Moving Objects

Chapter 11

Tasha looked like a fish out of water as she looked at Dimitri and I, shoulder to shoulder on the couch. Her eyes looked at the two of us with uncertainty before Dimitri quickly filled in the void of silence.

"Tasha, it's lovely to see you."

Tasha nodded and turned to close the door, pulling her bags into the cabin as she did. Was she staying here? In our cabin?

"Dimitri was just giving me my graduation gift," I said, gesturing to the wooden box.

"Graduation's not for a few days," Tasha replied skeptically.

"Yes, but I wanted Rose to see it before the graduation ceremony. My mentor Galina gave two stakes as my graduation gift, and I'm passing them down to Rose," Dimitri cut in. Leave it to him to smooth over the awkwardness. Tasha furrowed her brows and set her key to the cabin on the coffee table, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Ok, but I still don't understand why you two are in here."

"We hang out here sometimes. Especially when I struggle with what happened in Spokane," I added in.

The mention of Spokane softened her expression and her posture relaxed, and she sat down in the chair across from us. It seemed that she understood that I may have needed someone who could sympathize with me over what happened.

Tasha gave me a small smile and pointed at the box. "Can I see them?" she asked. I looked over and Dimitri and the look he gave me said that it was up to me.

I shrugged and opened the box, lifting one of them out and holding it for her to look at. I didn't want her to touch them. It seemed wrong to let her touch them.

"They're beautiful. Did you do all of that, Dimka?" Tasha whispered, turning her attention to Dimitri.

Dimitri shook his head. "No. The stakes were originally Galina's, and when she passed them to me she had the hilt engraving done. I had the proverb added when I was confident that Rose was going to graduate."

I turned and playfully smacked his chest. "You had doubts that I wasn't going to graduate?!" I exclaimed, feigning hurt. Dimitri chuckled and ruffled my hair, making me duck out from under his hand.

"No, I would have made sure you graduated. I just needed to see how long it would take."

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms, leaning back into the couch. I knew in my heart that he had faith in me from the get-go.

"Have you seen Christian yet?" I asked, changing the subject away from why Dimitri and I were in here.

Tasha smiled and leaned back in her seat. "Yes, I did. He had mentioned a celebration dinner tomorrow?"

I nodded with a smirk. "Yep. Dad wanted to celebrate the Novices graduating to Guardians. The invite was extended to Lissa, Christian and yourself."

"That's very kind of you."

The three of us sat in silence for a few more moments before I couldn't take it anymore and jumped up.

"Well. I should get going. Do I get to take these with me or do I get them at the ceremony?"

"I'll give them to you formally at the graduation ceremony," Dimitri replied with a half-smile. I nodded and awkwardly bounced on the balls of my feet before saying goodnight and fleeing.

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Lissa seemed to be enjoying the family outing more than I expected her to. But then again, it had been so long since she had a family to have an outing with. She had a smile on her face so wide I thought it was going to crack her cheeks. She was seated on one side of me with Christian on the other while leaning on the table towards Dad as he told an exuberant tale.