Well, I'm still quarantined. I managed to find some time amidst all my AP prep to get in a little writing, and honestly it was a much-needed break. Enjoy the chapter!

xXxXxXx

Callum had expected his Saturday to be relatively calm. He had no weekend classes and he'd already completed his assignments that were due the following week. Thus, his only plans had been to relax, which was why he was sitting at his desk with his headphones in and his sketchbook laid out in front of him. He was currently working on his stadium-colosseum piece, which he'd yet to think of a proper title for.

In his defense, titles were a problem for when the picture was complete.

Thus, Callum had not expected anyone to text him, much less show up at his dorm, which was why he at first did not notice his phone buzz nor did he hear people banging on his door.

Rayla: Callum

Rayla: Caaallum

Rayla: Callum

Rayla: Open up

Claudia: can you not hear us knocking? we have big news! (also rayla might break down the door if you don't hurry)

Soren: LET US IN

Three different people. Three different text threads. Three different ways of letting him know they were all, presumably, waiting not-very-patiently outside of his dorm.

It seemed his relaxation period would have to be postponed.

Callum turned off his music and took out his headphones, making sure to coil them neatly and drop them into a small cup on his desk before he headed to the door of his dorm. "Alright, alright," he called as he unlocked it and pulled it open. "I'm here. You can all -"

He was cut off by three people rushing inside, with one person in particular knocking the air out of his lungs as they crushed him in a tight hug.

"R-Rayla?" he stammered, recognizing her white hair in a matter of seconds. He tried and failed to subtly take in a deep breath and restore oxygen to his lungs before returning her hug, though he had no idea as to what had brought on her sudden affection. Not that he was complaining. "Um... What's going on?"

Rayla pulled out of the hug and beamed at him, her hands remaining atop his shoulders. "I'm on the team!"

Callum blinked. "You're - what?"

Rayla rolled her eyes in mock-exasperation, the smile that stayed on her face betraying her true excitement. "The football team, dummy! I'm a wide receiver!"

It took another moment for her words to register in his brain. When they did, his eyes widened. "Rayla, that's so awesome!" He then proceeded to pull her into another hug, wrapping his arms around her lower back. "I'm so happy for you!" He knew how much the football team meant to her, and he did his best to convey that sentiment by letting the hug linger.

Definitely had nothing to do with his personal enjoyment of the hug.

"Callum, you are looking at KSU's finest wide receiver in history," Soren said proudly, wiping an imaginary tear from his eye. "She's going to be amazing."

"You should have seen her at tryouts yesterday after you left," Claudia gushed. "She straight up hurdled a corner! No defender is going to stand a chance against her."

Callum pulled out of the hug, aware of the admiration that had to be shining in his eyes. "Wow," he said, unable to keep the awe out of his voice. His hands slipped perfectly into Rayla's. "That's incredible."

Rayla's face reddened at his praise. "It wasn't that impressive," she mumbled. "The defender dove for my feet instead of trying to properly tackle me. He should have expected me to jump."

Callum laughed, giving her hands a slight squeeze. "Still sounds pretty epic to me."

They stared at each other for a moment, neither speaking. They didn't step away from each other until Claudia cleared her throat in an overly-dramatic fashion, a smirk dancing on her lips as they hastily jumped apart. "Anyways," she said pointedly, "the reason we crashed your dorm was to celebrate! An exciting accomplishment like this cannot go, er… uncelebrated!"

"We've gotta take Rayla to Aimee's Creamery," Soren added. "Yes, I'll admit that we may be partially using her achievement as an excuse to eat the best ice cream at KSU. But only partially."

Callum laughed. "I guess that's fair." Aimee's Creamery really was amazing. "Who's driving?"

"That would be me," Soren replied, spinning his keys around his finger and smirking. "Our dad has the other car, and Claudia and I did rock, paper, scissors for today."

"He cheated," Claudia grumbled.

"Clauds, there is no such thing as cheating in rock, paper, scissors!"

