Blue Drop: Angel's Home: Chapter 10
A New Place
On the first day of her new job, Mari'il got a ride to Admiralty House from Raphael who dropped her off on her own way to work. Mari'il was thankful for the company, as it helped distract her from her nervousness about starting her new job. Thankfully she knew the way to Master Commander Tadael's office, and that was where she was supposed to report.
``Good Luck on your first day,'' Raphael wished her before heading off to her own job.
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Tadael's aide ushered Mari'il into her office. ``Welcome Mari'il,'' said Tadael, getting up to greet her. ``It's good to see you again.'' She smiled and extended her hand. ``And I'm glad to have you joining our team here at 'Ships.''
Mari'il returned the proffered handshake, thanking Tadael for the job and her recommendation.
After helping Mari'il through all the necessary bureaucracy needed when starting a job, Tadael showed Mari'il her new office. As an office it was unexceptional, having a standard desk, chairs and some lockers for storage, but it was Mari'il's own. It felt good to have someplace she could feel a little proprietary about after all this time.
``And now that I've shown you your office, let me immediately drag you away and introduce you to Neniel. You'll be working most closely with her, and she can give you all the details of what you'll be doing.''
``Sure.'' Mari'il laughed. ``I doubt this office will run away while we're gone.''
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Neniel wore her silver hair in a ponytail and tended to float more than stand, perhaps because it made her shorter-than-average height not matter. A smile snuck out from her normally schooled expression when Tadael introduced Mari'il as the new team member who would be working with her. She remembered Mari'il from reading her short report on Blue's performance on the mission to Forime.
``Thank you for those insights,'' said Neniel. ``I'm glad to hear Blue did so well under those tough conditions.''
``She really did,'' Mari'il agreed.
Tadael left Mari'il in Neniel's care, as she unfortunately had to rush off to yet another meeting. Neniel and Mari'il spent the rest of the morning going over the details of her job and how 'Ships did things internally, continuing their discussion over a shared lunch. Afterwards, Mari'il retired to her office with a long reading list and a promise to talk with Neniel again tomorrow, probably with a list of questions in return.
She spent the next several days at work like this, her time divided among reading up on what she needed to know, plying Neniel with questions, and occasionally talking with Tadael and other members of the team at 'Ships.
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Mari'il's new job kept her fully occupied, and she often stayed into the evening. However, she was able to make some time to go shopping with Raphael as she had agreed to. They picked out a couple outfits to replace those Zephrael had apparently taken. With those Mari'il would have a little bit of variety to wear when she was out of uniform, though Raphael extracted a promise from her that they would go shopping again later to get her more.
After a pause for a snack and a rest, they went to look for some items for Mari'il's apartment. Mari'il selected a big comfortable chair similar to the one Raphael had. ``This would be good to just lounge around in.'' They arranged to have it delivered, then continued looking at a few other things. Raphael went over a bunch of color samples with her, talking about colors and schemes and matching and Mari'il's preferences, both individually and in combinations.
Mari'il was starting to get tired as this followed a long day at work, and she was expecting more of the same tomorrow. Finally she looked up at Raphael. ``Why don't you just go ahead and pick out things like that for me. I like what you've done with your place, and I'm getting sleepy.'' She yawned. ``Could we call it a night?''
Raphael agreed to, but on the way home she double checked with Mari'il that it really was all right with to let her make these choices for the new apartment. After all, it was Mari'il who would be living there, not her. Mari'il said that yes, she was OK with it. And she told Raphael the same then next morning over breakfast when she asked again.
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At the end of another particularly stressful day, Ekaril despaired of learning enough to be qualified for this job.
[[ Don't worry so much, ]] Mari consoled her. [[ Have you noticed how Neniel's responses to your questions have changed? At first she was just patient with us. Now I can see a light in her eyes when you ask, and she seems to ask you more in return. This is all new to me, but it seems like she's enjoying your questions now and finding them useful in her own job. ]]
[[ Do you really think so? ]] asked Ekaril. [[ ...no, I should trust you on this, you've always been better with feelings than I have. ]]
[[ Thank you. You actually do pretty well with feelings yourself. Just don't doubt yourself so strongly. Also I can see why you were the best in school, even when you had to learn our culture and history from scratch. ]]
[[ But this isn't just schoolwork. ]]
[[ True, but you're doing just as well at it. ]]
Mari'il blushed at this complement and feelings that went along with it.
ooo OOO ooo
After a few days at her new job Mari'il was beginning to make a dent in her reading list and was starting to get a feel for how things ran at 'Ships. She had also met most of the rest of the team, so Tadael declared it was time for a team party to welcome here. Almost the whole team took off early and headed to one of the local eating and drinking establishments.
