When we got back Finlo left to go report to Catherine, who had gotten back just before us, and I went with Lu to her room, where she brought me her old armor.

Surprisingly, it was a bit tight, rather than being too big.

“Hold still!” She whined, tugging on the laces to try and tighten it.

“I’m trying.”

She groaned. “If the leather doesn’t overlap you’ll have obvious weak points.”

She pulled tighter until it became hard to breathe. “Lu…” I said softly, running out of air. “Listen, even if we manage to get it on now, won’t I have to do this myself later?”

with a sudden snap, I flew forward, crashing onto the floor of her room.

“Great, I broke the laces!” She groaned again.

I rubbed my head as I turned around, sitting up. “I mean, It still covers most of my body right, Isn’t it fine if my back is showing a little? My heart and lungs are covered.”

She rolled her eyes, offering me a hand up after grabbing a new lace. “Good armor will save your life when “Fine” armor fails.”

I took her hand and stood up, as she helped me out of it so she could mess with it more. “At least that’s what mom says.”

‘Suprisingly practical of her.’

“Look, right here, when you put it on it can’t tighten so there is a gap. Trust me, you don’t want to be walking around a dungeon with an arrow between your shoulder blades.”

I took a deep breath, being more concerned about the bump on my head from hitting the floor a moment ago. “I’m not saying you're wrong, but this is the best armor we have that both fits me and is light enough to still move in.”

She let out an annoyed groan as she finished re-lacing the jerkin. “Just take your shirt off so we can squeeze it on, I bet that would work.”

Getting flashbacks from when I first met Rafi’s mischievous side, I quickly backed away, holding my shirt down. “There’s no way that would be better.”

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She blankly stared at me for a moment. “Arrow, in your back, not a good thing. Being uncomfortable is better than losing blood.”

I let out another sigh. “I mean, that doesn’t sound wrong either, but the whole purpose of me wearing this armor was supposed to be so that I could move easily. If it’s so tight I can’t breathe doesn’t that defeat the whole purpose?” ‘My shirt isn’t that thick anyway…’

“Come on, I have more experience than you so just trust me ok. Besides, your lungs are plenty strong from all that running you do all the time.”

Realizing the only way to get her to drop it was to try it, I did…

With the new lace she pulled from her other set of armor she tightened until the plates overlapped and I felt like my ribs were about to cave in.

“GOT IT!” She cheered, tying the laces in a knot.

“L-u… Can’t”

“What's that?”

“Can’t breathe,” I murmured as my body started to feel limp and tingly.

“You ok?”

“No…” Before long I was lightheaded, and my legs were collapsing underneath me.

She quickly untied the knot and before long the pins and needles went away giving me some feeling back in my limbs.

“Hey, you feeling alright?”

I gave a thumbs up, rolling onto my back and trying not to cough as my diaphragm started to spasm.

“Aghhh…” She kicked her bedframe, moving it slightly across the floor. “It wasn’t supposed to be this hard…”

Laying my head back I could still only guess why she was the one that was so frustrated. “It’s fine. Even if there isn’t enough time to make new armor, I’m sure we could figure out how to add some material to it or something.”

She kicked her bedframe again before stepping up onto the trunk at its foot and plopping down on it. “It’s not that easy, we don’t even have the tools to work with armor like that.”

I let out a sigh as I got up and changed back into my normal clothes. “Isn’t armor like… Really important? How do we not have the tools.”

She picked her legs up and crossed them underneath her. “It’s not THAT important. I mean, most people don’t even use it, so the tools needed for crafting high-quality armor aren’t common. Honestly, that’s probably one of the only high-quality pieces of armor we have. For most people, any normal leather is good enough because our skin is tough anyway.”

She nervously pointed to her forehead, pushing her eyebrows together. “Is your head alright?”

There was a little bump, but I hardly even noticed if I wasn’t rubbing it. “Oh, yeah don’t worry about it.”

Squeezing her shoulder up to her ears, she took a deep breath, trying to relieve some of the tension that had been starting to bubble out. “Sorry… I just wanted to help you out for once but I just made everything worse. I mean, you hit your head and I almost choked you out.”

I laughed at the way she phrased it. It was all technically true, sure, but that was part of why I thought it was funny.

“And… Now you're laughing at me… How come none of this bothers you? I’m sure Airsidh would have yelled at me and walked away the moment he hit his head…”

I waved my hand brushing it off. “Sory, sorry, I’m not laughing at you. I guess it’s just funny that when everyone else says they're helping me they're trying to hurt me. You’re actually trying to help, and end up hurting me by accident.”

“Siya… That sounds more like something to cry about…”

I laid back again, clasping my hands behind my head. “I don't know, maybe… I guess I just learned to appreciate moments like this.”

I looked over at her, burning her confused smile into my memory. I wasn’t fully sure myself why I was so “Weird.” but it’s not like I was ever going to be normal, given all of the circumstances around how I was born and raised, and that’s completely ignoring the fact that this was my second life, or that I was blessed by Agis.

“Anger isn’t good for you you know.” I continued, seemingly completely off-topic.

She looked down at one of the feet of her bedframe, taking note that her kicks had dented the hardwood. “So I’ve been told…” She mumbled, looking deeply ashamed this time. “I’ll work on it, sorry…”