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Ranger Yslana was used to dealing with Zygs with ideas above their station, especially in the Academy, but this little runt was really starting to test her patience.
"I am here on the orders of the Lord Commander Japhryis himself, and I suggest you do as I ask. I will ask one last time...Where is the scribe apprentice?"
Dragoslav, never one to take a step back, no matter who was pushing, replied in hurt tones, "And I...errm, your Ladyship, simply asked why he is needed." Dragoslav lifted his head haughtily, "He has important duties that can't be disrupted!"
At first, it took Dax some moments to realise that Yslana must be referring to him, and then he couldn't quite believe that the Zyg was referring to his mundane translation work as 'important'. In fact, he was absolutely sure that Lord Haldis had actually given him this particular task just to keep him out of trouble for as long as possible, which made the work even more pointless in his mind.
Rather than risk injury or prosecution to Dragoslav, Dax stepped cautiously out into the chamber, cleared his throat and dipped a wingtip in awkward salutation. To have Yslana, the object of his adolescent affection, turn her incandescent gaze on him proved too much, and what was planned in his head to be a confident greeting instead became a jumble of mouth sounds, causing him to turn a rusty embarrassed orange and knock over a nearby ink pot.
Yslana sighed, having become quite experienced, if not accustomed, to young Jraconi losing themselves around her. "Are you Daz?"
Dax wasn't sure if he was more hurt by the mispronunciation of his name or the fact that she didn't recognise him from the previous day. He decided she had probably had a lot on her mind, what with leading the remains of her patrol, both living and dead, back to the Citadel.
He nodded quickly, "That's me...I-I mean, I'm not Daz, I'm Dax, but I'm me, and we met yesterday...well, we didn't actually meet formally or anything, but I was out with your patrol yesterday, sort of...but not exactly, well not at first anyway, but my friend Sylk and I came back with you..." He lapsed into confusion, going over repeatedly what he had just said in his head in rapid succession, and deciding that although hardly the suave response he would have liked, it did at least get the basic fact across that he was, indeed, him, which seemed to be what the Ranger wanted to know.
Yslana sighed again, why did this have to happen to her? She could see from the way the males looked at her that she must be attractive on some level, but she always tried to play it down, making sure to keep her colours muted when possible, and not to twitch her abdomen in public. Something about a female in a position of authority maybe?
She nodded to Dash, or whatever his name was, "The Lord Commander has summoned you to the Barracks as a matter of urgency. Come with me please."
Dax was pretty sure he didn't have much of a choice, not that he was going to turn down any chance to get the hell away from his workstation and spend time with Yslana. Boy, would Sylk be jealous when he rubbed this in his face later on...he barely spared a moment to ponder or worry about why the military leader of the Citadel might want to speak with him, he was too busy admiring Yslana's firm carapace and long slender abdomen, surreptitiously of course.
Yslana sighed a third time as she noticed the young Darter blatantly ogling her. "Let's go. You don't want to keep the Lord Commander waiting." And with that she was into the air, the gusts of air from her long wings deliberately sending paperwork flying from the desks and shelves that lined the office chamber. That would teach the little Zyg squeak to stand in her way on official Ranger business.
Looking back over her shoulder she saw the funny little Darter scribe scrabble through the doorway before joining her in the air as she left the Academy and joined the airborne traffic in the Great Atrium. Smiling to herself she stretched her wings to their full extent, knowing that the light sparkling through the centre of the tree would outline their shape admirably. She might not entirely understand why male Jraconi liked how she looked, but she was learning how to make the most of it.