“Hiya, Aida!” Sue skipped up to Aida as she exited the library, her hair forming a halo around her.

“Sue!” Aida gladly reached out to Sue for a one-armed hug, the other arm occupied with her books and notebooks. “Did you finish training early tonight?”

“Yup, we decided to visit Ezra to see how he was doing.” Sue gave Aida a bear hug, squeezing all the breath out of her lungs. “He seems much improved now!”

“After only a day?” Aida asked skeptically when Sue finally released her. They began strolling towards the staircase.

Sue nodded vigorously. “Oh, for sure. He’s got ahold of his mana again.” Without Aida asking, Sue reached out to take some of the books off the stack Aida was carrying, lightening her load. “It’s…I didn’t make the connection before, but it’s almost like his mana before was…” Sue trailed off thoughtfully. “It felt like the mana of a creature dying.”

Aida gaped at her in silence before Sue finally caught her panicked expression. “No, no! It’s okay! That was his mana before, but it’s not like that anymore,” she said hastily. “You’ve rekindled his will to live, so he feels a lot more normal now!”

“Are you sure?” Aida asked anxiously. “He seemed fine during the picnic…”

“Of course, of course! I mean, the picnic was two and a half star cycles ago, so his decline wasn’t so obvious then,” Sue nodded assertively. “But it definitely accelerated…luckily, you caught him before he completely burnt himself out!”

“Well…well good,” Aida said weakly. Should I go visit him? “I was so shocked when I heard what he was doing.”

“Same, girl!” Sue shook her head, admiration glowing in her gaze before a withering look of scorn that mirrored Aida’s feelings about his attempt crossed her face. “On the one hand, it’s amazing that Professor Bruce even thinks he has the ability to learn that meditation technique in the first place…but on the other hand—“

“On the other hand, why would he push himself so hard before he was ready,” Aida growled. Sue patted Aida’s back comfortingly.

“I never thought I’d see Ezra take a risk like that,” Sue admitted quietly as they approached their rooms, giving a cursory wave to other girls chatting out in the hallway. They stopped in front of Aida’s door. “I guess he feels pretty strongly about fighting the monster.” She glanced coyly at Aida. “Do you think Ezra would be willing to become an Adventurer?”

“I’d rather him become an Adventurer than whatever he’s doing now,” Aida sighed. She took her books back from Sue, leaning against her door. Sue contemplated Aida for an uncharacteristically long and quiet moment, gauging her mood before poking a finger at Aida’s forehead to lift her head up.

“Aida, I’ve been avoiding this topic, trying to respect your feelings and all…but after seeing Ezra’s condition today, I’ve realized that…sometimes, letting someone keep doing what they want, or what’s comfortable for them…it’s not healthy.”

Aida blinked at the sudden shift in tone. Sue was speaking earnestly, her eyes serious and concerned.

“Like…Ezra. He clearly wanted to learn Ascension Meditation. And who are we to tell him to stop, or slow down, or do it more safely, you know? We don’t know his limits as well as he does. Or - should, I guess.” Sue frowned, dissatisfied with her inadequate explanation. “Like, when I think about someone else telling me to stop whatever it is I’m training - if it’s not hurting anyone else, and it only hurts myself - then I’d be mad at them, you know? For trying to - I don’t know - control me? Because I know what I’m doing.” Sue let out a frustrated sigh.

“Anyway…after seeing him show up to class this morning, and then seeing Bruce get so mad at him…” Sue frowned harder, biting her lip as she tried to organize her thoughts. Aida pushed open her door, urging Sue inside before other girls decided to join their conversation. As much as she would have appreciated other people’s validations of her opinions, she wasn’t up for recounting how terrible he looked.

Sue flopped down on Aida’s bed, her lips still in a slight pout. “I mean, you know me. I’ll never tell someone not to do what they want to do, or what they think is right. But with Ezra, what he wants and thinks is clearly wrong!”

Sue sat back up immediately after her outburst, looking mortified. “Oh flames, sorry, I got carried away talking about myself. I wanted to ask - how are you doing? Really?”

“I’m fine,” Aida assured Sue, smiling encouragingly. Sue shook her head vehemently.

“I don’t mean right now. I mean about you and Ezra breaking up.”

Aida felt her insides slowly freeze at the question, though it thawed almost as quickly. “I - that happened seven star cycles ago. Of course I’m fine.”

Sue snapped her fingers and pointed at Aida triumphantly. “The fact that you’re so precise about how long ago you guys broke up means you’re not fine!”

Aida flushed. “Well, you’re wrong. What happened happened, and there’s nothing more that needs to be said about it. I’ve moved on. Mostly. Enough for it to not affect me.”

Sue looked at Aida in exasperation. “Aida, you’re functioning perfectly fine right now, I’m not denying that. But what I’m trying to say is…speaking as your best friend, I don’t think we’ve gone through the necessary steps to make sure you’re truly recovered from the breakup. And part of that is because school’s been taking precedent, which is totally understandable!”

Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

“Kozu said only time can heal this kind of wound,” Aida said stubbornly. “That’s good enough for me.”

Sue gave her a look that, shockingly enough, was even more exasperated than the last one. “You talked to Kozu about your feelings?”

“Well - he said I was getting distracted in class—“

“So you weren’t fine!” Sue swelled up in indignation. “That means I should have intervened earlier!”

“But I’m fine now,” Aida insisted, laughing slightly at the circular argument they were having. “It’s really not a big deal anymore.”

