The Sixth Line of Defense

by Shiva Winters

Chapter Three: The First rays of Sunlight

  "Vala?" Cami called lightly tapping on one of the many dozens of doors in that oversized hallway on the 10th floor inside the largest dormitory on campus. While it had been impressive from the outside, being huge, well built, and with somewhat charming architectural features, the oversized lobby that also doubled as a public gathering area had been packed with strangers and no few of them had been staring. That coupled with the sheer number of people that could logically be held in a place as large as that one seemed to be from the outside, really made Shiva question the wisdom of placing her there. This doubt was reinforced by the large mixture of girls lingering in the nearby doorways or in the hallway close by looking with interest at Shiva. It felt almost as if they were trying to decide that she was fresh meat or a new student, Shiva couldn't be sure which. It wasn't so late that people weren't awake and moving about, but it was probably close to curfew or lights out, or whatever it was called there. Shiva turned about to match those watching eyes, feeling just a little bit defensive and wondering if this was such a good idea after all as her dark gaze sent no few of them into retreat. There was a soft reply from the far side of the door and Cami was quick to lead her inside.

  Whatever Shiva had been expecting from the rooms what she found she left her pleasantly surprised by both the size and overall quality of the space and furniture. It was clean, warmly decorated, and looked very much comfortable with two huge windows looking out over the park like landscape below. Whatever Shiva had been expecting from this 'first choice' in room mates, Vala most certainly did not match up with her expectations. The girl sprawled across one of the two beds was perhaps a year or two older than her, and if Shiva was being honest she looked like a goddess. Dressed in a bare minimum of clothing, Shiva's ability to speak was instantly compromised by the sight of her. Even though she was more or less covered, her dark blue-black hair, amazing sapphire eyes, long limbs and lightly tanned skin made her perfect body all the more appealing. Her men's boxer shorts and tight fitting t-shirt made her seemed very casual and relaxed, and the smile she gave them was more than enough to make Shiva feel awkward and uncomfortable, very much aware of the other girl's presence and her great beauty. What made an already awkward situation entirely worse was there wasn't even a flicker from her senses and instincts that might let her believe that this girl was hiding one of those horrible vicious kinds of personalities that would have made it easier for Shiva to dislike her or ignore that instant surge of attraction stirred up within her.

  "Shiva, this is Vala." Cami stated with something akin to laughter in her voice as if only too aware of how Shiva had reacted to the sight of a near naked young woman, as her fingers jerked within Cami's hand at that first appealling sight. "Tida never gave me a straight answer, so I am going to go talk to her for a minute or two." These words were almost enough to make Shiva cling to the older woman's hand, certain she wasn't at all prepared to be left alone with this beautiful stranger. As Cami slipped away it seemed somewhat obvious that her motivations weren't entirely what she had stated as she smirked at Shiva's worried gaze following her back through the door. When the door closed firmly behind her Shiva couldn't honestly think of anyway she could have felt more awkward or out of place than she did at that exact second. Trying hard not to meet those amazing sapphire blue eyes watching her or stare blankly at everything that was attached to them, Shiva's gaze wandered over to the opposite side of the room and the other bed. It was covered in a large afghan and nearly overflowing with pillows and stuffed animals with a extra blankets folded up at the foot of it.

  "I wanted a room mate this semester.. but I.. got stuck in here by myself, that seemed like the only thing I could do to keep it from looking empty." Even for Shiva who wasn't fully versed in such things, it wasn't hard to hear a certain level of pain and bitter disappointment in those words. For as much as she might want to understand why that was the case, Shiva didn't feel quite comfortable enough to ask why.

  "I.. might not make the best room mate.." Shiva told her softly, a bit surprised that her voice even worked long enough to get those words out as she nervously crossed the hard wood floor and the large colorful rugs that covered large portions of it to settle uncomfortably in one of the waiting chairs beneath one of the windows.

