I wanted to laugh and tell her not to worry, but I didn’t.
Instead, I got up and got the three of us each another beer. Eventually, the moon rose over the eastern plains. It was a gibbous moon, at least three quarters full and waning.
Sometime before midnight, Tess yawned mightily and stretched, pulling her leathers tight against her lean form.
“I’m about done for the night. I’m going to bed.”
“Do you want me to join you?” I asked.
She gave it a moment’s thought and replied, “No, I’m good. You and Joe finish catching up. Joe, I’ll see you in the morning.
“Goodnight, Tess. May your dreams be pleasant,” Joe said.
“Thank you, goodnight, Rafe.”
“Goodnight, Tess.”
She went inside, shutting the door behind her.
Joe watched her go and then looked back to me. “You are letting her go to bed alone? You surprise me.”
“Why is that?” I asked.
“She’s a beautiful woman.”
I laughed softly and shook my head. “Joe, you’re a dirty old man.”
“I can remember what it was like to lie between the legs of a beautiful woman.”
“I bet you can.”
“Then why are you passing up the opportunity? Your body is still young and strong.”
“Yeah, but she’s my apprentice, not my lover.”
“I may be old, but I’m not deaf. I could hear you last night. She sounded like she was your lover then.”
I shook my head. “She needed it.”
“And you didn’t?” Joe asked.
“Not really. I don’t mean that I was reluctant about it, but she’s still getting used to working with magic and you must remember how it is to work with someone of the opposite sex.”
“I remember, but that doesn’t explain why you let her go to bed alone.”
“It’s complicated, Joe. I’m trying to keep the sex from becoming love. We’re going to be together for a long time, but eventually, we’ll separate. When that day comes, it’ll be better for both of us if we aren’t in love.”
“So you’d give up decades of love to make the break up easier?” Joe asked.
“Something like that,” I said.
Joe gave that some thought and enough time passed that I expected he had dropped the subject, but then he said, “That’s not the only reason you are keeping your emotions in check.”
Damn it, old shamans were just too smart to miss something. “You must know the other reason.”
“Your own mentor,” Joe stated. It wasn’t a question.
“Yes. He died abruptly after I had just five years of training. What if that happens to me? Tess will have a hard enough time getting by without having the emotional baggage of losing a loved one.”
“Old friend, you are a powerful Wanderer, but you are still ignorant when it comes to matters of the heart. Mark my words, if you continue on this path the two of you are going to fall in love whether or not you wish it were so. Denying it will only make your life harder than it needs to be. You should allow things to flow naturally. It’s the way life is meant to be led.”
“But she’s still my apprentice. I need her to learn, not fall in love. The sex is just a release. Besides, it wasn’t my idea. I tried to avoid it.”
“You didn’t try very hard,” Joe observed.
“You don’t know how difficult it was to resist her.”
Joe laughed softly. “You sound like Br’er Rabbit begging the fox not to throw him into the briar patch.”
I didn’t say anything and tried to ignore him.
He laughed for a long time.
He was still chuckling when I got up and went to bed.
I slipped beneath the covers without waking Tess. I lay on my back, staring at the ceiling and trying not to think of the young, attractive, woman who lay within easy touching distance. Joe was too damn sharp for his own good. He might have been right about Tess and my relationship, but I wasn’t going down that road. I’d lost a woman I’d loved just a week ago. There was always the danger of one of us not making it through our training period and even if we both made it, we’d be separating then. I didn’t need to lose another loved one.
I forced myself to forget about Joe’s talk and concentrate on what it would take to work Tesla’s magic. Just before I fell asleep, I had an epiphany. I wasn’t sure I had time to work out the technique, but in theory, it could be as good a weapon as Tesla’s magic.
Tess was gone when I woke up. The sheets on my side of the bed were in disarray. I had done a lot of tossing and turning during the night. It wasn’t like me. I usually slept like a baby. I sat up and dropped my feet to the bare wood of Joe’s floor. It was cool. I wiggled my toes, stood, and stretched. What had my sleep troubled? Was it the upcoming fight? Doubtful, there’s always an upcoming fight in my world. Was it Joe’s admonishment? More likely than worrying about a fight. There wasn’t time to concern myself with my relationship with my apprentice. We were handling things fine the way we were. If things ever slowed down, then I could reflect on the properness of it.
Noises in the kitchen confirmed that if I wanted breakfast, I’d better get a move on. I stood and dressed quickly, pulled the covers taught on the bed, and left.
“Good morning, Boss,” Tess said as she held out a mug of coffee.
I took it with a smile and a nod of appreciation. “Morning, Tess. Joe.”
“Good morning, Rafe. Pancakes okay?” Joe asked.
“Certainly.”
I took the coffee and walked to the front windows. The curtains were open, and the sun was a bright ball above the distance radomes of Schriever AFB. Tess joined me with her own cup.
“Any change?” she asked.
“Change? As in our mission?” She nodded. “No, I feel no additional urgency. I think we have another day, at
