silence triggered the usual reaction out of Eudokia, only making matters worse. “I’m sorry!” She managed a sentence without hesitation, but it was likely because it was too well rehearsed for her to screw it up.
Wanting to get angry, Eudokia started to move, but noticed it did nothing productive. She simply sighed as an alternative. “So exhausting.” The thought of leaving it behind turned into a consideration. ‘I’ve never known someone so trying to communicate with.’
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“I’m—“
Raising her hand again, Eudokia cut off Dareia. ‘I need a different approach.’ She tried to think back to what she did last time to make things better. Unfortunately, nothing came to her. The entire situation fell out of her control. ‘I need to make her not feel scared.’ It felt like a more challenging request than leading a bunch of soldiers filled with envy, jealousy and schemes.
She tried a smile. It was her only option, a last resort. It was pretty clear from the attempt. However, it managed to do something Eudokia failed to do. Dareia sputtered into laughter from the awkward, terrible smile. It made Eudokia’s face turn a little red. “I’m not used to it,” she muttered as an excuse.
Dareia kept laughing, unable to stop. It took a whack to the head for her to be silenced enough for things to calm down. “I’m sorry, but it was really funny!” The image in her mind made her start to giggle.
The red in her face didn’t die down, flustering Eudokia further. “I told you I’m not used to this!” She crossed her arms, suddenly feeling a bout of childishness.
Attempts to cough down the laughter failed and only renewed it louder. Unable to do anything about it, Eudokia just let it ride until Dareia hurt herself. ‘I didn’t think it was that funny…’ Eudokia’s lost expression completed the picture.
After everything settled down again, Dareia seemed ready. “I was curious.”
“Curious?” questioned Eudokia. It took her a moment to get her mind back to the original question.
“I remember hearing about you in the academy. I wanted to see you.”
She took the next leap herself in the conversation. “So you got a transfer out here? Just to see me? At your age?” The last bit felt a little miss placed coming from her. Even Eudokia acknowledged it with a reactionary pause.
“But you’re here. So I figured I’d be fine!”
It was a difficult argument to counter. Eudokia sighed, pressing her hand to her face. “You realize that you won’t be able to get another transfer until you’ve finished your tour here.”
“That’s fine!” Dareia replied. Her expressions relaxed more talking with Eudokia.
“I can’t believe you did all of that just to come out here to see me. I’m not worth the effort.”
Dareia shook her head. “No, you’re wrong. You’re proof that we can achieve more than what is just handed to us. We look up to you!”
Eudokia read her features carefully when she spoke. It seemed sincere, but she had trouble believing it. “No one looks up to me. I think you’re mistaking it for jealousy.”
“You are!” The child was up on her feet approaching Eudokia. She had her hands tightly closed. Every bit of her body emphasized her theory. “You have to believe me!”
“I don’t have to believe anything,” Eudokia answered, cutting her off. She ended the conversation at that spot and stood up. Dareia didn’t follow her on her retreat from the library. The words from Dareia spun around her head. ‘It’s impossible!’
The more impossible situation was Eudokia trying to be freed from Dareia’s continued visits. Despite the outcome from the previous conversation, Dareia showed back up at the library the very next day. Unlike the other encounters with the girl, something fired her up to start actually speaking with Eudokia. It made it difficult for her to keep reading.
After the second day, Eudokia looked for a different place with her book in hand. However, Dareia found her surprisingly quickly. It seemed she had a knack for finding Eudokia. Escape looked impossible.
Eudokia’s patrol ended up being the only place she couldn’t follow. It made her feel oddly eager for it, despite the atmosphere she had to deal with from her team. Return visits resumed the game of hide and seek. Their game continued until Eudokia gave up the attempts to seek a private place.
She returned to the library.
“How come you’re in the library so much, Eudokia?” asked Dareia. Nothing Eudokia did could frighten her away. It actually made Eudokia wonder if the previous girl even existed. They were so different.
Closing her book, Eudokia relented to the question. “Because there are still things I don’t know.” It was a mostly accurate answer to the question. Eudokia didn’t plan to allow it to go deeper.
“You’re so devoted! That’s really cool!”
“I’m not sure if that’s correct.”
Dareia leaned in a little trying to see something. “What’s the book you’re reading? I’ve been seeing you with it for a while. You must really like it!”
Eudokia glanced over at her, wondering if she was truly ignorant of what she just said. “This.” She lifted the book to allow her to see the cover.
“A Beginner’s Guide to Japanese?” Her look turned quizzical for a moment. “Japanese? Why are you learning Japanese?”
“Because it’s suggested that all soldiers know a foreign language when on patrol.”
Dareia already knew that. The question went deeper than just the basic answer. “The scientists around the South Gate are European.”
“I already know English, French, German and Italian. At least well enough for basic communication.” She pulled the book back in resting her arms to cover it up. “I wanted to learn something different.”
“But you’ll never use it.”
She didn’t have much of a response to such a statement. It was the truth. “Probably,” she shrugged in agreement.
Their chatter continued for an hour before Dareia finally left. It seemed like she ran out of things to discuss with Eudokia. She was able to go back to reading as she wished. However, it became the new routine for Eudokia. Everyday neither of them had patrols, they would meet in the library and talk. Dareia seemed oddly fascinated in everything Eudokia did. She willingly gave up the information not even thinking about it.
Months passed and Eudokia started to look forward to their meetings. She had something different to do from just learning, absorbing more knowledge. It didn’t have the same feel as being with the others. She enjoyed it.
Such happiness was never designed to last.
It happened by chance. Everything could have been the same had she not noticed. But she did. Once she did, she wondered how she never saw it before. It was obvious.
There was something not right with Dareia.
They walked towards the library. Dareia started to meet her on her way to the library, rather than inside. Eudokia was fine with it. It made the walk easier. She could focus on something other than the stares. Yet she wished that she focused on the stares.
The position she had at her side made it all too easy to see. It was the weak point. Luck happened to be on her side at that moment. Perhaps? She looked over at Dareia, who was much shorter. It required her to look down, but Eudokia wasn’t then. She caught sight of a leaf blowing past them, over top Dareia. Rather it went around the air above her, hung up for a brief frame before continuing. It had a very unnatural motion, as if it ran into something. ‘What did I just see?!’ It made her eyes go wide.
Countless theories spun through her mind. Something was very wrong and Eudokia didn’t know why she never noticed it.
A ripple escaped her feet.
Eudokia lifted her hands to her face, a pair of glasses tucked in her palm. She allowed her pace to slow enough to drop her just out of sight of Dareia. The moment she put the glasses on, questions flooded towards her. “Who are you?” It wasn’t the same person she knew.