The rest of the star cycle was boring. Boring in the sense that all Aida had to do was incrementally heal up the Peak villagers every day, and none of them were attacked by monsters as they went about their business.
With her new Mana Siphon skill, she was actually able to request some volunteers to share some of their energy with her while she worked - and the villagers were more than happy to. Several of them set up in a circle around her to watch as she worked her healing, clapping and whooping every time her patient would perform a victory stretch to demonstrate their improved mobility.
It made Aida feel like she was performing a show, though she did admit the excitement of being appreciated for her efforts and skills did a lot to fuel her stamina and mana. Fortunately, the villagers’ excitement was genuine; they hadn’t had a Healer in their village in a long while, so they all enjoyed watching Aida heal minor cuts and bruises, to the point where some of the women had to smack the children who were deliberately hurting themselves so they could come get healed - and then bringing said children to Aida so she could tend to their bruises from the punishment.
Overall, Aida had to admit it was a good trip. The two Affiliates who were responsible for chaperoning Class 2 always made sure everyone was occupied, and that they all met as many of the villagers as possible.
“Being a productive member of society doesn’t mean only doing the one thing you’re good at,” Adventurer Decker told them as he brought Class 2 to mingle with a group of young children who were enthusiastically smashing and deshelling nuts under the supervision of a grandmotherly figure shortly before dinner. “It means that you are actively involved in the community, and that people know who you are and are comfortable asking you for help. Remember, we are all connected, and a connected society is a stronger society.”
By the end of the cycle, the community engagement and worthwhile work had made Aida feel like she could reasonably survive in the Peaks - the nightly celebrations of making it through another rough day in the Peaks, with the help of all of the villagers, took on a new meaning from the first night. Aida thought she had understood the intent, where they were all just encouraging each other to keep going, and that it also doubled as their form of entertainment, but now she understood that it really was a true celebration of living. They don’t make it a yearly celebration, they work so hard so they appreciate every day that they have and look forward to the next day.
Not only did Aida feel closer to the villagers, but Class 2 seemed to have improved their bond as well - which made sense, since they didn’t have their regular school friends around. Their relationships seemed to become much more familial, as they all griped or shared humorous stories of what happened during their jobs during the day. Aida laughed along as they teased each other around the campfire, each day revealing a new inconsequential secret about her classmates.
“I couldn’t sleep last night, Myk’s snoring kept me awake—“
“I wasn’t snoring, I was practicing my fire-breathing technique—“
“Ohhh, do you have dreams of becoming a fire dancer, too? We should start our own duet!”
“Natalie! You promised you’d do a puppet show with me - I’ve been training for small-scale environmental manipulations—“
“We will! We can put together a whole show, it will be more interesting than just fire dancing or theater—“
“A puppet show? You can get Abedi to do the voice—“
“Hey man, don’t volunteer me for this…I don’t like performing…”
“If I’m getting roped into Nat’s troupe, you’re coming with—“
“I’ll do it if Dev does the narration…”
“I’ll do the narration! Dev doesn’t have the charisma to draw a crowd.”
“No Pritchard, we need you to pass around the collection hat—“
Aida laughed until tears leaked out of her eyes as she imagined Class 2’s traveling theater/adventuring troupe, complete with their slogan: “Fighting monsters by moonlight; winning fans by daylight.”
“We’d be a total hit! Everyone would hire us.”
“…For the show or for the patrols?”
“Both!”
Aida still couldn’t believe the biggest argument over their traveling troupe was where they would be based out of, though everyone finally conceded the issue when Bella said they just had to put on a successful enough show to get a fast airship that could pick everybody up in the morning and drop them off at night.
An unfortunate development of increased intimacy with her classmates was that they felt comfortable enough to probe for details about what happened with Ezra. Aida stumbled over her words, unprepared with her explanations as nine pairs of eyes, all with varying levels of curiosity and sympathy, stared unblinkingly at her.
Finally, the most unexpected person took pity on her.
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“Come on guys, people’s relationships are their own business,” Pritchard said dismissively. “Anyway, it’s probably better this way - we need Aida completely focused on making the drinks for the attendees.”
Now nine pairs of eyes turned onto Pritchard.
“What?” he asked haughtily, lifting his nose. “Don’t tell me you care about a minor event in school more than our future?”
“This is weirdly mature of you,” Tera finally said, her brow furrowed as she scratched her head. “But you’re right. Forward-looking, not back!”
The rest of the classmates followed Pritchard and Tera’s lead, finally leaving Aida slumped in relief. She noticed all of them were courteous enough to avert their eyes from her, giving her privacy to compose herself. They’re all good kids…curious, but still respectful.
