Aida paused outside of the healing ward, collecting herself. Sue tapped her foot impatiently.

“You seem nervous for just visiting a friend.”

“There’s a lot of guilt here, okay?” Aida snapped back. She took another deep, slow breath, just to annoy Sue. She sighed noisily, tapping her foot harder.

“I’ll go get a snack or something,” she announced. “He might be in the mood for something salty.” She batted her eyelashes at Aida. “Since you’ve already got sweet covered.”

Aida choked on the third deep breath. “I told you it’s not like that!”

“Now you know what your pestering is like,” Sue said loftily. She clapped her hands to Aida’s cheeks, squeezing her face so that her lips puckered. Sue’s hands were hot. “Just go inside. You’re wasting lunchtime.” Releasing Aida’s face, she gave her a sly smile and wave as she left.

She’s right. If I were in the hospital, I’d just be happy to see a friend, not worried about speeches.

The door swung open before Aida could complete another pep talk. Healer Luk stood in the doorway, looking bad-tempered. “Miss Loreh, if you’re going to come in, please come in.”

Meekly, Aida entered, holding her schoolbag in front of her. Luk pointed her to the curtain covering Ezra’s bed, then entered the small kitchen where there was a mortar and pestle and several bundles of dried herbs on the worktable.

Aida peeked around the curtain, seeing Ezra sitting up in bed. His head was turned towards the window, looking outside. His jaw and collarbone were highlighted, hair fluttering softly in the stray breeze from the open window. He turned to face her, silver eyes creasing in a soft smile when he saw her.

“You’re all right.” His statement had a slight lilt at the end, hinting at an inquiry.

“Of course I’m all right.” She moved closer to him, letting her relief show on her face. “I can’t believe you’re asking about me when you’re the one in recovery.”

The corner of his mouth turned up. “I worried because you didn’t come to see me.”

Aida made a face, trying to repress the memory from yesterday. Ezra laughed softly. “It’s all right. You’re here now, that’s all that matters.”

She pulled up the stool next to him. “So…how are you?”

He settled back in his pillows, releasing a sigh. “I’m quite bored. Luk won’t allow me to do anything but Mana Cycle.”

Aida nodded wisely. “Yes, that was her entire treatment regimen for me as well.”

“I started manipulating the bed frame, just to break up the monotony, and to also help her shape her tools into more useful shapes, but she became unreasonably upset,” he said, lowering his voice as he glanced through the curtain. “She said I was impeding my recovery.”

Aida tittered. “It must have been really bad. You’ve never been this talkative before.”

“That was another point I made to her,” Ezra complained, sounding almost petulant. “The core to being healthy - physically and mentally - is balance. If I’m so bored to the point that my behavior changes, then surely that means the treatment is suboptimal?”

Aida nodded vigorously. “That makes sense.”

“You know what she said?” She shook her head. Ezra’s voice raised in pitch, becoming an accurate mimicry of Luk’s voice. “’If you focus harder on your recovery, you’ll be discharged sooner.’” Ezra shook his head in disbelief. “If that’s not faulty logic, I don’t know what is.”

“You do have a point,” Aida said, her voice wavering as she tried to stifle her laughter. “You’re becoming like Levi, which is the last thing any of us want. But perhaps that’s Healer Luk’s point? You are clearly, very obviously mentally unwell.”

Ezra looked at her, affronted at the lack of support.

The door opened, but the mana entering the room wasn’t Sue’s warm aura, and instead was a chilly one.

“Hello, Healer Luk. I’m here to see Ezra.”

“Go on in, he’s in the first bed.”

Confused, Ezra and Aida both turned towards Lara Lorr. One hand carried her school bag, and the other hand was curled around a stack of notebooks.

“Hello,” Aida said cautiously. The lighthearted mood was gone.

“Hello.” Lara’s greeting was perfunctory. She walked towards Ezra, holding out the stack. “I brought you notes for the classes you missed.”

“I don’t need them.” Ezra’s voice was cold, his face closed off. He was back to being the Ezra Riolt that everyone else knew him as.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Lara shrugged, dropping the stack of books on his bed. “I suppose you don’t. You seem like you’re mostly back to normal now. Regardless, I’m not taking these back. They’re your problem now.”

“Why are you here?” Aida asked, unable to keep the rudeness from her voice.

Lara turned steely gray eyes on her. “I came to visit an injured classmate.” They stared at each other, neither blinking.

“If your visit is over, I’d appreciate your departure.” Not one to mince words, Ezra still managed to keep his tone polite. Lara’s lip curled, before she transformed it into a smirk.

“Anything I can do to support the wellbeing of the top student of the illustrious Maglica Academy.” Dipping into a mocking bow, Lara left, firmly clicking the healing ward’s door shut.

Aida glanced back at Ezra. His face was rigid, his jaw tight. His lips were neutral, but there was a tightness about his eyes that suggested considerable restraint. “What was that about?”

Ezra shook his head tightly. “Nothing.”

Knowing that pushing him for details would only push him away, she gestured at the notebooks. “Do you want me to get rid of them for you?”

“Please.”

Aida stacked the books on the ground, so that he didn’t have to look at them on his bed. “I’ll have Sue burn them later or something,” she promised him. He smiled briefly, but the mood was ruined.