Unlike Sabrael's or Bayside Seafood, this place catered to larger parties. The team was given a room to themselves with one table big enough to seat them all comfortably but cozy enough they could all easily talk. Food and drinks soon started arriving at the table, and Mari'il was relieved to find this a casual place, not one fancy ones which used real Arume as waiters. It was a place to relax and enjoy themselves. The food was good: more of a succession of small snacks to munch on while talking than a full meal which would have demanded its own attention and detracted from the conversation.
And there was plenty of conversation. The team let down their barriers of formality from work and actually talked about all sorts of interests they had. Perhaps the alcohol flowing through their drinks helped. Mari'il felt comforted by the camaraderie of the team and pleased to be taken up into it. While she had learned to put names with most of the faces, it was here that she began to really know the rest of her team as people.
Sahaquiel still retained her dignity, but Mari'il found her also interested in collecting fine art when she wasn't partaking of her main hobby of flying. She truly loved being up in the sky.
Iruel had a wonderful sense of humor and did a good job of making a fun mood at the party. Mari'il would ever guessed this from her exacting work on the detailed ship specifications.
Ementaal carried her creative skills home with her to her kitchen. Others who had eaten the results proclaimed them excellent, and she was persuaded to bring a cake for Mari'il's one-month anniversary. Mari'il didn't want to make a big deal of it, but agreed when she found this was really an excuse for them all to share some of Ementaal's baking.
Neniel was less of an unknown that her other teammates, but Mari'il found out that she was also an amateur historian studying ship designs and how they evolved over time. When she wasn't doing this—Mari'il teased her about needing some break from thinking of ships—she could often be found in the handball courts. Mari'il thought that the Arume ability to float had produced quite a different twist to this basic game of hitting a ball around than humans had.
Anafiel, Tadael's aide, also didn't surprise Mari'il with her outside interests. She did learn that the flowers that always graced Anafiel's and Tadael's desks came from her own personal garden at home. She loved working in her garden, making things grow as well as talking about it. And her interest and knowledge of tea also kept the department properly provisioned with that. As good as she kept the department's selection, it was dwarfed by the one she had at home.
Mishel was mostly quiet, but she did try to chat with the others. It was obvious that part of her head was still wound around the engines and Emil-Force drive components back at her desk. She had a real passion and knowledge for them. Mari'il appreciated her effort to break away from work and socialize, even if it wasn't her strong suit.
Karol showed up late, but brought her partner Rizal with her. Mari'il smiled at the cute a couple they made. Right now their main interest was each other, which Mari'il wouldn't have guessed from Karol's focus at work. The only hint was the picture of Rizal she kept in her office. They were setting up their first apartment together for just the two of them. Mari'il had fun comparing notes with them on their respective new places.
Mari'il even found that Tadael enjoyed nature and bird-watching as a hobby. This had crossed over to her work where she was responsible for much of the early work on surveillance remotes. It was probably her love of birds, and especially terns, which pushed the remotes toward that form, though the ease and efficiency with which terns flew and maneuvered certainly had an influence too. ``Thank you for your work on them,'' Mari'il told her. ``I found those surveillance remotes very helpful on Forime, even vital.'' Tadael and Mari'il smiled at each other, both in gratitude, but also showing a more complete knowledge than the rest of the team of exactly how these remotes had been useful on Forime.
The party went on late into the night. Everyone was having a good time, and by the end Mari'il truly felt she was part of the team. She was included in—and the target of—Iruel's jokes, just like everyone else. Sahaquiel offered to take her up flying. Ementaal was happy to make the cake for her, and everyone else made her feel at home as well. One glance found Tadael in an unguarded moment, smiling over her whole team and how they had come together.
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Mari'il came home late that night, being careful not to wake up Raphael, and collapsed onto her place on the the sofa. The party had been long, but there was no way she would have left early. She had been having too much fun, and the newly made friendships on her team were something to be treasured and enjoyed. Still, tomorrow was a work day and Mari'il knew there was a lot for her to do. Plus, she was tired now. She hoped the night would grant her enough sleep to find her refreshed and ready tomorrow. She turned off the lights and soon found solace in the comfort of the cushions and blankets ...and in pleasant dreams.
ooo OOO ooo
Mari'il's new apartment was finally ready. Raphael accompanied her for her first visit, as she wanted to make sure that everything had been done as she arranged.
