Third Moon, First Moon Day
“Is it just me, or is this not as much food as before?”
“It’s not just you. This amount is perfectly portioned for seven people,” Sue replied to Lily’s query. The four girls stared at the spread they had laid out from the picnic basket. “I guess the school ate through the excess of monster meat already?”
Or are times getting tough now? No one else posed the question that floated in the air between them, refusing to give voice to that fear.
“At least they still prepared a basket for us,” Vanita said reasonably. “They haven’t made us cancel our picnic yet.”
“Appreciate the small things,” Aida agreed, settling herself on her stone chair. “This was supposed to be a time for us to catch up, anyway. Speaking of which, the boys are late.”
Sue furrowed her brow. “I’m sure they’ll be here soon. Levi and Ezra didn’t say they weren’t coming, right?”
Lily and Vanita shook their heads, saying they hadn’t talked with them. Sue looked to Aida, and Aida shrugged back.
Things had improved slightly with Levi. They had an unspoken agreement not to discuss anything relationship-related, so they were slowly making their way back to the casual friendship they had before: one where Aida could be less cautious with her words, instead of being reserved and guarded against how Levi would turn them against her; and where Levi also felt free enough to poke lighthearted jokes at her, as well as supplement her knowledge of the world with his own.
Overall, Aida couldn’t complain. The dynamic had returned as close to pre-Old Moon Festival as possible, as long as neither of them thought about the awkward entanglements.
Ezra, though…she hadn’t spoken with him individually since he had warned her to be careful in Loded Peaks. She wasn’t sure if he was avoiding her, or just genuinely busy. Levi had said that Ezra had been preoccupied since Class 1’s ordeal in the Deep Western Woods, and spent all his free time researching in the library. Although whenever Aida went to the library on her own free time, she hadn’t been able to sense Ezra. Admittedly, whenever she caught a glimpse of him in between classes, he did appear to be more drawn, dark circles beginning to develop beneath his silver eyes and making him look especially gaunt, particularly with his naturally pale coloring.
She wanted to tell him to take it easy with whatever he was doing, but given how he kept avoiding her gaze…she knew pushing him would only result in increased tension on both sides.
“Finally! What took you guys so long?” Sue hollered, jumping up from her own seat to skip up the grassy banks. “We were about to eat everything ourselves!”
“Sorry for the delay, we were trying to wake Ezra up,” Caleb said apologetically.
“Sleeping until noon? That sounds unlike him,” Lily remarked dubiously.
“Let the man wake up a bit before you start piling on him,” Levi chided Lily, ruffling her hair as he passed her with Ezra’s arm firmly in his grip. He plopped Ezra onto a chair right next to Aida. “Here, maybe Aida learned a skill that can help wake you up.”
Before Aida could do more than protest feebly, Levi had turned to shepherd everybody else into their chairs, sitting on Ezra’s other side. What is he trying to do?
“At least everybody’s finally here,” Sue grumbled as she took the seat on Aida’s other side, with Caleb joining her. “Here! You like these mountain greens, right?” Sue dumped a generous helping of roasted vegetables onto Aida’s plate before turning to serve Caleb.
“Thanks,” Aida said automatically, trying not to stare at Ezra. The dark circles seemed more pronounced today, his hair was messy and unkempt, and the T-shirt he was in was wrinkled. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Ezra muttered, dumping food haphazardly onto his plate. “I just had a late night.”
Without further ado, Ezra began shoveling food into his mouth, barely chewing. Aida stared, thoroughly unnerved. “…um, maybe you should slow down?”
Ezra choked on cue, pounding his chest. Aida quickly passed him her glass of water, which he tossed back. Once he cleared his blockage, he looked up to see everyone staring at him. “What?”
“You just seem…different.” Lily stated, eyeing the hodgepodge of entree and side dishes on Ezra’s plate. Instead of being carefully arranged into their own separate and distinct sections on his plate, none of the dishes touching each other, they were…all touching.
“I’ve realized there are more important things than maintaining order,” Ezra replied irritably. “We’re here to eat, are we not?”
“Well, more to socialize than to eat,” Sue said warily. She hurried on as Ezra’s eyes narrowed. “But yeah! Let’s eat!”
“What have you been working on?” Aida asked quietly, her voice barely audible as everyone else turned towards their plates with light chatter. “That’s making you stay up so late?”
“You know what,” Ezra mumbled. “…the sooner we all know, the sooner I can rest.”
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
Aida swallowed. “Any progress?”
“Minimal.”
They ate in silence for a few more minutes before Aida screwed up her courage. “Please don’t kill yourself over this.”
Ezra’s robotic movements slowed down. “…I won’t.” Despite his assurance, his hand gripped his chopsticks even tighter, doing nothing to assuage Aida’s concern for him. But what else can I say to convince him to relax?
“So,” Sue said brightly, breaking through the gloom. “How has everybody been? Everybody been keeping their spirits up?”
“I mean, we’re fine,” Lily said awkwardly. She glanced at Vanita and Aida before continuing to address Sue’s question. “We aren’t the ones who went through near-death experiences.”
“Ah, it’s nothing,” Sue waved her hand nonchalantly. “We’re all here, and all alive.”
