(It's) Always There
Copyright© 2026 by Daniel Tors
Chapter 20
[JINGLE, jangle]
Visuals adjusting to the lack of sun, Navy saw a different man at the front desk, alerted with reluctance from what he read by the door’s swinging bell. The sandstone and white colored Singapura cat, figure slender, blared his large eyes at them, feline pupils slit paper-thin. As Case entered, the clerk pronounced, “Can I help you?” phrase common but its sound hostile.
This was her plan, so it was her to reply. “No, I don’t think so, we’re here to browse. Or, actually ... Y-yes; I’d like to know how to check out books.”
Distaste in his mouth was put forward, unveiled. “Just because you’re allowed to be here doesn’t mean you’re welcome. These books are irreplaceable, other people will read them, you two won’t be the only ones in here, and I’m within my rights to detain problem-causers. Please... comport yourselves with that in mind.” He stopped viewing them as though it was a pleasure. “You want one, I write it down here, we decide a time, and you come back before then.”
Ex-ACTLY what she needed right then. That was so putting things in her favor.
“Prick,” the wolf insulted – she was going to head them off but ... he wasn’t wrong. Lucky them, all the librarian did in kind was flick his hand, in so short a way telling them once more to piss off. SO, she grabbed Case’s wrist and pulled him along until they walked together normally, Navy’s first intent at that point to go however far away from that guy as they could, regardless of what section they ended in. Actually to her benefit (praise be), between rows of bookshelves in the carved-out home showed no other patrons, not even obscured by boxes laid and stacked mostly neat all over the carpet ... or they could be, just not seemingly. Minus that interaction, and that it was public but supposed to be quiet, and it being stuffy and dusty, and her ideas for what to do on a date ending, hm, here, and ... other downsides ... yeah besides those it was great. There was ... atmosphere.
Once they reached the building’s rearmost point, he asked in their corner of books, “What’d you have in mind?”
Justify it justify it justify it. “ ... I don’t know.” That didn’t count. Rightfully, he wasn’t sure where to take that response. Explain, perhaps? “You let me pick but I couldn’t come up with, like, anything, so I don’t...” Do what people do in libraries. “How ... about we pick a few that interest us then meet up,” Navy searched for an appropriate rendezvous, “over there? The table with the...”
“ ... Chairs?”
That was the one. Hopefully by saying that Case was trying to differentiate the two places Navy could be referencing, and didn’t accurately suspect her of forgetting such a word, even if briefly and under pressures she wasn’t usually. “Yep.” Glancing at the genre signs, Navy spotted “Ancient History”, so informed him, “I’ll go this way...?” as a question ... for some reason.
He gave an agreeable, casual nod, hunching to spy the titles further away from them ... and Navy did say she’d get going, so best do that sooner than later – like immediately. Some short distance away, she turrrr – yep right aisle – she turned into and went a bit down the lane, him passing to someplace he’d picked a few moments later.
So on the shelves were tags fo–
No.
So on–
No.
Walk forward. Look. So on the–
No.
Tags on the shelves; pre-history and early man shared a spot and often books, then ancient empires, then later BC societies, Rome, Greek culture, whatnot ... early-ish AD now there were titles about Sasanians and the Umayyad Caliphate ... and about three-fourths down the section reached its most recent eras, line drawn at the Byzantine Empire. Someone that wasn’t her could argue about that split between ancient and ... whatever hung over their other section(s). Rough timeline order was good enough as a method to sort and plenty easy to search through.
Earlier was her fancy at that time. First order of business was to see if they sorted by fiction/non-fiction or if it was jumbled all together. Second was to...
She’d be reading this in front of Case. There’d be questions for what it was about, the structure, the portrayal, her knowledge on the subject, if it was interesting, if Navy was enjoying it, the history around it, if he should read it. They were on their first date. He asked what she wanted to do, and she picked this (and she picked this).
...
It was her–
No.
Thi–
No.
Shut. up.
...
...
...
Their proposed activity was to take a walk, pick a few things, and come back. That was the plan. The tiger had suggested to do that.
In a library, early in the morning, on a date with Case, Navy found the ambience – the sensation it gave her mind and body ... Redundant; feeling is the mind’s job. Point was, such a predicament had its very own appreciable senses. Relaxation. Quiet. An occasional shuffle of a patron or the desk clerk ... covers opened ... pages flipped ... swish of dress on her thighs ... Someone cleared their throat ... Slim skylights, cut-out for this very purpose, soothed warm light ... Dust was common enough to mark any touch, and the building’s interior was ordered by a careful hand. Then, Navy searched, interested yet drawling, for something she would like to read.
