Chapter Four

MusicWriter113 - The friendship dynamic is something I've always felt was missing from so many things too! In the main books, we focus a lot on Fitz and Keefe and Sophie, which is good because the Keefester is, like, amazing. But we seem to forget about Dex, obviously, and Biana! (Side note, if anybody wants to see some Dex stuff, I'll be putting out a story called 'The Forgotten,' at some point this week, or maybe today, so head over when it's out and read it! It was incredibly fun to write! Actually, it should be out 'bout the same time as this. Go read it!) I was really hoping to display what other friendships would exist in this group, so thanks for noticing! I mean, it makes sense that in this large friend group, some people would be closer to some others! We mostly see Sophie's budding romances, and see how Keefe has a 'rivalry' with Tam. (Or maybe they're just in love, anyways-) So it's fun to think about who else would be close. We also tend to see Sophie's 'group,' and Marella's 'group,' later on, like in Stellarlune. I like the inclusion of that, but that is kind of the only true 'friend group dispute' we see. This is also a fairly interesting topic, (which is why this note message thingy is kind of long in my eyes,) so I also want to add that this happens IRL. I have a friend group at school that isn't fairly large, but we're all good friends. There are some of them, though, that I spend more time with than others! Sometimes I see books that have friendship, or even sibling, dynamics that just aren't realistic, we all know there are people who can't write sibling interactions, just sayin', so I wanted to add some of that to this. Also, it's fun to write Keefe, so I made sure he was involved with everything! (Again, I apologise for the length of this, I just love talking about this stuff!) Now for the story, the real reason you came here! - CL

Everything is New

Biana wakes up in an unfamiliar bed, and bolts directly up, about to panic. Then she remembers. Her parents kicked her out. Her brother hates her more than he hates Alvar. She's at Elwin's. Even though everyone has been assuring her that this is temporary, she can't really believe it. Why should she?

She sits there for a time, mulling over her recent encounters, and flops back onto the pillows. She also grabs another and covers her face with it. There's nothing about this that can make her happy, so what's the point of even trying?

'Biana!' A voice yells, stirring her out of nearly falling asleep again.

The pillow falls from her face as she softly croaks out, 'What?'

'It's the Keefenator!' Keefe calls, knocking on the door very loudly. 'Get dressed. The Mysterious Miss F and Crazy Water head and the Dexinator and Flame-girl are all standing awkwardly in Elwin's living room, and they wanna talk to both of us, but mostly you because they don't like me anymore.'

'Nnn…' Biana groans, turning over to face the mattress. 'Why?'

'How should I know? Hurry up, or I'll have Ro bash the door down.'

'I'd do it,' says a grumpy ogre princess from somewhere near Keefe probably was standing.

'Fine!' she grumbles, sitting up. 'Gimme a minute though.'

'Like you can get ready in a minute,' Keefe scoffs.

'I seriously hate you!' she calls as she changes into a black tunic, black leggings, and silver boots. Apparently her parents had sent over some more of her things because they realised that bag from before was severely lacking. She quickly runs a brush through her hair, but just leaves it hanging there, and is about to leave when she decides to add to the whole effect with sparkly black eyeshadow.

'Wow! Biana went emo!' Keefe says with a grin as she steps out onto the landing.

She smacks him across the back of the head, and he almost laughs himself to death as she wanders down the stairs.

'Wow! Lesbiana's pretty b*d*ss!' Ro mutters.

'Language!' scolds Keefe, and she just smacks him too.

'Wow! Y'all are ganging up on me! Guys! They're gangin' up on me!' he announces to the group sitting on Elwin's couch.

'What?' asks Marella, looking confused.

'Nothing,' sighs Biana, sitting in a chair across from them. Keefe immediately sits on the armrest, and Ro dramatically falls to the floor.

'Ro!' squeaks Sandor from the shadows.

'What?' she whines, standing up. 'I don't wanna stand!'

