CH260

“Thanks for the meal man, stop by later and we’ll work out a time for you to meet up with my teachers,” Jake said happily, pulling him into a hug before he, Amy, and Yuzu left for the night, leaving him with Thera, Steph, and Will.

“Well, this was fun but we should probably start heading back soon too,” Will told him. “How much longer are you two planning on being here? We can try to meet up one last time if you want.”

“Probably just a couple more days for me at least,” Ben told him before turning to Thera. “Unless you have anything to hold you back for a while?”

“Um, no I think I’m good,” She told him, seeming distracted as she was preparing to leave for her own room. Seeing her like that had felt like a common feature of the trip, and he was debating talking to her about it when they were alone before she managed to crash his brain by leaning up and gently kissing his cheek before throwing her hood over her head to hide her face.

To the side, Steph was all but shaking Will in excitement as Ben struggled to get a single mind to put together a coherent thought. “Uh, I take it you enjoyed the food then?”

“It was delicious,” She told him as she stared at the ground, frantically asking herself what she’d just done. “Sorry, is that the sort of thing you’re supposed to do before food is served?”

“What?”

“I mean, Steph and Amy told me what your outfit said and I really don’t mind doing little things like that to participate in your culture if it would make you happy,” She rushed to explain. “You do a lot for me so it’s the least I could do, really.”

“Uh, what?” He asked again, still confused as Will leaned over to a suddenly far more uncomfortable-looking Steph.

“I get the feeling you probably didn’t explain things as well as you should’ve,” He whispered to her, pushing her to action as she pulled Thera to the side, saying something quietly that ended with her rushing out of the room.

“Okay, I’m going to follow her,” She said after a second’s hesitation. “Will, I’ll see you at home. Ben, um, I don’t know, I’ll see you later.”

With that she ran out as well, leaving Ben alone with Will as he chuckled. “Well, whenever Thera comes back it might be good for you guys to actually talk.”

“I told you, she’s been nothing but clear that she doesn’t want anything like that and I don’t want to make things weird by making a pass. The way things are is fine”

“That’s a pretty big smile if you really think that.”

Ben touched his face, not realizing how happy he looked after such a small act.

Okay, this might be a problem.

Will laughed as he watched him, patting his shoulder and giving a wave as he walked off. “I’ll stop by in a couple days so let me know how it goes, alright?”

Before he could answer he was alone, and with nothing else to do, went to lie down to deal with the mess that was his thoughts.

It hadn’t been long, but it wasn’t helping. He was in a struggle of what he wanted to do versus what he thought he should do, and the pulling from both ends left him unable to rest or relax, so he got up and decided to go out for a walk to get some air.

He could still feel the effects of bind, the link between his and Thera’s soul and knew she wasn’t in her room, which was probably for the best. He wanted to talk to her, he just didn’t know how. As much as he just wanted to be open about it and tell her he cared he still couldn’t help but worry it would only drive a wedge between them.

Nope, I’m clearing my head for now. No thoughts on how complicated interpersonal relationships are.

It was dark in allfaith so late in the day, with few places open now that the sun had set. The streets were mostly empty now that the contest had ended, with the tourists having gone through the gate back to their home nations as the residents of the city enjoyed its normal, calmer atmosphere.

It was as he was walking that he heard music, a familiar sound coming from a small pub, and thinking it could be the perfect distraction he went in, seeing Greed in the back, using the tool he’d made him to perform and giving him a wave.

He wasn’t sure if he was seen but that was fine, he was content to simply sit and enjoy some music, letting his troubles melt away as he did, only to be shocked to find someone else in the pub he knew, or was at least acquainted with, and walked over to say hi.

“Hey Xizle, wasn’t expecting to run into you here,” Ben told the starfish person and fellow apostle amicably, not sure how he would respond. The last time he’d seen him was as the results of their little competition were announced, and though Ben didn’t think he was a bad guy, he couldn’t exactly blame him if he felt any bad blood.

To his relief though, he seemed cheerful, even excited to get the chance to see him. “Ben, I was hoping to meet again. Come, sit and join me for a bit if you aren’t busy!”

The level of positivity and cheer was a surprise in itself, but Ben did as he asked, happy for the distraction.

“It’s good to see you too, how did the birth of your children go?”

“Oh wonderful! All seven eggs hatched safely and they were each able to eat their way out without causing me major harm, the healers on standby were able to treat most of the damage too. I just need to take it easy for a few days so they’re being watched by their mother for the time being.”

He seemed so thrilled by what he was saying that Ben tried to keep a neutral face to what he was hearing, no matter how strange the topic was.

Right, didn’t Helori mention this too? I was a bit too distracted about the whole magic thing at the time but I feel like I got to see some of the stranger traits to exist in the world during the trip. I wonder if succubi… Nope, not thinking about that right now. I’ll ask Falk later or something.

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He shook the thought from his head, not that Xizle seemed to notice, instead having his own questions.

“So since I have you here, I’ve got to know. How did you pull off your win? I was sure we had it, though losing after all of that was a lot more exciting,” He laughed.

“Ah, well since the contest involved getting the most faith, I just gathered my god the low-quality stuff. I basically turned a small forest of trees and a hundred some-odd animals into faith generators and it managed to work out.”

“Wait, what does any of that even mean?” Xizle asked, voice alight with the sort of curiosity one would expect from an apostle of a knowledge god and Ben gave the long version, explaining both his plan and how he pulled it off, leaving the other man more and more impressed.

“Well, I can’t be dissatisfied losing like this,” He said happily. “I never would have imagined…”

He trailed off as they continued to chat and pass the time, Ben finding it to be the perfect distraction from his thoughts as the music slowed and stopped, with the familiar crab making it joining their table after.