She asked after him about classes, and life outside of classes, but he was just as taciturn and light on details as during the picnic. The only time he became more animated was when she asked his opinion on how the sponsored assignments would be structured in the wake of the attack.

He shook his head thoughtfully. “At minimum, I would expect them to adjust the criteria so the lowest grade assignments would have to be completed by two students instead of one. That would be a shame, because it would be a waste of time, but that would be the easiest way to address the attack.”

“But maybe it’s better that way?” Aida asked hesitantly. “The assignments could be completed faster that way…”

“Perhaps, perhaps not. An assignment that technically - under regular conditions - could be fulfilled by one student but is assigned two? The two students at best would split the work, and have half the time to train their mana abilities. Their work experience would be halved.” Ezra grimaced. “I can imagine the instructors attempting to make up that deficit by demanding we perform twice the number of sponsored assignments.”

Aida was appalled. “That’s awful.”

Ezra nodded gravely. “The only thing we can do is hope for the best.”

The bell chimed just then, signaling the end of lunch.

“Enjoy the rest of your classes,” Ezra said mournfully.

“Are you sure you don’t want to keep one or two of Lara’s notebooks?” Aida asked, retrieving the stack from the floor. She waved the top notebook at him. “Surely it won’t be as mind-numbing as the rest of your stay.”

Ezra wrinkled his nose. “I’d rather have my brain rot.”

Suppressing her smile, she gave him a final wave before departing.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

The rest of the week wasn’t exciting. Aida visited with Ezra during her meal times and free periods, which he was exceedingly grateful for. Sue, Levi, and Caleb would stop by occasionally, but often they were too busy and would only show up briefly to pass along announcements from class. Aida would surreptitiously probe at Ezra with her mana, trying to see what Luk saw, but was never able to come to any conclusion remotely close to Luk’s judgment. Ezra’s mana seemed the same as always to her.

“Today is your last day in the healing ward, right?” Aida asked brightly during lunch on Loam Day, the world’s equivalent of a Friday. “Luk said she wasn’t going to clear you for any classes for the rest of this star cycle.”

“It is,” Luk said through the curtain with a sigh. “I was going to hold Mister Riolt until dinner, but since I want him to stop reshaping my tools, I’ll clear him to leave now.” She came around the curtain with a tray and two steaming mugs. “Once you take these two draughts, you can go.”

Aida moved out of the way, retrieving Ezra’s freshly laundered clothes from the shelf near the door as Luk passed him the mugs. Plopping them down at the foot of his bed, she smiled as Ezra grimaced at the bitter brew.

“I’ll wait for you out in the hallway.”

It felt like only a moment passed before Ezra dipped out into the hallway, looking simultaneously haggard and elated.

“That was fast.”

“That brew was disgusting.”

“There’s still time for lunch, if you want to get some tasty food,” Aida suggested. “Or…do you want me to get something for you, since the dining hall is going to be…”

Ezra’s eyes dimmed. “Yes, maybe it would be a good idea to eat elsewhere. I’ll meet you at my room?”

Aida nodded, and Ezra gave her a small, grateful smile as he headed towards the boys’ staircase. Hurrying back to the dining hall, Aida flagged down Nolem and asked for a hearty, comforting meal.

“Aida, you’re getting a second lunch?” Lily asked curiously, passing by with a water cup.

“Ezra just got discharged from the healer’s,” Aida informed her. “And he didn’t want to eat in the dining hall, because…you know…”

“Ah,” Lily nodded wisely. “Yeah, his fan club has been very distraught…they would definitely overwhelm him.” She put her fist up in a go get ‘em salute. “Tell him we say hi!”

Aida nodded, bidding her farewell as a tray scraped along the countertop. “I added an extra pudding cup to the tray for you,” Nolem informed her. “So Ezra won’t have to eat alone.”

“Thank you,” Aida said, gratified. “I’ll bring the utensils back before my next class.”

“No rush!”

Aida headed to the staircase that would take her to the third floor, but before she could even step foot on the first step she was intercepted by Professor Gemma.

“Miss Loreh, do you have some time?”

“Oh, hello Professor…I was actually on my way to Ezra’s room with his lunch.”

Gemma nodded reluctantly, her brown eyes lingering on the tray in her hands. “I see. Can you please come to the instructors’ office after you’ve delivered his meal?”

“Oh, but…it’s lunch break.”

“It won’t take long.”

Aida hesitated. Maybe they had some new developments or ideas they hadn’t shared with the rest of the school yet? Ezra said they had already questioned him for his perspective of what happened, and he obviously had a better guess as to what happened, so she couldn’t imagine why they would call her to the office. But maybe there were some follow-up questions they had.

“Okay. Should I bring Ezra, too? He can probably come up with better hypotheses about what happened at the Lake that evening.”

“Ah, no, no need to bring Mister Riolt,” Gemma said hastily. “We only require your presence.”

“But…I’ve already told you everything I know,” Aida said blankly.

“That’s all right. We can discuss further when you arrive. Speak soon.” Nodding at Aida briskly, Gemma continued on down the hallway.

Aida’s brows knitted together as she looked after Gemma. Her shifty behavior was making Aida nervous. What could possibly be going on?