Puzzle Piece [https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AP1GczPpLtk4RgVlEmUlY-Woasg_hy7U76C-B85-fK4SEexKe7_nh671eI6FQr6cHpXbh0hlkmfrYJE27ywV2oblTEg7v3QIpnu2W4FLTJNSpPGqPsVpMZUfMjoR0kdbBcK_RWS5s9dplWS-YNhWYyTCy54B=w639-h959-s-no-gm?authuser=0]
Lunch was… awkward, to say the least.
Dazien had tried asking Phoenix if something was wrong when she had rushed past him in a tizzy to hug Saiya, only to abruptly leave a few moments later, saying she wanted to be alone. Rebuffing his attempts to figure out what happened to change her mood so suddenly.
Uriel had shown up a few minutes later with their meal and looked to be in an even fouler mood than Phoenix. He had rarely seen his partner upset like that and wasn’t sure if public questioning was for the best.
Rayna didn’t seem to have a problem with throwing etiquette out the window, however, as she accusingly pointed a fork at Uriel and said, “Alright, what’s your deal? What happened with you and Phoenix?”
“Nothing,” he replied testily, “She misunderstood what she saw and ran away before letting me explain anything.”
“What did she see?” Dazien couldn’t help asking curiously.
A slightly warm glow lit the man’s cheeks as his partner muttered, “Something that you would strongly disapprove of.”
“You know you’re going to make all of us misunderstand if you don’t speak clearly,” Rayna retorted in annoyance.
“We shouldn’t push, Ray,” Saiya interjected, placing a furred hand on her sister’s own, “He’s obviously uncomfortable about it and last time I did that it blew up spectacularly.”
“Well, we can’t help at all if he won’t explain it!” the bard practically yelled, throwing her hands into the air in exasperation before pointing at Uriel again, “You should have learned that last time as well!”
Uriel gave a heavy sigh but nodded and said quietly, “Padma misunderstood me too, I think, and… well, she kissed me. Phoenix saw and I think it made her uncomfortable as well.”
Dazien could imagine the romantically reserved redhead going into one of her panic attacks easily enough at actually witnessing a public display of affection, but she had seemed fine the few times he had relaxed enough around her to do the same.
Then he realized the implications of Uriel’s words and fixed his gaze on the man. He tried to clarify before letting his mind jump to conclusions, “You said I’d disapprove… Did Padma force you?”
The others at the table all froze at his words, staring at the poor blushing cinderen now. Uriel looked away and reiterated, “Like I said, it was a misunderstanding.”
Anger was clawing at his heart at the dismissal and he ground out, “How did she misunderstand you telling her no?”
“She didn’t really ask for that specifically,” Uriel replied, causing his amethyst nails to bite into his skin as he clenched his fists, “She– I was caught off guard and wasn’t clear about my own stance. It’s fine now, though,” Uriel said quickly, placing a warm hand over his, “After Phoenix ran, I told Padma clearly that I wasn’t interested, and she apologized. It was just a mistake, Daze.”
“It’s not okay to just assume someone wants to be kissed or touched like that,” he retorted hotly. “It should always be made clear to avoid that kind of situation. The fact that she’s Sapphire and you’re still Crystal makes that even more important.”
Veldrix surprised him by asking quietly, “Something you’ve had to learn in your time here?”
Dazien gave them a conflicted look, his anger making him want to snap, but he held back against the Ruby Caster and said in a more subdued tone, “I said the Wayland family treats me well, not the rest of the city. Of course, that’s something I’ve had to deal with. It’s why I can say confidently that it’s unacceptable to just take that from someone.”
He turned back to his partner and reminded him, “Your body is not theirs to do what they please with. You’ve told me that often enough that I won’t let you ignore the same.”
“I’m fine, Daze,” Uriel repeated, squeezing his hand in reassurance, “It won’t happen again. It’s nobody’s fault in this case. Like I said, I was caught off guard and probably confused her, is all.”
“You shouldn’t need to be on guard!” he hissed, and Saiya’s hand on his arm snapped his attention back towards her, and he felt that tranquil aura encompass his own. The look of concern she had for him made him reevaluate himself and realize he was too tense and upset by the thought of his partner getting assaulted that he might end up taking out that anger on those around him again.
