When Is A Guide And Why Is A Guide A Guide?
It was a well attended academic conference. The people speaking were varied, from a number of colleges. Though some weren't there for that. Some were there to talk to someone about a problem they had noted with his research. The guy had done a lot of the research on the topic that had come out about three years earlier, on sentinels and guides. And there were a lot of problems with that research in a lot of points of view. Including the guy who stood up when Dr. Sandburg asked for questions.
"Which college are you with?" He asked with a grin.
"I'm actually not. I'm here about a problem with your research, Dr. Sandburg. It's one a few of us, about forty percent of us, have noted all along as it drives us stupidly nuts, though it does seem to have started in the original works by Burton himself. Did you perhaps have some sort of looking in the mirror bias that made you think that all guides are nurturers?"
"Who are you and who are you with?"
He smiled. "I'm Watcher Xander Harris, Guide and trainer for the mini slayers who stay at home in Africa. And if one more person accuses me of being a girlfriend because I'm a guide I'm going to murder them and use them as a sacrifice. I can probably stop an apocalypse that way so it'll be good on multiple levels."
"I... Okay. Huh. I did not think about that. Burton himself did have some bias but it was cultural to when he grew up, because back then gender stereotypes were a bit more firm."
"They also were only for the really rich women as poor women always worked and many had jobs outside the family home," Xander said dryly. "Frankly, Burton seems like a guy who didn't have a mom, he was raised by a nanny."
"He did, yes." He nodded at that. "I went that far into it though. Though I am, you are correct, a nurturer. Are you not one?"
"No. Not in the least. I'm one of the most protective assholes ever but I'm not a mothering, nurturing, backing up the big protector sort at all. I can encourage but I'm also not going to sit there, make them dinner, be their support network, anything like that. And this is something that a number of female sentinels deal with as well. I know some who're really girly. Their guides aren't. I know male sentinels who are the nurturing sort. They're docs, they fuss at people."
Blair stared at him. "I hadn't thought about that at all actually. I've never heard of a sentinel being a doctor either."
"Well, two I know have more micro than macro level skills. The other five I know don't. They have to keep telling people off for trying to make them go into the military or law enforcement. The same as I keep getting told I should just go train the slayers, even though I'm the guy that stopped an apocalypse battle by blowing them up.
"Twice, because they tried to come back." He grinned. "I know others have wanted to research that and people complain when they do. A whole lot on the gender role issue apparently as they also hate female sentinels and male guides. Though their noses can break very satisfyingly."
"Yes they do. I broke one of those myself last year for that same reason actually, telling me I should just go cook something. I didn't even think about that issue."
"Yet, you noted in your blog that you keep getting told to stay in the truck. And don't because you go handle things."
"I do, yes." He looked at his sentinel, who shrugged but nodded. He looked at him. "Did they send you?"
"No!" He smirked. "No one sends me anywhere. I just got tired of hearing about it and decided if they won't let anyone else research it maybe they'd let you do it."
"They'd probably hate me doing it too but yes, I'm going to look into that. Thank you for bringing that to my attention, Watcher Harris. And do you go by guide or watcher?"
"Watcher. I'm not attached and that's my formal title." He shrugged. "Though I have taught a lot to meditate."
"How did you learn?"
"I trained with a lot of the native shaman down there because I'm easily possessed. It keeps me from being used as an open source of 'go complete my life's work' by some who have died."
Blair shook his head quickly. "That's gotta be bad."
"Well, yeah, but I did learn things from them." He grinned. "Not nice things but handy things." He beamed. "Came in really handy a few times."
"I'm sure it would. Are there any sentinels in the slayers?"
"Three guides actually." He grinned. "Including one of the senior girls over a house. Who also complains that she's told to go cook things."
"That... I would've expected a sentinel."
He shrugged. "Not our doing. We don't pick who becomes a slayer. Though that would shock me as well at times. Then again, I know a number of guides who are the stronger, more tough, more handy with physically protective things."
"Huh. No, I had not thought of that," he agreed. "And I'm going to be researching that. I had not thought about self reporting bias that way." Xander grinned, going to sit back down. He looked at Jim, who shrugged again. "Have you seen any that I missed?"
"Two. And they do have some nurturing, mostly teaching things. Caden. Hillary."
"I..." He shut his mouth before tightening his ponytail. "That's a good point. Both are more Blessed Protector sorts than their sentinels are." He considered it. "That...actually is very interesting and my next paper apparently." A few smiled at him for that.
"Thank you for pointing out that bias, Mr. Harris. I really do need to look into that." He looked at the others waiting to ask him questions. "Let me know if you've spotted other things like that." A few nodded at that. "Okay, next question?" he asked, pointing at one. "Are you with a college?"
"I am." He smiled. "When are you running the next Guide workshop ring?"
"Um...I think next month." He looked at his calendar. "Six weeks on the fourth. It's a weekend one." That one sat down with a smile. "What's on your mind?" he asked one. "And are you in a college?"
"I am not, I'm FBI. You've talked about how to use the gifts before in investigative work. Is that going to become something sentinels can be trained in?"
"What training people take is up to them," Jim told him. "Some don't want to do investigative work. If they do, they're more than welcome to come ask or to see how their skills already match up for that if they're in one right now and just need the enhanced training. I tend to do that the same times as Blair's camps."
"I'll let a few know. Our boss wants them all to take the training."
"It may not help them much," Xander called from his seat. "If they're not good at macro level skills they can't do that sort of thing. That's why we got a trainee watcher from you guys recently."
The agent glared at him. "We don't like your sort, Harris."
"Then save yourself next time, dude. I'm tired of saving guys like you. I can get you a sword and lessons if you're ready."
He growled then huffed, looking at Jim. "Is that true?"
"Micro meaning more blood flow level, Harris?"
"Yeah. Or smaller. One can focus down to germ size molecules apparently. She checked her countertop when her kids said they had cleaned up the chicken juice."
"I cannot do that," Jim agreed. "That level wouldn't be able to tell the same sort of physical signs of lying but there's probably some they could. I'm going to reach out to some of the sentinels that can do things on that level to see if they can teach others that."
"Thank you, Sentinel Ellison." He sat down, glaring at Harris, who ignored him.
The pair shared a look. "I really hadn't thought about that and how that would really protect the tribe at all. But it would help with things like food production levels."
"Protection of the tribe doesn't just mean fighting for them and guarding them," Blair said. "Neither of us had thought of that role that probably got filled as well." Jim nodded. "So I guess I'm opening a new research panel." He grinned at the group, getting a few smiles back. There were a lot of college kids in the audience who could apply for a research team spot.
