“Figured you’d be out here.”

Finlay didn’t respond, caught up in his absent-minded watching of the ocean. He was sitting on a wall that ran along the coastline as the high tide lapped at rocks below. Giant turbines caught the wind in the distance but otherwise, the water was clear and shimmered under the early morning light. The girl punished his lack of acknowledgement by placing a cold can of ice tea on his head, causing him to jerk to life as he struggled to catch it.

“I bring your favourite tea at stupid’oclock in the morning and you can’t even give me a smile,” she shoved him as she dropped to his side before snapping open her own can.

He gave her a wry smile before turning back to look at the water, “Sorry, just…”

“I know.”

There was a pause but after a moment he continued, “I dreamt about her last night."

The girl didn’t look at him but joined his gaze over the water while trying to drink her tea under the duress of the wind that was determined to blow her long hair into her face. She was losing the battle.

“It wasn’t of anything real, we were having a birthday party, it was nice,” he snapped open his can and took a long drink, “Yeah okay, I really needed that, thanks.”

She smiled but didn’t look around.

“You, me, da—”

“I was there? I’m touched," she responded for the first time.

“I’ll remember to actively not dream about you in future.”

She laughed and slid forward, letting her legs dangle over the edge of the wall and kicked her feet as if tempting the water below to try and catch them.

“Anyway, we were all watching her blow out candles on the cake, it was happy, fun, but then…”

He looked down, unable to finish the thought. Minutes passed but the girl never felt the need to interrupt or break the silence as the wind and waves were the only thing keeping it at bay. He tried to find the words but was struggling and with every moment passing it only seemed harder.

“Then," he finally forced it out, "there was darkness, and we were attacked… It wasn’t just her. All of you got taken and I was suddenly alone.”

“Hey, trauma’s a bitch,” the girl declared with a salute and an overly dramatic drink.

He snorted a small laugh and turned to her. “Not the reaction I was expecting. I was kind of hoping after nearly a decade, I’d be getting over said trauma.”

“You’re more over it than you realise, and it’s her birthday today, so no surprise she’d be on your mind, or… dreams.”

“I still wish it didn’t affect me this much,” he sighed and lay back to stare at the sky.

It was a clear morning, though not yet very bright as it was still early. The wall they sat upon was cool from the previous night which was refreshing as even at this time it was already warm. The wall was old but now reinforced with modern structures and a path extended out of it to create a route that was popular for walkers and runners alike. It wouldn’t be long before the early risers would start to show and they’d have people dancing around them with frustrated huffs and grumbles about them being in the way.

“Keira…” He hesitated, “I don’t think I can remember what she really looked like anymore.” His voice was quiet, sad and slow as though each word was a burden to speak.

“Finn…” She responded the same way, “I don’t think I can remember what my brother looks like and I saw him last night.”

Another laugh escaped his lips as Keira dropped down, lying alongside him with her head propped up on one arm and the can of tea dangling in the other.

“Seriously," she continued, "you can’t beat yourself up. It’s been nine years and you were only eight when it happened. You’ve been apart longer than you knew her. It’s not surprising if your memory is a little vague.”

“I guess, but even in the dream, I knew it was her but I couldn’t really see her face, I couldn’t tell you what she looked like.”

“If I weren’t sitting, well lying beside you, you probably couldn’t tell me what I looked like.”

“I definitely could.”

“She’s got long black hair and um…” She trailed off and started waving the tea in the air with an exaggerated expression as if searching for words.

“And you have brown eyes and yo—”

“Hah! See, can’t even get that right.”

“What?” He sat up and moved to look at her.

“My eyes are hazel, I’d accept amber or even gold if you were being poetic but not brown.”

“You’re being pedantic.”

“There’s like five eye colours, of course I am.”

He rolled his eyes and dropped back down again. She laughed but was halted by the wind that once again picked up its attempts at smothering her with her own hair.

“My point,” she continued after giving up the war with an exasperated shake of her hands, “Is that even if you could remember these little details, it doesn’t matter. What matters is you loved her and miss her. You have nothing to feel guilty over.”

“Thanks, and… I guess you’re right.”

“I usually am," she said with an unapologetic grin. “Now come on."

She stood up, brushing herself off before bending to pick up her can. “All this talk of cake has made me want some and hair-flavoured tea isn’t cutting it.”

“I mentioned cake once and isn’t it a bit early?”

“Never too early for cake, and it’s your treat seeing as I got the tea.”