Claudia didn't appear convinced. The siblings' squabble earned laughter from Callum and Rayla as Callum grabbed his satchel, sticking his phone and sketchbook into it before they left his dorm.

The drive to the ice cream parlor was short, as it was only a few streets away from the campus dorms. Callum figured the only reason they'd bothered to drive was because the day felt a hundred times hotter than usual. Which also explained the desire for ice cream.

"So what kind of ice cream do you like?" Claudia asked Rayla as they walked into the parlor. "Soren and I are both chocolate fanatics."

"Oh, I'm the world's biggest fan of moonberry," Rayla replied, her eyes practically sparkling at the thought. Then she paused. "Er, that's not just a Xadian flavor, is it?"

"It might be," Claudia said apologetically. "I don't think I've ever heard of it before."

"They do have mixed berry smoothies," Callum offered as the four got in line. "I like those. Oh, and there's all kinds of fruit-flavored sherbet and sorbet that you can mix, too."

"Hmm," Rayla said, pulling her wallet out of her back pocket and flipping through her cash. "I only have like $5." She turned to face Callum. "Do you want to order a large berry-whatever smoothie and split it?"

"Sure," Callum agreed, very deliberately ignoring Claudia's not-at-all-subtle wink and little giggle. "Saving money is always great." College was all about making ends meet.

Soren and Claudia both ended up getting chocolate, though Soren got his in a waffle cone and Claudia got hers in a cup with rainbow sprinkles. Callum ordered his and Rayla's smoothie, using three of his ones and two of Rayla's to pay. He gave the change and another of Rayla's ones to the cashier to put into the tip jar.

The cashier had an... intriguing appearance, to say the least. The roots of her hair were dark, and the rest was dyed a bright cyan. One of her eyes was sort of hazel, and the other blue. What was most interesting about her, however, was the oddly familiar smirk on her face as she handed him the tall glass of smoothie.

"So..." she drawled with a thick, Australian-esque accent as Callum accepted the cup. "Do you guys need two straws, or just one?"

Callum felt the blood rush to his face and something akin to a squeak escaped his lips. "T-Two!" he stammered, hastily glancing at Rayla. "Because if it was just one that would - that would mean -"

Rayla then saved him from having to finish his trainwreck of a sentence. "Two straws, thank you," she interrupted stiffly, taking them out of the cashier's hand before turning on her heel and marching to the booth where Soren and Claudia were waiting. Her face was as red as his own.

Callum started to say something else to the cashier, but decided against it, instead following Rayla to their seats.

"Not a word," Rayla muttered, glaring at the siblings as she sat down across from Soren. "Not. A. Word."

Callum said nothing as he slid next to her, simply hoping that his blush had faded at least to where he didn't look like a sunburnt lobster.

"Wasn't going to say anything," Claudia replied airily, though she was clearly trying not to laugh as she ate a spoonful of her ice cream.

Soren, for his part, did not at all seem to care about whatever unspoken conversation they were all having. He was content with his cone, chocolate already dripping down his chin.

Callum let Rayla take the first few sips of their smoothie, mostly because he didn't want to lean down at the same time as her and bonk their heads together. Lady and the Tramp had always been unrealistic to him in that aspect.

Rayla and Claudia started to chat about a calculus exam they had later that week, a conversation that mostly involved Claudia freaking out and Rayla reminding her that it was a group exam anyways and that she'd be fine.

Callum asked Soren one question about football and within minutes was being lectured about the entire NFL franchise. It wasn't too bad, really. Soren broke down his explanations and used non-sports terminology when possible, which helped Callum understand almost everything said. It was certainly more helpful than Harrow's explanations had ever been, if they could even be called "explanations". His stepfather was knowledgeable about many things, but football was apparently not one of them.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" Claudia exclaimed, drawing the table's attention to her. "I want us all to coordinate for what's-his-name's costume party!"

Callum winced. "Are we really going to that?"

Claudia rolled her eyes. "Yes, we are, Callum. We have to introduce Rayla into KSU's party scene somehow, and I think this will be a pretty tame one to start with that we can all have at least a little fun at."

