DAR
Zedd's going to contact his informant and see if his guess is right. I've already got a few calls in to my own people, hoping to get some answers. In the meantime, I've taken care of a few other small orders and now I need to get the computer set up for Tommy. I shake my head as I realize that - somewhere along the line - he stopped being 'the fucking human' and 'brat' and became Tommy. My mind wanders as I work on the ridiculously simple machine. I think it actually started when we had our fight in the rain - well, when I attacked him. And I'd never admit it to anyone else, but I was fairly impressed with how easily he tricked me in the garden - and why. I still haven't told even Pina that he basically asked me to cripple him that night. Once upon a time, I'd have done it without a second thought. Then again, if Pina and Dulcea are right, even then Zedd and his boy were bonded.
Still, I have to give him credit. He understood my feelings over the whole thing with Zedd and Pina better than I would have expected, particularly since he and I still weren't comfortable with each other. I sigh as I recall Pina's words - 'He is not the boy he once was, the same as we are not the creatures we once were'. As he's recovered, more and more I can see the truth in it. No longer a slightly self-centered child, but a man - at least by his species' standards - often concerned about others, even to the detriment of himself.
In spite of myself, I have to applaud him on another matter as well - the way he distracted me and Zedd yesterday so that he and Pina could leave with no more argument from us. It's almost amusing how he can seem so innocent and yet be so devious at the same time - a trait that we could most certainly use in our business from time to time.
Finally finished with the primitive machine, I sit at my desk and look over at his new workspace. Good. Close enough that I can help him if he needs it, but far enough that I can still work without him breathing down my neck or vice versa. I have the feeling that he'll regain his native language very quickly with the rapid improvements he's already shown in other areas. Once he does, he can put more focus on his desire to learn Eltarian. At some point, I may have to warn Zedd that he's learning it, even if I do believe he wants it to be a surprise for his mate. After all, when I didn't want Tommy to know what I was saying this morning, I switched to it, but once he knows enough, that won't work anymore and his feelings might get hurt a bit when he realizes how certain people we associate with see him due to his species. While I do know a couple of other languages, Zedd's linguistic skills are limited to English, Triforian, Karovian, and Eltarian, the first three being similar enough that it would fail to keep Tommy in dark as to what we were saying.
If Tommy does take an interest in the business, once he's back up to speed, we'll have to see about setting him up in an office of his own as well. I frown. Even if he's not interested in the business, I'm sure he'll want to do something as I really don't see him settling down to be - basically - a househusband. I'll have to talk to him. I know that he used to research back on Earth before he started teaching. If he wants to get back into that, I'll need to know what he needs.
A quick glance at the clock and I realize that the morning is gone and he and my mate should be back for lunch soon. I head for the kitchen to make the midday meal, planning his first lessons as I go. Another thing I'm loathe to admit to anyone - I'm kind of looking forward to it in spite of the fact that the end goal has now changed. Now it's not about getting him better to send him home. Now it's just about getting him better - for him and Zedd. And I'm surprisingly okay with that, I didn't lie to Zedd in the kitchen, I don't dislike him anymore, true he does get on my nerves a bit, but then so does Zedd and at times even Pina. I don't know, perhaps with a bit more time spent with him we can find some common ground that isn't related to Zedd or battling.
A couple of hours have passed since lunch and the human began his lessons. He seemed rather fidgety at first, and while I wasn't too surprised that I had to walk him through the start of the first few tasks on the computer, he seems to have picked it up well on his own from there, only inquiring a few times about clarification on something.
I look up from my own work to see how he's doing and frown. He's squinting slightly at the screen and is leaning just a bit closer than he needs to be. "What's wrong, Tommy?"
He jumps slightly, as it's been pretty much silent since I got him started. He flushes slightly and shakes his head. "Nothing's wrong, Dar. I'm doing okay."
Noting his squinting and posture as easily as I had the first time I'd seen him hold his dining utensil incorrectly in the kitchen, I'm not falling for his denial. "You're squinting, something isn't right or you wouldn't be doing that as well as sitting so close to the monitor."
Seeming a bit embarrassed now, he at least doesn't try to feed me a line of denial again. "Nothing's really wrong, it's just that the text is a little fuzzy."
I frown and look at the screen. With my better vision, I should be able to detect the problem from here, but everything on his screen looks sharp. "It looks okay to me."
He sighs and gives a slight nod. "That's because your eyesight is fine. It's because I don't have my glasses, it's a little hard for me to see the letters clearly, it's not so bad when we started, but after a while my eyes get tired and it's easier to lean closer than to keep squinting."
I raise an eyebrow. "You wear glasses now? Why didn't you say so? Where are they?"
He shrugs. "I don't know. I wasn't wearing them when I was out with the kids and the monster attacked. Probably at home."
I think for a minute. "Is it possible that Jason would have brought them with your other things?"
"Maybe. I didn't go through all the boxes that he brought" he admits.
"Why weren't you wearing them when you were attacked?"
"Because I really only need them for reading and small work, like when I'm on digs and working on fossils." This could be a slight problem then. It's hard enough he's trying to relearn what his letters look like, to do so if he can't see them clearly is only going to make things more difficult.
"Why don't you see if they're in one of the boxes he brought? If not, we'll see what we can do about getting them or some new ones. Or maybe it's something that Pina can fix. Besides you've been working for a while now, a small break will do you well."
He agrees and heads out, insisting he'll be back in a few minutes. As a few minutes turn into several though, and that leads into almost an hour. I realize he's been gone a long time if all he's gone to do is look through a few boxes. I actually start to worry a bit and consider going to find him when my door opens once more and he returns. One look at him when he enters and I know exactly why he was gone so long. I barely keep my humor under control. "Zedd waylay you, did he?"
