Ch 2.44: Carly


    <span style="font-weight:400">The group split up once they were inside the school itself, Tira going to report their mission and Flora breaking off to go change in her dorm room. “We should probably shower,” ina said as she looked down at herself. Her uniform definitely wasn’t in the worst shape it had ever been, but it had been two days since she’dst bathed, and she could definitely justify changing into her spare jacket and skirt as well. “And we need to put our bags down anyway.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“You’re probably right,” Carline said as she continued walking.


    <span style="font-weight:400">ina was almost underwhelmed by the reception they were getting, orck thereof. A couple people seemed to nce her way, probably at the dirt on her uniform, but she expected more, some acknowledgement that they’d fought a golem, avoided an assassin, beat five mythical creatures. Instead, she was just another student, one who most people probably didn’t even know had left the school.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“That wasn’t how these missions are supposed to go, is it?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“No,” Carline said. “At the most, they probably expected use to find a handful of poachers without aspects…”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Things were different now though, whether people realized it yet or not. “Hopefully Tira can convince Alonse that these missions,” ina whispered. “I mean, students really shouldn’t be going on them. We got lucky, and we’re <i><span style="font-weight:400">us.”</i>


    <span style="font-weight:400">Carline’s hand moved to her neck, stroking her throat. “Yeah, I know.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">They didn’t speak the rest of the trip to their dorm room. ina let out a sigh of relied as she opened the door and shrugged her bag off onto the bed, smiling as she thought of the warm shower she was about to enjoy, what might happen <i><span style="font-weight:400">after </i><span style="font-weight:400">the shower if Carline was in the right mood.


    <span style="font-weight:400">But her excitement dissipated as she turned around and actually looked at Carline. She was stood just inside the doorway, arms shaking as as her legs were stuck to the ground. “Carline?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">At the sound Carline fell over, catching herself with her hands and knees as she began panting on the ground, tears welling up in her eyes as the contents of her bag spilled onto the floor.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Carline!” ina shouted as she ran over, dropping to the ground next to her and lifting her head up. “What’s wrong?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Carline threw herself into ina’s arms, bawling.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I didn’t even see the knife at first, not until you all pointed it outter.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">The assassin’s knife, in the cave. ina pulled Carline in, doing her best to cradle the girl while still on the floor. The dagger had disturbed her too, caused her anguish the night it happened, but Carline had seemed fine the whole time, had made everything seem fine while they were out there. “Carline, it’s okay. We’re safe now.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I can’t see her. Not with my eyes, not with my aspect… She could be here right now, watching us, toying with us, waiting to to strike… How do we know we’re safe?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">A chill ran through ina’s body. There wasn’t a way to know, as far ina could tell. “She doesn’t have a reason to go after you. We were in over our head, somewhere we really shouldn’t have been, but we’re back home now. She’s going to be worrying about that cave, the crystals, and we’re not there anymore.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Carline didn’t respond, just buried her head into ina’s jacket, still crying. ina felt more helpless in that instant than she had on the entire trip. She’d rather fight off ten golems, a hundred assassins, a thousand giant typuses if it meant Carline would feel safe. But she couldn’t do that, so she pulled Carline into her with one arm, and grabbed Carline’s hand with the other, using her fingers to slowly trace circles around the back of her friend’s hand. It wasn’t even a conscious decision to start messing with Carline’s hand like that, just absent-minded fiddling while she tried to hold her friend close.


    <span style="font-weight:400">She continued doing it for a while, fingertips dancing over carline’s hand, across her wrist, down her fingers, over her joints while Carline stayed pressed into ina’s chest, slowlying down from the emotional high she was at, sobs fading, breathing returning to normal. Eventually she lifted her head up, watching ina rub at the back of her hand with slightly confused, slightly teary eyes.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“What’re you doing?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I’m not really sure,” ina said. “It just… felt like I should do something. Does it feel nice?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Kind of? Mostly it’s just… distracting.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">inaughed at that, dropping Carline’s hand and pulling the girl close again.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I didn’t say you had to stop,” Carline said, a slight blush appearing on her cheeks.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Okay,” ina said, grabbing Carline’s hand and resuming the motions. “Do you want to talk more?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Not really. I think I’m… mostly okay. Not like, <i><span style="font-weight:400">okay</i><span style="font-weight:400"> okay, but…”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I understand.” ina continued rubbing Carline’s hand and fingers, looking down at her friend as Carline closed her eyes, still breathing heavily. If ina had found her like this she’d assume Carline was asleep, but she could tell the difference with her in her arms, that Carline was just doing her best to stay rxed, a task ina knew the difficulty of all too well. Despite the difort of sitting on their dorm room floor though, ina was willing to hold forever, maintain the embrace her best friend needed for as long as she needed to.


    <i><span style="font-weight:400">Best friend?</i><span style="font-weight:400"> The words felt strange in ina’s mind, words she hadn’t really thought of in a long time. She’d had friends as a kid, but that was back when everyone was your best friend, anyone you vaguely liked being around anyway. By the time people started having actual best friends, ina herself had been friendless, so she hadn’t ever really felt this way before.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Hey, is it okay if I call you Carly?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Carline opened her eyes, looking back up at ina with even more confusion in her eyes, even more blush on her face than when she’d stopped crying. “Huh?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Never mind,” ina said, feeling blood rush to her cheeks. “I’m sorry, I don’t know why I said it, it just sort of came out…”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“No,” Carline said, pushing herself to her knees and wiping her face. “You don’t need to apologize. It’s fine; I like Carly.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Right.” ina really didn’t know why she’d asked. It was like rubbing Carline’s hand, just something her body had decided to do without consulting her brain with first, but she wasn’t exactly upset that either had happened. “Then… Do you still want to go on that walk, Carly?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Carly smiled lightly, a bit of life jumping into her eyes. “I do. But I don’t think I want to shower first, actually. Let’s unpack first, but keep a spare uniform in your bag.”