Finlay groaned as he stood and stretched. The wind was picking up and the waves followed as they lashed the rocks with enough force to throw a salty spray over them. He found it refreshing against his muddled mind. He couldn't help but think that through all these years he had missed something, forgotten something important but he knew she was right, he shouldn't feel guilty. He turned to her but she had already become distracted by some birds that had perched near them and seemed to be squabbling in the way that birds do.

“They're probably angry at you for taking their seat."

"They're cute."

"I thought you wanted cake."

That was enough, she spun with a beaming grin and strode past him. He couldn't help but smile as he followed and the two went down the path to move away from the coast, back to the village they lived in.

*****

“I’m disappointed in your choice of cake locations,” Keira complained as she waved her spoon towards Finlay from the opposite side of their table.

“Not a lot of choice this time of the morning.”

“Morning cake needs to be a thing.”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Normal people don’t like having a sugar crash when they start work.”

“You know how to fix a sugar crash?”

“More cake?”

“Exactly,” her smug smile soon faded as she took another spoonful of the disappointingly dry lemon sponge cake she had ordered.

The cafe was quiet with only a few people passing through to pick up a tea and breakfast to go. They had been ‘people watching’ out of a large window where their table sat. When the overly friendly waitress asked if they were celebrating something, Keira had explained in great detail that they had been on an arduous adventure, travelling for days through mountains and wilderness and now required the very best cake in the village as a reward.

“It has to be old, like they just hadn’t gotten around to throwing it out or something.” She was still complaining.

“Have you finished your application yet?” Finlay interrupted her rambling.

“No.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know what to say.”

Finlay choked on a laugh.

She rolled her eyes, “I’m serious.”

“What part are you stuck on?”

She looked back out the window, still flicking the spoon around in one hand. The street outside had started to become busier and opposite the cafe, there were a couple of men arguing about something blocking an alleyway.

“Just like the birds,” she mumbled in a monotone voice.

“Don’t change the subject.”

She sighed and turned back to face him. “Don’t take this the wrong way, I don’t mean to be insensitive, especially today.” She stabbed the cake with her spoon in a somewhat vengeful manner. “It’s different for you… When they ask why you want to join, you have a very specific example and reason to give, you’ve been preparing for this for nearly a decade. I don’t.”

“No traumatic backstory to call your own?”

She glared at him and took another begrudging mouthful before continuing. “It’s not like I can say, hey, I’m joining the guild because otherwise, my broke ass isn’t getting out of poverty.”

“That’s not the only reason you want to go, right?”

“Well no, but I’m not sure… You guys are kind of sucking at the whole world-saving thing so I figured I should help, would be much better.”

Finlay laughed, though her despondent look made him stop so instead he stole her spoon that she had tossed on the table and took a bite out of her cake.

“You’re right, it’s pretty awful.”

“When did I say you could have a bite of my awful cake?”

He placed the spoon down and sat back, crossing his arms. “If you word it like that then sure, it sounds bad but the intention behind it is exactly what they’re looking for.”

“I just feel like I need some other specific reason than, I want to help. That’s no different from the hundreds of other applicants and you know how selective the scholarships are with us poor folk.”

“I don’t think it’s that bad.”

“The upper classes in the city have priority, sure, they still accept us because they need the numbers but we’re looked at like low-rank fodder more than future saviours of the world.”

“You’re being too pessimistic, the whole point of the scholarship is to help us poor folk as you say.”

“Yeah, but that’s my point, that’s for the small minority of us that are exceptional to them. Like you and your trauma,” she grinned at him. “You can tell them you’ve been preparing for this since you were 8 years old, I’m just me, nothing special, no real selling points, just the same as every other average applicant.”

Her grin had faded as she spoke and by the end, her words were trailing and almost mournful. Finlay watched as she picked her spoon up and started to twirl it around her fingers. He tried to find the right thing to say but there was a lot of truth to her words.

The order prioritised the upper classes and the people in the inner city. Too many people had tried to use the guild for their own gain and left, most only doing so to die after. The people in the city underwent training from a young age and had long-standing family connections with the guild that gave countless advantages. Only a small portion of people in the outer ring got accepted and received scholarships.

“You're too awesome to not get accepted,” It wasn’t much reassurance but the best he could think of and it was true in his mind. “I’m sure they'll see it as well. Though maybe let me read your application before you send it.”

“You think I’m going to give in to frustration and tell them how idiotic they’d be to not accept me?”

“Mostly yes, or that you’ll find out who’s on the selection committee and start sending personal insults and threats.”

“I never considered that, maybe I could find a way to bribe them.”

“With lemon sponge cake?”

“I said bribe not poison.”

