She’d given Violet a tour of her own home that evening, a mirror image of Rourke’s, designed for a much larger species like his, painted a sunny yellow. “It was all that was available in my price range at the time. I was moving here for a job so I needed to live somewhere, and the agent said it’s sometimes months before things hit the market. I had planned on remodeling this year . . . and it worked out that I don’t need to. Now he reaches everything on the shelves and I don’t have to balance on ladders just to put away the dishes.”
“The schools are great, the community is really inclusive and busy . . . you forget what it’s like in other places.”
“I’ve already noticed, “ Violet had blurted, nodding vehemently. “You know I live in the city. Every time he comes to me, whenever we’re out there will always be at least one person who stares. I think it’s the tail. And it’s almost always another human,” she added with a grimace.
“Not always,” Lurielle had grumbled. “Khash lives in the city too. We were at the grocery store near his apartment and this little old bat woman asked if we were planning on adopting because I’d never be able to carry an orc.” She scowled at the memory before tipping back her glass. “Considering I had a pregnancy test on the conveyor belt . . . let’s just say I didn’t take it well.”
Violet had swallowed, desperately wanting to ask how the huge orc didn’t split the petite elf in half every time they had sex. “Are—are you . . .?”
“I’m not, thank the goddess. We’re smart people who are both bad at birth control, so every month is an adventure. Anyway, it’s also hard because he’sveryconservative and from such an insular community. I’m not. My parents never took us to the sun temple when I was young, we didn’t really practice Elvish customs at home, but . . . I’m still an elf. There are still things I grew up with that are familiar, food and expectations that don’t always line up with the way he thinks things ought to be, and that’s what I mean about the little things. Just because I didn’t grow up in a conservative household doesn’t mean my being an elf shouldn’t matterless,you know? Plus his family is huge and loud and just . . . it’s a lot. They all talk over each other all the time and there are like thirty people in his immediate family! His mom and sisters are all really nice and he claims they love me, but I know they wish he would have settled down with some nice Cornish girl.”
Violet had swallowed hard, trying to imagine what it would be like, bringing Rourke to Christmas dinner with her family in her all-human neighborhood. She could imagine Mrs. Tinsel pressing her face to the glass to get a glimpse of the minotaur, the hooves dinner guest with atail!
“So, you know,” Lurielle went on, “it can be a challenge. It’s a constant learning curve, and that’s for us, which makes the shitty, unsolicited comments from other people even more unwelcome. But,” she went on doggedly, “you can’t let it matter. There will always be stuff that happens, different priorities and misunderstandings, there will always be people who will say nasty things . . . but it doesn’t matter if you work through it together. If you love each other and you’re good together, it’s worth it. You figure it out.” Her bright sapphire eyes had been extra glossy as she looked across the yard to where Khash and Rourke stood over the raised hood of Lurielle’s car, a collision of machismo and posturing, threatening to flood the yard with the excess testosterone each man seemed to ooze in the company of the other. “And we’re really, really good together. So there’s lots of stuff that just doesn’t matter.”
“Can I ask a question? How-how does he even fit? I mean, he’s got to be like seven feet tall and his hands arehuge, and you’re so petite.”
Lurielle had hunched, nearly choking on her wine as she laughed, eyes streaming. “This is why I like you, Violet. You’re not afraid to ask the important questions. Um, okay actually this is an easy one. Elves are stretchier.”
She’d listened with an open mouth as the elf explained her species’ diminishing population and the evolutionary changes that had happened as they mated more and more with other species. “They definitely don’t teach us that in school though! They want us making Elvish babies with other elves, which is the crux of why most of us are on anxiety medication. Honestly, though, I don’t know how some of these human women do it. Like, we’ll be out and I’ll see a human smaller than you with an orc as big as Khash, and I just want to tell her honey, he’s going to perforate your cervix, there is nothing sexy about that.”
They had both dissolved into laughter as the men made their way back to the table, and she’d gone back to Rourke’s house that night with her heart in her throat, barely waiting for the door to close behind her before she was kissing him. Shedidlove him, she was sure of it, and hewasworth it.
“Is-is this someone from the school, dear?”
“It’s not,” she answered, dashing her mother’s hopes that she was involved in a short-lived post-grad school fling. “He’s a bit older than me, very settled, very mature. He’s-he’s a minotaur. Has his own company and a house here. It’s . . . it’s a place I can see myself settling, mom. I really want you and Daddy to come visit once I move. You can help me decorate my new place, and-and you can meet him. It would mean a lot to me.”
It was going to take her mother time, she knew that. Violet reminded herself, as she hung up the phone, that her own reaction to Cambric Creek and all of its residents, Rourke included, would have been very different ten years earlier, before she’d left her insulated human community.One disaster down, now on to the next, she’d thought that morning, readying herself to leave.
Now she shifted, anxiously waiting for destiny to walk through the door. The door jangled open and her head snapped up, but it was only another cluster of university students. She quickly averted her eyes, not needing them to stare her down with the expectation she’d be giving up her small table. She’d already received several hard looks from other patrons: a flinty-eyed goblin toting a laptop and a lovely, haughty woman with light purple skin and long pointed ears, holding the hand of a beautiful little girl, the woman’s miniature in a pinafore dress, clutching a stuffed bear.
Violet did her best to ignore the crowd. This was a nice community, she reminded herself, mentally parroting back the gushing things Rourke’s neighbor had told her: Cambric Creek was welcoming and inclusive, they valued diversity. “And you’re a human!” Lurielle had exclaimed cheerfully. “I hate to admit it, but that’s a leg up. Minority hiring makes the company look good.” The petite elf had shrugged, giving her an encouraging smile, laughing when Violet’s had resembled a grimace.
It’s going to be fine. You’re going to ace this, it’ll be easy, and when it’s done you get to have your latte.When she’d entered the coffee shop earlier, Xenna, the barista, had smiled in recognition. “Just the usual?”
“Not yet,” replied with a shaky laugh. The fact that she was here often enough to be known by the staff never ceased to thrill her.See? You belong here. Things are all going to work out.“I have a job interview . . . um, the ginger tea and a Pep water for now . . . the latte will be my reward when it’s done.” Now she sat, twisting with nerves as she waited for the arrival of the were cat who would decide her fate. It seemed fitting, she thought, that the interview should be here, in the decadent-smelling coffee shop where so much else had happened.
The bell jangled again and she sipped her water, closing her eyes and inhaling slowly. Rourke had called that morning, just before she’d left her apartment, reminding her that she was overqualified for the position, wishing her luck, and telling her not to worry.
“You’re going to be fine,” he’d announced with finality, as if it were a forgone conclusion that she’d get the job. “And if they’re stupid enough to not love you, then it’s their loss. Something else will come up.” She wished she had even an ounce of his confidence, his assertiveness, certain that it would help in situations like this . . . but then again, they’d likely not be a very good match if she were just as bossy. “Just don’t make yourself upset, okay?” His voice had been gentler then, the soft tone he reserved just for her, and she’d almost been able to feel the tender cradle of his palm around her jaw.
He was right, she told herself steadily. If she didn’t get this job, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. The knowledge didn’t keep her heart from thumping. When she opened her eyes, the sharp smile of the were cat with whom she’d had a video interview the previous week beamed from across the coffee shop. Violet straightened in her seat, returning his smile. It wouldn’t be the end of the world, but she badly wanted this job.
Here goes nothing.