They paused in front of the door and Mari'il hesitantly entered the security code she'd been given on the door pad. It recognized her and the door slid open, and she finished the setup and entered her hand-print for easy entry. She then turned to Raphael. ``Would you enter your hand-print too.'' She blushed. ``I'd feel better if I knew a trusted friend could also get in.''
``I... um... thank you...'' Raphael blushed as well, putting her hand on the door pad as instructed.
The two then entered the apartment. It had less furniture than Raphael's and only a fraction of her decoration, but was not entirely bare. The table and chairs were accented by a few landscape images, which Raphael hastened to point out Mari'il could trivially change, and the whole was set off by a luxurious blue carpet.
Mari'il barely moved from the doorway. She just stood there, gazing at this space so carefully prepared for her.
Raphael interrupted her reverie. ``Since you still seem to like walking, we thought to get you something nice for your feet.'' She began to take off her shoes and motioned for Mari'il to do the same. ``Here, feel it for yourself. I hope this is the shade of blue you were hoping for.''
Mari'il took off her shoes and sank into the deep pile of the carpet, wiggling her toes in ecstasy at the luxuriant feel as her smile grew wider. ``Yes. Thank you. In fact this is better than I imagined. I asked for this color because Blue was the name and special color of my ship. She was a good partner. And,'' Mari'il continued with a bit of an accent, ``it also reminds me of Ekaril's eyes.''
Raphael had to smile at the blush this brought to Mari'il's cheeks. She urged Mari'il to have a look around the apartment, to make sure it was all right for her.
Mari'il did, walking around instead of floating so she could continue to enjoy the feel of the carpet. She noticed that the few pieces of furniture were functional, tasteful and well placed, but that there was still room for more. She liked where Raphael had placed the comfortable chair they picked out the evening they went out shopping together.
Her bedroom was arranged in a convenient yet also comfortable fashion. The bedding on the ample round bed was much closer to the high quality of the Lover's Bay Hotel than the Fleet issue she had grown used to. The colors worked together in a calming way that she hadn't guessed when Raphael suggested their possibility. One wall had a picture of a flock of terns in flight.
``I knew they have special meaning for you,'' explained Raphael.
Also, unlike Raphael's, this apartment had a second bedroom, and Raphael had set that up with both a nice desk and a bed so that it could be used either for a guest or as an office.
``You thought of everything,'' Mari'il told her.
Walking back to the main room, Mari'il took closer notice of the landscape images decorating the walls. ``This looks like that spot in the Misty Mountains we talked about being similar to Earth and which we both liked.'' Raphael, blushed at the complement on her care and memory. ``And this one ...You even have an image of sunrise at Lover's Bay Beach. Thank you.''
``I didn't want your new home to just be bare, but I also wanted to give you plenty of opportunity to make this your home, too.''
``You've already made it feel like a home to me. And the care you've put into it makes me never want to leave. Thank you.'' She turned and enveloped Raphael in a tight embrace. ``Thank you.''
After a bit, Mari'il loosened her hug and looked closely at Raphael. ``Thank you again. I... I know that this took more of your time than just the little bits of evening before I got home. ...you took time off of work to do this for me, didn't you?''
``Well.'' Raphael grinned back at her. ``I didn't have any other plans for that time off.'' She gave one of her silver laughs. ``And I really did enjoy doing this ...especially for a friend like you.''
This earned Raphael another tight hug, and when Mari'il's tears of happiness wet her hair this time, neither complained.
ooo OOO ooo
Mari'il sat down in her comfortable chair and surveyed her new apartment. Raphael had done such a nice job preparing everything. Her artistic touch really showed in how well everything went together and the care with which it was arranged. It felt so relaxing and welcoming. She didn't think she could improve it, but Raphael had been insistent that she change things to be the way she liked it.
She thought and thought. Finally Mari hesitantly pointed out that it might feel nice to have a reminder of Earth somewhere.