The argument between the two men outside had developed and now a small group of people huddled around having a heated discussion over whatever it was that was causing the problem. The villages surrounding the city were a strange accumulation of cultures and people as refugees over the years had built them. The combination of this and the lack of any real planning meant many of the streets sort of ended, and unless you knew where you were going it could be quite maze-like. Finlay found himself laughing at the dissonance.

“What?” Keira asked as she started to examine her spoon.

“So many people are just living normal lives like none of this is happening around them, even when their families have come from horrible places. Just kind of funny.”

“You say that like you’re off fighting demons and not just sitting in a cafe having breakfast and cake with a beautiful girl.”

“Beautiful girl?” He smirked.

“You’d deny me that simple fact when I’ve just confessed my feelings of inadequacy?” The spoon was being waved menacingly towards him as she spoke.

“No, no one would deny that—and I guess you’re right, I shouldn’t judge them, I’m probably just jealous.”

“Definitely jealous. And a little too straightforward sometimes,” she had blushed at his unexpected frankness.

“Why are you staring at your spoon so intently?” She had gone from examining the spoon to peering at it from various angles as though it might come to life.

“You desecrated it with your germs and I’m trying to decide if it’s still safe to use.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“I’m already taking a major health risk with this abomination of a cake, I don’t want to add any more risk to myself.”

“Is… Everything okay?” A small voice came from over her shoulder.

The overly friendly waitress had appeared behind Keira and heard everything she had said. Finlay failed to stifle his laughter and tried to cover it by turning to the window, shielding his face with his arm. Keira paled as though embarrassment had sucked the life from her. She turned to face the waitress in a sudden snap as her body stiffened upright.

“Yes, everything’s fine, I was just messing with my friend, nothing to worry about.” She said far too fast to be natural.

The waitress smiled and nodded before turning to go back to her counter. Finlay couldn’t hold back and burst out in laughter. He turned to Keira as she promptly threw her spoon at his head with the coldest glare she could muster.

*****

“You could have just told her the cake sucked.”

“I might have in an appropriate manner had I not declared it an abomination and then pretended like it was all okay out of embarrassment.”

She had again reassured the waitress that everything was great when they went to pay and were now walking back to Finlay’s house. The street was a wide walkway made from paving bricks that held a tinge of blue. Combined with the sandstone buildings and frequent summer blooming trees and plants, it was a beautiful village under the now very bright blue sky.

The coastal wind had picked up but the shape and structure of the village blocked most of its strength allowing the walk to be comfortable. It was idyllic and peaceful as the people who moved around from shops or houses to work seemed happy. The village lay on the southern side of the city and was the closest housing network to the coast though they were far enough from the docks that the smell of fish wasn’t ever present. Everyone referred to the surrounding areas of the city as villages, but by now they had grown very large.

The city of Aberana could still be seen as the tallest buildings were far larger than any other within the surrounding villages. There was a looming presence to the city as it contained three very tall structures made from a black stone of origins no one knew. They contrasted with the vibrant, bright buildings that surrounded them so much that they felt both unnatural and out of place.

“I’m going to the mountains, to the mine tomorrow," Finlay said as they turned the last corner leading towards his house.

“Off to see pops?”

“Yeah, he’s still scheduled to be out there for another month and a half but he took a couple of days off so I could see him, we arranged it all a week ago.”

“He’s never the same this time of year, you want some company?”

“Sounds good if you feel like you can escape for a few days.”

“I’ll run away, no big deal,” she grinned at him.

“Make sure to check your bike when you get home. It’s a six-hour ride, don’t want any breakdowns halfway up the mountain.”

“Hah, like mine has the reliability issues.”

“I've just upgraded the suspension, it rides great now.”

“Until the next part you decide to experiment with goes wrong.”

He turned away from her, ignoring the comment. “I’ll make some lunch for us, so don’t worry about that.”

“Picnic in the mountains, how nice. I’ll grab something on my way over for breakfast.”

“Sounds good. You coming in?”

“No, got to go do the babysitting thing. Be the responsible big sister, at least before running away tomorrow.”

“Is that why you want to come? To escape from your duties.”

“The thought never crossed my mind.” She grinned and skipped forward.

As they reached the front of his house, Keira turned to wave goodbye before continuing along the street towards her own. It wasn’t a big house, enough for him and his father who was often away for months at a time to work at the mining station. But, it was comfortable and though it took a long time, it now felt like home for both of them. At the back of the house was his room, again small but more than big enough for his needs. The window was open to let the breeze in as it was already becoming too hot. He had kicked off his shoes when he got into the house and was questioning whether to jump onto his bed or be productive. His desk called louder than laziness and after he sat down he flicked through his application and considered what he and Keira had talked about.

“I don’t know what I’d do if we didn’t both get in.”