Rising Shards

Oka and I were off the hook, but it appeared that Amara and KJ were the ones really in hot water.

“I would be most pleased if you told me what exactly it is that you are hiding,” Rain said.

“Do you need us here for this?” I asked. “I’m still really shaky from that last scare.”

“And I’m embarrassed on a scale I’ve never felt before.” Oka said.

“If you tell me, then we can go back.” Rain said, ignoring us. “I hope the experience was fruitful in getting you to admit whatever this is.”

KJ and Amara looked at each other.

“Fine! We’ll say it!” Amara said. “I can’t keep secrets from you, Rain, it…it hurts too much.”

Rain looked at them like they were pets that tore up the garden.

“Rain…” KJ said.

“While you were away…” Amara said.

“We kind of…got accustomed to…” KJ said.

“We really missed you!” Amara said. “So, erm, KJ and I have taken to. Is there a good word for this?”

“Nuzzling, perhaps?” KJ said.

“Nuzzling?” Oka and I blurted out at the same time.

“How about cuddles?” Amara said. “Cuddles I would say is the best word. It helps us sleep.”

“And we haven’t been since you got back—” KJ started.

“Which is not your fault!” Amara said. “We’ve been too nervous to tell you, as it is a big change. To how the two of us normally act. But without it…”

“I haven’t been sleeping well!” KJ said.

“Me too!” Amara said. “So, um. That’s our secret. KJ and I sleep better when we’re in the same bed. As though she were my little plushie.”

“Don’t call me a stuffed animal.” KJ said. “You’re the one that’s like a stuffed animal.”

Just as the two were about to start fighting, Rain cleared her throat.

“So you mean to tell me that in my absence, the two of you have gotten closer?” Rain asked.

“I, er…” KJ said.

“Y-yes, Rain.” Amara said.

“And you thought I’d be upset about this?” Rain asked.

“Yes…?” KJ said.

“Oh, come here you two,” Rain hugged KJ and Amara. “Now that I’m back, we can all cuddle together, OK? I’m happy that me being away helped you two get along a little better, at least.”

“Heh…” Amara said. “I was really worried you’d be upset.”

“Why would I?” Rain asked. “I’d like for nothing more than the three of us to get along swimmingly. So at least there was some benefit to my time at Wildfire Hearts.”

With the secret out, the love trio started jumping around and cheering, which made them feel more like their normal selves. With that squared away, Rain remembered something else.

“Oka,” Rain said calmly, which still made Oka screech like the maiden had just burst from the ground.

“I am grateful you rescued me during our latest void incident, albeit with an open palmed strike,” Rain said. “That said…I have been told by advisors that I do risk slaps coming for my behavior fairly regularly…so I suppose I should hold no ill will.”

“No Novu assassins are coming to kill me?” Oka asked.

“What? Heavens, no.” Rain said. “You think I have that sort of power?”

“Maybe?” Oka said.

“I don’t, really,” Rain said. “Not yet, at least. So maybe in a few years you’ll have to worry, ohohoho…that was a joke, Oka.”

“Ah….heh,” Oka said, relaxing from the panicked power stance she had taken on instinct. “Also, you should apologize to Zeta.”

“Hm? Whatever for?” Rain asked.

“For getting her tail stepped on!” Oka said. “That’s the whole reason I had that grudge!”

“Well, I don’t remember that but if you say I did it, I do sincerely apologize.” Rain said. I was just glad I had Oka to stick up for me, and really just wanted to go home.

“Well. Shall we?” Rain asked.

“Go home?” I asked eagerly.

“Without meeting the guests of honor?” Rain asked.

She led us back to the front of the building, where the carousel was. A security guard checked over her info and let us all up onto the stage, specifically to a room behind it.

“I haven’t spoken to them in some time.” Rain said. “Unfortunately, only Mars is here today, so just a guest of honor, but I’d still like to say hello.”

“Wait, you for real know them?” Oka asked. “And they’re super renowned or something?”

“I became acquainted with the three after they solved a case in my castle,” Rain said.

“Like a murder or something?” I said, my eyes wide.

“Oh yes, there was quite the grisly series of killings in the Novu royal court,” Rain said. “But the actual murders occurred much before I was born and no one in my family was targeted. The River & Lyric team arrived to wrap up loose ends and piece together a long unsolved mystery.”

“Wow,” I said.

“A murder mystery solved before your eyes is quite the treat, especially if no one you’re related to is involved!” Rain laughed at her joke.

“There’s that famous empathy of the Adagios.” A man said as he entered the room.

“Mars!” Rain said as she rushed over to embrace him.

“Nice to see ya,” Mars Valor said. “I only have a minute, but I couldn’t miss seeing Princess Rain herself.”

Mars didn’t have the same jacket he had in the photo, but he still had a rather odd trench coat on that had a lot of pull strings on it for some reason.

“Thank you for the timely experience this year,” Rain said. “It really helped us out.”

“Kara wrote this year’s and I think it showed, yeesh, but I’m glad it connected with you.” Mars said.

“It greatly helped, Mr. Valor!” Amara said.