[Tuk]
?!
... Oh. Case scrutinized over her crouched form, having knocked the wood to get her attention. Navy’s, “Hi?” showed even through her smile how much that startled her, off-balance careen to the side fixed as she went for the book-spine on examination, primary expectations not taken from his response.
“Been taking your time.”
Can’t have... “How long?” she inquired, confused yet understanding the answer to come.
“Less than an hour – total. I sat at the table for about half that; not an issue, by the way, just a fact.” He seemed to think that genuinely. “So ... thought I’d see what you’re doing.”
Including the last of her picks, Navy stood with her stack of books, including also a sorry feeling to her words as a compromise for omitting the apology he... probably didn’t want. “Time slipped a bit. Let’s go, then – I was pretty much done, anyhow.”
Indifferent, he said, “Okay.” Not so indifferent, he pondered, “Curious what you’ve got.”
... Cue. That was a cue to show him. “Sure, I uh ... I didn’t go past my usual deals. Found one on the Archean Eon that reads kind of dry but it’s about the first life on Earth and how that happened, which is cool – so are the names; Eoarchean, Paleoarchean, Mesoarchean, Neoarchean, and those cover one-and-a-half billion years put together ... And what– Right, history of Babylon told in a fictiony kind of way, the history of the Mongol Empire which is more non-fiction ... then something ... about a guy who’s best friend’s with a squid that ... talks? I’m not ... sure...”
Why did he have that.
... Finish the joke first, then do it delicately.
“They might be more than friends, so it could be porn. What’d you get?”
Shit joke; worse delivery; as deserved it flew by without him caring and now he would talk.
“Same as you, seems like. Porn.”
Funny. Why did he have Sommerset.
Bit dropped, he explained for real, “And this comes highly recommended.”
The cause wasn’t a mystery. How does she tell him? Well, how does she tell him what, exactly? Case would read it because she’d done things to imply that would be thoughtful, and it would be. He could read it and that would be okay. She had not. She would not.
His lips moved, and they would speak, so Navy stopped him. “SORry, I was...” A library-appropriate volume returned. “Could you not tell me anything? I mean about Sommerset.”
Caught off guard, he faltered, “ ... Because?”
... On Navy’s mind came a response; on Navy’s mind came another, and explanations with them. The wolf was not in her head. That novel would stay unread. Reason of some kind, of a convincing kind, with base in her real thoughts, had to be given. More time had passed than in a normal conversation – she was thinking to the extent that he must have caught on. And maybe he was curious. Their date, as Navy envisioned it in those sparse minutes before deciding, and as she assumed Case wanted also, involved them talking. Ideas and feelings could be spoken of, from her and him, then ... that ... would be that. They would be said. The other would know. Case would know.
“ ... It was my parents’ favorite,” and she couldn’t say any more.
The tiger’s rationale hadn’t been conveyed. He didn’t understand, so he replied, “Alright ... If that’s what you want.”
...
Or he could. Foremost, like, logistically Case might understand what she’s talking about so there’s not a reason to avoid it in conversation – had she done something that would imply further context? Did it get across when that happened? Memory wasn’t serving well ... As her uh, main ... conceptual thing, they were both adults engaged in a dialogue as it were, resulting in whether he understood before being irrelevant. The purpose of conversing was to convey ideas and thoughts the listener wasn’t privy to, and Case was old enough to ... That sounded condescending ... Case was also capable of handling tough things just like she was ... suggesting Navy believed he wasn’t at any point; like, c’mon, did it require saying that he wasn’t dumb or childish? Case was older. than. her ... However, family and relationships and past-stuff wasn’t a fun light topic for a library date. Whatever! Whatever? Their time with each other wasn’t, “Whatever bro, who cares?” This was serious; they were serious. So ... good plan or not? Subjects weren’t springing to the forefront, or anyth–
“Should we go sit?”
... Yeah, um ... Think on the way there. “Yep. Lead the way.”
Sooooooo...
Navy wet her lips and quietly popped them while following. “[bop bup-bup-bup, bopbopbepbop, bop... ][ah-hem][pop-pop, bipbipbip]” Okay stop.
Little short path to there aaaaand ... they slid onto their chairs, chosen books stacked between. The small square table was under a section for aerospace mathematics and their practical applications yeah whatever, boring. Not actually, that was pretty interesting. She’s no engineer, but the graphs were...