'Ro, be a good guard and babysit from the corner,' everyone's favourite empath orders. He gets a throwing star tossed centimetres from her ear. 'Fine, I'll stop,' he concedes.

'What do you guys want?' the Vacker girl whispers, staring at her hands.

'We wanted to check if you were alright,' Linh tells her, leaning forward. 'Is everything going okay?'

'It's fine.'

'Is Keefe annoying the sin out of you?' Marella asks, then clamps her hand over her mouth. 'Oh my gods! I'm sorry!'

At the word 'sin,' both Biana and Keefe had flinched so hard everyone had noticed.

'I meant- Is Keefe annoying? That's it!' she yelps, trying not to offend them.

'Of course he is!' interjects Dex, trying to change the subject. 'He's Keefe!'

'Is everything seriously okay?' asks Sophie, and when Biana glances over at the pretty telepath, her heart skips a beat.

Stop messing with my head, Keefe. she thinks, blinking a few times before realising she had asked a question, and nodding profusely.

Are you sure? Sophie transmits, clearly seeing something is wrong.

At that moment, Biana starts to panic a little. She can read your thoughts, she can read your thoughts, she can-

She can hear that, she comments.

Sorry.

It's fine, Foster assures her. I just wanna check up on you and Keefe and Elwin and everything. I can tell this whole thing is gonna be hard for you, so I want to let you know that I'm here for you, whenever you need a friend.

It's the pang in Biana's chest when she hears the word 'friend' that makes her realise Keefe was probably right about her feelings. But was wrong that Sophie would ever like her back.

I'm here whenever you need me.

I know. Thank you, she thinks softly, attempting to block her so she can think clearly.

Sophie obviously feels her intentions. I'll leave now. My parents want me to help clean up some of the pastures today anyway. Out loud she adds, to the other four who were having a conversation, 'I need to get home. Chores and stuff.'

'Yeah, and Linh and I need to get to my training,' Marella admits.

'How's that work?' Keefe asks, feigning interest.

'She just comes along to extinguish any extra flames,' Marella explains. 'We tried it last time and it worked, I think Fintan likes you,' she adds, booking over at the girl in question. That gives everyone a shiver up their spines. That isn't really a good thing, but nobody says so.

'Yeah, see you,' Linh softly tells Keefe and Biana. 'Bye?'

'Bye,' Biana tells her tiredly.

As those three leap away, Dex comes over and sits on the floor in front of the chair. Slowly but surely, Biana and Keefe slide down to sit at eye level with him. 'I don't have to leave yet, so I can stay.'

'That's good,' Ro yells from somewhere behind them. 'Because these two are insufferable, and I think they need another friend to complete the mini group. A trio is better than a duo!'

Dex frowns. 'What?'

'Don't pay any mind to her,' Keefe tells him. 'Half the stuff she says is made up on the spot.'

'Two things,' Ro tells him. 'Firstly, it's more like four fifths, secondly, look who's talking!'

'Why, thank you,' Keefe tells her.

'I actually wanted to talk to you about something,' Dex says quietly, and Biana's eyes jolt up as she stares at his face.

'Oh!' Ro exclaims. 'Are you-'

'Let's go upstairs,' Biana decides, interrupting her before she can say anything that someone might find offensive.

She leads Dex and Keefe into her room, but thankfully Ro is made to stand outside. 'What'd'ya wanna talk about?' she asks, sitting on the edge of a table in the centre of the room. Keefe is backwards on a chair, and Dex sits awkwardly on the edge of the bed.

'Well, what Ro was about to say is sort of accurate.'

'Wait, what?' Keefe murmurs.

'Yeah.' Dex weakly smiles as he stares at the floor. 'I mean, I'm not exactly the same as you two, but I do feel… Different… Then some others.'

'What does that mean?' Biana asks quietly.

'The thing is,' Dex starts, not exactly answering the question. Biana doesn't mind, though, because she suspects he'll get to it eventually.