That wasn’t what he wanted at all so he forced himself to take a few deep breaths before saying carefully, “If it happens again and turns into harassment, please let me know and I’ll have a few words with Patricia who can discuss it with her daughter.”
Uriel gave him a slight smirk, “You know I’m still older than both of you and can take care of myself in this regard, right?”
“Right,” he said with a sigh, “Sorry. You were right about me strongly disapproving of her behavior. You know I don’t mind if you wished to court her, but she should respect your boundaries.”
“Not everyone has had conversations with the Lover’s clergy to know how to build healthy relationships, King,” his partner pointed out.
“Honestly, I wish they would make it part of the mandatory education curriculum, but people like Priestess Yua would have a fit if that clergy got involved. She tore me down for simply talking to them.”
“I remember,” Uriel muttered, turning back to his food in thought.
An awkward silence threatened to fall, and Rayna spoke up again, “So… Any guesses why Phoenix freaked out and went to hide in her room? My bet is on thinking Uriel had more secrets from us.”
Uriel winced beside him and said, “Maybe, but I hope she would have just asked if that were the case.”
“I don’t usually like telling others what people are feeling,” Saiya said cautiously, glancing toward Uriel, “Telling them is one thing, but telling others, I think, is a breach of privacy.”
She turned back to him and added, “But I don’t think it takes my level of perception to see that she was mostly just confused and likely trying to avoid adding to that. I honestly think she’s never even witnessed a kiss in person based on what she’s told us of her past. She didn’t have parents to see that kind of intimacy. She said her father died before she was born, and Paul didn’t have anyone.”
“She told us about those ‘movies’ that act like a Sense Stone projector,” Dazien reminded her, “She told me those were the reason she knew what a lot of things looked like and how things were meant to behave even without being able to leave that hospital much. She knows what a kiss is.”
“Yes, but knowing and seeing or experiencing things is very different from one another. It’s also different when it’s a stranger doing it versus someone you know. Can you honestly tell me that you would feel the same seeing Padma kiss a stranger or your own partner?”
He gave a sigh, “I guess that’s true. Should I go try and talk to her?”
“No,” Uriel surprised him by saying, dropping his fork to his plate and standing, “I’ll talk to her.”
“Are you sure?”
Uriel paused at the door, and the pained expression on his face almost made Dazien get up to follow him before his partner said, “No, but it should be me. I’m her best friend, after all.”
----------------------------------------
After reading the same sentence for the sixth time, Phoenix set the book back on the shelf of her desk in the little moon-alcove of her room. She had gotten used to the feeling of walking through her heavily-illusioned room without fearing falling through the invisible floor as she made her way to the nebula-like bed and collapsed into it.
She couldn’t focus enough to even read as her mind forced her to replay what she had seen. Since reading was a no-go, she decided to do something a little more mindless and sat up just enough to practice using her [Ruler of Relativity] on more mundane items to get used to the new Caste strength and her enhanced reflexes at the same time.
Phoenix didn’t want to damage another book, so she used a mundane dagger that had been sitting in her collection for a long time now. It had belonged to one of the bandits that had ambushed them on the road. It was the first time she was confronted by the fact that Adventurers were expected to kill people and not just monsters.
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Normally, she sold off anything she couldn’t really use herself or gave it to the rest of her party, like the occasional bundle of monster meat that went straight to Uriel to turn into something delicious. She had kept this little dagger, though.
It was meant to be a reminder of the path she had chosen and the cost of faltering in combat. She had felt terrible about letting her friends down, putting them at risk due to her inaction, and forcing Uriel to claim lives in her stead. Thinking back to that moment now, she realized that those eighteen lives were likely a drop in the bucket for the former captive’s kill count.
He hadn’t seemed to enjoy it, though. She remembered Dazien going to his side once the fighting was over in order to soothe him. Now she understood why. Understood that it probably called up all those terrible memories every time he killed. Yet he hadn’t hesitated to protect them.
