Mary-Anne Silven felt terrible.
What had her grandfather always told her? What rule had she completely ignored?
Terrible didn't cover it. She felt horrible. Gut-churning, nerve-wracking horrible.
She wanted to blame her daemon, she really, really did. But Kourain hadn't done anything wrong. It wasn't his fault the owl hadn't like him!
He hadn't spoken to her or even looked at her...
No. She couldn't blame Kourain for what she had done.
That's it, she thought firmly to herself, as she finished unpacking a box of paint brushes onto a shelf, I'm going to apologize.
Kourain strode past her, black feathers gleaming green in the fluorescent lights high above.
The hardware store had been mostly empty all day, so she hadn't even had the excuse of stress to blame her behavior on. It had been childish and stupid, plain and simple. Not to mention ridiculously rude.
She hurried out of the paint section and back toward the aisles where power tools were kept, where she had seen the man before. Only ten minutes had passed, surely he was still there?
But the aisle was empty, and her heart sank.
Guilt coiled in her chest. She'd refused to help him. Maybe he had decided to leave the store entirely?
"There!" Kourain whispered, jerking his beak to her right.
Mary-Anne turned to look, and let out a sigh of relief. For there was the man, striding toward the registers behind her, his owl daemon perched on his shoulder just as she had been before, and holding a large box she recognized as containing a power saw in his hands.
Kourain was already darting ahead, and she quickly hurried to catch up, lifting one hand to wave a little to get the man's attention.
The owl's head turned to catch the motion, and the man slowed, his face impassible, showing none of the anger she'd been expecting.
"Is there something I can help you with?" He asked smoothly, lifting one eyebrow when she stood in front of him.
The irony was as painful as it was pointed.
"Look, I-" she bit her lip, "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry, for ignoring you before. It was rude, it was stupid, and it was childish. I...I don't even know why I did it." Her voice turned firm. "But I want to make it up to you." She said, "As an employee, I get a discount on purchases. Let me use my discount on that, for you." She said, indicating the box in his hands.
The man lifted one eyebrow. "That's very generous of you." He said, tilting his head to the side slowly, "But why? Why apologize, when you could continue on as though nothing happened? Surely it would be easier, for you."
Was he rejecting her apology? Mary-Anne's heart sank. "I..." How could she explain it without sounding sappy? "There was no reason for what I did. And my grandfather always told me to be polite to everyone I meet, even if they're rude to you, because you never know what sort of day they've been having. I was rude to you, and my day hasn't even been bad. So, please, let me make it up to you?"
The man's expression turned thoughtful, and he glanced over at his daemon where she perched with rust-colored feathers on his shoulder.
The owl turned her head to match his gaze, and blinked, once, slowly.
"Hm," the man said, pursing his lips, his gaze switching back to meet Mary-Anne's, "I will take you up on your offer, Mrs. Silven. Thank you for apologizing."
"No problem." She said quickly, "And thank you. Here, this way." She gestured toward the closest register, where her friend Aram was working, his gibbon daemon, Senna, sorting the boxes of candy that filled the shelves around the registers.
She was quick to complete the man's purchase, not wanting to waste any more of his time than she already had. He was silent throughout the transaction, his eyes shadowed in what seemed to be deep thought. Even when she handed him the bag with his purchase in it, he still remained silent, as did the owl upon his shoulder.
He did incline his head, though, before he left the register, and despite herself, she smiled as he walked out the store's entrance and into the night.
LINE BREAK
It was only an hour and a half later that her shift ended, and it was time for her to go home. Kourain strutted, as ever, in front of her as they walked through the deserted parking lot, and he was the one that noticed the piece of paper lying on the ground near the trash can in the cart return area.
"Hey, Mane, look at this!" He called, poking at it with one foot, "He left our card behind."
Mary-Anne knelt down to pick the small peice of pale up, and saw that her daemon was right.
Each of the store's employees were given small paper cards that they would give to customers upon request, so that the customer could go online and give feedback for that specific employee's actions.
The man had asked for hers the first time they'd run into each other, when she'd refused to help answer his question about the power tools.
She'd practically thrown it at him, annoyed for some reason she still couldn't for the life of her place.
Frowning, she picked up the small peice of paper, and deposited it inside the trash can it had probably been meant for.
"At least he won't give us a bad review." She said, shrugging, internally relieved. Kouraine gave a short laugh in response, and the two headed off into the darkness towards their car, free of worry.