***
Xander looked at his boss when he ran into him, shrugging some at his odd look. "What?"
"You're a Guide?" Giles asked.
"Yeah, Giles." He nodded. "Always have been."
"You don't do what they do."
"No I don't. Which is why I'm going to go kill a boyfriend or two." He grinned at him then at Buffy when she walked over with her coffee. "What?"
"That's not on your paperwork. And what if you bond?" she asked.
"Why would that matter? Not like I'd bond to someone who wouldn't help me with my job."
"That's not up to you."
"Yes it is. Plenty of us found someone compatible and didn't bond because they were assholes. Bonding isn't mandatory. Even if it's a fated match it's not mandatory. You can fight that off. It'll break the bond and it'll make everyone miserable but yay if that's what happens when it's needed. As that one woman in the news who got killed by her husband and sentinel proved."
She pouted. "But then it'll cause problems."
"Not for long. Once the bond is broken for good it's broken for good and you're both open to go to someone else. Even if it's a fated from on high sort of match, you can still help with someone else. It may not be as exact of a match but yeah, you can do it. I've helped a few I've met learn how to control their gifts because I've got the training for that with controlling my own."
She frowned. "Oh, I didn't think about that."
He nodded. "Yeah. And if I do bond, I'm pretty sure they're going to meet the minis first and if they don't like them they're going to have to figure out why and fix it. What I do is more important."
She nodded. "It is and that's what I worried about. And what Willow worried about." He snorted, staring at her. "Okay, and she was worried about you maybe having boyfriends," she sighed. "Again."
"She can kiss my butt. If she can have girlfriends I can have a boyfriend and a girlfriend."
"Point," Giles agreed, staring at him. "Have you found someone compatible?"
"No." He shook his head. "And I probably won't. Because whoever sets that stuff up is probably about as good at it as the PTB are. Who still think I'm just a geek without skills apparently with the way the last vision had me freaking out at the sight of guns. When I can build that gun they had me holding in it. I did build that gun they had me holding in it actually. It's in my closet."
Giles shook his head with a sigh. "That figures. So the one who does that..."
"Probably expects me to be a geek. But forty percent of us don't fit into the molds the research came out with. I've proven that many times. To many soldiers and generals who think I'm a guide so I must be a nice pacifist sort. They were not amused." He grinned. "One even tried to tell me guides can't use guns, we're soft sorts. So I blew out his tire and then reminded him what else I had done. He didn't put that me with this me. Now he does and he answers when we have problems in his area." He beamed at him.
"Geez," Buffy complained, sipping her coffee. "Which senior girl?"
"Ask them yourself."
"Fine." She sighed. "That is odd that none of us are sentinels, Giles."
"True. Though it does help with the pretending to be helpless thing you girls all do."
"I hadn't thought of that." She considered it then nodded slowly. "Yeah, that would be part of it. Huh." She looked at him. "Is Mini Maisy one?"
Xander stared at her, shaking his head. "I haven't seen Maisy. I've talked to her on the bulletin board. Mostly about her mother wanting her to stay delicate and girlish."
"Oh, that could be it." She sighed, looking at Giles again, who just stared back. "I'll talk to her about that. Faith freaked her out last time." She walked off. "Have fun, Xander."
"You too." He looked at Giles again, shaking his head slightly. But he was smirking. "I teach all the girls how to meditate at Sineya no matter what."
"Has she noted anything about that with those girls?"
"I haven't asked."
"I should. I know one of them." He stared at him. "Are you going home?"
"I'm just waiting on my ride." He looked at the man stomping over. "Which you are not. What?"
"Mr. Harris?"
"Yeah."
"Are you actually a sentinel?" he asked with a grin.
"No, I'm a Guide." He smirked. "Who is the biggest asshole protector ever." The man flinched back, shaking his head. "Forty percent of us don't fit into the molds that showed up in the research. That's why I asked." He looked at Giles again. "Have you talked to Hannah recently?"
"Should I talk to Hannah?"
"Yes. Her boyfriend's about to be sacrificed by her sister. Hannah said she talked her out of a quick trip to Mexico for a charming sunrise rite."
"I'll talk to Hannah on the way home," he decided with a nod, walking off. "I see your ride I believe."
Xander looked then shook his head. "No, he's the one I'm going to sacrifice to stop an apocalypse battle for being thought of as gentle and girlish. Because I'm not the girlfriend." He scowled at his ex. "Yes?"
"Xander, you should be home."
Xander stared at him. "Start that shit again, you go right ahead," he said dryly.
The guy smirked and started to say something so Xander pulled his knife. "I...."
"I warned you."
"You did. I thought you were joking!"
"Have you not seen me in battles?"
"Yes, but no one else was there."
"I've been in plenty with others there. Was I any different?"
"Um...no?"
"Exactly. Not all guides are supportive, nurturing people. I'll fuss at the minis but some of us are warriors, dude."
"I...I think I could help you find a sentinel to help you?"
"If he's mine he can show up and prove himself to not be like you." He shrugged. "If he is he can kiss my ass. I'm not giving up my duty for them. Not like you'd step in to do it for me."
"Well, no," he agreed. "I can't wire bombs like you do." Xander smirked and nodded. "But a sentinel could take your place."
"No they can't. And if they're mine, they'd have a balance with my own skills. Really, it's the mothers you gotta watch out for. Dads, they get mad, they get angry, they make war. Mothers, they make messes and end things when they start." The man shrank down, nodding at that. "Me, I make wars. I don't do the mothering things beyond nagging about homework." He smiled. "Got it?"
"Yeah, I guess." He nodded. "Some sentinels wanted introduced."
"They can come find me. I'm not traveling as much right now."
"Point." He sighed. "They'd probably want you to be more like the research showed."
"Then they're not mine. I'm not changing who I am for anyone. At all. Ever. I could have a head injury and lose my memory and not be that sort of guy. And if they're trying to think about forced bonding, they'd die. Horribly die. And I'd laugh and giggle and have fun while I watched it happen." He smirked. "Like I did when I saved one of them recently who had been kidnapped from a slayer's village."
"We heard. Oh, I heard," he said, grimacing. "Okay, I'll let them know." He hurried off, not looking at the agent. Xander looked at Giles, who was rolling his eyes. Xander's ride got there and he got sent back to Africa. Giles went to talk to the other watchers about that. They had no idea why the girls were guides or which ones it was.
