Chapter 3

"Are you good at helping others maintain their image or keeping secrets?" Eirwan then asked. He needed to get a better understanding of who the woman was before he made the decision. So far she seemed like the most likely candidate to go with as she seemed to be the least difficult of the ones Alfred had brought.

Partly though, he wanted to go with her because he knew that if he rejected this one as well that Alfred would just considering searching until Eirwin made a decision. The next candidates might not be as well tolerable as this one was.

"I'm not sure what you mean by image maintenance, but I'm good at keeping secrets. Unless there's a really good reason to, I won't let any secret anyone tells me slip through my lips."

"What do you consider a 'really good reason' to let out a secret?" Eirwin asked as he messaged on his phone to ask his secretary to bring up his guest some water to drink and tea for himself.

"Usually if the motivation for keeping it secret is for personal benefit or a secret that is kept in order to purposely hurt someone else." She replied.

"Personal matters and stuff I don't think there's really a good reason to tell anyone else about those. I find that people tend to be too nosy about others when it comes to such things." She further explained, wrinkling her nose as she said this. She really couldn't stand nosy people all that much and had met far too many of them over the years.

"I see, that's a good perspective to have." Eirwin replied with a small nod of his head. A knock came at the door before he could ask his next question. Knowing that it was his secretary he told her that it was safer for her to enter.

She came in to set both drinks down, and to remind Eirwin that he had another appointment coming up in half an hour.

"Can you push it back for me by an hour? The interview is going longer then expected and I need more time to get other things ready for that meeting." Eiriwin requested as he look the scheduler on his computer. Today was fairly free which allowed him such flexibility.

"As you wish, is there anything else you need before I leave?" She asked giving Heather a glance she wasn't sur how to read.

"No, that will be all. If I need anything else, I will contact you." Eirwin replied dismissing her and not speaking again until after she had left.

"For the image management- it would be things like making sure that nothing would get out that would damage my professional image. Private matters, certain business deals that might cause a fuss. Things such as that."

"Do you often have to worry about such matters getting out that could affect your image?" Eirwin stopped just when he was going to take sip of his tea when she asked this question. A wry smile appeared on his face.

"I'm surprised that you would ask such a heavy question while you're in the middle of an interview." He commented before taking a sip and setting the glass back down.

"I don't mean any offense by it, but I partly would like to know what I might be getting into if I am going to be working with a dragon." Heather replied, defending her reason for asking the question rather than offering an apology for it.

"Touché. However, that isn't something that I am willing to speak about until I know for sure whether or not you're qualified to be my assistant. Without contract, you could go out and say whatever you wanted right now as retaliation for not giving you the job if I determine that you're not fit for the position."

"I wouldn't be mean enough to do that unless you were rude to me." She retorted, feeling offended by the accusation.

"Ah, but I don't know what you would consider rude." Eirwin pointed out. She was a person of interest to him, but need more time to assess her.

"I'll be honest though and say compared to others that have come through, I have less reasons to consider rejecting you for this position." He told watching her expression when he said this.

"However, since I can't yet make a decision whether I want to give you the job. I think a trial period would be in order. Say, two weeks to find out if you're good for the position or not."

"Really?" Heather asked in slight disbelief. Was this majestic creature in front of her really going to give her a chance after asking just a few questions.

"It might sound good, but I can assure that it won't be easy. There will be a variety of things that I need you for. Some of which will be outside of normal work hours and require you to come at a moment's notice to assist with." Eirwin explained.

"Which is why I work more with flexible hours rather than a strict schedule. I will of course send you a mock contract to sign say tomorrow or the next day ahead of you accepting the position so you can't come back later and say that you didn't know what you were getting into."

"I think I can handle it. I have worked a lot of odd hours of the years in my life. I don't think this type of position could be much worse than that." Heather replied, trying to contain her excitement. Even if it wasn't a job that was fully guaranteed yet, it was start and she would get to work with this Ice Dragon for a small period of time. Eirwin had a small smirk on his face as he reached out to shake hands with the other.

"Very well. I will be in touch with you shortly then to finish ironing out the small details and follow up with you tomorrow." In her somewhat eager excitement about the current prospect, Heather bumped the glass of water as she reached out her right hand to shake the other's causing it to falter and slosh some water out. Eirwin didn't get a chance to react as a splash of water hit his hand nor did he manage to contain the curse that escaped his mouth as a puff of cold smoke engulfed the room.