Tommy reddens as he runs his fingers through his hair, ignoring the fact that his clothes are in slight disarray as well. "Not exactly." He quickly sits down, pulling a small case out of his back pocket as he does. A minute later and he has his glasses out and on.
I study him for a moment and then grin. "Zedd saw you with those on and that's why he jumped you, right?"
He looks at me, startled. "No, I'd barely found them and stuck them in my pocket when he - surprised me. Why? Do you think that he would if he saw me in them?"
I shrug and turn back toward the work I was doing. "You didn't hear this from me, but he's always been drawn to the brainy type. I never understood how you humans thought that a pair of glasses made someone look smarter, but I think I get it now. Must not have really been paying attention before."
He rolls his eyes. "Yeah, well, appearances can be deceiving." He turns his attention back to his work, leaving me puzzled. What did he mean by that? He's obviously intelligent, even if he is having to relearn how to read and such. Or is he referring to someone else? I sigh again and return to my own work. Hopefully, I can get some things finished before I need to start dinner.
After a while, I stretch and check on Tommy's progress. Judging by the lesson number that he's on, either he's skipped a good bit or he's doing better than we hoped. I wait for him to finish what he's working on before I address him. "Why don't you stop for today and come help me with dinner? I don't know about you, but I'm getting stiff from sitting."
He stretches himself. "Yeah, probably should at least take a break."
"You don't have to do it all in one day, Tommy."
"I know, but it's coming back faster than I thought it would and I-"
"If you push too far too fast, you might not retain what you've just relearned and then you'll have to start over. Give yourself some time" I advise him.
"I guess so. I just want to be able to read my books again. I always liked reading and I miss it. Plus I don't have a lot to do here right now aside relearning this stuff and I can't keep Zedd from getting his work done just to entertain me. The sooner I relearn all this, the sooner I can maybe be some use to him or at least have something to do to keep myself busy so I'm not in the way."
Recalling my earlier thoughts where he's concerned I realize that I was right and he would definitely not be content to simply sit around the house all day. "You're not in the way." Hearing the words before I can really stop and think about them, I continue with a sigh at his surprised look. "Listen, I understand it's frustrating right now, but you will get there, you just have to have patience is all. I swear you're as bad as Zedd was when he was recovering from Zordon's power wave."
"How so?"
"Well while he didn't have to relearn language or any such thing, he did have to go through a lot of physical recovery and refused to listen to me when I told him he needed to take it slowly. I think you humans have a saying similar to ours, something about learning to crawl before you walk." At his nod I continue. "Yes well he tried to forgo crawling and walking and move straight to sprinting and that just wasn't happening despite his stubbornness."
Smiling he rises and follows me to the kitchen. "Sounds like Zedd."
"You don't know the half of it, you think he was bad when we all had the flu, you would have gone insane had you had to take care of him back then." I know Pina and I almost did. "By the way, you've raised my curiosity. What is this 'lasagna' you were talking about when you made dinner for us the other night? What's in it?"
"Basically, its layers of meat, cheese, lasagna noodles and tomato sauce and you bake it. Usually served with salad and garlic bread."
"When we get to the kitchen, why don't you see what you'll need to make it that we don't have? I'm positive that I don't have these special noodles that you're talking about, but we might have everything else. Also, if I need to acquire things for you to make this, I'll need to know how much." He nods. "And another thing - don't be, well, offended if we don't like something you make. We Eltarians are sensitive to certain things, it doesn't mean you made it wrong or it's bad, just it might have too much flavor for us to tolerate."
"Like what?"
I sigh. "On my first trip to Earth after I was returned to this form, I tried something you humans call 'buffalo wings' although I cannot understand how those tiny things are meant to help anything fly. Anyway, they were terrible. They were so spicy that I couldn't taste anything for days."
I'm surprised when he starts laughing. "Dar, they don't have that name because they come from buffalos. They're named after the city they were invented in, I think. And they aren't always that spicy. Did you have a choice of the sauce that was put on them?"
I nod. "It sounded good, so I tried it. Habanero, I think it was."
He starts laughing again. "That's, like, one of the hottest peppers on the planet! You should have never started with something like that and the server should have warned you."
"Perhaps the next time we have to go to Earth, we'll take you with us and you can guide us better for the future."
"That's a good idea" he agrees, though does suddenly look a tad worried. "Speaking of that, um, I told Zedd I might have to go back to Earth for a bit in the near future, you know to get some more of my things and take care of some unfinished business I have there, he mentioned wanting to go with."
"That's understandable, he's not very fond of the planet, but you are his mate." Not to mention he's probably afraid Mesogog or some other creature will find out you're back there and come after you.
"Right, well considering he isn't very fond of the planet and you have been back there and all, do you think it's a good idea for him to come with?" Oh hell, when I said I wanted us to find some common ground, discussing Zedd's temper and dislike of the human's home world wasn't exactly what I'd planned on.
"Why do you ask?"
Shrugging he heads for the cabinets and starts seeking out his ingredients. "Just wanted your opinion on it, since you do know him better than I do and you know how he'd take to being on Earth for a short bit of time."
"You want my honest opinion?" At his nod I continue with a sigh. "He won't be happy if you tell him to wait behind for you, he'll worry about you the entire time you're gone and very likely be depressed without you. However if you do take him, you need to be prepared to deal with him, I'm not fond of Earth myself, but Zedd lacks a bit of the self-control I have when dealing with its inhabitants. I would strongly advise you keep him away from crowded and noisy areas."
"What if I can't?"
"Then I would suggest you either mate him into exhaustion or put a sedative in his food before venturing out into those areas."