The agent went to tell his higher ups about that talk. Someone had some wrong ideas and he wasn't sure who it was.
***
Xander waved a hand at the sentinel that showed up to help with the battle with his guide, who looked very nicely coifed. "We're not having a battle for a few hours and it'll probably be less than messy since I'm pretty sure we can use weapons instead of swords this time by the visions. So if you're jumping in that's fine. We allow that." He went back to the plans on the table, taking notes. "We've got field measurements because there's one really swampy part we don't want to be in."
"You...you're a guide." Xander hummed but nodded. "But that means you can't run a battle."
Xander laughed, looking at him. "I've been doing this duty now for almost five years and have run almost every single battle I've been in outside ones I got there late for. Being a guide makes no difference to that. Not all guides are nurturing, nice people. Some of us are the warriors in our 'ships." He went back to his notes. "If you're jumping in that's fine but I don't have any spare weapons right now. The military may have some."
"My guide would never lead a battle."
Xander looked at his guide then at him. "Then who saves you when you need it?" The man looked horrified. "We all make war when we need to make war. And not all guides are the moms in their relationships. That's toxic to force those of us who aren't into that little, narrow mold. Especially the female sentinels."
"But your sentinel...."
"Don't have one and really don't need one. If I find one that's great and he can help me. If not, that's great and I'm a busy guy who has a lot of other things to do." He shrugged. "I've got minis to go train tomorrow while I'm healing and a whole lot of other stuff to do. It's the duty I do." He stared at him.
"Not all guides are the nice ones and not all sentinels are blessed protectors. One of the best rated sentinels I know is actually a doctor and his wife's military." He went back to his notes. "This area here is swampy," he said with a point at the map. "We're trying to avoid running to the left because of it."
"There's no military people?"
"Probably within an hour. I'm doing the ahead scouting." He stared at him. "They know that. We talked yesterday about this one when the visions started to show up about it." He went back to the work. He listened at the yelling. "That's...probably an arms dealer. Maybe he's donating." He walked out there, staring at him. "Jacques, are you helping or donating?"
"Neither. Someone wanted to meet you as their possible guide."
"I'm busy. They can come find me." He stared at him. "And it won't matter if they don't like my job because I don't need a sentinel or a bond. It's like being married, something I don't need in my life." He walked off. "If they really think they're mine, have them come find me. I'll be local for the next few weeks training Tris."
"I doubt he'd do that. Guides are supposed to be amenable," he said with a smirk. Xander turned and shot him in the chest armor, making him wince and flinch back, shaking his head. "Xander!"
"I didn't know it was still the times of Victoria being queen! Wow, I slipped back in time again! Huh! And yet, that's not how forty percent of all of us are and that's toxic shit that'll get someone killed. And has gotten people killed. And it won't be me that dies, Jacques. At all." He put his gun back, staring at him.
"If they're actually mine they'll find me. We'll talk. Nothing's going to change in my life but we'll chat and see if that's what he wants to do with his life. Because I'm not retiring yet. I'll die out here. And if you're here, you're in the battle." He smirked. "But we can use weapons today if you brought Bertha with you."
"No, she's on the truck again," he admitted quietly, staring at him. "Would you be calmer if you were bonded?"
"No. Not in the least. Being bonded is like being married. Did yours change you that much?"
"Mine wasn't mystical."
Xander stared at him then sighed. "Jacques, dude, bonds like that happen sometimes. Yeah, there's a mental bond too, but it's not *mystical*. It's not magical. It's just an empathy thing. Like if you took that one drug again and felt what your son was doing? That sort of feeling. Would that change how you see the world and what you do with it?"
"No, it didn't," he admitted, grimacing. "Allrick thinks you're his."
"He's full of shit and he knows that. He's not a sentinel. He's latent because he's so mentally screwed. And I'd never touch that man. He tried once and I nearly blew him up for it. We can replay that again." He smirked a bit. "I'd really like that after the one I handled last month that he laughed about."
The guy winced. "So you can tell him I said that. And if he was, it's already broken because he's latent and dormant I believe it's called. Unable to function in the role appointed to him." He shrugged. "If he had one, I'd be shocked if he didn't kill her. And he's straight." He grinned. "Anything else today? And are you staying?"
"No, I'm not staying. I'm not in clothes for a battle," he admitted. Then he sighed. "I'll let others know."
Xander waved a hand and called someone, walking off chatting with them about all this and about how things would go down when he blew up that idiot. Again. "Remember, if I'm not doing my job, no one else will, so my sentinel has to fit into my duty like I'd fit into theirs," he quipped then hung up. He looked back at his contact. "So they don't nag you."
"Thanks." He blinked a few times. "Are you sure you're all right? You seem upset."
"Yeah, you're the third one in two days that tried to tell me I'm too strong to be a guide. Get over it! I'm the guy I am and all the guy I am." He smirked, heading back into the temple. He looked at his notes then shook his head and undid it. "That's the swampy area," he told that guy.
"Fighting there is not a good idea. The weapons would jam, the leaches would eat us all, and none of us want to fight in the mud. Their portal's going to turn a bit as it opens as it has to face true north." He pointed. "That's how they build their portals and it has to face true north to open because their gods say so."
"I've fought many battles."
"So have I. Many, many battles. Including for seven years before I came down here to train the mini slayers. If you want to jump in, that's fine." He heard a truck. "That's the military guys there. It does look like they have weapons. So you're in luck if you're jumping in." A colonel stomped in. "Hey. We've got a swampy area to the left. Leaches and all."
"That's gross to fight in," he agreed, coming to look. He looked at the man, nodding. "If you wish to help that's fine. If your guide is coming that's fine as well. My own guide is joining us."
"Hmm. She's good at the explosives," Xander agreed quietly. "I even trust her to guard my axe for me."
The colonel smiled. "I'll tell her you said that. It's a kind compliment to her skills." He texted that to her and got back to work on the plans. "True north is...." He checked and made a note on the map. "That's easier. We can avoid that side and layer the bigger things behind that swamp so we don't run into it."
Xander looked up and sniffed, then went to look. "Oh, no. I love your weapons skills but you're pregnant."
"I am not!"
"You are too!" He stared at her. "And the baby's loud! And probably had been twins since spirits like me so much." He stared at her. She blinked, putting a hand on her stomach. He nodded. "Get her to a healer," he ordered. "Today. The baby's loud and if it's healthy it shouldn't be able to talk to me yet."
The colonel came out to stare at his wife. "Since when have you been with child?"
"I was not yesterday."
