Chapter 30: Pick a hand

Felix Sythias’ POV (continued):

Tiki sat silently on the bench. Maybe she was trying to figure out what to say? Or maybe she was bidding for time? Whatever it was, after another minute, I had enough of waiting.

“Look, if you’re not ready to say whatever you want to say,” I said, “just tell me so I can go; I need to get this food into a fridge before it starts spoiling.”

She shook her head. “Wait! You’re right, sorry. I don’t think I’ll suddenly come up with something better anyway,” she said and took a deep breath. “I shouldn’t have used your past against you like that. It was mean and unfair and I shouldn’t have done it. I have an inkling of what it would be like to be on the other end, and I should’ve known better. I’m deeply, truly sorry.”

“Can I ask why?” I asked, then clarified: “Why you have an inkling, I mean.”

She sighed. “As you may have noticed, I’m very different from my brother.”

I nodded. I had noticed. They didn’t seem like brother and sister at all. Well, not beyond the basic resemblance, anyway. It was hard to imagine they were raised by the same parents, in the same household, at the same time.

“Well, we used to be a lot more alike,” she continued. “I was an entitled, disrespectful brat. Eventually it caused me to lose… someone really important to me. I guess all the little things just added up, and he had enough. I can’t blame him,” she said and paused, rubbing away a tear. “Anyway, it was a wake-up call. I decided I had to change, and with a lot of hard work, I did. Or I think I did. Maybe I’m just pretending and not even realizing it. That’s not important, though; the point is that my past sucks, and I would hate anyone who tried to use it against me, like some of my ex-friends tried to do.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said, meaning it. “And I’m glad you’re doing better, but it doesn’t excuse what you did.”

If anything, it just made it look worse. She had an idea of what it would be like and did it anyway.

She shook her head. “I know. I wasn’t expecting that. I just wanted you to know I was sorry, and why.”

I sighed. “Can you give me some time to think about it?”

“Of course. I’ll leave you be, then. I still need to do some shopping, anyway,” she said and stood up. She hesitated for a moment. “I’ll talk to you later?”

“Later, yeah.”

She walked away, leaving me sitting in the forest by myself. I wasn’t sure what to do. I wanted to forgive her, and I wanted to never talk to her again. She broke my trust, but had tried to repair it by telling me something personal, showing that she trusted me. She did something awful, but regretted it, and was sorry. I was conflicted, but she tried making amends and I thought she deserved a second chance. I wasn’t sure I wanted to give her one, though. That hadn’t ended well in the past.

-------

I put away the Gewee in the fridge, along with the other food that needs cooling. I stepped out of the fridge and was about to close the door, then thought better of it; I wanted cheese.

“Alex, you want some cheese, too?”

He looked up from his math textbook. He didn’t even have math tomorrow since he tested out, he just wanted to do math. “Yeah, sure. A lizardkin-sized portion, though, please. I want to leave room for dinner.”

I rolled my eyes. “One dragon-sized portion coming right up,” I joked.

I grabbed two small blocks of cheese—I had to use a claw to cut them off—and shut the door behind me. I handed the biggest piece to Alex, and he gave me a deadpan stare. Chuckling, I exchanged our pieces and sat down next to him. He shifted around and snuggled into my side, as had quickly become the standard. Looking over his shoulder, I saw he was reading up on eigenvectors.

I nibbled on my cheese like the dragon-mouse I was and grabbed my notebook. I flipped to the page with my schedule. My first two periods tomorrow were free, since I’d already tested out for math and mundane physics. In the afternoon I had Unconventional Casting Media and Aerial Combat. I’d already finished my homework for both of them, though I still needed to practice channeling. Great. Maybe I’d have more luck this time. I put the notebook down and grabbed the little metal cylinder.

An hour later, my mana-pool was empty, and I was no closer to figuring it out. No matter how carefully I guided the mana, no matter how much force I used, it just wouldn’t go through, and just sputtered out not even a fourth into the cylinder instead. This class definitely wasn’t going to be the breeze I’d expected it to be. I just didn’t understand what I was doing wrong. I thought I was doing everything right. I followed the instructions of the textbook, and I followed the instructions of the professor, which I’d written down. I put the cylinder away and sighed.

“Something wrong?” Alex asked, looking up from his sword magic textbook—he’d switched to it half an hour ago.

“I just can’t figure this out,” I said, gesturing to the metal cylinder. It was probably just my imagination, but I was sure it was gloating.

“Sorry, I can’t help you with that. The professor should be able to, though. Maybe you can ask him for help?”

“Yeah, that was my plan. I’ll ask him tomorrow,” I said. “How’s your homework going?”

Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

“Well enough. This chapter I’m reading is all about smithing and how swords are made. It’s a bit dry, but interesting. Not sure how it will help me, though.”

I thought for a moment. “Maybe it’s to help you pick better swords? If you know how one’s made, you know what to look for when buying one. Or maybe knowing the structure of a sword will help you cast magic through it better?”

“Could be. Or maybe they just needed to fill the book up a little.”

I chuckled. “Entirely possible. I guess you’ll find out in time.”

We sat in silence for a bit, but I had no homework left and had nothing else to do, so I spoke up again. “I ran into Tiki earlier. Almost literally.”

Alex put his book down and looked at me. “Yeah?”

I nodded. “The store was… let’s just call it tight, and I couldn’t turn around, so I had to back out. Apparently she was walking by right at that moment, and I knocked her right over. She was fine, though.”

He chuckled. “I can just imagine the look of surprise on her face. Did you guys talk after?”

