6.
"She doesn't get on well with Comforters." I heard Alex say from the kitchen.
"Really." A male voice replied. I guess that was pretty obvious to all concerned by now. I helped Yashie tear a new page out of her origami book, and start to fold a frog. The male voice came out of the kitchen and sat on the sofa opposite, getting out a notebook. A Soul. A Seeker.
"Seeker Beebe," he said by way of introduction, "I was wandering if I could talk to you for a moment?"
"Ok," I said, concentrating on the frog.
"I understand you met the victim's mate at headquarters?"
I nodded.
"That was regrettable. Not strictly protocol, I'm sure you understand. I'd like you to tell me what happened there. What did he say."
"Frog," Yashie said with evident satisfaction, handing me the finished paper frog to admire.
"It'll be on the recording," I murmured, handing it back to her and watching her hop it around the sofa cushion as far as she could reach without moving from my lap.
"The recording system wasn't activated unfortunately. I need a statement from you."
I sighed quietly and shifted my attention to his question.
"He, um, he said it was my fault that Comforter Constant Green… had died, that she had been very… distressed about her interactions with me, the trial…"
"You understand of course that no blame can be attributed to you in this case?"
I looked at him, incomprehension dissolving my words in my throat.
"It was an accident. Comforter Constant Green was very stressed, she had a history of mental instability, and was paranoid about you. Just because Follows Echoes blames you does not mean it was your fault. It was an accident."
Jackson marched into the living room but slowed when he saw me, holding Ayasha in my arms, curled into the corner of the couch.
"Follows Echoes made a statement. You're in the clear." Profound relief poured over me like a bucket of cool water. Jackson turned to Seeker Beebe, "How's that psych report going to read?"
"Acute shock. Dealt with within division. No long term complications expected."
"Wait - he's a Comforter?" I managed to ask, as Alex followed Jackson's trail from the still open front door.
"New division. Seekers have medic and comforter divisions now. You'd know that if you came to work occasionally," Jackson replied dryly.
"Is that an offer?" I said faintly, overwhelmed.
"What about the code of conduct charges?" Alex interrupted.
"If Hungry Flame would be prepared to make a statement about what happened, then in light of current events, I think they will be dropped."
"She's not going anywhere today," Alex said, very firmly.
"Of course. Perhaps tomorrow, you could drop in sometime." Jackson flicked me his card and left. I let Yashie take the card from my hands and fold it into another frog.
"You're a Comforter?" I repeated, staring at Seeker Beebe.
"I'm a Seeker first, but I do have psych training. We find a different approach useful in certain situations. Especially with fellow Seekers."
"And you've given me the all clear?"
"Traumatic situation, normal stress response, good recovery when situation normalized. Doesn't get much clearer than that."
"You don't want me to keep seeing you or anything?" This was the strangest comforter I'd ever met. I almost liked him.
"Well, I don't know how Alex'd feel about that, but sure, I'm open to dinner invitations…"
I kept staring at him and blinked a few times.
"I'm kidding. I don't do double dates."
"Oh."
"Good," said Alex, showing him the door not very subtley. "I think Flame could do with a rest now."
"Yes Matron," Seeker Beebe said with false meekness, scuttling away from Alex's glare. Finally we had the house to ourselves.
"Now are you going to tell me where on earth Bhask is?" Alex asked, leaning on the closed front door, making sure we had no more visitors.
I had to laugh. It was wonderful to have that door shut between us and the outside world. I reached out and pulled him onto the couch, feeding my heart with the sight of him and rinsing my mind of the past few weeks.
"With Dorsey of course. Where else could I send him?"
"And how exactly do we tell him it's ok to come home?"
"I hadn't thought that far. We go get him, I suppose."
He frowned and Yashie poked his cheeks to make him smile again. I wrapped my arms around his neck. "Mmm, a holiday in a Soul-free zone, just what the doctor ordered."
"That Comforter is crap. You are crazy."
"But it just might be a lunatic you're looking for," I sang, and he buried his head in my neck and groaned. Yash laughed in delight, slowly slithering out of my lap and sitting in a giggling heap on the floor.
"I'm serious about that rest thing. You're past it," Alex said, then watched Yash jiggle pudding-like at my feet. "You're both past it. Way past it."
"Oh alright," I said, stretching out full length on the couch slowly and luxuriously, "On one condition."
His sole response was to raise his eyebrows. I got the idea he did not negotiate with loonies.
"I want Alex to read me my bedtime story," I said, smiling at him.
Yash leapt up and ran for her room.
"And what are we reading this morning?" Alex said, smiling back, as he wedged himself on his side between me and the cushions.
"Rowsby Woof and the Fairy Wogdog!" Yash and I yelled as she came hurtling down the corridor flapping her poor old Watership Down. Alex kissed my cheek to show his appreciation and took the tattered book from Ayasha, who'd climbed up and was using me as a mattress.
"Alright, here we go… One evening, when Frith was sinking huge and red in a green sky, El-ahrairah and Rabscuttle limped trembling through the frozen grass, picking a bite here and there to carry them on for another long night underground…"
I closed my eyes, sinking into the warmth of their combined presence, and let his voice take me away.