"Well, there are witches that can do that," Xander admitted. "I haven't seen you in weeks and you were just starting to smell differently to the hyena then, Miriam."
"Oh, dear." She sighed. "I will go get myself checked." She stared at her husband, getting a kiss. "I will let you know tonight."
"Go with her. Leave me with Huey since I can hear him complaining," Xander told him. "That way she's not hearing bad news alone." The colonel nodded, telling his third-in-command that before taking off. "Huey, we're good but we've got a swampy area."
"That's charming." He came in to look. "What happened to her?"
"The baby was loud and that means there's a spirit involved." He looked at him. "The hyena scented the pregnancy and then the baby tried to coo at me."
"Oh, that poor woman. I hope she'll be fine. She'll be a great mother." He looked at the map, grimacing. "I like his idea on the weapons." He pointed. Xander pointed at something, erasing something else, making Huey laugh. "That makes sense, we can layer on both edges. North?"
Xander showed him his compass so he was fine with that. "That'll help a lot." He got his weapons people in to show them were to set up. They went to do that now, then wait on the problems to start. Huey looked at Xander again. "No sentinel yet?"
"No and I don't need one. Actually, the ones who set those things up, if they're like the ones over the slayers, they probably don't see who I really am anyway. The PTB still think I'm just a geek who's scared of weapons."
Huey laughed, shaking his head. "No, you are not that way. A geek yes. Scared of weapons, no. Well, maybe you'll find one who has healing skills."
"That might be nice. Having someone do the stitches for me. Or at least the ones on my back." He grimaced but got back to the notes. "The vision showed one weird thing." He let him see it. "That's a priestess. And I can't tell of what. Veiled isn't definitive."
"No, it's not. I'll be aware and watching for her. Maybe she's peaceful?" He read over the later parts. "She seems to just watch until at the end."
"Yeah, which is a problem. Morgan, who had that one, said it looked like she tried to talk to me and I didn't hear her or something so she attacked." They shared a look and shrugged at each other. "If so, let me know when you see her show up."
"I will." They went to look over the field. That sentinel came to help with the weapons setup. His guide was setting up the field hospital for them with the medics the military unit had brought. He was being quiet but effective. The medics didn't mind him but did hand him a hairnet for his hair.
***
Xander looked at the person at the sentinel and guide center in the city he was traveling through. They had found out he was nearby and had asked him to show up. "What's up?" he asked.
"Guide Harris...."
"Watcher Harris," he said bluntly, staring at him. "Guide comes long after my position as the watcher over the mini slayers here in Africa."
"That is not how things are done."
"That's how I do things. Frankly, only sixty percent of any of us fit into the molds the research showed. And I'm part of the forty percent that don't."
"You were noted as training with our native healers."
"Yeah, I'm easily possessed." He shrugged. "It helped me fix that problem. I learned a lot. A lot of it I teach to the mini slayers because they all need to know how to meditate to talk to the imprints they were given."
"I...they do?"
"Yes." He stared at him. "We suggest they do it weekly as it gives them comfort to touch the other slayers around the world."
"Oh, I was not aware of that." He looked at his assistant then at him again. "We are hosting a meet and greet soon."
Xander shook his head. "I'm not the least bit interested in bonding and if I have a sentinel out there somewhere I'd probably find them on a field during a battle."
"Battle," the assistant said flatly.
"Yeah, I'm the guy who has to handle all those apocalypse battles. That's kinda my duty to the slayers. Most of them are way too young to even take training in anything much less fall into battles. So it's my job to do that for them and train them for when they're of age so they can take the training to do my duty beside me and then instead of me when I fall."
"That's not how it's done," the head of the center said with a smile.
"Well, that's how I do it because that's my life." He smiled. "And if I do have a sentinel they'll have to be beside me doing the same things I do. Though I wouldn't mind if they had healer skills. That would be a good compliment to mine."
"That's usually guides."
"I know a few sentinels who're docs. One's a great vascular guy. He helped when I had to bring in a villager near one of my minis who had a blood clot in his leg that was going to make him lose his leg."
"Oh. I didn't realize that." He looked at his assistant then at him. "You could meet them."
Xander sighed, staring at him. "You're wanting me to be the stereotypical guide who's femme, nice, delicate, tactful, patient, nurturing, cooking, and all that. And that's not who I am. It's not who I ever was. It's not who I'll ever be. Even if I do have a sentinel out there somewhere." He stared at him.
"That's great if you are one of the sixty percent of us who are like that but I'm not that guy. And anyone who's expecting me to be that guy is going to be highly disappointed. So you should have them meet people who'd be like they'd expect. Because I'm very aware that living in my life with me will be hard on someone.
"I'm a busy guy who travels a lot and has battles every few months. Frankly, I'm not giving up my duty for anything and I'm doubting by your reactions that anyone in there is going to be anything like me. So thank you but probably not an event I need to attend."
"You could try."
"Yes I could try but I'd be bored, people would hate me there because I'm not the stereotypical guide, and really, I've got to go find my motel for the night, get stuff ready to hit my slayer's village tomorrow to work with her for a week, and then I've got to teach her how to track game this week. I'm a bit busy right now. But thanks."
"Many guides have treatments to help them with things that their sentinel will need. Like hair removal," the assistant said to keep him there.
Xander stared at him oddly. "I'm happy if they are but that's not something I need. If I bond someday and they need me to remove it I could but really, it's helpful as it's meant to wick sweat away from your body and keep bugs off your skin." The assistant grimaced at that, looking a bit horrified.
"I spend a few weeks every two months camping somewhere before battles," he said with a grin. "It's rather nice to not have fleas." He shrugged. "But thanks. I'll keep that in mind if I do bond and need help with a future sentinel." He grinned, shook their hands, and left. He sighed as he got off the grounds.
He knew they were trying to help him but that was really annoying to him. He didn't want to yell at them about their faulty ideas. He went to his normal hotel, which was full, and found another one that was nice enough looking. He'd been there before and it had a nice shower system at least. Was near the markets. So that worked. As long as he didn't get drawn into anything.
Which he would. Someone was broadcasting at the whole part of the town. He blocked it and stared at their direction, then opened his shields, making them quit really fast. He grinned. "Thanks," he said quietly. "Didn't need that tonight." They seemed to duck down so he made sure he had his anti-magic protections with him. Just in case. It paid to be paranoid in his life.
***
Xander stopped the truck at his farm, getting out and letting the people out. "You're safe here," he told them. "You guys can hang out here to heal and rest until you figure out what you want to do. I've got to go back to my minis but you guys are welcome to stay here and heal.
