The Veil - Chapter 9

Lekan walked into the house through the front door and started when he turned and saw Obi waiting for him, a book in his hand. "Hello, uncle." Glancing around, he tried to see if there was someone else around... or any reason for Obi to be lingering in the entryway.

"Don't worry. I was waiting for you." Jerking his shoulder in a signal to follow and assuming Lekan would, he turned toward a little used drawing room. He had vague memories of using it as a room to play cards in or a room to hide from tutors in. The house was too empty too much of the time for any of that now. He wasn't quite sure why that made him as sad as it did.

Tapping his fingers nervously against the wall, Lekan went after his uncle. "Er... Have you been waiting there since I left?"

"No." Obi opened the door, waving Lekan in. "I was standing there for a few minutes before you came in. I was expecting you to take longer. You must not have gotten what you were hoping for." He hesitated, knowing that what was on the tip of his tongue really shouldn't be said by a man his age. Surely Lekan's youth balanced the scales... "Or perhaps you were lacking."

Lekan scoffed, a blush drawing over his cheeks though it was disguised by the dimness of the room. "I am never lacking."

With a grunt that was neither derisive or grudging acknowledement but was more annoying than both, Obi lit a match and several candles.

Trying not to smile, Lekan pointed at a light switch. "We have these crazy things now-"

"I know. Let's do things my way for my sake, eh?" He wasn't sure why he turned to look at Lekan after that. He just knew that Lekan could tell something was wrong by looking which was humbling. He should be able to hide what he felt better than that. At the same time, he was glad Lekan finally had a look of concern on his face. Obi quickly turned back around again, trying to find a way to keep his hands busy. "I would like to really get to know my nephew." Clearing his throat, he tried to keep himself from sighing, tried to keep his voice natural and light. "I feel like most of the time I've been home you've either been away or, since your father died, we've been arguing."

"Because you've been smothering me," Lekan slipped into the pause Obi had left wide open and raised his chin defiantly when Obi went still. Lekan had been in enough arguments with his uncle to know that still and quiet was always more dangerous than the alternative.

"I recognize the fact that you're still a young kid at heart, so I'm not going to respond angrily to that. In fact..." Shaking his wrist efficiently to extinguish the match, he turned around. "I'll agree with you. Maybe I was a little too harsh with you."

Lekan remained exactly where he was as Obi passed him to light candles on the other side of the room. Blinking several times at the space his uncle had just occupied, he asked quietly, a sly grin on his face, "What did you say?"

With a smirk, Obi glanced back. "I'm not saying it again." He cursed as the match burned down to his fingers and dropped it. Crushing it with his heel, he grimaced at the black smudge on the rug he was sure was some kind of expensive heirloom that no one truly cared about until it was damaged.

Making no effort to cover his huge smile, Lekan murmured, "You know that kind of thing wouldn't happen if you just flipped the switch."

"Shut up." Obi would have glared at his nephew except for the fact that his own treacherous lips wouldn't stop quivering into a smile. "We need to cover it. I don't need the maids finding this and telling the housekeeper. Gods know the woman yelled at me enough when I knocked a teapot off a coffee table."

With a shake of his head, Lekan glanced around. "Who knew you were afraid of a little woman? Or such a klutz for that matter?"

This time, Obi let himself laugh. "We should have had that woman fighting for us." He pointed at the loveseat. "I think the room could stand for that to move back a little. And…" He shrugged. "Some situations aren't made for an old soldier."

Feeling the mood drop, Lekan got behind the loveseat with his uncle and counted, "One, two, three." He pushed with Obi and nodded when they had pushed it back far enough. "What exactly did you want to do?"

Obi smiled as he pulled his side of the couch to make it straight. "I was thinking some cards or maybe some fencing." He glanced up.

Somehow, Lekan thought the words meant more than he had understood.