"Yeah, Felix isn't the craziest guy at this school," Soren agreed. "I say there's a 50/50 chance his parents will be at the party, since he's having it at their house. And he's not the kind of person to serve alcohol, even though people will probably bring some anyways."

Callum groaned, liking neither the idea of hanging around Felix nor going to a party, though he still couldn't piece together what made him dislike Felix so much. He was actually a really nice guy who seemed to want the best for his friends. Including Rayla. "That still doesn't make me want to go."

"Look, you don't have to go with us," Rayla began, "but... I would very much appreciate it if you did."

Callum knew he couldn't say no to Rayla. It was physically impossible for anyone to say to Rayla. "Fine. But just know that I'll be holding you accountable for every second of my misery."

"Aw, he can't say no to you," Claudia cooed. "Isn't that cute?"

"Oh, shut up," he grumbled, rolling his eyes and trying to pretend that he hadn't been thinking exactly that. He didn't appreciate it when Claudia read his mind.

"Anyways," Soren interrupted, oblivious to Callum's embarrassment, "what were you saying about coordinating costumes, Clauds? I'd like to know what your idea is before I agree to anything."

"Fair enough." Claudia took another bite of her ice cream before continuing, sprinkles falling off the edge of her spoon as she did so. "I want to do a sort of fantasy theme. Witches, warlocks, fairies - all that jazz. I think we would look cool but it's also a broad spectrum so we can all find something we like."

"Ooh, nice! I love it!" Rayla said excitedly, clapping her hands together. "I'm going to be an elf. It's decided. None of you can stop me."

Callum pondered the idea. He liked the theme, for sure, but that didn't mean he knew what he himself could dress as. Wizards were too pompous, fairies required more effort than he was willing to put in, and Rayla had already chosen to be an elf.

Hmm. Maybe he could be a mage, of some sort? He and Ezran had often pretended to be wizard apprentices when they were younger, so -

"I want to be a mage!" Claudia announced, tapping the bottom of her spoon to the table to emphasize her claim. "Magic is amazing, and definitely real. You just have to squeeze it out of nature to find it."

Callum frowned. "Aw. I was going to be a mage." He sighed dramatically. "I'm truly devastated by this turn of events. I don't think our friendship will last."

Claudia laughed. "You can be so extra, Callum. How about this - I'll be a dark mage. Does that work?"

Callum pretended to thoroughly contemplate her suggestion. "I suppose I can work with that."

"Oh, but Callum, you could be a prince," Rayla teased, her eyes twinkling in amusement. "I could be your... well, not a knight. An elf... assassin... bodyguard?"

Callum snickered. "That's the alternative you thought of to being a knight?"

"Yes. Take it or leave it."

Callum grinned at her, amused and intrigued to see how her costume was going to play out. "You've got a deal. I'll be a prince. Who also happens to be a mage."

"If you're going to be a prince, then I want to be head of the Royal Guard," Soren interjected. "That way I can carry around a sword without getting any weird looks."

"And if I'm an assassin, I can carry around my blades, too," Rayla added, beaming. "Awesome."

"To be fair, there's nothing stopping you guys from carrying around swords and blades every day," Claudia pointed out.

Callum raised an eyebrow at her comment. "What about campus law?"

Rayla waved her hand dismissively. "You know. Besides that."

"Felix's house is off-campus, too," Soren added cheerily. "So I bet it's slightly less illegal."

This conversation had spiraled, and Callum wasn't sure where it was headed.

Claudia seemed to notice, though, and she promptly steered things back to their costume-planning. "Anyways. I was thinking we all buy our stuff separately and then get ready in my dorm. That way it's a surprise what our costumes look like, but we'll still know what we're all wearing before we go to the party."

"We are going to have a long discussion later about where I should shop," Rayla said to her, causing Claudia to laugh before readily agreeing to help.