"I'll let one of the old grandmothers in the local village know I'm letting you guys stay here for safety reasons without telling them why." He helped one out of the truck, steadying her. "Easy there." He stared at her. "I'll have one of the local docs come out too."
She nodded, going inside to look around. There were eight of them who had been rescued. They were safe now because Xander had destroyed the reason they weren't safe. And the corrupt guide who had set that up. "Let me go get some groceries. I'll be right back." He drove off to do that, going to the local doctor's office first. He walked in and nodded. "Is she in?"
"She's in a foul mood," the nurse admitted. "Something about someone interfering with sacred things."
"That could've been me but there's a bigger story to that." The doctor came out. He stared at her. "I found some hostages again."
She winced. "How badly injured?"
"Not that badly. Mostly shocked. One's got a few bigger injuries. She fought back on the forced bonding they were trying to make her do." He stared at her. She blinked then opened her mouth. He stared at her until she shut it. "Drugged and all. One's got a few good injuries but she's walking and healing. I field treated."
"I'll go check on them. Are they at the farm?" He nodded. "Are they well enough?"
"Yeah. I found nine but one managed to get home and they could protect him. Two of them are guys."
"I'll gladly go check on them, Xander. How dare someone do that!"
"Exactly. The really corrupt one who set it up, who was a guide, died though. He went to back up his sentinel when I broke in to save them."
She nodded. "That's good!" She nodded. "I was not mad at you."
"Thanks." He grinned. "I'm going to get groceries."
"I'll follow you back." She went to get a kit together for anything she might need to handle. Xander came back a half-hour later and led her out that way. He had protections on his fences so no one could get in without him allowing it. She got out and stared at the woman standing in the doorway.
"I'm Doctor Alia. You're safe with me. I'd destroy them just like Xander would. I was raised in a tiny village so I know about you guys." She nodded, letting Xander help her back inside with the groceries then he came to get her kit for her. "Thank you, Xander." He nodded, following her in.
***
Xander went to the local officers, who were having a fit thanks to someone lower in the country reporting him. "I don't think saving people from being forcibly raped is a bad thing," he told them as he walked in. "Even if they're guides they have the right say no. Selling people is always wrong. Even if they have useful skills."
"That's true, it is," the captain said, staring at him. "Are they safe with you?"
"Why wouldn't they be safe with me?"
"Your usual friends."
"Oh, no, I've got the protections up. Doc's seen 'em. I made sure when I got them home. They've mostly called families and stuff too. I'm not keeping them hostage, just giving them a safe place to recover."
"They're guides!" one of the officers complained.
"So am I. Selling people with useful skills or not is still wrong, even if they're guides. We do have the right to say no, just like everyone else does. If people don't like that, then that's maybe why they're dormant."
The officer flinched back, shaking his head. "I am not! I'm not one of you!"
Xander shrugged. "I don't care one way or another, dear. Wrong is wrong and right is right and selling people is wrong. What they were forcing on them was wrong. And it could have killed them. So yes, I rescued them and if someone got mad, they can kiss my ass. And I'd tell them that to their faces." He looked at the captain again. "Do I need to go tell them that to their faces?"
"They may be up here later this week so you can do that."
Xander smirked. "Gladly. Tell me when they get up here. I'll come meet them in town." The captain winced at that, shifting his weight. "I won't even bring more than the axe probably. Though probably a handgun. I've always got one these days." He shrugged, walking out. "I'm going to buy food again. They need food."
"Sure," he agreed with a nod. "He's right," he told his officer. "And I appreciate that about him. Some people are wrong and were apparently born wrong. If they were forcing it on them that way they're born wrong."
"But ...that's how all that works."
"No it doesn't. It's a mutual bond. You go into it like a marriage." He heard shouting and looked out there. "Oh, what now." He walked outside. "Harris?" he called.
"Dougie's here," he called. He stared at him. "Yes?"
"You stole people? You?"
"No, I rescued people. They're safe. They're healing. They're not being forcibly raped. They've got their bedrooms, I'm in mine, and they're healing. Just like anyone else I'd rescue."
The mercenary blinked a few times. "What now?"
"They were being forcibly bonded against their wills."
"Oh. Okay, so you rescued," he said with a nod. "GOOD!" Xander smiled and nodded. "They're really mad."
"They can kiss my ass. They really can. And the ones who thought I'd give in to that sort of tactic can join them. They can daisychain the whole group." Dougie shuddered at that, backing up a step. "But I'm buying groceries. I'll see you tomorrow? Are they showing up then?"
"Probably later tonight?"
"Okay. Let me run the groceries home and go find my pistol." He walked off to do that, shaking his head with a sigh. He warned them someone was going to try something stupid and showed them how to get into the safe room areas just in case they did make it through the protections. Which he turned up.
He left again, going to sit on his hood in town, watching who came in. Dougie was at the motel, staring out the window to see what was going on. Xander stared at the guys who stormed into town in their fancy cars, sipping his coffee before putting the cup down.
"So it's the people who sold others," he called loudly. "Very nice to have you here in town. Hopefully you never try that again. I might not be near enough next time to save them." He took another sip then put his cup down again after resealing it, sitting up from his lounging position. "Say what you gotta say and then scram."
"You stole people!"
"No I did not."
"They were with their bonded!"
"No they were not. They were sold. That's not the same thing as a consensual, full bond." He stared at the assistant for that sentinel and guide center. Then at the others. "Being sold isn't the same thing. Selling people, even ones with gifts, is wrong. Has always been wrong, will always be wrong."
"They consented."
"While they were drugged up? Are you sure?" He stared at them. "Because the psychic pain that drew me to them collapsed a few other guides in town." The assistant winced at that. "I'll be damned. My ancestors never bought and sold people, never held them captive. Neither do I. And I don't put up with it.
"Frankly, they're safe. They're healing and they're safe. If they had wanted those ones they were being forced to bond to by being raped, then they could've called them to come help them heal. They haven't. That told me all I needed to know." He waved a hand in the air. He nodded at the local military guy. "Hey."
"Harris. What happened?"
"I ran into a few who thought guides were for sale."
"Oh." He nodded once. "So you rescued?"
"Yeah, the amount of psychic pain that they shot out while drugged and being raped, it kinda called on my duty." He stared at him. "They're safe. They've called their families. They're healing. I've gotten the doc to look at them for injuries. They're safe."
