“It’s maths,” I said. “Thought it best to spring it on him.” I turned to Fin. “One of the toughest courses in college is going to be aerial ballistics and the mathematics of falling. It is all, as the title implies, mathematics and calculation.” Something Fin was more than capable of, he just didn’t enjoy. “And if you don’t pass, you don’t get to flight class. Since I am not good at teaching mathematics, I thought it might be useful for you to get help from someone who flew through it. Literally.”
I hoped Fin was okay with this, because if not, I didn’t have another option for helping him.
“That’s great,” Fin said, with less enthusiasm in his tone than the words implied. “It’s a part of the course I was dreading, so starting now would be really useful.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “Go get your notebooks, I’ll sort this lot out.” As I reached for the dirty plates, Ang leaned forward and took my hand.
“Are you sure about this?”
My eyes lingered on his golden skin, the contrast with my own much darker tones. I had to be better than this. So I met his gaze. “He needs the help, and I can’t give it. I barely remember most of it. You, on the other hand, can help him. So please do.”
He nodded once. I moved the dirty dishes aside as Fin came back in.
“What are you wearing?” Fin’s question surprised me, so I turned and looked at Ang. He was wearing an embroidered kimono shirt in black with gold filigree stitched around the cuffs. It was something that we’d seen him wear off duty before, so I looked again at his long, shapely legs.
“They are called jeans,” he said. He pulled up the shirt to show the top of the trousers. A placket covered the fly, but I could see the buttons from where I stood at the side. I could also see how the material hugged his butt, and my hand twitched to feel that curve.
What was wrong with me? I looked away.
“The material is a thick cotton,” Ang went on. “Hard wearing and surprisingly comfortable. Apparently, they are much favoured by farmers and those working in heavy manual roles. I can see them catching on with Riders too. They are at least the right colour.”
“I like those,” Fin said as he came to the table. “I might try some next time I get to the mainland.”
“I can recommend them.”
It was a struggle to concentrate on the washing up and I berated myself for thoughts that I shouldn’t be having. Behind me, they sat down at the table.
“Aerial ballistics concerns itself with what happens after a thing leaves your control. The mathematics of falling determines whether that loss of control results in precision or failure.”
That was typical Ang, not pulling his punches. I washed up as they got down to the business of studying. When done, Imoved over to sit by the fire and read the latest newssheet that had come in. Only three weeks out of date, this one. And one sheet missing. After reading the same paragraph four times, I just put the thing aside.
Ang’s hair glowed like midnight and flowed down his back. Unusually, it wasn’t caught back at the sides. Every now and then a skein of it would fall forward as he looked at the work Fin was doing. I had to cross my legs to trap my hands, which itched to reach out and push his hair back.
So much had happened since that night of the thundersnow, and also nothing at all. We never spoke again of my resigning. I noticed how much more often he would wear the red scarf. Openly too, as if it had been some kind of secret and now people knew about it, he could wear it. Though no one knew I had bought it for him.
When I looked back at that day, I still couldn’t divine my thoughts on why I bought it. But the absolute conviction that I should buy it for him had been there. Perhaps my intuition had recognised something I’d been too stubborn to see. How important Ang Shi was to me.
Sasha had been dead for three years before we got here. I was used to being a single parent, and I wasn’t interested in sharing that burden with anyone. Also, I had arrived under a cloud. A cloud that was clearly not going away, or that reassignment might have been possible. Only it wasn’t, it never would be, and watching Ang with Fin, I wasn’t sure I cared anymore.
I sat and watched them together. Fin was an eager student and Ang a natural teacher. Warmth seeped through me, and I closed my eyes, listening to the gentle ebb and flow of their conversation. The mathematical concepts Ang was going through were basic at that point, but it was important to get thebasics right, then the rest would be built on good foundations that would become instincts in the air.
Like this fortress. It was solid, it hadn’t cracked under the pressure of that thundersnow. We’d battened down the hatches, sat it out. Fin and Fenwick had tended the dragons. Boutros had tended us. But more importantly, he’d given us that time to just be together.
Together. That sounded good.
“Dad!”
Fin’s call jerked me out of my sleep. Blinking, I looked up to see Ang behind my son, his expression largely neutral, but those lips had a slight uptilt that suggested a smile.
“Finished already?” I asked.
“For tonight,” Ang said. “Mister Segast will require more tuition to grasp all that is necessary.”
I nodded as I stood. “Yeah, walking a mountain takes more than one step.” By the Gods, I hadn’t heard that one trotted out for a while.
“Dad, you are so old!” Fin headed for his room.
“Cheeky!” I moved over to stand by Ang at the door. “Thank you for this, it’s not a subject I could much help with.”