It was moments like this where Callum was reminded of how grateful he was to have the friends like he did. Cliché? Obviously. But it was true nonetheless. It really sucked that Soren would be graduating and that Rayla would be returning to Xadia at the end of the school year.

As a kid, he'd had a tendency to overthink and panic about the future. His mother had always reminded him to appreciate the present, because the future could wait. The future will become the present, she'd told him, which was why there was no point in worrying over the future. And maybe she'd been right.

Well, the immediate future was still something he needed to be concerned with. He'd have to hit up some thrift stores soon to start putting together his costume.

Claudia's phone started to ring, interrupting the conversation between herself and Rayla. She rolled her eyes when she saw the caller ID. "Ugh. My dad." Then she picked up. "Hello?" She took a bite of her ice cream as her dad responded. "No, I'm with Soren, Callum, and Rayla. We're at Aimee's. The ice cream place." A pause. "Yes, Rayla's the Xadian student." She sighed, placing her spoon on a napkin and pinching the bridge of her nose. "Dad, you know I love you and that I'd probably kill a man for you, but I don't appreciate you criticizing Soren and I's company." Another pause. "Yeah, we can leave. Mhm. See you in a bit." She hung up, tucking her phone into her pocket. "Come on, Soren. Dad needs our help getting ingredients for some weird dish he's trying to put together."

Callum never wanted to say anything about it, but he had always found it rather strange that Viren's reaction to his midlife crisis had been attempting to become a chef. Worse, it wasn't even working out for the poor guy.

Claudia placed her napkin in her now-empty ice cream cup. "Sorry, guys. We have to leave."

"Wait, how are they going to get home?" Soren asked after he finished off his cone. "We drove them here, remember?"

Claudia mumbled a curse under her breath. "Right. Er, well -"

Callum waved his hand dismissively. "We'll walk. It's not far, and I know the way." Perks of being Harrow's kid meant he'd known his way around campus long before he'd started attending KSU.

Claudia still appeared hesitant. "Are you sure? Because -"

Rayla gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry. I know what it's like to always be called back home to help your dad. Callum and I will be fine."

Claudia bit her lip. "Well... Alright. Text me when you get to the dorm. See you guys tomorrow!"

The siblings tidied up their side of the booth before leaving the ice cream parlor. Callum and Rayla now sat together in silence.

"So..." Rayla began, clearly searching for an icebreaker. "Any updates on you and Claudia?"

Callum nearly choked on the sip of the smoothie he was taking. He coughed before sputtering, "I - she's - no. No. Nothing happening, nothing going on."

Rayla raised an eyebrow, evidently weirded out by the hastiness and the intensity of his response. "Okay...?"

Callum tried to find the right words. Which was difficult, because he'd never been good with words. "It's just - I've liked Claudia since I was little." Wow, he was already regretting this explanation. "So maybe it's only a silly crush-thing. And I don't really like her. Like, like-like her. Possibly. I don't - I don't know."

Rayla rolled her eyes and took a sip of the smoothie, though an amused smile was dancing on her lips. "You know, we don't need to continue this conversation. Something tells me that crushes aren't your forte."

Callum groaned. "That obvious?"

"Mhm."

"Right." Callum managed a laugh. "Okay, subject change." He pushed his hair out of his face. "So I understand that you got onto the football team, but are you going to be able to start playing with them when the season starts?"

Rayla pursed her lips, swirling her straw around in their shared smoothie. "Hopefully," she finally said. "The coach told me that he's impressed with my abilities, but he knows that some fans won't be happy because... You know. I'm Xadian."

"That's so stupid," Callum grumbled. "It shouldn't matter that you're Xadian! You're a talented player and should be treated like anyone else on the team."

Rayla chuckled. "If only everyone saw it like that." She shrugged. "But I should be able to play. My name might not be on a jersey, or it might be an abbreviated form, but I'm a solid 90% sure I'll be out on the field. I have to go to practice starting Monday either way, so..."

Callum tilted his head to the side. "Do you have practice every day?"