"That's a great thing," he agreed, calling that in. His boss agreed that was the right thing to do and Harris was an asshole about that. "The highers up want to know about the ones who had them?"
"He set off his self destruct. Corrupt as hell. I nearly hyena'd out it was so evil." He shrugged a bit. "But they're fine, they're safe. They're looking at places they can go to finish healing and not be put in danger again. I put them in touch with Helva's group to see if they knew of somewhere."
"She does good work." He nodded, looking at the others. His boss said something and hung up. "The higher ups said thank you for rescuing them and they expected you to do that. As you have in the past."
"I'll be damned if I let that stuff go on," Xander agreed. "That's always wrong."
He nodded. "That's reasonable." He looked at the others, who were horrified. "He's right. Even Guides have the right to say no."
Xander got off his hood, walking over. "That one was the assistant to the guy running the sentinel and guide center that tried to talk me into being introduced around like I'm a damsel in distress because I'm not bonded."
The general looked at him, laughing at that, shaking his head. "A bitch in distress perhaps but not a damsel. You're not that sort of guide. You're the same sort our president's guide is." Xander smiled and nodded. "Do we have slayer who's a guide in country?"
"No. There's only three of the slayers on the S&G spectrum and they're all guides."
"Which proves that guides aren't meant to be weak."
"No. Being bonded is supposed to be a partnership, an equal one. You both compliment each other's skills and lives. It's not a hostage situation. It's not a power imbalance. It's not anything like what those corrupt ones were trying to do." He stared at them. "Which is why those ones are safe." The assistant still glared but looked slumped. He looked at the general again. "Did they find the bodies?"
"In a basement."
"Oh, that group. Yeah, I went in with a few primal spirits with me to help them. Sorry if they made a mess."
"No. They were dead but just looked horrified. No mess made." Xander grinned. "Why do you talk to primal spirits?"
"Because I'm so open to being possessed. That's why I took that training. To keep people out of me."
"I can see that point," he decided. More military people showed up. They went for those ones who were complaining, arresting them. "The president wanted to suggest the haven community farm."
"I've called them, they're full. They're talking to the other ones."
"That's good. Are you sure they're safe?"
"I showed them the safe rooms and told them the protections would hold. They should be safe. If not, I'll make sure they will be somehow."
He nodded. "That's good. I'll talk to the haven to see if they've found somewhere for them."
"I don't mind them staying for a few days. They need it, it's safe. They're healing. It's fine. It's nice having company sometimes too." He shrugged. "It's fine for now."
"Okay. I'll let them know. May I meet with them?"
Xander looked at his phone. "Yeah. Probably. One texted that they're all fine. The one who's in psychic pain is still holding on okay." He looked at him. "Is Peter around?"
"Yes, he is actually. I think he was heading for them possibly. I'll get him up here to help you."
"That could help a lot. He can counsel better than I can." He shrugged. "Go to the farm. I'll meet you there in a few. I'm having a cheetos craving suddenly for some reason so that means I'm probably going to have visions all night. That's Cordy's warning signal that I'm getting hit with a bad one."
He walked off to go buy himself snacks then took the general with him back to the farm. By himself. Xander knocked before walking in. "I'm back and I brought a general." One of the women came out to talk to him, she had taken over as head of the group. Which Xander didn't mind in the least. She stared at the bag. He shrugged. "It means I'm having visions tonight. I get a craving right before the big ones."
"That is very weird," she told him.
"Yeah but one of the people who sends me visions is an ex-girlfriend." He grinned. "It's nice she warns me."
"It is," she decided. "We saw on the television."
Xander nodded. "The local news is pretty good at covering the town." He went to his room. "The one I called Peter, he's a priest but not like that. He's a monk sort of priest. He's even calmed me down after a bad battle a few times."
"That's reasonable. It could help that one." She stared at the general. "We did not want that."
"I can fully understand that and I wouldn't either, ma'am." She smiled, leading him to talk to the others to make sure they were fine. Xander had a nice safe area in the house. Someone did try to cross the fence and nearly got fried for it so he called to have his people pick them up. Xander was having a vision, they heard him moaning in his room. He had no idea how cheetos helped with visions but if it worked for him, they would accept that. Visions seemed to be quite problematic and painful.
***
Blair Sandburg was on a news program, one not nice to sentinels or guides. "What do you say to the facts that some people have bought guides to force them to bond?" the news host asked, looking smug.
"I say that's heinous and if so I hope they were stopped. While we do try to teach others better, there's always some who want what they don't have, don't deserve, and never would've gotten in the first place." He stared at her. "I mean, Jim and I stopped three here in the US. I'm told there's been a few recently found and stopped in other countries and I hope the people there are well enough to heal.
"We have places that're secure so they can go to heal with therapists on staff if they need them." She looked very confused. "The same as any other rapist is and does and for the same reasons. We like to stop them and teach people better. But there's always going to be the few who think they *deserve* someone against their will. No matter how much you talk against it, show them it's not the right thing to do, not the right way. In those cases we help rescue the guides and we help make sure they go to jail for it."
She tipped her head. "Has that been going on long?"
He grimaced. "Do you know how many women in history were taken because someone wanted their bodies and they didn't want to oblige?" he asked. She grimaced harder at that, shaking his head. "Pretty much since about day three. Some people never got out of that mindset. Which humanity really does need to do.
"We do what we can when we find out to help them heal, to make sure they're safe, to get the ones who did it. It's all anyone can do about rapists since they're not being stopped by their families before they get there. We try to teach everyone better to make sure the next generation has it easier."
"There was an official center event involved in one according to the news."
"Yes, I heard about that. And I cheered like hell when the one who did it blew himself and his guide up with his own self destruct mechanism. Because people like that don't deserve to be called human."
"Aren't you a pacifist?"
"Yes, which means I don't go to war without a very good, compelling, saving humanity reason. As any thinking being should."
"Oh. I didn't consider that."
"Peace is wonderful and something to hope for and work towards but sometimes humans can't figure that out even when you show them. We have people who put them in jail for that."
She nodded. "Good point. The officials at that center?"
"Those are run by the individual countries. I'm sure they're going over their records and if they wanted the US centers' help they'd ask us for it and we'd willingly go help make sure it never happened again. We stopped a few here in the US as well."
"Are they mostly wealthy people doing that?"
"Some. One wasn't, he just decided he *deserved* a guide that he wanted because he decided she was his. And she wasn't. She's gotten help, gotten therapy, worked through a lot of that. There's a lot of healing after any form of rape."
She nodded. "I can see that. What rules are put into place against that sort of situation? Beyond training ones."