“But what about the rest of you?” Vanita asked. She looked earnestly between Caleb, Ezra, and Levi. “Everyone’s been worrying about Suelina, but I’m not sure we asked about the rest of you…”
“It wasn’t so bad for me,” Caleb said slowly. “I think the worst part was wondering if S—“ Caleb flushed bright red, peeking at Sue “—if the others were fine.”
“And I was just stuck with Ezra,” Levi said breezily. “I was certain we’d survive. But Caleb, what happened with Lara? She came out of the forest with you as a much more tolerable person.”
Caleb flushed a deeper red. “I…I don’t think it’s my place to share her story.”
Everyone stared at Caleb expectantly, but he busied himself clearing the remainders on his plate. Vanita finally turned to Levi and Ezra.
“And you two - you seem more friendly with each other. Did you have some good bonding time in the forest as well?”
“It wasn’t ‘bonding’—“
“We reached an understanding,” Levi said in a dignified manner, cutting Ezra off. “We realized we had better odds of getting out of the forest maze alive if we worked together. But worry not, I consider you a brother!” Levi clapped a friendly hand on Ezra’s shoulder, ignoring Ezra’s grumbles.
Aida’s eyes narrowed at his overly friendly display. Something happened in the woods. He had glossed over the specifics when she had first spoken to him after witnessing Sue’s disturbing mental state, but now that things had settled into a lull, and Sue was recovered, she wanted to know what they had seen. Unfortunately, Ezra seemed content to follow Levi’s lead, adding nothing else to the conversation.
“Anyway, is there any dessert? Did Nolem skimp on the meal this time?” Levi asked, peering into the basket.
“No, this is it.” Lily shook her head. “You think…you think things are so bad that they’re going to start rationing?”
“You’re overthinking it,” Levi scoffed. “Spring has barely started, so farms haven’t started producing yet. The abundance of meat we got for our picnic last cycle was a fluke. If the school’s going to implement rationing, we’d see it in our meals earlier than this. Although the missing dessert is disappointing.” Levi frowned.
“You’re right,” Lily said, her expression clearing. “Trust the Ashet heir to be familiar with the specifics of food production!”
“Aren’t your parents in agriculture, too?” Levi asked shrewdly. “Shouldn’t you know this?”
Lily stuck her tongue out at him. “They’re more focused on pest control.”
Aida breathed a quiet sigh of relief at Levi’s explanation. At least they didn’t have to worry about infrastructure going down yet.
“The day is still young,” Sue said, squinting up at the sun. “Shall we do some sparring? Ezra, I want to make sure my victory over you last time wasn’t an accident.”
“Forgive me, but I have other things I’d rather focus on,” Ezra said stiffly. He stood up, holding his empty plate. “You may keep your victory.”
“Is Ezra upset at his loss?” Lily asked in wonder.
“You wouldn’t want to fight Ezra now, Suelina,” Levi interrupted, Ezra’s expression darkening into a glower. “Your victory over him could be excused by his sleep-deprivation. Keep up your training, and you can confirm your victory during the final placement matches.”
“Fair point,” Sue agreed. She turned to everyone else, beaming. “Spar?”
“If Ezra’s going to work on his thing,” Lily began, an abashed smile spreading across her face, “I think I’m going to go, too. I want to try to get a new hybrid to show Healer Bokar when he comes back.”
“I also have a project I’m working on,” Vanita confessed, looking a bit ashamed. “It’s still a secret, because I don’t know the likelihood of success, but…”
“Okay,” Sue said, disappointed. “Good luck, you three. What about you, Caleb? Levi? Aida?”
“I’ll come,” Caleb said quickly, to Sue’s delight. “I need to focus on defending from you…”
“Aida?” Sue asked eagerly. “You don’t need to spar! But I’ll be able to go all out if I know Caleb can get some healing afterwards.”
“Sure,” Aida said after a brief pause. She had wanted to excuse herself, but unlike the other girls and Ezra, she didn’t have a good reason to. The plans she had developed a couple star cycles ago didn’t have concrete steps she could work on yet, since they were dependent on what the main leads decided to do. The things she could work on, however, was just developing her current skills and abilities in the meantime. The bulk of her usefulness would come once she graduated and began working and studying full-time under Healer Bokar, so she could brew potions - for Class 1, Class 2, and the Gullbeaks, if it panned out that way.
I would be most useful in a support role. If she worked in the background for Healer Bokar, she could pick up information from other travelers and Adventurers passing through Burston City while Sue and the others went to assist and clear out the more dangerous places. That way, whenever they returned to a hub, they could have updated information, perhaps details on where The Evil might go to.
At least, Aida hoped she could be helpful in compiling information in that way. But even if not…at the very least I can get them potions to help them survive.
And besides, she hadn’t seen Sue fight since they all left for the sponsorship assignment that allegedly powered up Sue - this would be a good time to see how strong she had really become.
A powerup that makes the powerful main character even stronger…that makes sense, right?
“I’ll join you guys.” Levi stretched, yawning. “Not to spar,” he added hastily. “But I’ll be on deck in case Aida can’t heal Caleb and you guys need a runner to fetch Healer Luk.”
Levi grinned at everybody’s withering expressions. “What, you all don’t have faith in Aida and Caleb?”