Lerrum breathed a deep sigh when he found Evran sitting at the prow of the ship, staring off into the darkness. It wasn’t like Evran to wander off when given a task, so when Narro finally returned to their shelter having never encountered him, Lerrum feared something may have happened. Maybe something still had. Regardless, he was happy to see Evran.

  “There you are,” said Lerrum, walking up beside him. “Did something happen?”

  “I’m fine,” Evran lied. He only ever got like this when it involved his parents, though Lerrum hadn’t seen his friend in such a sorry state in years. He caught a brief glimpse of the old Evran a few weeks back when he lost his father’s knife to the void, but he’d bounced back from that almost instantly. Lerrum sat down beside him. He didn’t need to say anything. Evran would tell him whatever it was soon enough.

  “Do you think they’d let me trade places with Depri?” he finally asked.

  So that’s it. Something happened between him and Kaila. They’d been flirting quite heavily these last few days. Lerrum was starting to think the girl had finally come around to the idea of dating humans, despite all her protesting otherwise. But in the end, she must have turned him down.

  “Having trouble with Kaila?”

  “You could say that,” Evran replied. “Ler… she’s been spying on me.”

  Lerrum raised an eyebrow. That was probably the last thing he expected to hear come out Evran’s mouth. “Ev, I think you’re a smart kid. I really do. But you get some crazy ideas from time to time. It’s why I like you.” Lerrum put a hand on Evran’s shoulder. “How sure are you of this? I mean, this is Kai we’re talking about.”

  “I overheard her telling Grist things I shared with her today. Private things… about my family.”

  “Okay. Let’s say I believe you, and that those two are somehow spying on you,” Lerrum started. “Do you know why? Maybe there’s an innocent reason, like she’s getting him to make a special potion for you.”

  Evran exhaled in amusement. “They think my father was an avatar.”

  If Lerrum hadn’t known Evran as well as he did, he’d have laughed in his face for making the whole thing up. This entire story was farcical. The son of an unknown avatar being spied on by a random student-teacher duo? None of it made any sense. But there he was, his best friend, devastated and confused, but telling the truth as he felt it.

  Not knowing what else to say, Lerrum asked the obvious question. “Was he?”

  “Of course not!” Evran shouted before burying his face in his arms. “I don’t know. Maybe? Grist told Kaila to get the names of my dad’s old adventuring party, too. Apparently, they’re saints!”

  Gods, this was so much harder than dealing with a broken heart. At least then he could’ve helped Evran to get over it, but this situation was beyond insane. Either Evran had seriously misheard something, or Kaila was actually spying on him for Grist. Either way, there was a simple solution that would clear this whole thing up.

  “Evran, promise me you’ll stay right here,” said Lerrum in a commanding tone.

  After a brief pause, Evran acquiesced. “Sure.”

  ***

  Kaila jolted awake at the sound of someone banging loudly on the crude door to her modest shelter. She looked over to see Depri staring back at her with a terrified look on her face.

  “Kai, get out here!” demanded Lerrum.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Though he sounded calm, the harshness of his knocking betrayed a hint of anger. What the hell was his problem? Calling on a young girl at night with such an attitude! Kaila quickly slid her school uniform back on and burst out the door, ready to give Lerrum a piece of her mind.

  “What in the skies has gotten into you, Lerrum! Do you have any idea how late it is?”

  He stood there coldly, eying her up and down. “Evran’s waiting on the prow of the ship,” he said plainly. “I haven’t seen him this hurt in ages.”

  “So? What do you expect me to do about it? Didn’t I help him enough last time when you screwed him over with that damned flower? Fall off!”

  He scoffed. “Ev’s upset because he overheard your chat with Grist.”

  Kaila’s eyes went wide with fear, recalling the contents of that conversation. She’d said a lot of things Evran wouldn’t appreciate her sharing with Grist. How much of it had he heard?

  “Gods, it’s true then?” Lerrum said, genuinely surprised. “You two were actually spying on him?”