Blair pulled up the rules on his phone, letting her see it. "Those are the center baseline rules for all centers we recognize. If they do not have those in one form or another as part of their charter, they're not a recognized US center." She showed them to the camera. "The fifth one down does cover that. And in the bylaws of the one I work with personally it's bluntly stated that a bonding is a consensual choice and anyone interfering with it is in violation of the rules of governance." He got into it to show her those. Then he stared at her.
"That's well stated." She handed the phone back. "Do we think this is a common thing?"
"No. Because I'm fairly certain most of humanity has gotten past that problem. There's always a few in every culture, in every country, in every larger group of people. We do what we can to weed them out and make sure they can't hurt anyone. It's all anyone can do."
"I can see how that happens. Can't you...read their minds or something?"
"We're not psychics or telepaths. I can get an emotional imprint, I can't read their minds. I can tell if you're upset, if you're angry, anything like that. I can tell when someone really is staring hard at me and thinking I'm a snack. I can't do more than shoot those sort dirty looks."
"That seems like something you should be able to do."
"No. We're not psychic. We're ...to use a fantasy and sci-fi term, we're empaths. We feel feelings. We get impressions of feelings. Sometimes we can even taste them if they're strong enough." He shifted to cross his feet. "I can't change them for someone, I can't make them not be angry or anything like that. I can use the impressions I get to help them ease it back down, to diffuse a situation if necessary, or if I really must I can make them unconscious because that's a safety feature if you're strong enough."
"Oh. So the average one can't."
"No. They can just tell you're having a feeling." He stared at her. "A lot of people don't shield their minds in any form. You can read their emotions on their faces. I can do that too, and I also get a tickly feeling about whatever you're feeling too loudly to shield."
"So you really can't make someone do something."
"No. I can't."
"Is that under the heading of magic? Like those slayer people?"
"I don't do magic in any format. I have no idea. Do they have something like that? Perhaps. You'd have to ask them. If so I'm sure they have ethical guidelines of when it's a bad idea or a good idea to use it." He stared at her. "Humans are complicated. Every single one of us. Even the kids who are in vegetative states are complicated. Our minds run without our say-so and input for a lot of our bodily functions."
"That's an interesting way of putting it. Are there many health retreats sort of places for those to heal at?"
"There's about nine around the world. There's one near there but it's a bit full right now I'm told. But the place they're staying at is apparently safe enough for the moment and they're managing to heal. It's all anyone can hope for them to do. Hopefully their families are accepting that they've had that trauma, are going to help them through it as well."
He stared at her. "Sometimes humanity is very disappointing. And then someone does something great and good to remind me it's not all of them. It's hopefully less than a quarter of them. And we're slowly fixing that over time. This time someone rescued those who needed it and gave the a space to heal in."
"I've never heard it put that way." He shrugged a tiny bit, still staring at her. "What about that new research topic? Are you finding that the gender bias complaints are false?"
"No, actually, he's right. About forty-three percent of all sentinels and guides do fall outside the original research's thoughts on their roles and the roles I've seen in my own research. Or in the research others have done. A few would never admit it, because they don't like the thought of women being sentinels or men being guides. Or guides being the more war-oriented ones."
"So like those religions that refuse to let their children get any training if they are one of you?"
"They're part of that as well. But I also have to point out that women have always been strong enough to stop a war. Or go to war. Many women followed their husbands into battle, they had to because they couldn't do things with the family farm as they were women. One of the first decorated in the Revolutionary war here in the US was a woman who took over for her husband.
"There's always been women who have done that and in those situations. It's not something a lot of people look at. We'd like to see gender stereotypes as cut and dried and they're not. He was also correct that poor women always worked, in the home and outside of it occasionally."
"Weren't those unmarried women being maids and the like?"
"No. The housekeeper and any higher level staff were often married or widows. They may have been married to someone who was also on the staff but if you had a higher position you were probably married." He smiled. "Gender studies have a good reason to be taught, because a lot of times women aren't included in history even if they were there and the reason for it. How many suffragettes can you name?"
"None," she admitted.
"But there were thousands. In all races. Though some of them didn't want that to be so, it was so. There were people of color in the same marches, even if they were forced to march in the back of the group." He shrugged. "We should honor them for the work they did and the way they changed humanity's direction. Yet many won't even acknowledge that women of any race were there at all."
"Oh." She grimaced. "I can see that point I guess."
"He was right to bring that up. It was a bias in the research I should have looked at earlier. And for that I'm sorry because I know it's been pressed onto him and others. It's led to a lot of new research questions about how things are meant to protect humanity that aren't related to war. How good food was needed so the people who could tell when things were ripe and weren't ripe was an important job. How medical needs are an important thing to protect the village as well."
"So do you think that a lot of male guides may be gay or bisexual?"
"I think a lot of sentinel and guides, the complete spectrum of us, are gay and bisexual. We have a lot higher percentage of us who are." He grinned a bit. "Maybe because we're more open to ideas. That was true in villages that had protectors, though they were often encouraged to have a wife to have children for the good of the village."
"But they're gay."
"Or they were bisexual. That does exist," he said patiently.
"Are you?"
"I've never hidden that." He shrugged.
"What if a pair is a perfect match or whatever and one can't bond due to the gay thing?"
"Then they talk about it, they work it out, they do what anyone else would do. They figure out a boundary there and how to work beyond that. Or they don't bond at all and ask for a bit of help to find someone they can stand to bond with. While some are perfect, nearly mystically perfect, not all bonds are that way.
"Some they knew and it was good enough. Some they knew they were meant to be a pair but couldn't for whatever reason. It's happened that some were married and had to make a choice. Not that we made them make a choice but they felt they had to make a choice. We welcome most every type of family in the community. All but the abusive ones."
"Can they not bond?"
"Yes. There's a push there to bond with someone who is a very close match, and the closer to mythically perfect it is the stronger it is. Jim and I held out for nearly five years before we bonded because we were working together well and it was good enough for us. And then we needed to bond to solve a problem we were having.
"I've seen ones who reputed their bondmates completely. It broke the bond, it gave them both great mental and emotional pain, and sometimes they can find someone else and sometimes not. Like a widowed sentinel or guide. Sometimes they'll follow their partner and sometimes they won't. That's not about the depth of the bond, that's about it not being your time and you know that you're still needed."
"I didn't think about that. Some couples do the same thing."
