34 – Friends

Arielle was met at her room door by Lyra, who rushed at her so exuberantly that Arielle took a step back.

“What happened?” Lyra asked. “Did you get expelled? Suspended? Demerit?”

“None of the above.”

“Thank goodness,” Lyra said, laying a hand on her chest. “I was concerned they were going to kick you out.”

“You were concerned?” Arielle cocked her head, studying Lyra’s reaction. It seemed to show palpable relief, which was confusing. “Why were you concerned?”

Lyra appeared taken aback by the question. “Well, because I didn’t want you to leave.”

“You don’t? I thought you wanted space from me.” Lyra had rarely initiated conversation with Arielle in the days since she’d demanded space, nor had she permitted Arielle to speak to her.

Truthfully, Arielle had started to give up hope in the concept of a Lyra friendship, as the harder she tried, the more the other girl wanted nothing to do with her.

During the week, Arielle had attempted to check the relationship temperature several times, and Lyra had told her plainly that she wasn’t ready to talk to her yet. Following that, Arielle had searched in How to Charm Kings for a solution, but nothing so far had worked.

She had assumed that she’d messed up so badly that Lyra would want nothing to do with her again.

“Yes, I wanted space, but not that much space.” Lyra offered her a small smile. “And even if I did want all that space from you, it would still be a shame if someone so talented didn’t get to complete the program.”

“My leaving would theoretically give you a better chance of making it.”

Lyra shrugged. “I don’t think I’m going to make it anyway, whether or not you’re here.”

As they stood there, Arielle searched for something to say that would not ruin this moment. She wanted to express clearly how she felt, but she was concerned she would inadvertently annoy Lyra again. What would How to Charm Kings suggest…

On the other hand, the advice from the book had so far not helped much with Lyra. As a matter of fact, it seemed to worsen their relationship as time passed, and Arielle was scared that if she kept doing the same thing, she would eventually push Lyra into full-blown hatred.

She stood there for a moment, desperately searching in her head for the perfect thing to say, paranoid that anything she said would inevitably be the wrong thing and would destroy this fragile olive branch that had been extended to her.

What should she say? Should she make a joke? That had annoyed Lyra the last time. Should she offer a hug? No, that was too much, and Arielle did not like hugs much.

She stood there for so long that Lyra gave her odd looks.

“Are you okay?” she asked. “You look like you’re holding your breath.”

That’s because she was.

“Lyra?’

“Yes?’

“I really want to be your friend.” She forced herself to hold the other girl’s gaze for two seconds before she dropped it.

She caught Lyra’s eye flare. A look of shock stamped on her face, and Arielle was instantly afraid that she’d said the wrong thing. That she’d said too much, or too little. Perhaps she had to explain it more, but a part of her was scared that more explanation would make everything worse.

“You…want to be my friend?” Lyra finally ventured tentatively.

“Yes.” Arielle figured that, since she was going to take the full honesty route, she might as well see it through, and if it did not work out, at least she had one more experience to add as a data point.

“Why?”

“Because you are kind and hardworking and organized and not loud, and you arrange your side of the wardrobe symmetrically and with a sensible hierarchy and color coordination. You’re also the perfect friendship height in that I do not have to crane my head to look up at you, like I do with Riorke and Lacey.”

Lyra snorted at that, and Arielle smiled, happy to have made her happy even though she wasn’t entirely sure what it was that she’d said to trigger that reaction.

“Well,” Lyra said, clearing her throat, her face turning red, and she brushed her hair off her shoulder. “This is surprising. I thought…I thought you looked down on me. That you were one of those who believed I should not even be here, that I was being given too many chances.”

Arielle shook her head. “I don’t believe that.”

Lyra raised an eyebrow. “You did call me hopeless that one time.”

“No, I did not.”

“Yes, you did. You said something to the tune of ‘your problem is insurmountable.'”

Arielle had an accurate recall of the conversation, and so she clarified, “I was expressing how shocked I was by the severe nature of your problem. But upon further reflection, it might not be as insurmountable as I thought.”

“You think so?”

“Yes. The charms will help you.”

She sighed. “I already told you, I’m allergic to charms.”

“Elric said that’s not possible.” Arielle had asked Elric days ago, and he’d told her that he’d never heard a single case of anyone having an allergy to charms, mild or otherwise.

“It’s possible with me.”

“But it may not be–”

“It is, alright?” Her tone was testy before she inhaled deeply. “Let’s not talk about this again.”

Arielle was tempted to nod, simply so that she didn’t risk angering Lyra, but she felt that it was too important to let go of.

“I don’t want you to leave after severance,” she said. “I would be very sad to lose you as a roommate and a friend. So I want to help you. Please.”

Lyra’s features softened. She said, “I truly don’t think you can.”

“We will never know if we don’t try.”