  “Huh, you were spying on Evran?” said a shocked Depri, joining them outside to see what the commotion was.

  Kaila collapsed to her knees and cried. She’d been found out. What’s more, she’d ended up hurting her friend. Whatever reasons she had for spying on him felt so hollow in the light of that fact. Why had she done this? Why not just ask Evran? Kaila was so caught up in being a part of her uncle’s little secret society that she forgot what was really important.

  “I’m sorry,” she sputtered through her tears.

  “I’m not the one you need to apologize to,” he said without a hint of remorse.

  Lerrum was correct. She had betrayed Evran, and she needed to make things right again. Summoning all her courage, Kaila wiped the tears from her eyes and stormed off toward the ship.

  Evran’s aura was the deep shifting gray of a sky still deciding whether it wanted to rain or not. He sat facing away, eyes lost in the darkness of the night sky. Kaila approached the sullen boy from behind. Her footfalls were loud enough to hear, though they provoked no response.

  She dropped to her knees and assumed a deep, supplicating bow. The coarse wood of the deck pressed painfully into her skin. “I’m so sorry, Evran.”

  After a few seconds passed, Evran turned around, looking her up and down as if seeing her for the first time. She couldn’t tell if he was angry or sad, as his face betrayed no emotion. He simply stared at her.

  “He’s dead, you know,” he said, breaking the painful silence. “So what does it matter if he was an avatar or not? Why the hell would you care?”

  “It’s because of my uncle,” she replied, lowering her eyes. “He took me in, raised me after my mother fell. I would do anything for him, and so… I did all this. He and Grist are old friends. That’s how I ended up at school here. Their study of the ancient world — it’s more than just a hobby. I can’t really say more, but they search out ancient secrets, and I like to help them out where I can. We only just found out your father might be an avatar, so Grist asked me to learn everything I could.”

  “Wait, you only just discovered it?” interrupted Evran, a confused look on his face. “So all these years we’ve been friends… you weren’t just pretending so you could spy on me?”

  Ah, so that was what he cared about. Neither his secrets nor hers, not her betrayal nor her excuses. He cared about their friendship. Kaila chose her next words carefully. There was, in fact, something she had not confessed, nor was she able to quite yet. “My feelings toward you have always been genuine. I didn’t mean for all this. Really, I should have just asked you. I’m such a bad person.”

  Evran let out a breath he’d been holding since he asked. A faint smile appeared on his face once again. “You’re wrong. You’re not a bad person. Just a little dumb, like me.”

  He pulled her into a deep, forgiving embrace. Her tears came flooding back, pouring down onto Evran’s shoulder. She thoughtlessly brushed her cheeks along his, his stubble tickling her as it whisked away a few tears. They held each other for a long time before Evran finally pulled away.

  “Go get some sleep, Kaila. I’m glad you came, but I need to be alone now. I have a lot I need to think about. To be honest, I’m not even sure if you’re wrong about my dad.”

  Wiping away the last of her tears, she smiled and hugged Evran goodnight. Nothing she feared had come to pass. She and Evran would remain friends, for now at least.

  On the way back to her hut, she encountered Lerrum farther down the deck. He had a stern look in his eyes — the same one she’d suffered not long ago, though this time it was not directed at her. Lerrum had his wand out, aimed directly at Professor Grist. He could certainly be expelled for doing so, though such a scandal would likely cost Grist his job as well.

  “You said too much, girl,” Grist complained. “Allow me to escort you back to your shelter.”

  “No,” Kaila said. “My very good friend Lerrum can manage, Professor. And don’t you dare say a word to Evran.”

  The oafish man scoffed then slithered back into the bowels of the ship. Once out of sight, Kaila laughed. The unexpected laughter was contagious, Lerrum quickly joining her. The painful stress of the evening had finally dissipated.

  “Thank you, Lerrum. You saved a few friendships tonight.”

  “If there’s one thing I learned from Kestie, it’s to always talk things out so you don’t have to live with regrets. Speaking of, can you please smooth things over with Depri when you get back? She looked a bit angry at me.”