Chapter 35: Dictionary

Brennan was grateful for the chance he had to make more of a difference on a long-term basis. It was the whole reason he became a marine biologist in the first place.

He loved his work but couldn't deny he was nervous about getting back to it. Leaving Talori alone in his apartment all day when she wasn't capable of taking care of herself on the surface wasn't an option.

He had worked things out with Harmony so he would drop her by the witch coven before going to work and take her home afterward. He was sure Talori would be fine there after all the times he had seen the two of them interact so that was one less thing to worry about.

"Call me on Harmony's phone if there are any problems," Brennan said seriously as he drove them to the witch coven Monday morning. "I can claim it's a family emergency and come right away if it's serious."

Talori smiled sunnily at him. "Don't worry about me, Brennan! I'll be fine!"

He had noticed that her English became much less formal now that she had been around fae speaking it much more often. She had started using contractions regularly a couple of days ago.

Brennan returned her smile with a small one of his own. "If you say so. You'll have to tell me all about what you did today later."

"I will!"

When they arrived and Harmony came out to wheel Talori back to her office she reassured him as well. "Don't worry, I'll text you if anything happens. But nothing should. We're going to be perfectly fine, aren't we, Talori?"

The mermaid nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, we'll be fine! Have a good day at work, Brennan!"

"Thanks. See you guys later."

Brennan headed to work feeling more reassured that things would be fine. Harmony knew what she was doing. She would take care of Talori for him.

It was strange being back at work even though he had only been gone for about two weeks. Everyone crowded him, for one, wanting to know what happened and if he was okay. He was grateful that his supervisor's prediction that people would try to visit him didn't come true but based on some of these humans' reactions they totally would have if they knew his address.

He hadn't realized they cared about what happened to him so much. It didn't seem like they were simply trying to satiate their desire for gossip. He would have been able to tell the difference with how much he had been around.

Brennan hardly spoke to any of his coworkers. He said what needed to be said and no more. So why would they care?

Marina, who had been the one to see him blow away on the wind, was in tears and nearly hugged him. He barely managed to dodge in time so his wings weren't exposed. "I thought you were dead! I couldn't believe it when Everett told me you made it out of there. I'm so glad you're okay."

"I'm fine, Marina. Were you guys able to secure the rest of the equipment without me?"

"That's what you care about?!"

"Relax," Kevin said, clapping a hand on Marina's shoulder. "Give the guy a little space, will you? It is good to see you though, Brennan. I'm glad you're okay."

"Thanks," Brennan said lamely, still overwhelmed by all of the attention.

"Get back to work!" Everett barked when he came out of his office, having noticed most of his employees crowding around.

They all went reluctantly but Brennan was relieved. He had a lot to catch up on since he had been gone so long. Getting back into the groove of things wasn't at all difficult but he wondered more than once throughout the day how things were going with Talori and Harmony.

He wished he could be there for their research but knew he needed to keep this job. It was important to him. Talori had promised to fill him in on whatever he missed anyway.

On his lunch break he was surprised to receive a text from Harmony's phone. She almost never texted him first and his heart began to race in panic because she said she would text him if anything happened.

'How is your first day back at work going?'

Brennan was about to ask if this was coming from Talori before a second message came in. 'This is Talori. I am using the speech-to-text function. No, I'm not that hungry!'

He snorted. The speech-to-text function clearly picked up her saying something to Harmony. She was probably using it because she didn't know much about spelling things in English and had no experience typing on a phone keyboard.

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'It's going fine. How are things over there?' he texted back.

'Harmony is trying to modify my wheelchair so I can maneuver in it more easily. I have also been talking with Piper. She brought me a donut and it was delicious.'

Brennan couldn't help but smile at the thought. Talori did seem to enjoy either sweet or salty things more than most flavors that were available on the surface. It made sense she would like donuts.

He needed to think of more foods for her to try. There were so many up here but a lot of them overwhelmed her, such as spicy things. There was no concept of spice under the sea. He had learned that during his time staying with her.

'Donuts are really good. I'm glad you're having a good time' he sent.

'I am! I like the witch coven. There are many interesting things here but Harmony sometimes gets caught up in what she is doing and doesn't seem to hear me. I have to call her name several times to get questions answered."

Yep, that sounded like Harmony. Brennan sometimes had the same problem with her. He could easily imagine Talori insistently and enthusiastically trying to get her attention and a small laugh escaped him.

All of the coworkers in the breakroom looked at him in utmost disbelief. They had never heard him laugh before.

"Who are you texting?" Troy asked uncomprehendingly.

Brennan looked up and realized they were all staring at him. Oops. He shouldn't have shown so much emotion at work. Of course they would all be thrown off given his usual work persona.

"My friend."

"He has friends?" another of his coworkers whispered to the person nearest to them.

He heard that but chose not to respond. Of course he had friends! He had more friends scattered across this continent than any of these humans ever would because of how long he had been alive. Even if he hadn't been in contact with a lot of them for decades if not longer.

Just because he had no desire to be friends with humans didn't mean he wasn't friendly. All of the fae he knew were like this. Even if they had to interact with humans for work they never got more involved with any of them than they absolutely had to.

Brennan chose to ignore this and went back to texting Talori for the rest of his break before telling her he had to get back to work. She seemed to be doing perfectly fine so it was easier to concentrate after lunch now that he didn't have to worry about her. Eating something had helped too.

After work he went to go pick up Talori but ended up briefly talking to Harmony to ask for her version of how things went today. The witch agreed that things had gone well and seemed disappointed that they would be leaving so soon.

He was tired though. Dealing with all of his nosy but well-meaning coworkers today wanting to know how he was doing following his supposed ordeal (which really hadn't been traumatizing in the slightest) and the comments at lunch wore him out.

Brennan lacked the energy to continue hanging out. He wanted to go home.

Talori didn't seem to mind. She happily told him everything they had done today on the ride home and he realized that he didn't have much energy to spare on her either. He had an idea that would allow for some peace and quiet.

He stopped at the library on the way back and checked out as many volumes of the dictionary as he could. This would help with her reading comprehension and hopefully stem the endless flow of questions for a little while. He wanted to lie down.

"Here," he said once they were back at his apartment and he set down the books where she could reach. "These will help you be able to spell better since you already know how to read. They'll help you know more English words too. It's called a dictionary and it's basically a collection of words and their meanings."

Talori's eyes widened. "Ooh! So if I read all of this, I'll be able to type by myself instead of using speech-to-text?"

"Probably."

She clapped her hands together excitedly. "Thank you, Brennan!"

Brennan felt slightly guilty that he was doing this more for his peace of mind than he was to help her out. "…no problem. I'm going to make dinner."

He didn't have the energy to do much so he ended up heating them both some freezer meals. She was still getting used to using a fork and ate a bit clumsily but there was something endearing about the way she refused to give up even when the food didn't quite make it all the way to her mouth.

After they finished eating he brought her to the couch where she settled in to read with an enraptured expression and he went to his room, telling her to shout if she needed him. He sighed as he flopped onto his bed.. Hopefully tomorrow wouldn't be so exhausting.

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