Lyra chewed on her bottom lip. Her eyes sank to her hands, which toyed with the embroidery on her robe. Arielle waited for an answer, knowing that if Lyra didn’t want her help, there was nothing she could do.

“Okay,” Lyra said, finally looking up. “You can help me. But I don’t want to use any charms.”

Arielle felt a spread of satisfaction, but she curtailed it slightly, as without the charms, it would be significantly more challenging to help her roommate.

Then again, Lyra had said that she didn’t want to use charms, not that Arielle couldn’t use them.

If Arielle used the aura reading charm, she might be able to perceive the problem better, which would then enable her to guide Lyra.

“Okay,” she said.

“Okay. Good.” Lyra nodded once, then turned around, but Arielle said, “You’re forgetting something.

“What?” She spun back again.

“You have not yet accepted my offer of friendship.”

“Oh.” Lyra smiled again. ‘“Sure, we can be friends.”

Once more, Arielle tempered her joy, knowing it was slightly premature.

“Are you sure?” she asked Lyra. “I will say the wrong thing again, eventually. I cannot help it. I don’t always know before I say it that it’s wrong, and it makes it difficult for me to be understood.”

Rather than withdraw her friendship offer, like Arielle feared, Lyra kept her gaze even.

“You know I’m starting to understand that,” she said. “I thought that might be the case at first, but then you seemed to easily make friends with Riorke and Lacey, so I assumed the problem was just with me.”

“No,” she said. “It’s not. I’m not sure how I established a friendship with Riorke and Lacey. I didn’t have any friends in the village before coming here, so I’m not clear on how it works.”

“You’ve never had a friend?” This seemed to surprise Lyra. “Ever?”

“Yes. I thought I had a friend, but it turned out that my sister paid her to pretend to be friends with me.”

“Oh, wow. That’s…I‘m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I just wanted to tell you so that you’re aware of my relative inexperience in this field. So if I ever say anything to offend you, it’s likely unintentional, unless I clarify that it’s not.”

“Noted,” she said. “I’ll try to also be plainspoken with you as well, and let you know when you’ve said something inappropriate.”

“Thank you,” Arielle said. That was a relief, like a weight had been taken off her shoulders. It appeared total transparency had been the best policy with Lyra, and now that the other girl understood her shortcomings and was willing to accommodate them, she didn’t have to be as scared of saying the wrong thing.

There might still be pitfalls along the way. The friendship may yet fail.

But for now…both girls smiled at each other, acknowledging without words that they were now friends.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

And even though a lot had happened today, that was what lingered in Arielle’s mind, and it left her with a smile on her face as she fell asleep.

**

Elric did indeed send Arielle multiple books on Ascendant etiquette, as well as a journal where he’d written Who’s Who in Ascendant Society?

Along with that, he listed rules like, “Don’t ever go to the spirit pond at dawn. It’s said to be haunted,” and “Don’t wake up too early on the Saint’s day. It’s taboo.”

He also mentioned Lord Wesley, who was the wealthiest man with the most connections in the ascendant world. Both son and nephew were archmages, so despite only being a master himself, he commanded an outsized level of respect. So if she were ever to meet him or his concubines, she must greet them with a bow unless the wife was there, then she must greet the concubines with a curtsey and the wife with a bow. He circled that one several times and noted, ‘both wife and one concubine will likely be attending family day, so do not forget if you ever come in contact with them.’

Arielle assured him she would not forget. She also told him about the update between her and Lyra.

Arielle: Lyra accepted my friendship request. I was completely honest with her, against the advice in How to Charm Kings. She knows now that I am socially inept, but she wants to be my friend anyway.

Elric: Good. I’m very happy for you, Arielle.

Arielle: I am very happy for me too.

In addition to learning everything she could about ascendant society, she also finally had the conversation with Professor Woden about possibly mentoring her in her effort ot attain, or at least better understand, a Vacu-Calor lean.

“Mentoring, huh?” He tapped his chin in thought, reclining on his leather-backed seat. His office was, to put it kindly, a mess.

In contrast to Valeria, who kept hers sparse and neat, he had crammed just about everything into his small space. A bookshelf overflowing with books, some of which he’d left open to reveal stained pages. Plants highlighted every corner, crawling vines crowding the walls, a blackboard on which he’d scribbled unintelligible words, and next to that, there were random paintings of insects that he had sort of linked together with a black marker.

It was all an eyesore, and Arielle had developed an itch to start organizing so it no longer made her sick to look at.

“I’m not sure how much time I would have for that,” he said. “As you can see, I have several projects running concurrently, and I’m reluctant to give any of them up simply to mentor a student. And from what I hear, you don’t need my help much anyway, what with how balanced your cores are.”

Arielle started to agree, but she hesitated. “I need help with runes.” She could likely figure out a Vacu-Calor lean on her own, but while advanced spell casting had touched on runes, it had not gone in depth into their actual creation, and that information only seemed to be found in the restricted section of the library, which she would need a senior’s help to access.