Leading, the tiger hypothesized (low-volume, respectful, not wanting to get in trouble), “If it’s not all hot ‘n steamy, what’d you get really?”
One was retrieved for display as he premised, “Only two more ‘cause ... how long’s it take to read a whole book?” Rhetorical; not supposed to be answered. Propped for her viewing, title “Safety Drift”, more specifics were given. “Flipped ahead and read some of this one in the aisle; couple European guys do backroad ... rallying, I think they call it, and they eventually do real events. Mostly I thought the racing and the cars were interesting. Couldn’t tell you how much of it’s fiction, but it reads good.”
“Cool, cool. Next one?” Navy picked at her thumb.
“Sure.” The other was retrieved and held so its name could be recalled, then read aloud. “Principles of Home Ventilation and Temperature Control by Hugo Starch. My math’s crap, apparently graded eight out of twelve, last I was told, meaning I don’t get any of these architect equations and parabolas or whatever. Did I say that right? Pair-ah-bole-ah?”
A grin escaped, but it wasn’t mean. “Close enough. I say ‘puh-rab-uhla’ – parabola. Got that from a definition guide so I think it’s more, um, accurate. And I don’t want to be too correct-y, ‘cause, I mean, I still understood what you meant, but I’m guessing someone was telling you you are ... yur...” Mm. “They were saying you are in eighth grade – for math. It’s tiered by age, not just difficulty ... Past that mathematics isn’t super practical.” Her grin became slightly, jokingly maybe a little mean. “Kinda funny you’re still in middle school.”
“I know how school works, thank you. They didn’t ... They didn’t frame it like that’s what they were saying. Guess I didn’t make the connection. Eight out of twelve ... Think she was making fun of me. Too subtle for me to get, I guess.”
...
Well she could ask. He brought them up.
...
Eyes tracked her gesture to the shelves at their side. “I was just thinking, actually, that these would be interesting because of all the technology and science and diagrams, which it sounds like you ... like also. They’re on flight in and out of the atmosphere. Pret-ty ... interesting.”
... Her eyes tracked only halfway back to the person sitting across.
...
Case said, “I’ll take it back, and I won’t read it, either. I shouldn’t have assumed bringing it here would be acceptable to you.”
Sommerset had become her focus, so she removed from it, instead looking to him. “No, it...”
Righter headspace might’ve guided her ... to a path of some type – of some helpfulness. Wasn’t gonna happen; the spots they sat ensured Navy wouldn’t be capable of a scheme, or a plan, or a cogent sentence possible to use and develop, or anything beyond halfway-legible as a concept. Resulting from this, dug deep from recorded histories labeled, “These Work ... Generally ... Usually,” Navy, with the fiery sensation of making each neuronal connection work one, after the other, after the other ... pulled for use at her behest, “Ask the question politely.”
The wolf awaited, and she most certainly committed. “S-seriously, I don’t think it’s a problem for you to read that. I get the gesture ... at least, I think so. But the ... What I’m...” Give it a moment, find the point, then continue. “ ... When you brought the book over, I was just surprised, is all; me and Sommerset have a kind of weird relationship that I didn’t explain very, uh ... v-very well.” Navy couldn’t pick between her books, his books, him, or nowhere as where to point herself. “Y’know... ‘How do I bring that up? Do I? Why? Would it sour the mood?’ The thing itself isn’t that big a deal. Here, ‘I don’t read Sommerset because it’s how my parents met, it’s still their favorite book, and I like the idea of what’s in it better than what I think it actually will be.’ That’s not a huge ... thing to be weird about. Could’ve told you that; I could say more, just myself or you could ask. I want to. And maybe ... you could tell me about yourself.”
... Her will didn’t hold out. Navy flipped to a page in her book and looked down at the words she had zero intention to read. With a flick of her fingers, she waved it all away. “This ... I-I’m making it a thing. You know now. That was it. G-guess I’m conflicted because ... No. Anyway. That’s it.”
In the same tone as always, Case asked, “ ... Do you want an answer to something?”
“Well that’s...” There was an honest reply in her. Case gave permission. “Is it okay for us to talk? And I-I mean, not about daily normal things. Because ... we still haven’t spoken a lot about...” her laugh was fake, “anything? I don’t know what you like, what you don’t like, what you think of me, what you’re interested in, where you’ve been, what you’ve done, who you know, what you wanted us to do here, what you’re thinking just at, like, any time, and I don’t ... I don’t know you yet.”
