That night...
Guiding Stars walked down the corridor toward what she hoped was the room that the Godfather's project was kept in. The white case was tucked in a pouch at her waist, wrapped in cloth and with a few scrolls over it. In her hands she carried a tray with some random objects that she hoped might pass for something used in a psychology test, because that was going to be her excuse for a visit.
Guiding heard a laugh as she approached the last intersection, turning the corner and nearly walking into a table. There were two guards sitting at the table, laughing over some joke. One, a rather
slightly-built ibex was leaning back with his iron-shod hooves pushed against the wall as he tipped his chair back on two legs. The other was a solid wall vaguely resembling a ram, hunched over a large mug. Both were armed and armored, the ram with a hammer the size of Guiding Stars' torso and the ibex with a sword/dagger combo, the sword strapped to his back and the dagger at his waist. Beyond them, Nelew's room was at the end of the very long hallway. The doors and rooms leading off the hall were all sealed with concrete slabs, and, since Nelew had moved in, the door to her room had been replaced with a solid iron one with nearly a dozen heavy locks.
The guards stopped laughing when they saw Guiding Stars. She was nearly scared out of her skin, but managed to keep herself together. The ibex's nose twitched and he smiled.
"Hello, there," he said, drawing the words out and smoothing his tone, dropping his chair back to all fours. "I haven't seen you around here before..."
The ram narrowed his eyes at Guiding, his eyes dropping from her face to her chest. "She's with the laboratory, you
kek'thra," he growled at the ibex, nodding toward Guiding. She reminded herself to start breathing again as she remembered that she had worn her lab robes, which had the logo of her team over the left breast. "She probably has business with
her." The ram jerked his head toward the door down the hall. He looked back at Guiding, his eyes still studying her and noting the objects on the tray. "They usually bring her to the labs for tests, though. And I haven't heard anything about anything going on this late."
Guiding didn't know what to say. The ram was surprisingly observant, though she wondered why she thought a guard wouldn't be. That was his job, wasn't it? To notice suspicious things? She tried to remember what she had planned as her excuse, but the ibex saved her the trouble.
He glanced at the ram, his smile taking on a darker tone as his eyes frowned. "From the labs, huh?" He also looked at the logo, but Guiding didn't think that was all he was looking at, unlike the ram. "That'd be why you're so...nervous, eh?" he said, his voice losing a little of the smooth quality. "Hey, you know why we're posted here? We're not keeping her safe. We're not even keeping her
in. We're keeping whatever poor wool-brain wants to try gettin' in there to kill or kidnap her from being volunteered to repaint the place." He barked a laugh. "The one in there, she likes bright red. But her paint keeps turning brown, you know?" He laughed harder as Guiding's ears folded back and her tail tucked down.
"Don't pounce the cub*, she's frightened enough already," the ram glared. He looked back at Guiding and sighed. "Follow me."
Guiding Stars couldn't believe it. The ibex had given her a reason to play being scared to cover for her fear of being discovered. It was hard to lie to people who could smell what you were feeling, and she probably reeked at this point, but thanks to him she hadn't had to say a word! At this point she didn't trust herself to say anything without giving herself away and now she didn't have to.
The ram led her down the hallway while the ibex stayed at the table. "You have five minutes. I'll check on you then," said the ram as he began undoing the locks. He glanced over his shoulder at her and then looked back down as he undid the last lock. "You understand that if you get into trouble, you're on your own. We can't do anything for you and our orders are to keep the door closed. If anything happens, we sound the alarm, but that's it."
Okay, NOW she was scared. What was she doing? But...
She closed her eyes and nodded, and the ram rapped his knuckles on the door.
There was a heavier knock from inside the door and Guiding wondered if there was a third guard inside. She was even more surprised to hear a number of locks being opened on the other side. The door's well-oiled hinges squeaked softly as the iron swung inward.
Inward? Every safe door and blast door Guiding had seen in the lab had opened outward. Why did this open in?
She reminded herself to breathe again before slowly walking to the doorway. There was no light in the room, but she could see a bare concrete floor and an outline of a desk and chair against the wall opposite the door. The ram had stepped to one side as the door opened, he leaned forward to see inside. "Nelew, please turn on the lights."
The room lit up and the ram nudged Guiding Stars through the door. "Five minutes," he said. He backed up and the door swung shut with a clang.
((
"Don't pounce the cub": A figure of speech similar to telling someone to "lay off". Sometimes one animal cub (usually of one of the predatory species) would stalk and pounce a sibling. This is a means of practice for hunting and taking down prey. Among Kohanians, one person picking on another could be seen as something similar in form (if not intent, since cubs aren't usually malicious) and so it became a figure of speech.))