Uriel had even been willing to die to protect her from the Destroyer’s influence. He had stood beside her as gods tried to manipulate her and could understand how it felt to be reduced to a divine tool.
Now he stood beside Padma…
Phoenix scrunched her nose at the intrusive thought and angrily used her ability to shove the dagger away from her until it seemed to embed itself in the air as it hit an illusioned wall. Then she frowned at the anger and pulled the dagger back to her, feeling happier about the improved Agility making catching the weapon a breeze.
“You are being silly again,” Tala whispered in her mind, “The warm one stands beside the shiny one and you at the same time already.”
She sighed at her Familiar, starting to understand why Paul seemed to sigh and huff all the time. Tala was right, of course. She was being ridiculous.
It wasn’t like Uriel was going to stop being her best friend just because he got a girlfriend. It wasn’t like there was a limit to how many friends someone could have and she realized now that same logic applied to lovers in their case. Nothing was going to change simply because one more person got involved with their party.
A knock at her door had her calling out for whoever it was to come in before she remembered to use her aura senses to feel who it might be and she instantly regretted the mistake as Uriel leaned his head inside.
“Can we talk, or do you still want to be alone?” he asked hesitantly. Ember eyes glanced down at the dagger in her hands, and he added with a slight smirk, “Or do you want to stab me?”
Phoenix scoffed, “I wouldn’t stab you.”
“You can always heal me after,” he pointed out.
She raised a brow at him, “Are you arguing for the stabbing?”
“If it would make you feel better enough to talk with me instead of running away, I think it might be worth it.”
Phoenix blushed in embarrassment and clarified quietly, “I don’t want to hurt you, Uriel. I was just… confused.”
He took a step inside, closing the door behind him as he said, “I want to help fix that… if you’ll let me.”
“You don’t need to,” she said quickly, “It’s really none of my business if you got a girlfriend–”
“I didn’t,” he interrupted, walking closer, “What you saw was a misunderstanding, is all.”
She scrunched her nose again at that, then recalled something he had told her before, “Right, I forgot you don’t like labels like that.”
He shook his head, “That’s not it. I mean that Padma thought I was accepting her affections when I was just really bad at saying ‘no, thank you.’”
“Oh,” she replied lamely.
“I–” he paused beside the bed, looking towards the ground as if searching for words, “I don’t want you thinking that I would hide something like that from you. I’m done with keeping secrets from my party.”
When he met her eyes again, he said with more determination, “I’d rather you feel comfortable asking me personal questions like that than running away from me in fear or embarrassment. We’re–” his voice seemed to catch before he cleared his throat and said, “We’re best friends, right? We should be able to talk about anything.”
“Right,” she murmured, looking back at the dagger in her hand before she sent it back to her collection and held out a hand towards the warm cinderen, “Come sit with me? It’s cold in this outer space room.”
He laughed, “Is that all I am to you? A space heater?” It didn’t seem to stop him from sitting beside her and wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
“And amazing cook,” she pointed out, much preferring teasing to awkward apologies.
“And best spoiler,” Tala added.
Phoenix laughed aloud and passed on the message, “And Tala says you’re the best at spoiling.”
He gave her a warm smile and asked, “Do you like being spoiled?”
She was caught off guard by the question as she looked up at him, “Me?”
“Yeah,” he nodded, “Do you like getting little treats or gifts too?”
She shook her head, “I don’t really like people buying things for me,” she explained, then added, “But I do like your cookies. I don’t think I’d consider that spoiling, though, since it’s for everyone.”
“There are different ways to spoil someone,” Uriel continued, “Do you prefer kind words or warm hugs?”
“Well, I wouldn’t say ‘no’ to either of those from you.”
He chuckled then said thoughtfully, “What if I make sure to make time for just the two of us like this? You can vent, or question, or tease. You can tell me about whatever’s on your mind.”
Phoenix liked the sound of that. “Only if you do the same,” she stipulated, “I want to be able to do that for you too.”
“Deal,” Uriel replied, then asked, “So, is there anything you want to vent about or ask me? Or would you prefer the silent space heater for now?”
