I have to say that at this point, these two might be my favorite friendship because they're not going to be in a relationship for a long time. They're so much fun to write.

Chapter 13

Marelda's POV

I hefted the basket of food the dormmother gave me a little higher. I asked if I could have a lunch because a friend wanted to meet up, and she got this look in her eye and agreed. It was highly suspicious but I didn't argue. I had a feeling I didn't want to know. So I just took the basket and left. I went out the kitchen door, because the dorm mother recommended it, as to not let other people know I was breaking the confinement to the dorms.

The way the academy was situated was that the dorms were on the sound and north sides of the academy, the front of which faces west. The South Forest was by the girls' dorm, the North Forest by the boys'. West had a road leading to the down to the nearby town, Stargate, and behind the academy was over two miles of thin woods and clearings, as well as the lake. But if you go to far you'll hit the East Forest. Sir Vargas had taken me near it once. Even during bright, broad daylight, it was creepy and eerie enough to give me goosebumps.

How Luca went in—not to mention alone—without going crazy was beyond me. Luca is something else.

Speaking of something else, when I reached the clearing where we were to meet, I found him already waiting. He was drawing in a sketchbook, only using some odd sort of pencil and a little pink block thing. So absorbed was he that he didn't notice me as I walked up behind him. I peeked over his shoulder, and saw that he was sketching the clearing.

"So why exactly did you call me out here?"

He jumped. "Bella! I didn't hear you. This seems to happen often, perhaps we should get you a bell, bella?"

"Haha, very funny. Now why am I here?"

He stood up, pouting. "Can't we just hang out? It's such a nice day, am I not allowed to just want to spend some time with my buddy?"

I gave him an obviously suspicious look.

He sighed, dropping the flamboyant tone. "I had no real reason other than boredom. I did actually think spending time with you would be enjoyable."

I rolled my eyes and held out the basket. "You're lucky my dormmother likes me. Because she acted suspicious when I asked her for this and gave me a look I qualify as odd."

He lit up at the sight of the basket, and eagerly took it from me. He pulled out his wand and conjured a dark green blanket. A few more flicks and the blanket was neatly spread out on the ground. Setting the basket down on it, he sat down and patted the blanket. "Care to join me, bella?"

"I've told you how many times to stop calling me that?" I deadpanned. But I did sit on the blanket, though not next to him.

"You never believe me, though, so I'll keep saying it until you do," he teased.

Rolling my eyes, I decided to change the topic. "So what's that utensil you were using for drawing? It seems similar to a pencil but it's different."

"Oh, this?" He held up the yellow thing and I nodded. "It's a Terran pencil. Selene got me a bunch of them, when she found out I liked drawing. Got me some of these"—he held up the pink thing—"erasers, too. I must say, they're a lot easier to use than the ones here. They break less and are easier to sharpen."

"You seem close to Selene, even before you found out you might possibly be cousins."

"Jealous, bella?"

I gave him a look and he chuckled, leaning back on his elbows and looking up at the trees.

"I tease, I tease. And yes, she's one of the few people I'd consider an actual friend. She's very open, and quite nosy. Very good at figuring other people out. Easy to talk to. High energy." He laughed. "Boy, does that girl have so much energy. She draws people in, and it's hard not to want to be her friend. Why do you ask?"

I shrugged. "I hear a lot about the Terran girl, that's all. Never talked to her, didn't even realize I've been seeing her nearly every day until recently." At his interested look I continued. "I didn't realize that she was the girl I passed in the mornings everyday when I went to get breakfast. She was always in the student's section of the kitchens before dawn, making something or other. Dormmother pointed out it was her after she vanished. She always seemed nice, usually gave me a smile, but I never talked to her. I was too busy."

"You always seem to be busy, bella. Take some time to relax a bit and smell the flowers. They're quite nice."

"Being relaxed in my field get you killed."

He looked over at me, his expression unreadable for a moment before smiling. "You're only young once, bella, so why are you so serious? Can't you relax a bit before you have to be high strung on the regular? Even professional warriors have to take time to relax, or they'll snap." He made a noise, mimicking a breaking sound. "We aren't in wartime, and the way the current monarchy is, I doubt we will be in this lifetime. We've got plenty of allies and our only real enemies are mostly far, far away." He flopped back into the ground.

I sighed, shaking my head as I laid back, too. "You don't understand."

"Then explain it," he said. "What don't I understand?"

"Eclos raids us regularly. All the border towns are in constant danger of being raided. They're mostly farming and trading villages. No big cities with their own guard. There aren't enough warriors to cover the borders constantly without leaving other parts of the kingdom defenceless, so they often have to fend for themselves. Like my village. It's right by the border. Surrounded by forest. It's small. Better defended than it used to be, but not as well as it could be. I only have summers to work with them, after all. I'm working so hard so that when I'm an official warrior I can go up and down the border and train the villagers on how to better defend themselves. It's foolish to think I can save them all, but I can most certainly save as many as possible."

Luca's POV

"You never talk about your village," I observed. "Why is that? I mean, I told you my under-dramatic backstory, what's yours?" I couldn't help but glance over at my buddy. Her hair was a little longer than it had been when we first met. It used to be cropped pixie-short, but it was brushing the tips of her ears now. No doubt she'd cut it soon. "You had an older brother, right? Tell me about him."