[[ Of course, ]] said Ekaril. [[ And do you think Raphael might have left that spot and that one open just for us to use to do that? ]]
After some discussion they agreed that these were perfect spots to display a couple of the pictures they brought from Earth. And a small shelf near the Lover's Bay Beach picture provided just the spot to place a small projector displaying a hologram of her, Raphael and Ariel taken when they came out to visit her there.
[[ Now, ]] Mari'il thought to herself, [[ this really does feel like home. ...a home just for us. ]] It was the first place either Mari or Ekaril could really call their own in a very long time. This was far more personally ``hers'' than even her office.
ooo OOO ooo
Mari'il still visited Ariel regularly after starting her job. Ariel wanted to keep track of Mari'il's nanomachine treatments to make sure no problems cropped up. They also continued looking into things that might help Ariel's research into the Arume population decline, especially any light Mari'il's differences as a Forime could shine on this. In their relationship Ariel was as much friend as physician now. Most of the time they would just meet in Ariel's office; sometimes Raphael joined them. Ariel could do most of the needed tests there, and Mari'il was able to come here from her job or apartment without having to pass anywhere near the hospital wing which Zephrael frequented. Mari'il had been able to successfully avoid seeing her, and everyone thought this was a very good outcome—except possibly for Zephrael, but nobody cared to ask her.
``So, how is your new place working out?'' asked Ariel during one of these visits.
``It's really nice. I think it's the nicest place I've ever lived. Raphael did such a good job of setting it up for me. I hope she knows how much I appreciate it.''
``I think she does.'' Ariel smiled. ``And I'm glad that you like it.''
``I do. With this job, I finally feel independent instead of just relying on other's help. It feels good to have somewhere to call my own. It's completely different from commanding a ship, but I've found rewards in both.'' She paused for a moment. ``And now that I think about it, not seeing Zephrael—and even more, not worrying about having her pop up or interfere unexpectedly—is quite a relief on it's own.''
``It sounds like your job is going all right then too?'' asks Ariel.
``It is,'' Mari'il agreed. ``At first I was worried that I wouldn't be able to contribute enough to be worth my pay. I think I might be starting to contribute some now.'' She laughed. ``Yes Mari, you're right. I shouldn't doubt myself like that.''
Ariel nodded, agreeing with Mari. ``Ekaril, you really do have a lot to offer us. If you have trouble believing yourself here, please trust us, your friends.'' She paused to let Mari silently reinforce this, then continued, ``If you don't mind me asking, what is it you do for the Admiralty? ...that is, if you're allowed to say.''
``I work in the Bureau of Ships. We're responsible for new ships and equipment for Fleet.'' Mari'il paused considering, then looked back at Ariel. ``One thing I've done that seems to have been well received is an analysis of the surveillance remotes, including some ideas for how they could be improved. The rest of the team—even Tadael who initially developed them—said they were impressed by the insights there.''
``I'm not surprised,'' commented Ariel. ``After spending that long looking at the world through a surveillance remote, you would get to know them pretty well.''
Mari'il joined her in laughing at this, as they both knew why she knew them. They agreed she probably had better ``inside knowledge'' of the remotes than anyone else.
``They said I had an exceptionally good feel for how they performed,'' she explained, continuing to giggle.
She continued, ``My current projects are a similar analysis of my Blue and helping define the design of the class of ships following her. It seems that Ekaril's experience with command, especially with Blue, is helpful for evaluating new designs. It gives a practical a perspective on how the new features or arrangements might work. No matter how good our computers get in fleshing out the design, there's just no replacing flesh-and-blood brains for creativity and judgment. Our designers and engineers are really good, but most don't have actual operational experience to help with their judgment.'' She laughed. ``Also explaining these things here to Mari also helps clarify them for all of us. And Mari seems to understand how people would feel about things better than Ekaril does.''
[[ I'm glad I can help, at least a little, ]] Mari commented silently.
[[ You help a lot more than ``just a little,'' ]] Ekaril corrected her.
Mari'il then continued, ``I guess we're giving Fleet Ekaril's knowledge and intelligence together with Mari's feeling and her fresh set of eyes.'' She looked up at the ceiling for a moment. ``I wonder if Loriel expected this when she first found this job for me?''
``I wouldn't be at all surprised,'' Ariel answered. ``And even if she didn't, I hope that Fleet recognizes what it's got in you: a first-class team for the price of a single person, all in one very attractive package.''
Mari'il blushed deeply at this complement, and it took her a bit before she could even stammer her thanks.