Rising Shards

“It’s probably for the best,” Stella said. “I’m still swamped with work. I guess Regulatory Cubicle Celebration Days doesn’t count when you work in a busy office.”

“I’m sorry, Stella,” I said.

“It’s fine!” Stella said. “I think it’s really nice what you did. You’ll get to see me soon.”

I said bye to Stella, staring at the red tickets Ovie gave me for my LE ticket.

“I can’t believe she actually traded with you,” Oka said.

“Seriously,” I said. “I mean, she called me Zeta Manure like twelve times and said she could have just had her parents buy her a blue ticket and got in some pretty specific digs about my face that will stick with me for a few years at least, but whatever. Here’s hoping Laenie won’t hate us after this.”

Oka and I went to Laenie and Aira’s room. After a few knocks, the door opened slightly.

“Hi, Zeta,” Aira whispered. “You should maybe like, go away.”

I held up the red tickets.

“Or maybe not!” Aira said. “Laenie!”

“Who’s there?” Laenie asked. “Is it Mrs. Cyto? Because I’m still writing my apology letter, I’m on my fifth draft, and…”

“Just come over here,” Aira said.

Laenie saw the ticket before she saw us, and her eyes sparkled.

“How did you…?” Laenie asked. She stepped outside with Aira to get a better look at it.

“Ovie also told us where she hid the rest of the plant stuff too,” I said. I handed her a note. “It’s all written here. We’re sorry we messed up so bad.”

Laenie looked over the note, which had directions to the alley Ovie dropped her seeds and pots in which she assured me nobody would look in, so they’d still be there.

“You just enjoy your day without us,” Oka said. “Seriously, we’re sorry.”

My ribs were still a bit sore from her Exa Cani attack.

“Very, very sorry.” I said.

“But this ticket has three guests with it,” Laenie said.

“Yeah, but,” I said. “Would you even want to go with us after what we did?”

“Well,” Laenie said. “Everything I wanted to see in Iho Vinai I wanted to show to all of you, too. And I probably owe you too back for kicking your asses.”

I was a bit stunned that the soft voiced and proper Laenie said a swear, but after she turned into a big monster I guess there was lots about her I wouldn’t be able to guess based on her usual demeanor.

“Plus, you should probably help us look for the stolen goods!” Aira said.

I still felt tense on the trolley. I didn’t feel like I deserved to be going, and I worried that someone would have found the stuff Ovie stole and either took it for themselves or threw it out.

I ran straight to the alley Ovie wrote about as soon as we got there. I had never sighed in relief as much as I did when I saw Laenie’s seeds there, and even more when I saw the look on Laenie’s face when she got them back.

“I still can’t believe she did that,” Laenie said.

“That’s Ovie for you,” I said. “Sorry again, Laenie.”

“It’s OK, it means a lot that you’d go through all this to try and make me feel better even after I pretty much annihilated you both in battle,” Laenie said.

“You don’t have to keep reminding us you beat us up,” Oka said.

“Now that I have it all back, it’s not really worth being upset about, is it?” Laenie said.

“I’m still mad at Ovie,” I said.

I didn’t even get what she was trying to do. Make me mad obviously, but it seemed like she wanted to test me, too. It was about her and Jeans, right? I still was baffled thinking of what anything between her and Jeans could be.

“Maybe you should feel sorry for her instead,” Laenie said.

“How come?” I asked.

“She does have to be around Chellsi and Mikeila-Keila all the time,” Oka said.

I burst out laughing at that.

“I’m serious, though,” Laenie said. “She’s like that all the time, well, except around teachers. But I think they can tell too. I feel bad for her that she thinks she has to be like that.”

“I guess if you put it that way,” I said.

“Well, if she messes with us again, I’ll tackle her right away,” Aira said.

“That was amazing, Aira!” Oka said. “Where did you get that weird rope, anyways?”

“Oh, it's from some arts and crafts capture kit I got for my birthday,” Aira said. “As the commercial said, you never know when you’ll have to make a citizen’s arrest while also stimulating the minds of the youth.”

Laenie giggled.

“Where to next?” Laenie asked.

“You tell us!” Oka said.

“Well, first up is the library! They have the biggest selection of plant books, and a relaxation center that…” Laenie started.

I let Laenie show us all around Iho Vinai, seeing all the spots I didn’t know about. I held myself back from suggesting anything Tower related. Oka and I let Laenie lead the way, and it was nice to see someone I had barely heard speak before getting more and more excited as the day went on. We stayed until the sun started to set, and I felt so relaxed on the trolley back. I watched Iho Vinai fall into the distance. Seeing the sort of birthplace of Tower of Hate and Love was amazing, but it was almost equally amazing seeing Laenie’s content expression as she fell asleep in the trolley, leaning against the shoulder of an also sleeping Aira, having done everything she wanted to do at the village.

“It’s kind of amazing that someone so precious and tiny could turn into a bloodthirsty monster that almost killed us.” I said.

“Yeah,” Oka said wistfully.

“Can you believe she swears?” I said.

“No!” Oka said. “Did that catch you off guard too?”

“Totally! She has that soft voice and she’s so shy and—”

A deep guttural growl came from Laenie’s side of the trolley. After a moment of sheer terror, I finally exhaled when I realized it was just a sleep growl.

“Hey, Zeta?” Oka asked.

“Yeah?”

“I try to not butt into your business, but what’s the deal with you and Ovie?” Oka paused, tapping her pointer fingers together. “Why would she be talking about Jeans?”

I didn’t know if I was ready to talk about something I didn’t understand much.

“If you don’t wanna talk about it I understand,” Oka said. “I’m here for you no matter what though, OK?”

“No, I don’t want to keep secrets from you,” I said. “I know about as much as you, I think. Jeans and Ovie must be close, but I have no idea how close they are, or when they could have even met.”

“Maybe they’re dating?” Oka said. That sent a shock down my spine. Would Jeans move on so quickly? Oka continued, probably seeing the color drain from my face. “And after a few weeks of class with Ovie, maybe they deserve each other. Although she still traded tickets with you, so she’s not all bad?”

“She was still incredibly snotty about it,” I said. “But she did still trade, yeah…I don’t get it.”

I sighed.

“I just wish I could move on already,” I said. “I froze up so bad when Ovie started talking about Jeans. Like I thought of all the things she’s probably been telling Ovie about me. I guess I thought it was over after the vision thing.”

“Moving forward is tough,” Oka said. “I wish it was easier. I wish it could just be over right away. But it’s still a journey. I hope the day you’re through it is soon. And I’ll be here with you as you go.”

“Thank you,” I said.

I felt a deep spiderweb of fear in my stomach. I thought of all the times I told Jeans I’d never leave her.

“Promise me you won’t let me become like her,” I said quietly.

The trolley rattled for a painful few seconds. I thought about Oka considering me as being like Jeans. Her Jeans. Maybe she’d need to escape me.

“I promise,” Oka said. “But I don’t think I’ll ever have to. You’re not like her.”

“But—”

“If you did, I would stop you,” Oka said. “But it’d take a lot to make someone kind like you do the kinds of things she did.”

“But it could happen, and I couldn’t live with myself if I,” I said. “If I did to you what she…”

“I know,” Oka said. “And I promise.”