It was silent for a few moments before she sighed. "I suppose it's only fair." She inhaled before continuing. "Parker was my best friend, despite being about seven years older. He was the epitome of a perfect big brother. He would always let me come hunting with him in the mornings, teaching me how to use simple hunting weapons. He wanted to be a warrior, too, though he had no magic. Built like a tree, tall and thin. He would always joke about how quietly I'd move, but he was much better at it. He would've gone far in the army, I know he would have."

"Is he why you wanted to become a warrior?" I asked in the lull.

"Initially. But then it became for me, on my seventh birthday, actually. That was when everything changed."

It was slight, but I caught it. Her voice, for less than a second, broke in tone. "What happened?"

"Raiders," she said. "Raiders attacked that night. Parker sent me with our little siblings and our mother to lead them to our hunter's hut. But I left once they were there to go back and help."

I sat up and looked at her. "Seven years old and you decide it would be smart to go run into battle? Geeze, bella, and I thought you were gutsy now!"

She snorted, not so much in laughter, but more bitterly. "It's my biggest regret. I screwed everything up by going to the fight. Parker noticed me, and tried to get me to leave. It got him stabbed in the back. Literally." I watched as she closed her eyes and tried to keep her breathing steady. Eventually she started "I would've ended up either dead or a gang whore if Jakob hadn't noticed and took down the raider with his hammer. He's the town blacksmith now, but then he was only the apprentice. Parker's best friend. He dragged Parker to the edge of town and told me to stay with him. This time I listened. But he lost so much blood that he would have died no matter what happened. It was my fault."

How does Selene do it? I know several people at this school have told her what horrible things they'd been through, and that she always knew exactly how to react. I was just frozen. I had no idea what to say. None. My childhood was crap, but at least I was healthy, relatively content because I knew nothing else. But I had nothing on this. The burden of a dead loved one. And I couldn't even sympathize because there was no one I'd loved that I'd lost, seeing as I've never really loved anyone.

"I don't think that was your fault." The sentence slipped out of my mouth before I'd even thought it. Crap. Hopefully that was a good thing to say.

Authoress: Where's the usual silver-tongued Luca, hmm?

Shut up.

"Pray tell, Luca, how wasn't it my fault?" She sat up, looking at me, face void of any emotion.

I looked right back, the exact same way. "Seven years old. That's how old you were, right? You didn't know better. You wanted to help someone you loved. All I can see from my view is you loved your family enough to want to fight and protect them, even so young. I envy that. I don't think there's anyone, even now, that I'd risk my life for. You may have lost someone special to you, but he loved you enough to die to protect you. That's something admirable. And hey, isn't that what has given you the motivation to protect others from the same fate?"

She was quiet, looking at me. Then she smiled, ever so slightly. "Yeah. I suppose that's true. Thanks."

I grinned cheekily. "Couldn't have my bella all sulky, could I? You're not fun like that."

She rolled her eyes. "Idiot." Reaching over, she opened the basket and tossed a wrapped item at me. "Here, something other than silly words to go in your mouth."

I winked at her and unwrapped the sandwich.

"I also met a woman warrior that day."

I looked back up at her, chewing. Tilting my head, I gestured for her to go on.

"Her name is Elma. She and her brother, Barin, came to help my village that night. With their help, they managed to drive the raiders away. She's the reason I got into the Academy, because she convinced Barin, pretty easily, to give me a recommendation to take the warrior program. Most warriors start training at sixteen, and learning to use battle magic at eighteen. I got to start here with the program Barin created, beginning at fifteen."

I swallowed, smiling. "I'm glad she did, because life would be so dull here without you, bella."

She gave me another look, but I could tell it was less annoyed and more…eye-rolly, in the best of ways.

Authoress: Nice word choice, Luca.

Shut up. Selene uses weird words all the time.

Authoress: Touche.

"So, have you seen them since then?"

She nodded. "Several times. They come to check on me at the end of every year, and occasionally will pop in when they're in the area on break. They like to consider me, in Barin's words, a 'pet project'. My family can't afford all the things necessary for a warrior-in-training of my path, so they chip in and help. They'll send me letters and such, as well."

"That sounds like fun." I commented. She has so many people around her to support her. A family that loves her, friends that support her. She's incredibly lucky.

"It is. You'll have to come visit during the summer. Willie would love you, and constantly beg you to show him magic. And you'd do it, because we both know how much you like to show off." Was she…teasing me? She was. Marelda Krammer, a total stiff most of the time, was actually teasing me.

Wait.

"Did you just invite me to join you for summer vacation?" I smirked a little as she scoffed.

"Sorry for thinking my buddy would enjoy actually spending time with an actual family for once. I apologize for assuming." She shrugged, all nonchalant.

"Wait! I'm sorry bella I was just joking I'd love to go!"

She put a hand to her mouth, shoulders shaking. It took about two seconds before she threw her head and laughed. I sat, stunned, at the out of character show of emotion. She laughed so hard she had to fall back and lay on the ground, clutching her stomach. I had no words. None.

"You…should've seen…your face!" she managed to gasp.

I shook my head, unable to resist a smile and a chuckle. This was nice, talking freely with someone. No secrets, nothing.

I think at this point, I can consider Marelda Krammer by second official friend.

That has a nice ring to it.