"It depends on the game and what the coach has going on that week, but yeah. Basically every day." She smirked at him and tapped his nose. "But never fear. We can still do homework together - I was granted permission to leave an hour early every Wednesday."

Callum flushed. That hadn't been what he was thinking about, but now that she'd mentioned it, he was happier than he had any right to be that their weekly homework meetings would not have to end.

"Oi."

The two turned to see that the cashier from earlier had slid into the seat across from them. She held up her hands in surrender as Rayla glared at her. "I just wanted to apologize for teasing you guys earlier. My manager chews me out every other day for that kind of stuff. I should probably take the hint, but..." She shrugged, her bi-colored eyes twinkling with mischief. "Gotta liven up this job somehow."

"Wow," Rayla said dryly. "You know, if you were trying to apologize with that, I gotta say you did a terrible job. Care to leave now?"

"That's not the only reason I came over," the girl protested. "But honest - I am sorry. I didn't mean to make either of you uncomfortable."

Callum was honestly more uncomfortable that she'd come over and sat in their booth. He read her name tag: Nyx.

"I'm a grad student here," Nyx continued. "And you - you're the Xadian student, right?"

"Oh, how'd you guess?" Rayla snapped. "My accent, or the way people glare at me wherever I go?"

Nyx winced. "Touchy subject. My bad. Though the answer is that I overheard the two of you talking."

Rayla rolled her eyes. "An eavesdropper. Great."

"I can see I'm digging my own grave here. But the reason I ask is because I'm Xadian! Or, well, partially. My grandfather was a Skywing. I almost didn't get accepted to the school because of that fact."

Rayla raised an eyebrow. "And why should I believe you?"

Nyx clicked her tongue. "Damn, you're hard to persuade. Okay." She reached around her chest to tap her left shoulder blade. "Now, I'm not gonna take my shirt off, but I've got the Skywing birthmark. Y'know - the one that looks like a set of wings?"

Rayla hesitated, then nodded. "Alright. I'll believe you. For now."

Callum had only understood one, maybe two words of their conversation. Skywing? Wing-shaped birthmarks? What? He was going to have to ask Rayla about Xadia later.

"I'm going to guess that you're a Moonshadow," Nyx said, grinning at her. "You've got very elegant vibes about you - like the moon."

Rayla snorted. "Yeah, but I don't know if that's the way most people come about that conclusion."

"Can't be too bad if I was right."

"Nyx!" someone called from behind the counter. "Get back over here! You know your shift doesn't end for another hour!"

"There's literally no one in line," the cashier grumbled. Then she sighed. "Well, duty calls." She reached into the front pocket of her apron and pulled out a pen and a scrap of paper before scribbling a phone number onto it. "If you ever need someone to talk to that isn't 100% Katolian, feel free to give me a call. Or just come here. 9 times out of 10 I'm the one working the register."

Rayla accepted the paper, a small but genuine smile growing on her lips. "I'll think about it. But thank you."

Nyx shrugged. "Well, that's better than 'no'."

"Nyx! Now!"

She sighed. "Alright. Toodles, you two. Hope you work out your unresolved romantic tension." With that, she disappeared into the back of the parlor.

Callum knew his face was burning, and he found himself unable to make eye contact with Rayla.

"On second thought," he heard her growl, "I don't think I'll be calling her anytime soon."

A subject change was needed. A subject change was needed. A subject change was - "So," he said, wincing as his voice cracked. He cleared his throat before continuing. "What were you talking about with Xadia? Skywings and Moonshadows and... other stuff?"

Rayla's eyes lit up at the mention of Xadia, successfully distracting her from Nyx's unnecessary remark and sending a warm, fuzzy feeling through Callum's chest. "Okay. I don't know if you've picked up on this yet, but Xadia is kind of steeped in tradition. Some of it is super annoying and some of it is desperately boring, but other parts are very, very cool."

Callum laughed. "Alright. Tell me more."

