Perspectives

Chapter 9

Kalen glanced over towards where Piper stood on top of the small table as he waited for his call to be picked up. Though she was clearly trying to maintain a neutral expression, he could tell that she was anxious. It wasn't difficult to interpret why she might feel this way, her fate was currently in the hands of a bunch of strangers. 

A voice on the other end of the call broke Kalen out of his thoughts. "You've reached the office of Lord Reid Rothgard, this is his secretary speaking. How may I assist you?" The prim voice of a woman asked. 

Kalen cleared his throat quickly before speaking. "This is Kalen Stenton, I have some highly important information for the council." He told the secretary.

Kalen glanced at Piper out of the corner of his eye. She would only be hearing his end of the conversation, given the fact that he'd instructed IRIS to turn private conversation on. He couldn't risk the human hearing anything that she shouldn't be, the council would surely not forgive him for that.

"May I ask the nature of this information, sir?" The secretary asked, seemingly very used to receiving calls from those who claimed to have vital information for the council.

Even if this woman worked for the head of the Sovereign Council, Kalen didn't entirely feel comfortable with divulging too much information to her. He would rather as few people knew about Piper's presence on Amasis as possible at the moment. "It's in relation to inter-dimensional matters. I'd prefer not to disclose more on the matter until I've spoken with the council." Kalen explained tactfully. 

"I understand. Currently Lord Rothgard is in a meeting with an associate, however I will notify him of your call as soon as possible." The secretary told him politely.

Kalen had expected as much, it was not a surprise that the head of the Sovereign Council was busy, considering how busy his own parents were all the time. He would have to wait until heard back from the lord, until then he would have to continue keeping Piper a secret from all those around him. 

Kalen briefly thanked the secretary before ending the call, he then slipped the holographic projector and the earpiece back into the pocket of his pants. When he turned to look at Piper she was wearing a quizzical expression on her face.

"What did they say?" She asked, trying to sound nonchalant but the uneasiness was evident in her voice.

Kalen shrugged, "Nothing yet, they're going to call me back." 

Piper groaned loudly, "How long is this nightmare going to go on?" 

Kalen raised an eyebrow at the tiny human. "A bit melodramatic, are we?" He asked.

Piper scoffed, arms crossing over her chest. "It's definitely not melodramatic of me to find this situation nightmarish." She said, throwing an arm out to gesture around her before folding it back over her chest.  

In a couple swift steps, Kalen made his way over the the table on which Piper stood. He watched as she flinched involuntarily at his approach. It was strange to imagine himself as so intimidating to someone, though Kalen imagined that for someone as minute as she was, just about anything and anyone in this realm would appear intimidating. If Kalen was honest with himself, the feeling was intriguing.

Piper backed away from him several steps as he sat himself down in a chair at the table. A small smirk tugged at the corner of Kalen's lips, he made no effort to suppress it.

"You're doing it on purpose." Piper accused indignantly, a redness beginning to color her face as she grew more angry.

Kalen gave a small amused snort, "Doing what on purpose?" He asked, feigning innocence.

Piper rolled her eyes, "Don't give me that, it's obvious that you make a concentrated effort to try to freak me out." She spat back.

Kalen chuckled, "It isn't as if it's all that difficult, you are rather jumpy." Kalen leaned in towards the table, bringing his chin to rest on the tabletop. Piper instantly jerked backwards at the movement, immediately proving Kalen's point.

After recovering from the initial agitation, Piper seemed to realize that Kalen had just made a point out of her reaction, as she threw a truly murderous glare across the table. 

"If we were the same size, I swear to God--" Piper growled darkly.

Kalen snorted as he sat back up straight, "Excuse me if I'm not intimidated by the threats of a four inch tall girl." 

Piper gave a derisive snort, "I'd totally kick your ass if you weren't gigantic." She said, placing her hands on her hips.

"Oh? Are you some kind of martial arts master back in your realm?" Kalen asked, raising an eyebrow disbelievingly.

"You don't have to know martial arts to be able to kick ass. One time I took down this guy in a matter of minutes. You just have to know the weak spots." Piper told him, a smirk forming on her face at the thought of the memory.

"Oh really? And what did this poor boy do to earn your wrath?" Kalen inquired. 

"He was an asshole that wouldn't take no for answer, he deserved what he got." Piper said, an unexplained bitterness in her tone. 

He hadn't thought much of it before, but Kalen took notice of how often this human girl used less than polite language. He knew the culture in his realm and the Earth realm were very different, but it was still unusual hearing someone use such language so liberally in conversation. Though he did find it a bit refreshing to speak to someone who was unconstrained by rules of propriety.

"Was this boy a classmate of yours? Human teenagers attend schools, right?" Kalen asked, his human studies knowledge was definitely pretty rusty, he had only been required to take one small course on it a couple years ago.

"Yeah he was my classmate, and yes we go to school. What, do you not?" Piper asked, her tone of voice giving away her curiosity. 

Kalen knew he needed to be careful not to give away too much information about Amasis to this human, humans weren't meant to know Amasis even existed after all. However, seeing as it was way past too late to stop her from knowing about the existence of Amasis, he didn't see the harm in telling her a few harmless details. 

"Children receive schooling until they're twenty years of age, some attend public or private schools, but I'm tutored at home." He explained with a slight shrug. Kalen had always been somewhat curious about what it would be like to actually go to a school with other students, when he was eight he had asked his parents if he could go to a private school, however his parents had swiftly shot down that idea. They were firm in their belief that a future Baron needed to be receive one on one education with zero distractions from other kids.

"Oh, we're done with normal education at eighteen. I don't think I could take two extra years of high school." Piper said, shaking her head at the prospect. 

"Not a fan of school?" Kalen asked. He wasn't necessarily thrilled with the dull lessons he received from his tutors and the piles of assignments he was required to complete, however he recognized the importance of having an education.

"It's not the learning that bothers me, it's the people." Piper replied bitterly.

Kalen didn't find it surprising that Piper wasn't a huge people person, not that Kalen was really either. The amount of non-professional acquaintances that he had were very limited, he didn't get out much.

The two fell into an awkward silence, it appeared never ending until the polite yet loud voice of IRIS broke the quiet. "Sir Stenton, you are receiving a call from Lord Rothgard. Would you like to accept the call?" 

A look of apprehension instantly appeared on Piper's face, Kalen knew she was wondering what this call would mean for her. Kalen took in a long breath before pulling the holographic projector and the earpiece out of his pocket. He put the earpiece into his ear, gave one last look to Piper then, "IRIS, accept call."