“We should probably get ready for bed,” Ruth said, stretching her arms and yawning. “Elder Cadmum said Captain Lund will be here early tomorrow to take us back to school. Don’t wanna oversleep!”
As everybody gathered themselves, still chatting, Aida noticed Pritchard quietly collecting the furs the boys were sitting on as they all meandered towards the entrance of the cave, stacking them in the community pile before heading after his friends.
Biting her lip, Aida conceded it was only fair that she approach him first. After all, he was the one who approached and apologized first at school.
“Hey.” Aida was aware that the girls had quieted their chatter, stepping back towards the rear of the cave where they had designated as their sleeping area to give them some privacy.
Pritchard glanced up from the neat stack of furs, his gaze wary. “Hey.”
Aida hesitated, unable to hold his gaze. “Thanks for that. You didn’t have to do it.”
“It was nothing,” Pritchard muttered. “I didn’t say it to help you. People really do need to mind their own business.”
An awkward silence bloomed between them, as they both shuffled their feet.
“Regardless, I appreciated your reminder,” Aida finally said, peeking up at him. Pritchard shrugged his shoulders, scratching his head awkwardly. During this star cycle, he had slowly given up on styling his hair, since he wore a hat the majority of the day. His hair was now an unruly mop on his head, making him look like a much more normal and relaxed boy, except for the uncomfortable expression on his face. “You’re pretty okay, Pritchard.”
He blinked. First at nothing in particular, then again at Aida. She struggled to keep her face serious.
“What did you say?”
“I said you’re an okay guy, Pritchard.” Aida finally smiled, seeing that he wasn’t going to misinterpret what she said. He flushed.
“I’m more than okay!”
“Yes, true,” Aida agreed quickly. “You’re also weirdly mature.”
He stared down his nose at her, his face pinched. Aida held her smile, slowly bringing her thumb up. Part of her was mostly certain Pritchard was just acting, but there was still a lingering part of her that worried he would revert back to the predictably unstable boy she had met earlier in the school year.
He finally relented, giving her a genuine smile, clearly relieved at the truce.
“…I’m glad you finally recognize my weird maturity.”
“I am too.” Aida hesitated for a beat before deciding on her next words. It can’t hurt. “By the way, I really am sorry that I was…super immature about the way I treated you.”
Pritchard’s face flushed again. “Forget about it, it’s in the past.”
Aida nodded, feeling herself cringe at the memories of how she randomly blasted Pritchard in public, without even trying to call for a truce. It all seemed so silly now, after a week of being a team; even though their primary job duties didn’t overlap, they still occasionally had to assist each other whenever their workload lightened, whether to call each other for breaks, or for Aida to help Pritchard and Abedi set up a sort of in-cave pipe system in all the caves by sensing for water reservoirs in the mountain, or for joining the villagers in bringing energy so Aida could Siphon and minimize her mana drain.
“So…how did you do it?”
Aida blinked. “I beg your pardon?”
“Uh, I just…” Pritchard’s face was still red as he stumbled over his explanation. It appeared he was more embarrassed that he just hopped into a one-sided conversation instead of actually being affected by infatuation. “…it was really hard to move on, after - you know - and the only reason I did was because Professor Gemma helped me reflect and reprioritize my goals. And…it was hard. So I was just wondering how you did it, without a teacher’s help. Or…any help?”
“Oh…” Aida blanked, unsure what to say. Pritchard hurried on with his explanation.
“I mean, I would have been more resistant to what Gemma said, but because she used you as an example…I suppose I believed I could change?”
Pritchard’s word vomit became more intense at the confusion on Aida’s face.
“I’m just saying, I was focusing on the immediate emotions, and doing what felt good in the moment, but then Gemma told me that - not thinking - was going lead to me regretting my actions, and she said that I should look at you. You completely focused on the big picture, instead of doing…petty things, which is how you could make such a huge change in your class ranking.” Pritchard took a breath. “So…I was just wondering how you managed to change your outlook on life so fast.”
Aida agonized over her answer. How do I answer this without lying?
“Well…I don’t really have a simple answer for this…”
“Did you talk to anybody who gave you helpful advice?” Pritchard asked earnestly. “Gemma gave me some advice, but it’s really hard to follow through with, especially all the time. But I see you, and it seems like you’re able to live for your future goals all the time.”
“I guess…I had a life-changing event,” Aida said faintly. Close enough to the truth. “So, now my outlook on life is…completely different from what it was before. I don’t recommend going through what I went through, though,” she added hastily.
Pritchard nodded sympathetically. “I see. Bad enough to basically change your personality, huh?” he said, chuckling at his joke. “I understand; you don’t have to share if you don’t want to. I’m glad we could reach an understanding.” He held out his hand. “Here’s to having no regrets.”
Aida clasped his hand. “No regrets.”