Excerpt:

“Your Eminence,” The Eminence. “I did not note your arrival.” Such an overlook could only be counted as disastrous. What sort of scout did this make him? Shae’s cheeks flushed, the crimson discoloring painfully obvious in contrast to his colorless skin. The floor suddenly seemed to take on a more bedazzling quality. Its kaleidoscope of colors and shapes danced and whirled, pushing his eyes back up to shift restlessly about the room until they rested upon the simple robes that hid the Eminence’s lithe form.

The melodious laugh that greeted Shae’s response and bow was met with embarrassed confusion. Dark, small eyes flickered up only to be greeted with the indulging smile in the milky and bright eyes resting gently on him. Shae’s eyes darted downward again, only to be parried away once more by the stinging floor. Upwards and the scout found the burning in his cheeks and thundering in his ears too much to handle. The odd single-player of eye bounce continued for a few more silent and embarrassing moments until Shae settled on the safe and neutral zone of the Eminence’s gently crossed fingers: long, graceful, elegantly tapered and dexterous—nothing like the clumsy digits that currently lined his large and awkward palms.

“You are too hard on yourself.” That voice came again with a sound that just seemed to wrap around him, its amused tones filling him furthermore with a dusky red tinge. The hands moved, fingers curling and uncurling with easy slowness. “You forget that your servant is more skilled in disappearing and reappearing than most.” Servant? The Eminence’s position may be to serve the colony, but no one would ever take the position so lightly with such a title.

The position the hands changed, shifting from main, to peripheral and then out of view. There. A breath of air was all the warning he received before the world turned into a fuzzy blank as the voice rang gently into his ears. Close. So close. Was this truly happening? The meaning of those lilting tones was nearly lost to him until the last moment. “—a skill that comes in quite handy at the right moments.”

The cool breath ghosting over the skin of his neck – his rather short and stubby neck—disappeared and those hands came back into his field of vision once more. Their calmly folded figures belied the mischievous glimmer that shimmered in the colony leader’s eyes. Shae forced his gaze back down, away from that alluring expression and shielding away from the floor, back to those folded hands. Obvious burn that once graced his countenance was no longer quite so noticeable. Silence hung in the room now, its form a nearly tangible cloud suspended effortlessly from the high-vaulted ceiling. Shae stared straight ahead, adapting easily to the sudden hush. His heartbeat slowed to a steady lub-dub lub-dub. It was a different rhythm than the one that he had grown so used to over his maturation stage. Shae didn’t know whether not to find this fact comforting. He chose to ignore it for now.

“Do you have any words for me, scout?”

Words? Shea wanted more than just words with the Eminence. He wanted a dialogue, a story, a deluge of information, questions answered...but now was not the time or place. Actually, there might never be a time or place for such an exchange. After all, he was just a humble scout and the Eminence was well, the Eminence. The opportunities for in-person mission assignments were already rare. What then? What chance was there for unofficial banter?

“N-no,” No stuttering! “No inquiries, your grace.” Shea winced, hoping that his over emphasized refusal would not be taken with offence.

Luck was on his side. Shea was once again met with a rolling laugh.