Chapter 76: Games People Play

  With all of the events of the last weeks, Marcus was actually happy about a bit of routine. The next meeting with Azaa was coming up soon and this time he wanted to look for a gift himself. The gift he chose was a large, high quality snow globe, showing the streets of Paris with the Eiffel Tower. If you leave the globe in the sun light over the day, the windows of the houses and the tower glowed at night. It was a nice gift, Janette assured him, and Marcus happily made his way to the ginghi.

  Marcus had planed his journey based on his past experiences and had planed to arrive about noon in Mihr Jhel. Of course he had not planned for a four hour delay for his flight to London nor could he have foreseen another six hours delay at the portal base because of the new rules and the chaos they caused. In the end he arrived after 10 at night, he was running and cursing the whole way from the portal to the city. He hated the thought of disappointing Azaa and failing to adhere to their promise just because of some stupid pencil pushing idiots!

  Because of the time he had to identify himself to the city guards. Angry and somewhat disappointed he made his way to the embassy. It was far too late to even visit Azaa today to tell her why he was late. “Hello Marcus.”

  Marcus nearly fell to the ground hearing Azaa’s voice. He turned and there she was, in a long white dress, looking rather lovely in the middle of the night. “Good Evening.” He bowed. “I’m so sorry that I’m late. I had a great amount of delay on my journey.” He quickly said and Azaa slightly tilted her head in response. “You should rest and visit me in the morning.” She said and walked off.

  Only once Marcus was in his room in the embassy, the question why Azaa was there in the first place came to his mind. She must have been on an errand. Unlikely. She had been waiting? That seemed even more unlikely. After some time he settled with the idea that he must have been spotted by a class holder who had informed Azaa. They surely were watching the portal night and day.

  For some reason the long journey and the many delays had vanished from his mind and he went to sleep looking forward to getting his blood drained in the morning.

  Marcus rose with the sun, had an early breakfast and prepared for his meeting with Azaa. He put on a new shirt and pants and made sure his hair was fine (it was never good, only fine). Janette had reminded him that he was basically an envoy of humanity and should look presentable in front of Azaa. He waited until he thought visiting her study was proper and went there.

  Like every time before, Azaa was in her study, waiting for him. She wore one of her blue dresses again and a had a small red clip in form of a flower in her hair. He greeted her and apologized once more for the delay. He gave her the wrapped gift and she opened it up. Marcus watched her finger skillfully unwrap the present and hoped she would like it. Her eyes carefully inspected the snow globe and Marcus inspected her face while she was doing it. She did not seem very excited “What is this?” she asked and Marcus quickly explained it which lead to her putting it away with a short thank you. They quickly moved on to the actually reason for his visit, draining his blood.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  As he sat there he tried not to look at her straight because he felt his disappointment would show too much. He really had hoped she would like the snow globe. As he looked around he saw that a part of her work desk was covered with a cloth. Not much of a surprise, he thought. There must be many things she keeps secret, alien artifacts for example. And from the bulge of the cloth there was a small object hidden underneath at the top of her desk. He looked away and inspected the table next to him. Various objects were scattered around with one sticking out. “Is that some kind of game board?” he asked and she nodded. “A traditional game of the ginghi. If you like I can show it to you once we are done.” She said and Marcus had trouble believing how good her English had become. “Yes I would like that” he said and she just nodded.

  The blood massage lasted for nearly half an hour and his back and shoulders felt very much relaxed. After he put his shirt back on Azaa took place next to him and pulled over the board. She explained the fundamental ideas of the game and Marcus had to try really hard to keep up with her. To his surprise it turned out the game was more or less like the human game Go. Marcus had never played Go and Azaa’s “introduction” was not only fast but also brutally hard. She introduced new concepts and ideas nearly every move and Marcus felt like he messed everything up and played like a two year old. Eventually his brain was giving out and they finished the lesson. Only now Marcus realized that the sun was setting. “You have done very well for your first time playing.” Azaa praised him but Marcus was not sure if this was not only pity. Anyway, Marcus thanked her for teaching him and promised to improve until they would meet again. He walked back to the embassy, ate about half an ox and then fell asleep until next morning.

  Once Marcus had left Azaa put the game board back in the shelf where it belonged. Placing it on the table had worked out even better than she had hoped. She also removed the cloth on her desk and revealed the geode Marcus had given her. She sat down to work, finishing everything she had pushed back to spent time with Marcus. It was well worth it, as she had expected, he was bright and learned very fast. Most people get annoyed when she explains things but he had continued the lesson. From now on they could spent time playing the game when he visited her.

  It was after midnight when she entered her home and placed the second gift on the table in front of her. She had not activated the glow stones and her home was covered in darkness, only the little light from the snow globe illuminated her face. She turned the snow globe upside down as Marcus had told her and then she watched the spectacle for a while. It was a neat toy but she did not understand why Marcus had given it to her. She put the globe down and inspected her own thoughts. On a normal day her mind was well organized and crystal clear, how it should be. But now emotions were bubbling up and made everything murky. She disliked that and preferred to have clarity, limiting her exposure to Marcus would be the right move.

  The last snow flakes landed on the miniature city and Azaa made it snow one more time. She should see him off tomorrow, it was the correct thing to do. She would start keeping her distance beginning with his next visit.

  Marcus slept like the dead and had another grand breakfast. His head was still swimming with the lesson from Azaa and he planed to learn some Go before he returned here. When he later walked through the city gates towards the portal, Azaa was waiting for him to say goodbye. “I wish you a safe journey home.” She said and Marcus was touched she would take time to see him off.

  Azaa knew all to well she had difficulties reading emotions. She looked into Marcus’ face and in his eyes and tried to understand what the young human man thought off her. “Thank you. I will try to improve my skills in the game until we meet again.” He said with a wide smile and she nodded. Her eyes followed him as he walked towards the portal and she had learned nothing.