“Glad to hear it,” Mars said. “It’s good to see you three still going strong. As I always say, three can be a difficult bunch to manage, but if you can make it work, you make it work.”

“Right!” Amara said.

“But it seems you’re a party of five this year,” Mars said. “Are they part of the team now?”

“Oh, no, these are just our friends,” Rain said. “That’s Zeta and Oka.”

I was with it enough to remember my handshake rule, and Mars shook mine firmly.

“Sorry to ask, but do you solve like actual for real murders?” I said.

“They’re a bit starstruck, don’t mind them,” Rain said. “Of course they solve murders!”

“But you’re not like here to solve a murder, yeah?” Oka asked.

“Nah,” Mars said. “This is the one place where we’re least likely to run into a murder.”

“Is there a place you’re most likely to run into a murder?” I asked.

“I suppose anywhere,” Mars said. “We mainly operate…here.” Mars held his left arm out and unfurled a map of East Valataran from his sleeve. “Right in the center of Pyre Cani land. There tends to be a lot of action there.”

“Wow,” Oka and I said in unison.

“Are Tik and Kara there currently?” Rain asked.

“Yeah, they’re on a case back home,” Mars said. “They should be back next week.”

“A murder case?” Oka asked.

“No, someone stole a suitcase or something, it was boring so I wanted to hit up the carousel instead,” Mars said. An attendant poked his head in the room and angrily rang a bell, which was an odd gesture to let us know Mars was out of time. “Sorry for the short visit, next time we can chat more, yeah?”

“Yes, I’ll be back next week!” Rain said. “It’s been too long since I’ve caught up with Tik and Kara…”

After Rain gave her goodbyes, Mars said farewell to the rest of us also.

“It was nice to meet you,” Mars said. “If you’re ever in need of our services, here’s our business card.” He dropped something into Oka’s palm.

“This is just a potato chip…” Oka said.

“Is it? My bad.” Mars took it back from Oka and ate it. “I guess just hope you don’t have to contact us.”

As we left, we walked past the line heading to the ride, and I heard familiar voices behind me.

“Bummer on the timing that just one of them was here, but seeing just one is super cool, right?”

I turned to see Dr. Diast and Stella in line holding hands. Diast spotted me as soon as I saw her and looked faint, worried that anyone in the love trio may have spotted them.

“He did have a really good speech.” Stella said. “Evy? Something up?”

I kept walking, catching up to the others, not wanting to ruin their date.

* * *

After all that, I was glad to have Oka alone. We were fine hanging out with our other friends, but our social batteries drained from lots of activity, and both of us were getting better at recharging the other. Snow covered the school grounds, and we wandered around, my arm linked around Oka’s.

“I can’t believe they just left us there,” Oka said.

“You did offer to make that your punishment for the slap,” I said.

“Yeah, I don’t know what I was thinking. The guilt and panic got the better of me.” Oka said. “Luckily Dr. Diast and Stella were still in line.”

“I felt bad about butting in on something they had planned, but then they wanted to go through the stupid ride again,” I said. That sounded brattier than I meant it to but Oka got what I meant. “You know, the second time through it really hit me that the story kinda sucked.”

“For real!” Oka said. “Why zombies? I feel like haunted houses aren’t supposed to be so chatty?”

“It was kind of fun though.” I said. “Once it was done.”

“Kind of.” Oka said. “More fun the second time without having the outside things making me all big scared. And the second actor that played the storyteller did a way better job.”

“I guess we’re all even now, at least?” I said.

“Mrrgh,” Oka groaned. “I think I just don’t like Rain much.”

“That’s fair,” I sniffed. “Sometimes I get nosebleeds in weather like this, just a heads up.”

“I’m used to em, I’m always prepped for Zeta nosebleeds.” Oka said.

I nuzzled my head against her shoulder.

“I was kind of afraid you’d say a different secret there,” I said. “Like I dunno, something scary about us.”

“Not gonna lie, I was thinking the same thing,” Oka said. “But I don’t have anything like that.”

“Me either! I just got worried a bit.” I said.

“Gosh, we’re so anxious,” Oka said.

I laughed, and Oka did too.

“We really are.” I said. “No wonder we’re a good fit for each other. Sometimes I can’t get over how similar we are.”

“Right!” Oka said.

Our wandering brought us to Kalei, Marmalade, Iris, and Maia, who were just getting back from a trip to the mall. Marmalade looked like she was catching a cold or ate something really spicy.

“So how was that?” Kalei asked.

“We went to a haunted house.” I said.

“You didn’t die, that’s impressive,” Iris said.

“Well, thanks for blocking them,” Kalei said. “I think half the group would quit if the love trio joined. Did that spark any ideas for the movie, at least?”

I shrugged. “Did we get any ideas from that?”

“Zombies, maybe? There were a lot of zombies. Do we want to do zombies?” Oka said.

“Hmmm,” Kalei said. “Maybe we can add that to the whiteboard. The one in my room, that’s the brainstorming one. Lils has the planning whiteboard.”

We all did our best zombie shuffle, getting a quick shot of it for Kalei’s phone for the test footage. I wasn’t sure what exactly I had accomplished that day, but I definitely stepped outside of my comfort zone for it, so that had to count for something.