Only, she knew he wasn’t certain.
... His reply was delayed. “We can talk about anything. That’s fine with me.”
“ ... Alright.”
Resolution gotten, silence expectedly fell. Case remained out of her view.
But the wolf readjusted, then started, “ ... You said you wanted to talk more about something, earlier. Did you mean Sommerset or your parents?”
Automatic processes filled her response, thankfully in a way she found natural. “Depends on what you ask.”
Some glimmer of a smile fused with his tone, her bearing witness to most of the rare display, “If it’s whatever I want, then...” though his jovial beginning was succeeded by a long, quiet think. “What makes your folks so special?”
... However to, uh ... Lecturing would be excessive, and, actually, there was some direction already implied for Navy, so for that... “Well, I ... You said, ‘Special,’ which is a good word to use, for me. Maybe a lot of parents are like them – I’m not sure; but anyway, mom and dad were always nice, and caring, and tried to make me happy. Before all this they met on the train ride over to college because they were both reading Sommerset, which is sweet, and they got the same degree in electrical engineering, too.”
“Degree...?” Seemingly, Case had encountered that word in the past.
“Oh, it’s a certificate schools made when you finished – like to tell jobs you’re applying for, ‘I am educated and can work.’” Memories slotted into place, and he nodded with understanding. Back on track, “Yeah I didn’t know them, then, obviously. For when I did, they were ... the only people I ever knew, so it’s good they were, y’know, them, and we got along and we could talk and share and do things together; or, a lot of that was with mom, because when I was five dad ... got, uh, killed in a parking garage. I was too young to remember much, but...” Navy tilted her head to mimic the back-and-forth. “They got cornered, they were on a level they couldn’t jump from, dad wanted to distract whoever was after us, mom said no, he did it anyway, and we ... got out okay. I don’t want to make this all a whole ... deal, so I’ll try to keep it quick. Me and mom found the shelter a few months later, she did her best to raise me on her own, then she died also, eight months ago. So ‘special’ is a good word for them ... if that answers your question.”
...”Names?”
“Sure, mum’s ‘December’ and dad’s ‘Hue’. ‘H-U-E’, like ‘shade of a color’ not ‘H-U-G-H’.” Having absorbed too much of the spotlight, Navy wanted to reverse the question. “What about your parents? Do you ... Nah, just, you take it.”
Mild sternness entered his complexion, directed not at her. “They’re shitbags. They traded me for food when I was eleven. Admittedly, I didn’t hear the ‘negotiating’, and they didn’t tell me jack about fuck ever for any reason, so I guess they might’ve stopped the End of Days, or whatever. Best thing they did was cut the foreskin off my dick for some weird religious thing – ‘cause I guess girls aren’t as into how it looks un-trimmed.”
Strange, not what she was expecting, and definitely too inappropriate to discuss in public. “ ... And who’d they leave you with?”
Case ... almost spoke, then restrained. His reply would instead be thoughtful. “Same as you’d expect anywhere. There were still almost ten of them, because it was safer up north, and half of them were scum while the rest were ... fine enough, and they were all competent. I don’t have much to tell you; they trained me, and didn’t get me killed.”
This was the kind of conversation she’d hoped for. It was, and she was listening eagerly. Yet, this perhaps wasn’t the right path. Maybe lighter? “ ... So since we met – sorry, this is kind of off-topic – I sorta assumed you were a wolf. The brow-markings kind of throw me off.” Navy explained, “Are you part Japanese or is that ... another trait from someplace else?”
His posture redirected similar to how their conversation did, abrupt to a stop, then aloof. “Guess nobody told me. There’s different kinds of wolves, as far as I know, and I’m ... one of them. Parents were; I am ... And I was born in Canada. That’s all I’ve got.” Allowance – quietude – for Case to rack around and surface any more info was given, the comeback partly that, and partly another flip of the subject. “I only learned English, if that helps. And from what I do know about accents, and blood, too, I’m guessing your parents weren’t quite the first to come from China.”
Wow, that was ... surprisingly astute! Tigers are prominently from China, and if her parents were the first generation, she’d have an accent, and her last name would be Chinese ... then by ‘quite’ he meant her fur wouldn’t be as orange and stripey if her ancestors came too many generations ago, so ... Wow. “Right. Y-you’d be right. Mum’s grandparents and dad’s dad immigrated when they were adults. I’m surprised you noticed. Not that ... you’re dumb, or ... something.”
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