Bonded

Chapter Thirty Two

...

Kavya

...

"India...  Before you head to your studies... Might I have a word with you?" the way Master Qiao seems to dance around the question while avoiding eye contact with both Ronin and myself puts me on edge... And I find my arm wrapping around out slight scholar as if to shield him from his guide and master in learning... A strange stiffness developing in my shoulders as India's dewy lashes quiver while he nods his head on confirmation that he understands... A look of dread causing his face to seem so very pale...

The sight of his pallor is so strange that I nearly feel sick to my stomach... The lack of color in his cheeks when I am so used to flushing them with color that it causes both halves of me distressed, my beast trying so very hard to convince me to shift so that we might protect our India more adequately from the way Master Qiao is making him uncomfortable... And even though I know when I look up at Ronin I shall find the very same expression I know I am sporting on his face... Both of us unable to act on the urge so long as we want to stay in the good graces of India's master so that we might continue to court him without delay or dismissal...

...

India

...

As much as I feel taken aback at Master Qiao's request I feel as though I should have expected it... Showing up on the arm of my suitors decorated in blog and petals as if I was somehow important when I know as an apprentice scholar I  next to no one...

I had not thought things through when allowing myself to indulge in the sweetness of it all... I had not thought at all about anything other than the joy Kavya and Ronin brought me and not how something like this might be disruptive to my peers...

It was rude of me and I feel as though that must be what my mentor wishes to tell me... I know I have a scolding coming my way and I am not looking forward to it... Not in the slightest...

But just as the knots are starting to form in my stomach I find that the storm clouds gathering over my head roll away and reveal the slightest bit of sunshine as my newfound protectors clear their throats while starting at my instructor and guide with raised eyebrows as they seem to curl themselves around me..."What for? And why alone?"

...

Ronin

...

As the words leave my mouth I can already hear the protectiveness in my voice... And I wonder if anyone else has noticed my tone... Something I suspect my Kavya has not missed... The two of us pressing in a little closer to India to try and comfort his sudden shivering... An action that he seems to appreciate with the way he seems to encourage us to move just slightly closer to his person almost as if wishing to seek heat from us as he had been allowed to do when we were mostly alone yesterday...

"Is that really your business this early on?" the surprise in Master Qiao's voice feels as if we are in the wrong for being concerned... But how could he expect us not to be?