The sound of my flats clip-clopping against the carpet as I walked through the middle road between the office desks. As I walked, a few members of the team looked at me for a second. For the rest I may as well have been a ghost gliding through the office affecting nothing. It had been six months since the Council had revisited their position on Ardat-Yakshi, following Morinth's heated declarations that we were a mistreated, discriminated type. At first, I was glad to be out of the monastery and explore all that the galaxy had to offer. The Council had introduced schemes to integrate Ardat-Yakshi into society, provided they were strictly monitored and subject to the same laws that would have us detained if we tried to kill someone. The result was me eventually taking this internship at Councillor Irissa's office. It was an honor to work for the representative for Asaris everywhere and the catalyst for the Ardat-Yakshi's new hope. Now it had been some time since I started and fortunately people didn't linger as much on me as they used to when I first arrived, although I still received the odd comment scoffing at the fact that I received the internship to keep perceptions of the Council focused on Equal Opportunities; that I couldn't have earned the job for simply being good at it.
As I reached my desk at the very end of the room, I pulled out the chair and lowered myself onto it carefully. The last thing I needed was to miss the chair and fall bottom-first to the ground. Shaking the thought from my mind as I saw down, I pulled myself close to the keyboard and murmured as I read the latest batch of e-mails. My desk had very few personalizations apart from a metallic frame with a photograph of my sister Rila situated next to the screen. It was my way of remembering what happened to her. No matter how busy it got, I refused to forget how she sacrificed herself so that I could escape. While reading my e-mails, I heard the familiar ping as more came flooding into my inbox in waves. It was like this all afternoon. By 6pm, I started to pull together the work that I needed to take home with me into a tidy pile. Around me I could hear some co-workers laughing, some in deep conversation and others only their footprints as they hurried out the office.
"Are you enjoying having your own house, Falere?"
The words broke me from my comatose-like state of organisation. I looked up and saw a female colleague look at me expectantly. I'd recently bought my own home after spending months renting apartments on the Citadel. There weren't many colleagues that I confided in but my manager loved to gossip. It was inevitable that my co-workers would learn my every whereabouts from a mere mention one time at an office meeting.
"I barely noticed. I'm here all day. The only time I have to myself are my morning walks. It's a large expense for someone barely ever there."
This admission seemed to stop the conversation dead in its tracks. She turned to another colleague and began a new inquiry as to how their pyjak was recovering after their trip to the vet. Happily, I returned to my paperwork. There were approximately fifty or so papers that needed further evaluation at a minimum. Information was more than observation, their sources needed to be verified and researched. In addition to this, there was a lifetime of logs to cross-reference for each piece of information processed in case of any contradictions.
My speakerphone started to flash tirelessly and I saw my manager's name underneath the incoming signal. With a shallow breath of relief, I pushed the button that would accept the call.
"Just waiting for someone to come back with the shuttle and when he gets back we can go. Is that alright? Can you still do it?"
My eyes widened as I checked my watch. My fingers clawed at the remaining paperwork and stuffed it into my file.
"Yes, yes! I can still do it!"
In truth, I had forgotten about my quarterly review. Everything had caught up with me this week and I hadn't had chance to check my journal for upcoming appointments.
"Ok, that's fine then. I'll see you at the shuttle pad."
Sounding unconvinced, she clicked off. What I should've said was 'excuse me for one moment, I have some paperwork to store away' but nobody kept Councillor Irissa waiting.
