ILIAS PAYNE

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It took a whole thirty minutes for Camaro’s unit to completely stop the ringing and bleeding coming from my head. It would’ve taken my mother ten seconds.

After that, I set off to find where Jaime had run off to. I had no idea where to even look. She told me one time she liked messing around in the woods, but which part? She also said she liked going around town talking with the villagers and playing with other kids.

She ran off in a bad mood so she wouldn’t be where other people are. If I had to guess, I’d say she’s somewhere where it’s safe to feel alone. For her at least.

She made it clear that she had no intentions of going back to the library, so she’d probably head somewhere near her house. But I didn’t know where she lived.

Luckily during my search, I ran into Lieutenant Doria doing rounds around the village. It must’ve been her day to have an afternoon shift.

“Good afternoon, Ilias. What happened to your eye?”

“It’s nothing. The colonel and I had a duel and I spooked him. I’m alright now though. Officer Kaiser and the others will heal me later.”

“That’s interesting. Why aren’t you back at the library?”

“Jaime challenged me to a duel because the colonel is making her study with me. She lost and ran off and now I’m trying to look for her.”

“I’ll tell the other soldiers to look for her.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. I think it’s better for me to approach her alone.”

“That’s a good point. I’ll tell the other soldiers to keep on the lookout and notify you if they see her. If it’s of any help, Jaime usually hangs out in the woods near the lake.”

“What about her and the colonel’s house? I have a feeling she’s hiding somewhere there.”

“Do you see that house on the highest hill? That’s their place.”

“Thanks, I’ll look for her there.”

“Okay, I hope you guys make up. I’ll tell you what I find if I run into you again.”

When I ran up the road towards their house, I made sure to keep my gaze down so that none of the villagers saw I had a black eye. If they had, they might’ve gone to tell Mother about it and the colonel would get chewed out. Camaro told me about the temper she had when she was a child. I liked the colonel’s company, so I didn’t exactly want to rat him out.

When I got to their house, it didn’t take long to find Jaime cuddled in the corner of what I assumed was Tank’s stable, hugging her knees.

“Hey,” I said. “I’m going to sit beside you.”

“Go away!” she spoke in a weak whisper.

I took a seat an arm’s length away from her.

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It was clear she wanted to be comforted by someone because if she truly didn’t want me there, she would’ve shoved me or ran away. But she stayed where she was. She didn’t bother trying to hide.

“You fight good,” I told her.

“Not good enough apparently. You’re supposed to be a bookworm who doesn’t know how to use a sword and yet I lost to you. It’s been tough ever since the colonel set eyes on your talent.”

“How so?” I asked, moving closer to her.

“Before, he took time his time with me and I got to learn things at my own pace. No matter how bad I did or how slow I picked up on things, he would always shower me with praise. But everything got ruined when you started hanging out with him. Now I’m being compared to you.” Jaime began to mock Camaro: “Ilias is so responsible. Ilias is so well-behaved. Ilias learns so quickly. Ilias helps with his mother. Ilias is so smart. It’s always Ilias this and Ilias that. Before, he would always talk to me about the things I could do, but now he only talks to me about the thing I can’t.”

I didn’t know how to respond so I kept quiet.

“The only thing I was better than you at was swordsmanship, but now I have nothing.”

“Do you hate me?”

“No.” Jaime struggled to say whatever words she had formed in her mind. But still, she persisted. “In fact, I’ve heard about how much of a golden child you were a while back when I talked to the villagers. So I kind of wanted to be like you and show them I could do it too. But when I couldn’t, I guess I got jealous and set bars I couldn’t jump up and grab.”

“Stop comparing yourself to me. Everyone does things a different way. If you mimic my path then you’re only setting yourself up for failure.”

“I know, but you’re the golden child that’s perfect at everything, what exactly do I get to be?”

“Perfect at everything?” I laughed. “Not even close.”

“You’re smart, you fight good, you’re responsible. You’re good at everything.”

“No matter how good someone is, they can always improve.” I turned my head towards her to show my black eye. “I got cocky and challenged the colonel to a duel. He gave me this. I wouldn’t have gotten this if I was perfect, wouldn’t I?”

“I guess not, but he went all out on you? That look like it hurt.”

“I scared him with a sneak attack. It failed.” I moved so that I was sitting right beside her. “We’re kids. We’re supposed to make stupid mistakes and mess around and have fun. We’ve got our entire lives to act like adults, why start now? Why care so much about what the adults think?”

“I guess you’re right. How about the two of us run off right now and go on an adventure? Let’s take a boat and start in the east. We’ll move south then head all the way to the western side and visit Uncle Czeslaw. Maybe we’ll even stop by and say hi to Pops. Then we’ll head north, go to the Capital, and then make our way back here. I bet we’ll meet a lot of people our age and they can join us too.”

“How can we do that if you don’t try to learn anything about the world? You and I don’t even know the basics of jynx.”

Can this body even perform that?

Jaime chuckled nervously. “That’s true. I guess we can wait and do this when we’ve got enough wisdom.” Jaime stood up, dusting the straw that stuck to her clothes. “Wanna go for a swim?”

We spent the next couple of hours messing around at the lake. Jaime told me that she only stayed in the shallow end whenever she took a dip, so I showed her how to tread in deeper water. After mastering this new skill, she began teasing the other kids who were swimming and heading to the deeper part of the water where they couldn’t catch her.

Doria showed up a couple of times as she made her rounds around Gilead. I think she was surprised that I was able to make up with Jaime so quickly.

When the sun began to set, Jaime and I laid down on the flat rocks that had been basking under the sun to dry up before putting on our clothes and heading back to the library.

“It took that long to find Jaime and make up with her?” Camaro asked.

“No, that part was quick. We went to the lake and swam after.”

“At least you two made up and had fun.” Camaro shot a look at Jaime. “I’ll talk to you when we get home.”

“I’m sorry.”

Before dropping me off, the colonel had me stay still for another fifteen minutes to let his unit heal my black eye. When we got back to my place, he and Trisha had a quick talk before he and Jaime made their way home.

“Hey, Ilias,” Jaime shouted before they got too far. “Sorry about what happened earlier. See you tomorrow!”