Evil Patience
Mem opened her eyes slowly. The room was bright but that didn't matter as the world was still dark in her mind.
"Look who decided to wake up," Ben said. "You snore when you sleep."
Mem glared and started to reach into her pocket for a card. "Not yet, Mem," the voice whispered in her head. "Take him out too soon and you won't be able to use him for your training."
'Not that I doubt you Master, but how is he going to be useful to training?' Mem thought.
"Ben is down in the dumps. You start to build him up as best as you can, make him trust you then rip him apart. It's a lot of fun to watch it happen and it works wonders when training."
'Just like that one girl who dared to invade the training area a just over two years ago.'
"Actually, three."
'Right.' Mem nodded then turned her attention to Ben. "Yes, I do snore and you are very impolite."
Ben looked stunned. "And you little missy, don't belong here."
"Why do you act like this?"
Ben was once again stunned. "My mom went to war about six years ago and she never returned from it. She went missing in action. She was on her way home because she got injured badly enough that her supreme commanding officer didn't want her fighting for him. On her way home, she went missing and no one has been able to get any lead on where she is."
"I suppose you were really close to your mom?"
"Yes, I was. It's taken a toll on Dad, I can see it as clear as day when, something major happens. But there isn't much I can do to help him out."
"I'm no expert, but I do know a few things about losing family. My parents were killed in battle, at least I'm sure that was what happened. After that I was left with an abusive brother. I was about five when he abandoned me. It's been almost eleven years now that I've been mostly on my own. At least you have family to go to. I don't."
Ben looked at Mem sympathetically. "I'm sorry. Are you hungry?"
"A little bit." Mem was surprised at where the conversation had gone. One moment they were insulting each other and now they were sharing personal stories.
"How does macaroni and cheese sound?"
"How does what sound? You've lost me."
"No way," Ben said with disbelief in his voice. "You've never heard about macaroni and cheese?"
"Remember, I'm from the gutters. The gutters don't give those sorts of foods."
"Wow, I'm gong to have to fix that. Oh shoot, that means cooking. I stink at cooking."
Mem almost laughed. "You're really clueless aren't you? There should be instructions to do different things right? If there is, pay close attention to them and follow them exactly."
Ben laughed. "Of course there are instructions, I just have issues with following instructions which is what makes it nearly impossible for me in the kitchen."
Mem would have given up at this point but she was very curious to find out what this macaroni and cheese was so she did some hard thinking then got an idea. "Tell me the instructions as you go. I'll try to keep you straight."
Ben looked skeptical but he got the box out and as he attempted to cook it, he read the the directions to Mem.
About an hour later the macaroni and cheese was ready and for the first time in what seemed like forever Ben didn't ruin it. "Smells good," Mem said. "See all it took was patience and knowing what the heck you're doing."
Ben nodded. "I guess it does."
(And all of a sudden macaroni and cheese sounds good...
So, I did something weird with chapter arrangement. Chapter 25 was just over two weeks after the incident and chapter 26 is not even five days after the incident. I realized that after I was halfway through this chapter.
Cyborg, what I meant by slowed down is that Rai took his time in leaving because he wanted to talk to Elder D. Does this explanation make any sense?)