Galin by Kathi S. Barton Page B

consequences. Understand me?”
    “I do.” Galin stood up. “But you will also
understand that if anything happens to her because I cannot help her, then I
will quit you all.”
    Galin left the rooms and made his way to Kip.
The other watcher was still there, and as much as Galin wanted him gone, he
knew that the other protector would be in a better frame of mind to keep Kip safe
right now than he’d be able to. His mind was a turmoil of confusion. Making his
way to the bedroom that Dusty slept in, he watched her sleep until the sun rose
in the sky. When she opened her eyes, Galin felt his heart twist in his chest
and he knew he’d made the right decision. There was no way he’d spend all his life
with the same person and be happy. And for as much as she loved a good argument,
as she’d told him, he wanted peace. When it was time, Galin made his way back
to his charge’s room.
    Kip moved around the room as if he’d not
slept well and would like nothing better than to crawl back into the bed. Galin
tried to keep him focused on his tasks, but his own mind was adrift so he had a
hard time as well. When Kip was sitting at the table with a bowl of cereal in
front of him, Dusty came in. Galin wanted to pull her into his arms and tell
her everything would be all right.
    “I have two meetings today. I should be home
in time for dinner.” Kip nodded and Galin told him to speak to his aunt, not
nod. The boy perked up a little but still looked exhausted.
    “I’ll make us some dinner, if that’s okay?” Dusty
nodded and sat down with him. When she winced a little, Galin smiled. He’d done
that to her. She looked around the room and he wondered if she was looking for
him.
    “Have you seen Galin today?” Kip shook his
head. “Me either. I wonder where he might be. He’s still your guardian, I guess,
but…well, he’ll be around I’m sure.”
    “I guess he’s supposed to be with me all the time.
Maybe when he’s working with me, you aren’t supposed to see him.” Dusty nodded
but still seemed distracted. “You like him, don’t you?”
    “I don’t know. It’s very complicated. And he
has these ideas that are…irritating.” She got up and walked to the sink to dump
her untouched tea before she continued. “I was wondering if you could give him
a message for me if you see him. Tell him…tell him I said thanks.”
    “Thanks?” She nodded at Kip and he shrugged.
“Okay, if that’s what you want. I don’t know if I’ll see him or not, but I’ll
tell him. Are you okay?”
    “Yes. I’m very okay. You?” Kip shrugged, and
before Galin could tell him to answer her again, the boy stood up and kissed
his aunt on the cheek before going back to his room. Instead of doing what he
wanted, like pulling Dusty into his arms and kissing her as well, he made his
way into Kip’s room.
    Galin went to the grade school with Kip for
the rest of the day. He was bored most of the time, but during lunch he got to
talk to a couple of other watchers that had children that sat with Kip. While
they were talking about nothing really, one of them brought up Markum.
    “I heard that he is near us all the time now.
That he’s waiting to take our charges when we least expect it. And that someone
from the training area had told him to go away. Is that true?” Before Galin
could tell them that it was true about the training area, one of the others
spoke up.
    “I heard that there was a sword fight and
that many men were involved.” Galin rolled his eyes. “And that two of the
others were injured.”
    “There was no fight. He was told to leave and
he did.” They all turned to look at him. “I was there as well. He was told to
leave and he did so. I doubt we’ve heard the last of him, so we’ll be prepared
for him at all costs. He is an evil man and will stop at nothing to get what he
wants.”
    The conversation moved on and Galin found
himself thinking about Dusty, wondering what she was doing and how she was
feeling. He