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The smiling blonde guy from the War College turned out to be not the worst company.
At first, Darem lied to himself, claiming he only wanted to scout out the park's location and ask a few questions about Jay-Den. When they emerged through the transporter frame at the park's gates, Darem was still convinced this would be a short-time walk. Hell knows what Kyle was thinking, but once they walked through the gates, he pulled Darem toward the replicators, reminding the Khionian of his pet otter.
'Take some water,' Kyle advised. 'And something you can eat.'
Of course, Jay-Den had already told his friend that half the Earth's foods gave the poor Khionian indigestion. Darem eyed the Human suspiciously, expecting a sneer lurked behind his broad smile.
Kyle didn't look at Darem, as he filled his pockets with colorful packages from the replicator.
'You think this is funny?' Darem grumbled, just in case, typing his order on the illuminated panel.
'What?' Kyle looked at him in surprise.
'The fact that the local food makes me threw up... tiny pearl fraction?'
Expectedly, Kyle laughed. Unexpectedly, Darem didn't detect anything offensive in his genuine laughter.
'I don't understand why you wouldn't take synthetic enzymes,' Kyle admitted serenely, clearly hiding his curiosity behind a neutral phrasing. 'But surely there's a reason..?'
Darem wasn't about to satisfy his curiosity. Usually, he lied easily in such cases, citing fake reasons that would protect him from ridicule. And now he opened his mouth to lie, but Kyle looked at him in a way that made Darem unexpectedly tell the truth:
'They say enzymes are for weaks. They're only given to children and the sick.'
And... Kyle didn't laugh. Not right away, not after a second, not after two. He just smiled, his whole face conveying something resembling sympathy. And Darem, still unexpectedly, finished:
'And they didn't let me take enzymes as a child either.'
'That's harsh,' Kyle said sympathetically. 'Even if you were sick?'
Darem nodded, turning back to the replicator. Something brushed against his back, and he shrugged his shoulder in annoyance, not immediately realizing that Kyle was touching him in sympathy.
'You don't look weak,' Kyle said seriously.
'And what do I look like?' Darem snapped, once again embarrassed by the unusually affectionate attitude—especially coming from someone who irritated him. He glanced sideways at Kyle, shoving the replicator's products into his pockets. The water bottle didn't fit—the pockets on the Academy student uniform were obviously smaller than those on their competitors' jackets. Kyle, still smiling serenely, offered, 'Come on, I'll carry it.'
Darem's nostrils flared angrily and he demanded the replicator to materialize a backpack.
'You look like an over-achiever?' Kyle said in his stupid, half-questioning manner (Darem raised his eyebrows and looked at him with silent indignation, not immediately reconciling Kyle's words with his own rhetorical question). 'Right now, you're tense as... incandescent metal?'
It sounded... aestetic. Any of his friends would probably say he was tense as a gweduck. If any of his friends even cared about Darem being tense.
Apparently, that's the way this sweet-voiced bastard is twisting Jay-Dan around...
This last thought noticeably changed Darem's expression, because Kyle's smile brightened even more.
'And now you look like a besieged tower.'
'In Khionese, it's "like a clam among crabs",' grumbled Darem, who couldn't help but notice that the Human metaphor had once again sounded noble.
'I'd make a joke about the outstretched claws,' Kyle responded instantly, raising his hands as if intending to touch Darem again. He wiggled his fingers expressively, mimicking the movements of a crab's claw, but then quickly put both hands behind his back and said more seriously:
'It seems you need some space... shall we go? There's plenty of space here.'
Darem nodded, feeling something like... gratitude, perhaps. He wasn't sure. His parents often said that he didn't know the feeling of gratitude.
As soon as Kyle stepped off the well-maintained central alley onto the discreet path among the trees, he changed. Not as dramatically as a Khionian adapts to an aquatic environment, but noticeably enough that Darem raised his eyebrows in surprise. The Human's gait softened, his gaze sharpened. He stopped staring at Darem and chatting. Now he moved smoothly and silently, looking around curiously, as if he were here for the first time.
The trees around them were the same as those in the Academy Park, but much more varied and taller. They cast dense shade, only here and there pierced by rays of sunlight reaching the ground. It was a strange sensation—being both outdoors and under a living green roof, as if in an underwater dome. Soon, both the park fence and the central alley disappeared from view, and the path beneath Darem's feet became completely invisible, and his feet began to get tangled in the tall grass, hindering his move. Khionian was overcome by an irrational fear of getting lost here if Kyle decided to play a prank on him—after all, he hadn't told anyone where he was going! Kyle paused, looking around at the treetops as if he'd lost his reference points, and Darem surreptitiously touched his commbadge on his uniform jacket.
'Put it on your shirt,' Kyle advised, noticing his gesture. In response to Darem's puzzled look, Kyle himself re-clipped his own badge from the jacket to the undershirt. Darem followed suit, and Kyle nodded approvingly.
'Okay. Now... give me a boost?'
Darem again didn't understand what was expected of him.
'Didn't they teach you?' Kyle asked, surprised, pulling off his jacket. 'Just put your hands forward, interlock your fingers... give me support.'
'You're going to stand on my hands,' Darem realized.
'To step on and jump up,' Kyle clarified, and when Darem raised his clasped hands in front of him, he threw his jacket over the makeshift step, moved back, and took a short run. Darem almost stumbled to the side, again suspecting a trick. But he stayed in place and didn't flinch as Kyle launched himself upward, using Darem's hands as a springboard. In the leap, Kyle grabbed a thick branch, pulled himself up, and then hung upside down, clinging the branch with his legs, unwinding a rope that had appeared out of nowhere.
'Hold on! I'll lift you.'
A bit later, Darem stood next to him on a huge branch, which didn't even creak under their combined weight. Kyle coiled the rope and hid it among the leaves again.
'This is where our friendship trail begins,' he said, beaming.
Darem thought it sounded a bit grandiose and looked away, hiding his mixed feelings. Kyle hadn't done anything wrong yet—in fact, he'd been attentive and considerate the entire journey—so Darem didn't feel like being sarcastic in response. But also Darem wasn't about to claim the beginning of a friendship. He silently returned to Kyle his jacket, looking around.
From the "second floor", the park looked different. Now the branches swayed not only above, but on all sides. The environment became more familiar, as if Darem immersed into a green sea. He was a little afraid that his foot would slip from the branch; after all, air isn't water, and it wouldn't keep him afloat...
Finally, Darem risked looking up at Kyle, waiting patiently nearby.
'It's beautiful here,' he admitted awkwardly.
'It gets better!' Kyle promised happily. 'Shall we go?'
Darem followed the wave of his hand and was surprised to see something he hadn't noticed before. At this level, new branches extended from the tree trunk, spiraling upward like giant steps.
As he studied the tree from a new angle, Kyle interpreted his hesitation in his own way:
'You've never climbed a tree before?'
'No,' Darem forced a smile. 'There are no trees on Khionia.'
'We could go back to the easy hiking trail,' Kyle suggested. 'There are... lifts..?'
And then Darem got an insight that the beginning of the trail wasn't a metaphor at all!
'Wait!' he asked, his eyes lighting up. 'Is it a route called the "Friendship Trail"? Because it's too difficult to go alone?'
Kyle didn't answer, but merely smiled, dimples in his cheeks. A response wasn't even necessary. The mutual understanding felt almost tangible in that moment, requiring no words spoken.
Darem felt unusually calm and cheerful. Is this even possible? Is it legal? And this feeling that expands in his chest, forcing him to inhale deeply, until his ears ring—what is it if not gratitude?
But this feeling didn't last long. Suddenly, an unpleasant thought pricked him: Kyle had definitely invited Darem onto the "Friendship Trail" only because the Klingon had other plan, and the Khionian had turned up instead...
The magic of the moment was quickly fading. Darem's expression darkened—and he immediately saw the answering radiance fade in the Human's eyes.
For just a moment, Darem remembered that feeling, when he was standing before his stern father, who was displeased again and again—no matter how much Darem tried to please him—and the joy in his own eyes was fading just as quickly…
"What am I doing?"
'Kyle,' Darem said quickly. 'Listen... No one's ever invited me anywhere, and I don't know how to behave. I don't know how to be grateful. And... you remind me of my otter.'
He was relieved to see the understanding shone in Kyle's eyes again, and he paused, just in case, so as not to spoil anything further. Kyle nodded with a smile and extended his hand.
'Behave as you please, lil' fish. You don't owe anyone anything here.'