She laughed, “Not anymore. I think it’s just a relief to have a friend to talk to about anything again.”
“Again?” Uriel repeated with a raised brow, then shook his head as he answered himself, “Right, I bet you miss talking with Paul.”
“Actually, I was thinking about Jin,” she clarified, “Paul and I were open about a lot, but I only realized after he couldn’t talk with me that we never really discussed everything. He… he didn’t really confide in me like I did with him. That’s probably because he’s my dad, not my best friend.”
“Do you want to talk about Jin?” Uriel asked.
She looked up at him to find only a soft smile and ember eyes looking at her with fondness, “Yeah, I think I’d like that… if you don’t mind?”
“She’s important to you, right?” She nodded, and he continued, “Then it’s like you said, I want to know about what or who you like. She sounds like an important piece of your puzzle.”
“My puzzle?” she asked with a raised brow.
He chuckled, “Something Dazien actually learned when talking about his style of relationships with the clergy at the Lover’s Temple. It’s a pretty simple analogy but really helped me understand him better.”
“Because Daze has a puzzle too?”
“We all do. We’re all a puzzle board, and the people around us might be part of filling it out. Some people don’t fit well on our board or next to other people on it. Others fit perfectly,” he nudged her, “Like Paul fitting so well in that father-shaped space on your board.”
She smiled and asked, “And Daze fits so well in that partner-shaped space for you?”
He nodded, “You fit on there too, you know. It’s also not just people. Everything we like are the puzzle pieces that make up who we are. Part of what makes it a puzzle, though, is finding all the pieces and figuring out if they fit or not.”
“I can see how that would be hard,” she said, nodding along to the explanation, “I was missing a lot of pieces back on Earth.”
“It sounds like you had found one in Jin. So want to tell me about how you first met? Give me a little background on what kind of person she was.”
Phoenix grinned, “She was the coolest kid in the hospital, at least to me,” she began, relaxing more against the warm cinderen as she let her memories finally free from the box she had tried locking them away in. “She was two years older than me and was amazing at throwing a javelin for her school’s track and field team. She never teased me about insisting I was a girl and helped me better understand that other people felt that way, too, sometimes. We met because she was in and out of the hospital while battling cancer.”
“What’s cancer?”
She stared at him incredulously, then almost slapped a hand to her forehead, “Right, you don’t really have Mundane diseases here. Basically, it’s some parts of the body mutating and attacking the other healthy parts of the body. The main treatment was basically poisoning the person to try and kill off the bad parts and hope the good parts survived.”
“That sounds horrifying,” he muttered.
She nodded, “It was a lot of times. Jin kept having to go through the process because it would get killed off, and then a year or so later, it would come back. The last time I saw her, she had just returned to the hospital for her fifth treatment and was pissed off about it…” Phoenix paused at the sad memories, “She didn’t want to do it again.”
“Didn’t want the treatment?” he clarified.
“Yeah, she didn’t like how sick and weak it made her. She said there wasn’t any point living like that and… I think she was just ready to die at that point.” She leaned her head against his chest as she admitted, “I got mad at her for thinking that. The next morning, when I went to go see her and try cheering her up more, they told me she died during the night. She was younger than I am now, only seventeen.”
“I’m sorry you had to grieve her like that,” Uriel said, squeezing her in a hug, “But she didn’t die, it sounds like.”
“Right,” she said, shaking her head to clear away the melancholy, “Apparently, she got sent here. I have so many questions about that, but I don’t think Scholar’s going to tell me any more. She made it pretty clear to drop it.”
“Dazien mentioned that,” he said, then asked, “What do you want to ask Jin most?”
Phoenix thought about that for a moment. She wanted to know everything that had happened to the woman in the last –what?– four years since Jin had been sent here? Everin had said that Jin was a Wayfarer now. Did she get similar Natural Talents? How did she reach Emerald Caste so fast? Was she also an undying immortal? Did gods surround her as well? Did she find a mentor and party to rely on and help her in this world full of monsters?
Finally, she answered aloud, “I guess if I could only ask one thing, the most important one would be making sure we’re still friends. Am I still a puzzle piece for her like she is for me?”