'The thing is,' he tries again. 'I hailed Elwin last night, because you said they were helpful with you figuring stuff out. So, yeah. I think I might be pan?'

'Wait, really?' Keefe exclaims, grinning extremely hard when Dex nods. 'Nice! Now we have more ammunition to prove to Bi's parents that she isn't alone!'

'I still am the only girl we know of,' she says softly, and the guys sigh.

'I'm sure that isn't true,' Dex tells her quietly.

'I know. But we still don't actually know.'

'True, but there are more of us,' he tries.

'I guess.'

'So, everyone's kind of getting a new start?' Keefe asks, and the other smiles, hoping the world will accept it as easily as each other.

Get out of my Head

Biana feels a little bit better. Until some time later.

'Foxfire's starting again,' Elwin says, wandering into the living room where she, Keefe, and Dex are lounging on the couch and the floor.

'What?' she yelps, sitting up from the spot on the carpet where she was braiding strands of her hair together like Marella. 'Say that again?'

It's been almost a week, and Dex has been over every day. The others have come over occasionally, and Keefe has not gone back to the Shores of Solace, despite the encouragement from his dad. He's mostly just been ignoring him.

'Foxfire's starting again,' the physician repeats.

'Oh,' Dex says, rolling onto his stomach and putting down the imparter he was fiddling with. 'Okay.'

'Not okay,' decides Keefe. He drops from the couch onto the ground next to Biana, and sits up, leaning against her. 'That means Bi's gonna have to face her brother.'

'Oh yeah,' the technopath mutters, wincing when he realises he forgot that bit.

'Your parents sent over your uniforms,' Elwin adds, glancing at Biana and Keefe.

'When?' Biana asks slowly.

'Um. Tomorrow.' Elwin looks fairly apologetic as they set down a scroll from the council that's just stating the same basic facts. They closed it due to the occurrence at Everglen, blah blah blah, are reopening even with the repercussions still occurring because they can't keep education from the elf's youth, blah blah blah, etcetera.

'Tomorrow?' Biana whines, falling dramatically onto the floor again.

'Yep,' says Elwing, grinning at her reaction. 'Also, Dex, your mom said to get home early because she wants you to babysit the triplets while she does something, I dunno. She didn't say, but she wants you to get home soon.'

The three of them share a look, knowing full well she's probably doing something for the Black Swan, and the way it was relayed makes it seem like she wanted them to hear that. The only thing the Black Swan would end up telling them would be important, because their order never reveals anything, which Biana knows annoys Sophie to no end.

'What?' Elwin questions, obviously noticing their facial expressions.

'Nothing!' they chorus as Dex picks up his gadgets from around the room and waves goodbye. He leaps away, and Keefe falls down onto the carpet next to Biana.

'Is something wrong?' Elwin questions.

'Nope!' the two of them call from the floor.

'Fine. I'll leave you guys alone, I guess. I need to get back to my office and prepare for prodigies arriving anyways.'

'What do you think the Black Swan's doing?' Biana asks immediately as soon as the physician leaves.

'Maybe they found Bangs boy and wanna sneak him back to annoy us?' Keefe suggests, grimacing as he stands and brushes his pants off.

'Why was Tam your first thought?' Biana asks with an evil smirk she obviously learned from him. 'Do you-'

'Hey! You like Foster!' he warns, waving a hand. 'We are not discussing any crushes you think I might have!'

'So it's true?' she asks, standing to face him.

An exuberant Ro leaps from the corner. 'Finally! Somebody else knows! It was torture, dealing with funkyhair-'

'Shut up Ro!'

Biana smirks again, but now her mind is racing. Racing, racing, racing. Her thoughts are spinning. She likes Foster, and Keefe likes Tam, but would either of them like them back? She can't get these stressed thoughts out of her head, even as Keefe strikes up a conversation again. Why should crushes matter when Tam is missing anyways?