"Yes they do," he said with a nod and a slight grin. "And they've got love that's very strong, very intimate, very hardy. Though some they didn't and they still followed them into the afterlife. One I personally knew wasn't that happy in her marriage but she had no one else there and ended up passing in her sleep a few days after the funeral because she said she felt he was waiting on her to finally hurry up and join him. Which, during their marriage, he had a lot of complaints about her always being late."
"She just got used to him being there all the time and without it she didn't feel whole anymore," she said.
"Probably. She died of natural causes in her sleep. It wasn't a conscious decision on her part but her mind probably realized that. We call it romantic."
"Often, yes." She nodded. "My grandparents did that and we could never figure out why with the way they fought."
"Sometimes you do. That can be any relationship."
"Huh. I hadn't thought of that either." She frowned at him. "Are your normal classes like that?"
"Yes." He smiled and nodded. "I introduce a lot of topics that make people think and evaluate what they know of the world. That's what anthropology and sociology are meant to do, to figure out the world and tell others how it works." He smiled again. "You come in thinking things are one way and then realize they're not thanks to research then you figure out that the research had an inherent bias as we're all humans, and figure out if that bias is a lot of big problems for the theory, and then come up with a new one."
"You've went on trips to some of the places you've studied, right?"
"Yes, of course. You can observe from the outside but that means you're not getting a lot of the information. Seeing a family through a window tells you that they're a family. Not if they're a happy family, if they tease each other, if the kids are fighting, if they have nicknames for each other, and how they get along. To find that out you have to talk to people, learn about them and their ways, and their habits, and any quirks that their society gave to them. That's what research is in anthropology."
"What's your take on cultural appropriation?"
"I think in a lot of cases it's someone who admired something about that other culture. Or it's things that have been shared that aren't fully the original one's ways anymore. In a lot of cases they don't mean harm for it. Though some of them are really petty. I saw one the other day about having hair braids being appropriation of African culture so yelling at a white woman who was born there."
He grimaced. "When hairstyles like that have been around since Rome was a baby empire. Some things belong to everyone and some things belong to some people, and people like that so they borrow or borrow yet change it somewhat to fit them. Do I think there's a history behind the braiding of hair that involves the African communities?
"Certainly and it was very cultural for them, but women in Rome also had elaborate braided hairstyles that were sewn into place. Including things that looked like fancier cornrows with beads. Cultural meanings change over time as well.
"It had been everyone's, they kept doing it and it grew additional cultural meanings so now they feel like it's their culture alone, which means they can complain when others do about the same thing but then see that it's historically everyone's. Like bread belongs to everyone, though some cultures claim they do it for only their own."
"We quit doing elaborate braids?"
"Have you not seen middle and dark ages fashions?" he asked with a smile. "Most European women wore head scarves or coverings of some sort or another. That was religious based. Often women would wind their hair up in a simple braid underneath it to keep it tidy and not falling out."
"Oh. I..." She looked at her producer, who shrugged. "They do?" Blair pulled out his phone to look up something, letting her see that fashion timeline example. "Oh, we did. Why did we wear those?"
"Religion. It was considered immodest. The same as ankles were for the longest time."
She blinked a few times then sighed but nodded, handing the phone back. "I can see that point as well. Hold on, that woman they were complaining to was born there?"
"Yes, thanks to exploration, colonialism, and colonization, there's nowhere on this planet that people are only from one race any longer. There's white people born in Jamaica. There's white people born in Africa. They tend to respect the places they're from and are part of the native culture because often they're not first generation ones.
"I know one who's mixed but from Bermuda. Her family was there for generations. Shipwrecked in the seventeen hundreds and ended up having to stay. They weren't the rich elite that participated in the heinous slave trades. She said her family was fruit growers mostly."
"So native but looking at her you wouldn't think that because there's an expected racial makeup of an area."
"There is and it's probably a small percentage of them that're applicable to that talk, but it does happen and it throws people off balance when they see it because that's not what they expect out of humanity." He shrugged. "It's something we all do. You see a guy like me with longer hair, multiple earrings, a few extra shirts because I'm cold very often and think I'm probably a hippie who smokes weed.
"I don't smoke weed, I'm on the border of being a hippie philosophically, but I'm also sure about how humanity should be advancing and helping push it that way, and I've got a PhD, two masters, a bachelors, and a male partner who's a bit of a grump.
"What you expect isn't what you get in all cases. And that can lead to anger. I had someone completely get mad at me one day for not being very peace, love, and happiness. He wanted to relive the days. I told him about my stance on that, which I have nothing against that thought process, but I did point out we can live and let live but also show examples of how others live so you learn about them and aren't freaked out by it. He got so mad."
She blinked a few times. "I...well, I'd probably get mad too I guess. You've actually made me consider some things I hold as the truth about people."
He smiled and nodded. "That's what anthropology and sociology is for."
She nodded. "I may need to pick up a book then." She looked at her producer. "I'm being summoned to commercial so we'll be right back with the rest of our talk with Dr. Sandburg." They cut to commercial.
Blair smiled at her. "It happens to all of us. We can be ninety and find out things we thought were the rock bottom truth and couldn't be changed can be. Or things we hoped were left in the past have come back against the will of everyone."
"I've seen some of that."
He nodded. "So have I. I'm a bad example of the guy who stares at the college rallies by hate groups to heckle them and make them mad enough to stomp off. That nazi group really did run when I tried to debate them on the worth of other races in society and why they were evolutionary and important for humanity to go on. They go so very mad." He grinned at her.
She smiled. "I can see you doing that somehow."
He nodded. "It wasn't the first time. They all like to avoid me for some reason." She chuckled as they came back from commercial.
***
Xander hung up his phone with a sigh. "I've got to head out almost immediately." He looked at the mess then at the military guys next to him. "That means you guys have got to handle anything else coming for a few days?"
"We can do that," the one in charge of the unit agreed. "Big problems with a mini?"
"One of the ones who trained me died." That got a nod of understanding. "Thanks, guys." He left, going to clean up at the hotel, check out, tell his mini he was traveling for a few days and would be back, then leave. It only took until nearly midnight to get to that small village. He parked and got out, nodding at the guards staring at him. "I heard."
"His wife is at home," one told him.
"I'll go pay my respects if she's up. If not, I'll make sure she's guarded." They nodded, letting him handle that. Xander found her still awake so he knocked and walked in at her grunt. "I heard." She stared at him. "What do you need?"
"I..." She frowned. "I don't know yet."
"I think that's kinda normal." He sat beside her, patting her hand. She cried on him and it was good for her.
***
Story notes:
A new series for a new year. Happy new year!