After a few hours had passed, Lon'qu found himself surprisingly enjoying her company. At first, he had thought that he would simply tolerate her overtures of friendship for the sake of his mother, but now he realized that once he looked past his unflattering first impression of her, Ke'ri was a truly a good person.
"By the way," she mentioned now, "I used to see you outside of my room a lot. Were you listening to my singing?"
Caught off guard, Lon'qu replied honestly. "Y-yes. I didn't realize you knew I was there…"
Ke'ri grinned. "Well, did you like it? I've been singing ever since I was little. It's one of my favorite hobbies."
He huffed. "You are not unpleasant to listen to. Why would I bother to stand outside your room if I didn't like your singing?"
She stuck her tongue out him. "So maybe I just wanted to hear you compliment me for once. Is that so bad?"
"Hubris. One of the fatal flaws," he deadpanned, shaking his head in mock disappointment.
"Oh, shut up," she replied, hitting him playfully.
Lon'qu knew that she meant no harm, but after being so accustomed to violence throughout the past few years, he instinctively flinched away and saw a look of hurt flash across her face. She masked it quickly, though not quite fast enough to escape his notice.
Inwardly, Ke'ri winced. One careless move on her part had gotten him defensive and wary once more, and now there was an awkward air that she couldn't quite figure out how to dispel.
He cleared his throat, breaking the silence. "Well," he said, eyes refusing to meet hers. "It has gotten late, and I should be returning home now." Shrugging on his coat, he stood up and walked towards the door.
Ke'ri nodded. "Yeah, it's getting rather late." She knew she should say something else, anything else, to keep what had been such a pleasant day from ending on such a tense and awkward note, but she couldn't think of anything adequate. Opening the door for him, she smiled sunnily at Lon'qu, hoping that it would be enough.
He brushed past her, not even glancing at her face. Ke'ri felt another sudden pang of sadness and looked down at the floor, disappointed.
"Hey." She looked back up, surprised that he had finally decided to initiate a conversation. "D'you think you could show me how to get out of here?" Lon'qu asked, grinning boyishly at her.
Her heart leapt with joy. "Of course!" she replied. Then a thought occurred to her and she stuck her tongue out at him, revising her earlier statement with an addendum. "But only if you promise that you'll come visit me again."
She bounced on the balls of her feet as she waited for his reply. He was taking his sweet time, pretending to think over her request.
"Oh, just hurry up already!" she exclaimed.
"Fine, fine, okay!" he acquiesced. "I promise. Now show me the way out of this maze of horrors?"
She smirked cheekily at him. "You got it."
He could have probably found the way out on his own, Lon'qu thought. As they wandered through the hallways, he found himself mentally checking off which turns they took and which doors they went through. Yes, he would have definitely been able to get back to the front door by himself.
But for some reason, he couldn't just leave her like that, looking so crestfallen and hurt. His lighthearted request had slipped out of his mouth before he could have stopped it, and even though he had done it without thinking, he had no regrets. The way her face had lit up…
Lon'qu sighed. It had been so long since he had a friend that he had nearly forgotten how much it hurt to care.
The last time Lon'qu called someone his friend, he still lived in the center of Wufen, the capitol city of the Rayshin district. He had been unaware of the stark poverty in the slums that lay only a short walk and a walled gate away from his home.
He had long ago banished their names from his memory. Not entirely on purpose - after all, he had only been a child. And to be fair, so had they. But once his father had died, one by one, they stopped coming over to play. He understood that – children at their age were not able to understand or deal with the strangeness of a family that was missing a person. However, that is not to say that Lon'qu did not still hold a grudge. For one by one, they had retreated back to the comfortable safety of their families, whole and unbroken. And one by one, they had closed their doors to him during the time that he had most needed a friend.
During those days, he told himself that if that was all that constituted true friendship, then he didn't want it. He would never need a friend again.
The next day, Lon'qu went to Linan, a bustling town located a few miles away from Wufen. Sure, he would go visit Ke'ri again, but first on his list of priorities was finding a suitable house away from the slums where he could take his mother. After all, once he combined the money he had earned over the years along with a little help from Ke'ri's father, affording a nicer place was finally in reach. And to be honest, although Wufen was where he had grown up, Lon'qu needed a change of scenery. Too many days when starvation and sickness loomed on the horizon came to mind whenever he thought of Wufen. And even when he thought of the days when they lived in comfort, of the days when he had a father, a bitter taste filled his mouth, for he knew how those days would end.
He found a respectable apartment located close to the marketplace. It would do nicely, he thought to himself, and the landlord, Shilun, seemed very hospitable and kindly. Of course, appearances could be deceiving, so Lon'qu asked around. The tenants were all affable and gave good accounts of the man, so Lon'qu was satisfied. Once he returned, he would let his mother know. They would probably be able to make the move in a day. After all, there weren't many belongings that they needed to pack.
When he returned home, his mother was waiting for him.
A/N: I swear to Naga I haven't completely forgotten about this fic, it's just the worst case of writer's block that I've ever had D: