General Koba by Mira Maxwell

Author:Mira Maxwell [Maxwell, Mira]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mira Maxwell

Chapter 17

I wake with a start and look around the room. Koba is sitting close to the window looking out into the night. I must have dozed off but something woke me up.

“The noise is coming from downstairs,” Koba says quietly, his voice deep and soothing. “Bar fight.”

Sure enough, the sound of a glass shattering can be heard, as well as the muffled rumble of voices. I sit up in bed, and rub the sleep from my eyes.

“Have you slept yet?”

“No. I wanted to keep an eye out, make sure we are safe.” He turns back to the window and then says, “Sleep now.”

The temperature in the room has dropped significantly during the night. The fire is still burning but it’s a soft glow instead of roaring flames. I’m still wearing my cloak and there’s a thin blanket pulled over me, but my extremities are too cold for me to sleep. I toss back the blanket and lightly tiptoe across the floor toward the fire.

“I’m freezing,” I say while grabbing a small log to help me stoke the fire. Once I poke the sticks around a bit, I drop a few more sticks in the fire until it grows and starts kicking off more heat.

“Here, let me do that for you,” Koba says, kneeling down by the fire next to me.

“It’s okay. I had a wood burning fireplace in my apartment back home. I was lousy at getting a fire going at first but after many nights of practice, it’s a piece of cake.” I rub my hands together in front of the fire, warming my fingers. “The winters get really cold where I’m from but I couldn’t afford to run my heat very high. It would feel like an icebox when I would get home from work. I’d make the fire right away and then cover up with three blankets while I waited for it to warm the apartment.”

He’s quiet. I look over and he’s staring at me intently.

“You’re missing your home?” Koba asks, pulling me from my memories. His concern makes my heart do that silly flutter thing again.

“I guess I am,” I say.

Of course I do, is what I really want to say but that doesn’t seem like the right thing to say. After all he’s done for me, I don’t want to disappoint him by telling him that I’m homesick. He has been so kind to me since the beginning.

“I miss the familiarity of it. And I miss my friends.”

I look at Koba again and he’s looking into the fire. A look of concern flashes across his face. “Did you have a mate on your planet?”

His question catches me off guard and I make a weird laugh sound combined with a snort. “No, I didn’t have a boyfriend or anything,” I say uncomfortably.

“Is a boyfriend like a mate?”

Shrugging my shoulders, I say, “I guess it is … it can be.”

He continues staring into the fire and I’m not sure what he’s thinking. There’s a newfound familiarity between us as we sit together in front of the fire.

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