"A long time ago, probably at the dawn of humanity or whatever, Xadia was ruled, in a sense, by six families. Clans might be a more accurate term. The Moonshadows, Skywings, Tidebounds, Earthbloods, Sunfires, and Startouches."

"Those are way cooler names than anything we have here," Callum said, resting his hand on his chin. He also loved the elemental connection each one had, though he felt that was a little too obvious to point out.

Rayla laughed. "I know, right?" She paused. "Actually, it'd be more accurate to say that these clans ruled themselves, and then were ruled over by the most powerful family - the Draconia. Our current monarch, Queen Zubeia, is actually descended from the original Draconia line."

"As monarchs tend to be."

Rayla lightly shoved him, smiling. "I get it, smartypants. You know stuff." She tucked her hair behind her ears. "Anyways, although the Draconia clan had - has - official rule of the country, each clan has always been relatively autonomous in taking care of their own affairs. And for decades, probably hundreds of years, these families didn't... intermingle."

Callum snorted at her choice of words. "Right. No mingling. Got it."

She swatted his arm, which stung more than he'd care to admit. "Stop laughing! You were the one who wanted to know more!"

"Okay, okay. My bad."

"Anyways. For a long time, like I said, there was no mingling between families. A lot of Xadians still pride themselves in clan 'purity', which is one reason they don't like Katolians." She winced. "Sorry. A bit callous, now that I think about it."

Callum shrugged. "There's bad blood on both sides of the border. Don't apologize for what you can't control."

Rayla's face turned pink. "Yeah." She coughed. "But after a while, people realized that genetically-speaking, some mingling was required. According to my 11th grade history class, there were centuries dedicated to widening the gene pool and causing population booms, if you catch my drift."

He did catch her drift.

"But even today there are technically still separate clans. And since now there's tens of millions of people in each clan, you can marry someone within your clan and not be related to them at all." She paused. "I mean, you could go back like 16 generations to see - er, never mind. Not my point." She twisted a free strand of hair around her middle finger. "I'm in the Moonshadow clan, and so are Runaan and Ethari, but I'm not actually related to them at all."

Callum nodded, soaking up the information he'd been given like a sponge. God, what a terrible but oh-so-accurate simile. "That's honestly really cool. Way more interesting than our 'take the last name of your father' thing." He paused, frowning. "So, do they still allow marriage of people from different clans?"

"Eh." Rayla made a so-so gesture with her hand. "It depends. They've gotten a lot more tolerant in the past century or so, but there are still people who don't agree with it. Queen Zubeia is the most progressive royal we've had in a while. Her husband, King Avizandum, was a little more... conservative. Highkey a nationalist, but he didn't like to be called that."

Callum sighed, unable to keep the amazement out of his voice. "It's so crazy how different Xadia and Katolis turned out, despite that we've basically always shared a border."

Rayla shrugged. "Millenia of war and xenophobia tend to do that."

Callum snorted. "Don't I know it." He turned his head slightly in order to smile at his friend. "But at least we get along just fine."

"Only because I'm as charming as I am," Rayla said, smirking. "I don't mean to brag, but you'd be lost without me."

Callum thought about retorting with a sassy response, but upon failing to think of one, he decided to be genuine. "Yeah." He sat up, now able to look at her directly - or almost so. "I would be."

Rayla's face turned red at his words. "Well you didn't have to go and be honest with me, you big dummy."

"But you're the only person I'm ever honest with!"

"You're such a liar. What about Ezran?"

Callum scrunched up his nose as he contemplated her point. "Maybe," he finally said. "Not sure."

"You're just saying that because you don't want me to be right."

"Psh, no."

Rayla laughed and shoved him, but instead of moving away when he sat back up, she rested her head on his shoulder. "Hush," she said before he could get a word out. "I'm going to take a nap."

Callum found himself unable to protest. Not that he minded.

Huh. He really couldn't say no to Rayla.

xXxXxXx

Shameless fluff. I'm guilty as charged. (Tbh, though, the highlight of this chapter for me was writing Nyx. Oh, she is so much fun.) Thank you for reading!