Sue crossed her arms in a pout, the two girls in a silent standoff. Finally, Sue relented and sighed. “Fine. I’ll accept that I was too late for this one. But I won’t just stand idly by next time you date someone!”

Aida couldn’t help but giggle at that promise. “I’m pretty sure that’s going to be a long time coming, with all of these other existential concerns.”

Sue’s face fell slightly at the reminder. “Yeah…what an awful time for this monster to crop up. If it had appeared after we had graduated, then we could hunt for it immediately…” Sue’s face darkened, and her hair began lifting in a stormcloud around her; Aida felt her mana begin roiling.

“Are your parents okay?” Aida asked quickly, trying to distract Sue before she set fire to her bedsheets. “Have you corresponded with them lately?”

“They’re fine, thankfully,” Sue replied, her hair smoothing down again, though her expression barely brightened. “They’re spending a bit more baen on purchasing ingredients instead of foraging, but otherwise my mom says a lot of people are coming to her dances. She said the bright side to this whole ordeal is that they’re fostering more of a community, because no one wants to be alone,” she sighed. “What about your parents? Have they written to you?”

Aida shook her head, and Sue frowned sympathetically. No news is good news, right? I wouldn’t even know what to say to them.

“With Ezra out of the picture now, you lost a good excuse to say no to their potential arrangement,” Sue said with a small smile. Aida smiled as well, remembering one of her first concerns when she arrived in this world. That’s such an inconsequential worry.

“But honestly, with our futures at risk because of this thing…”

Aida looked up to see Sue blushing. Sue avoided her eyes as she continued speaking. “I…I kind of…really want to make it official with Caleb.”

Aida stared at Sue dumbly. “You’re still not official?”

Sue colored. “No!”

“But you two act so—“ Aida struggled for the right word, though she had to admit to herself she hadn’t seen anything explicit occur between the two of them. Caleb tended to be more protective of Sue, and they always sat next to each other when they could. “Close,” Aida finished lamely.

“We spend a lot of time together,” Sue admitted, shame-faced. “And…we’ve been talking a lot. But after that time in the Western Woods—“ Sue’s face clouded over as quickly as it had turned red. “I just worry that if we keep putting it off - to focus on our careers, you know - then…there might not be a time for us to…be together.”

Aida nodded slowly in agreement. “Yeah…there’s a lot more to life than work.” Unfortunate that it takes a monster threatening everybody’s lives to realize this.

They sat in silence for another long moment, deep in their own thoughts.

“Have you and Ezra…kissed?”

Aida inhaled improperly, choking on air. Sue leaped up to thump her back, giggling. “I take it that’s a yes?”

Aida nodded grudgingly, forming water in the air to sip on.

“How was it? When did it happen? Where did you kiss? Who initiated?” Sue asked eagerly.

“It was good. It happened on the last Moon Day of the First Moon. We were on the roof of the school. And Ezra…” Aida trailed off, her heart clenching as her gaze turned towards the window.

That was the window Ezra essentially broke into, though he had replaced the pane neatly when he returned her to her room after their impromptu date. She could still imagine his outline silhouetted against the glass.

She didn’t really want to elaborate more for Sue. She understood what Sue wanted to know, and why she would be curious - after all, she also got needlessly excited whenever any of her friends experienced any spicy moments in their lives as well - but sharing that intimate memory with someone else felt wrong. Even if the “someone else” was her best friend.

She wanted to keep that private memory all to herself. Mentioning it out loud seemed…disrespectful to that moment, as silly as it sounded.

“The last Moon Day of the First Moon? Why then?” Sue asked querulously. Aida shrugged half-heartedly.

“He said he wanted a redo of Old Moon Festival.”

“Oh, that makes sense.” Sue settled back on the bed, clearly dissatisfied.

“Did he do it wrong?” Aida asked, amused. “For what it’s worth, I had no issues with the timing.”

Sue exhaled noisily. “Ugh, yeah I’m glad you two kissed, it’s just…Lily and Vanita and I had a bet,” she admitted reluctantly. It was with great effort that Aida managed not to roll her eyes. These kids and their bets.

“What’s the bet?”

“We were betting on how long it would take for you two to kiss,” Sue said, annoyed. “Vanita thought you’d probably kiss during graduation, just because it’s a pivotal moment in your lives and you two are overly cautious. I thought you two would kiss sometime this moon cycle, because that would have given you two enough time to get comfortable with each other. Lily was reckless and bet that you two would kiss by the end of the First Moon. Who knew she was right! Two star cycles after making it official…” Sue grumbled, pacing about Aida’s room.

“So what were the stakes?” Aida asked, holding back her titter. “Who would have won the bet if we broke up before kissing?”

“Obviously Vanita would have won, but it would have been a less painful victory than Lily winning,” Sue sniffed. Her eyes brightened as she recalled the stakes. “Ah, but this is still great! The stakes were that whoever lost would have to ask a boy to the Fire Festival.” Sue’s eyes gleamed.

“And since I plan on making it official with Caleb anyway, this dare isn’t going to be as embarrassing as when we first agreed to the terms,” she finished triumphantly.

“The Fire Festival,” Aida repeated faintly. Sue grabbed Aida by the shoulders, looking deep into her eyes with a confident smile on her face and completely misunderstanding her expression.

“Don’t worry, Aida. You’re a free maiden now. You can go to the Festival with anyone you want.”