“We did,” I said, and told him about everything that she told me. “Honestly, I want to give her another chance, but I’m not sure. I’ve had some really nasty experiences with people like her before, and I’m worried it will turn out the same. What do you think I should do?”

“Me?” he asked, his eyes wide in surprise.

“Yeah,” I said, “I’m not sure I can trust my own judgment on this, and you know her better than I do, so I want to know what you think.”

I really wanted her to be a friend again. I really did. But what she did hurt, and I was afraid she’d do it again. I was conflicted and didn’t know what to do. And I was biased either way. There were reasons to never talk to her again and reasons to welcome her back with open wings. I trusted Alex, though, and his opinion mattered to me. I hoped it would help me decide.

He was quiet for a minute, thinking, then he grinned and stood up. He dug around in his backpack and I wondered what he was looking for. A notebook, maybe? It wasn’t; no, he pulled out a coin and showed it to me. It was a simple coin made of copper. It was a little crude and quite beaten up, but there was a simple image of an oasis still visible on the face he showed me. It was a copper coin belonging to the Dry Territories. Like most copper coins, it was worth 1 merit point—if you bought them, anyway. When trading them in, you needed four to get a single point.

“A coin?” I asked. “She’s royalty, I’m not going to be able to buy her loyalty.”

He rolled his eyes and closed his hand around the coin, then he put both hands behind his back. “Alright, pick a hand. If you pick the hand with the coin, you give her another go, and if you pick the one without, you don’t.”

I frowned. “I asked for your opinion, not a random guess.”

“And I’m not putting myself in the middle of your argument, as much as I agree with you. This is a choice you need to make yourself, and I’m willing to help you with that, but I’m not going to do it for you,” he said.

“That hardly seems like a good way to make a choice.”

He rolled his eyes again. “Just trust me and pick a hand.”

I sighed and considered the choices. He’d without a doubt jostled the coins, so it didn’t really matter. I might as well go with the right arm, since that would be the right choice. Heh. I pointed at his right side and he showed me his hand. It was empty.

Oh.

“I guess I’ll not be giving her another chance, then,” I said with a sigh.

Alex shook his head. “We’re not done yet. How did that make you feel? Relieved? Disappointed? Angry?”

I think I was starting to see the point of this exercise.

“...disappointed,” I answered.

He smiled. “There you go, then. Do with that what you will.”

“Thanks,” I said, and he sat back down, where I pulled him into a hug. He didn’t protest at all and hugged me back. We laid there for a time, like we’d done Monday evening, but he needed to finish his homework, so I let him go. I decided I would go cook us some Gewee. With cheese. I wasn’t sure how I was going to add it in there, but I would find a way.

“I’m going to cook us some food,” I said to Alex. He grunted an agreement, so I went to grab the ingredients from the fridge. Some deboned Gewee meat—it was a lot like chicken, so while I didn’t have chicken, this worked fine too—some cheese, a few potatoes for Alex, and some butter.

Saying bye to Alex, I walked out through the door and shut it close behind me with a pull of my tail. The kitchen was empty, so I had all the space to myself. For now, anyway; it was about dinner time and other students would arrive shortly. I considered for a moment how in the Depths I was going to combine Gewee with cheese, before I came to a decision. I’d do it like fried chicken, and make a mixture to dip the Gewee in.

I turned one of the ovens on and tuned the enchantments to the right temperature. While it was heating up, I put a small pan on the stove’s smallest heating crystal and added the butter. Then I grated the cheese. I stopped, thinking, then grabbed some pre-toasted bread from the communal bread shelf, and made it into crumbs, which I added to the cheese mixture. I mixed them together, then put it in a shallow bowl.

While I waited for the butter to melt, I cut the Gewee and seasoned it. I liked it spicy, and Alex did as well—he had liked everything I made so far, anyway—so I made sure to add some hot spices, too. I added some seasoning to the butter as well and stirred it together. By the time that was done, the butter had melted, so I turned off the stove and poured it out into a shallow bowl and carefully dipped the Gewee in, making sure to coat each side well. It would be nice and sticky, now, so I pressed it into the cheese mix, making sure it was nicely covered on both sides. I glanced at the oven. It was hot now, so I placed the Gewee pieces on a wide dish, sprinkled a few more crumbs over it and put it in the oven.

I would need to stay with it while it baked, since I was sure someone wouldn’t mind taking it if I just left it be. And while I could track any food thief down, by that time the food would already be devoured. I didn’t want to sit around doing nothing for half an hour, though. I could probably leave it be for a few minutes, so I decided to get a book. When I got back, the food was still there, so after cleaning my mess, I settled down into a corner to read.

The book was the one Alex chose. Very upbeat and positive. I preferred stories with a more serious grounded tone, but this one wasn’t half bad. I liked the hopeful feelings it gave me, like if these relationships could work, maybe mine could too. I was starting to see what Alex liked about these.

I checked the Gewee occasionally, and it looked done after about forty minutes. I took it out of the oven and cut a piece open. It was fully cooked, so I took a bite. I liked it. Hopefully Alex would too. I put my book in my saddlebag and made two plates. I added some boiled potatoes I made while reading to Alex’s plate and gave myself an extra portion of Gewee. I put the now-empty dishes and pans in the sink—I would clean them later, when we were done eating. Balancing the plates carefully on my back, I walked back to our room.

“Sorry it took so long,” I said, opening the door. “I had to bake it in the—”

I froze in my tracks at the sight in the room. Alex had moved from the table to his bed, where he laid sideways, hugging his knees, crying silently.