Note: I am sorry that the first two chapters were bugged out yesterday. Posting on this site is very unintuitive for me.

Chapter 3 - Acting natural

After the sisters had settled the exact legal specification of the deal (for what else could they have needed so much time in private) nearly all of the children agreed to accept Bondrewd´s offer. Tanya could only huff in annoyance at so much immediate competition for her own achievements, but deep down she knew that the fear of failure and the general competitiveness of the whole affair would push these little rapscallions finally to productiveness; and for that she simply had to be a little bit thankful.

The journey was unremarkable. At least for someone who had travelled long distances by boat or even airplane before, albeit in a previous life. That was of course many years ago, but Tanya still had not much of an eye for the crashing waves of the ocean. She used her time that the other kids spent gawking at the horizon to further her relations with the upper management, meaning the black-whistles that accompanied Bondrewd.

They called themselves the Umbra Hands and were generally nice, but somewhat distant, which she appreciated. That showed that they understood the importance of professional business relationships. All of them wore similar masks to Bondrewd himself even if no two masks were the same. Had they not had different patterns nobody would have been able to tell the difference between them, because they never took them off. Some of the kids speculated that they even slept with them on.

Bondrewd was also relatively unapproachable. He mostly remained under deck and minded his own business. When he spent time with the kids it always involved some sort of medical check-up or intelligence test. Naturally, Tanya excelled at all of them, but was unable to capitalize on her successes, because he seemed constantly busy. She could only marvel at what a responsible caretaker he was to always check on them even though he obviously worked so hard. He could have simply let his Umbra Hands perform the tests after all.

Before he could slip away again after one such test she managed to corner him enough to ask a few harmless questions.

"Mr. Bondrewd Sir, would you mind asking me a few questions?"

Not the most elegant of starts for a conversation, but she doubted he was a man that enjoyed to talk about the weather first.

"No; not at all my dear. What do you want to know?"

"I find myself with a lot of free time Sir and would appreciate it if I could use my resources to more effectively work towards fulfilling my tasks when we arrive. To do so I wondered if you could perhaps lend me a few of your works detailing the nature of the Abyss for further study. Do not worry, I have a good grasp on medical and scientific language and know the proper discipline when handling books of immense value."

"If it is not too much to ask." she hastily added

"I could indeed lend you some of my personal notebooks, but I am afraid you would not find much value in them. They are encrypted and can only be read if one uses certain methods that are private matter."

Tanya gave her absolute best not to show her disappointment on her face when she said:
"I understand Sir. I apologize for bothering you."

He crouched down to her level, which internally annoyed her to no end, and spoke with a tone that made it clear he was smiling behind his mask:
"Oh, you don´t need to apologize little one. But if you are really so interested then I have another preposition for you. I am not one to smother the thirst for knowledge in a girl as promising as you so how about this: You come to me every day two hours before nightfall and I read for you from some of my books. Does that sound appealing to you Tanya?"

She did not even have to fake the beatific smile that spread across her face.

"Yes. I would like that very much."

He ruffled her hair and walked away; seemingly disappearing in the shadows.

∞•۞˂˃۞•∞

When she came to his quarters that evening the guard outside let her pass without question, but luckily tried not to help her with the heavy door. She was already annoyed with her lacking height herself and tried to keep as much of her dignity intact as possible by not being reminded of it from others.

Inside everything was shrouded in darkness excluding a large desk stacked with strange instruments and mountains of paper which was illuminated sharply by a floating crystal. It was so dark in fact that she did not even notice the large hulking shadow of Bondrewd´s form standing right next to her until she spotted the violet reflection of his visor in a nearby jar full of unidentifiable body parts.

"There you are my dear. I was not completely sure if you would come."

Only through years of rigorous self-control was she able to suppress a rather embarrassing shriek at the surprise.

"I am very thankful Sir that you are giving me some of your precious time. Of course I would not let such kindness go to waste."

"That is very thoughtful of you."

He hummed in delight.

"How have you been enjoying the journey so far? Surly seeing the whole wide world for the first time must be thrilling, no?

"Yes, it is quite astounding to watch the ocean stretch on and on until the horizon. But it loses its novelty somewhat quickly after a while. I am more excited for the famous Abyss I have been reading so much about."

She hoped that had been the answer he had been looking for.

"Wonderful. Would you like me now to read for you?"

"Yes, please."

"Then come here to the light and sit down please."

He elegantly sat down at the desk and looked at her expectedly. (It was hard to tell how exactly he looked with the mask on, but she somehow felt his gaze.)

Was this some sort of test? What did he want her to do? Only now did she realize the precarious situation that she put herself in. She was utterly alone and far away from any witnesses in a dark chamber that she did not know the layout of. What if he... No! It was pointless to doubt her new guardian. She would have to trust her quasi-employer on this one.

What better way to prove her loyalty and devotion to his business than by acting as if they were close? Acting became often reality if you did it well enough. The biggest hurdle was to make it seem natural. So she stepped closer and slowly climbed onto his lap. To further her appearance of normalcy she looked up at his mask and smiled slightly. She hated this, but it was far from the first time that she had kissed up to a boss.

"Mm, I thought you would pick the pillow on the floor, but this is even better don´t you think?"

When she looked down there lay indeed a cushion right beside the chair. This revelation caused her to furiously blush in embarrassment. How had she misunderstood him so completely?

Bondrewd just laughed.