  "Maybe." Was agreed between them quickly. "You might not like living with me, but.." Vala murmured back to her with a smile that Shiva couldn't help but catch as that soft warm voice drew her attention before she again forced herself to look the other way. ".. I know I would very much like it if I had someone around to talk to at this time of night." She added as she slipped up from her bed and moved to sit in the chair next to hers. With a slow movement she reached over to cover Shiva's hand with her own, for her part Shiva couldn't stop herself from staring at those perfect delicate fingers covering her own marveling at both the warmth of that touch and that odd almost tingling sensation passed between them. Shiva was only intensely aware of how close they were actually sitting, her mind locked onto the fact that their hands were touching, and her brain working furiously to find some flaw, some hint of something wrong that might let her write this girl off or reject her from her life.

  "Most.. room mates.. probably aren't as dangerous as I can be." Shiva told her feeling even more awkward as that magnetic presence grew even closer making it far harder to ignore. In all truth Shiva knew herself to be plagued with any number and manner of trust issues when it came to dealing with people and even more so when those people were strangers. But as she sat there only too intensely aware of this other girl she could feel even stronger instincts trying to draw her even closer to this beautiful figure. For all that she might have dreamed of a life on the outside as a child and wished for things to be different during the past two years, almost never had she put any kind of actual thought into an intimate relationship much less a close friendship with anyone. But for the very first time in her life she found herself wondering if such a thing was possible for her and if it was she wanted it to be a possibility with this person and she could not comprehend why she felt this way.

  "I was hoping I could ask you about that, Cami was pretty evasive about your nightmares and not touching you." She murmured in a soft sweet voice as she leaned in just a little closer making her just that much harder to ignore.

  "I see something out of the corner of my eye.. or someone does something I don't expect.. and I react out of instinct. If I am distracted, or not quite awake, I could really hurt someone." Shiva told her feeling truly uncomfortable by that point, Vala made a soft noise and rubbed her arm encouragingly.

  "Well, that makes more sense now." Vala agreed softly and for a long time there was silence. "Most of the other girls don't really like me.."

  "Why?" Shiva's surprise was hard to contain and her disbelief was more than enough to snap her eyes up to meet those watching blue eyes. Her attraction to this mysterious person was quite intense and she couldn't quite understand why she wasn't the most popular girl in the school.

  "Some of them found out last year that I am an empath.." Vala informed her and it was only too easy for Shiva to see that Vala expected an unpleasant sort of reaction from Shiva at those words. ".. so they decided that I somehow couldn't be trusted." Finding that sort of attitude extremely unfair, and completely without sense, Shiva was given just a little insight into that sadness that she had glimpsed before. "You might not want to live with me.. if you act too friendly towards me, some of them might decide to treat you the same way."

  "Would you really want to live with someone who could break your arm by accident?" Shiva asked back, worried that she hadn't made herself clear about the kind the threat she could represent.

  "Shiva, I grew up with two older brothers.. I am tough girl." Vala told her with a warm luminous smile. "Besides, I can sense that you don't want to hurt me.. in fact you are scared that you might." She added with soft tender words as she squeezed Shiva's
hand.

  "Yes.." Shiva agreed reluctantly.

  "Would it bother you, that I will be able to know what you are feeling almost all the time?" She asked in the next heartbeat, Shiva really didn't even have think about her answer.

  "No." Shiva whispered back to her. "Maybe.. it will help you know.. when.."

  "I am certain it will." Vala interjected gently.

  "There would be some things that I won't be able to talk about." Shiva told her quickly trying to avoid the awkward questions that might come later.

  "I think I could tell that.." Vala giggled back to her as she leaned still closer to rub Shiva's back, easing away some of the tense muscles and found it really hard to find that touch objectionable. When there came another tap at the door, Cami's return felt almost unwelcome. But Shiva couldn't quite bring herself to tell the older woman 'no' as she was told that there were a few other girls to meet before she could render her final decision.