Featured image by Priscilla Du Preez
Lee was bored. Highly, immensely bored. Understated to say the least. They were finally granted a day off from training and she couldn’t find aaaaany of her friends aaaaanywhere to hang out with her. And without even a drink to fill up her time to boot; Owen hid all of her drinks after she came stumbling through their cabin door the other night, banging into the fence, and collapsing into his bed/pile of hay.
Apparently she was too out of it to collect it back up and she woke up to a newly swept floor, fresh hay, and all her caffeine and alcohol gone.
Now she was left wandering for entertainment. Like some common cat left home alone. The analogy was enough to make her groan and kick at loose dirt. There was so much dirt everywhere, so much different from the city where the only dirt she saw was in her guardian’s potted plants.
It’ll surprise her if that’s not what her first task will be: bring more soil to urban areas. Lee supposed she could just bring bags of it back with her, but something told her that wouldn’t exactly go over well with the gods.
She bounced down through the camp on the balls of her beaded sandals. At least if she wasn’t home with her guardians, her new (temporary?) place of residence was beautiful to look at. Like one of the museums she was begrudgingly allowed entrance to in the city.
But unlike those museums, the marble structures, ancient temple, and vibrant botany galore was free for her to both gawk at and touch. The marble was bumpy and whatever plant gently touched her wing stubs made them itchy, but it made her feel more alive than when she would be stared at.
The camp was huge, she’d quickly learned. According to Alexander, it’d been built by the First Order of the 7734. She and Njal tried reading up more on the group on their way here, but given both of their poor literacy it’d been pretty difficult. And knowledge of the first order was slim still since the whole group disbanded. Still, the Order must’ve been just as big if they needed this much space.
She’d seen some campers find hidey spots for themselves, specifically Kek. Secluded small overhangs with a curtain of fauna, high up vantage points on roofs where they couldn’t be seen from the ground, dimly lit pockets of the makeshift pyramids that keep cool.
Lee wondered how many of them were actually here willingly. She and Njal got on a train as soon as the letter was read and Thea was certainly eager in all their training so far. But campers like the twins? Ana was nervous every time their future duties were mentioned which was more emotion than the constantly zoned out Diego.
Sand stuck like glue to the bottom of her sandals and she cursed as she scanned the beach for any sign of other living, breathing life besides the ones populating the ocean. She still wasn’t sure how much the gods were micromanaging Alexander, but she wasn’t about to rule out agent fish keeping an eye on them.
Squinting through the piercing midday sun, two bodies lounged nearby and her heart lifted. Kek was leaning against one of the few poplar trees lining the water. Well, moreso sitting in front of it while slightly hunched over the open book on their lap, easily readable in the natural sunlight. Njal was right by, lying asleep in the shade with his head resting next to their knee.
Lee gleefully clapped her hands. Finally! People to spend the fast passing day with. Especially having gotten so much closer to one of them lately. She skipped down around to the beach and started treading the sand towards them.
“Are we dating?”
She froze, her sandals half buried in the sandy shore. Neither of her friends had even moved to indicate they were having a conversation at all, much less that one, but she was 100% sure she had heard Kek ask. She ducked behind the nearest tree, hoping they were too busy to notice her high rise ponytail still out in the open and in plain view of them both.
There were a few beats of agonizing silence and just before Lee began to question her hearing, Njal spoke up. “I don’t know. Are we?” he asked, way too calmly for Lee’s sanity. She didn’t consider herself that dramatic but how could he be so chill asking them that.
Kek shrugged, not taking their eyes off the book page that hadn’t been turned the entire time. Their shoulders snapped back, spine straight and Lee could see their bare heels digging into the ground. “I talked to Lee about the ball and dating.”
“Oh you did? Heh, sounds like- sounds like a fun conversation to have with her of all people.”
Lee was determined to find him a bed to sleep in that she could stuff with hay.
“It actually was,” Kek admitted. “It was…nice to talk to her.”
Lee was also determined to visit Cordelia and get as many books as Kek wanted. Maybe drag Owen there as well to help carry them back to camp.
Njal ripped up a piece of grass and twirled it around his finger before reaching back over his head to let it fall onto their book. Arm muscles flexing as he bent it. “I’m guessing that’s not- I take it that’s a rare occurrence for you.”
They hummed and picked up the glass blade, placing it in the spine as a page marker. “Maybe. But you’re also nice to talk to so…”
“Soooo…?” he drew out curiously. His natural stutter drew out the word.
Silence crossed between them and even though it was a light peaceful bearing for them, to Lee it felt like a cheese grater. If she didn’t know them like she did, she’d be tempted to run up and start a scene to save them both the awkward embarrassment of the whole conversation. Because she loved them of course.
Finally, Kek tore up a bit of grass themself and sprinkled it on Njal’s head. The vibrant green sprung out of his white hair and he wrinkled his nose as a couple fell on his forehead. They stared at him for a moment. “I…don’t think I want to date.”
To his credit and Lee’s almost relief, Njal didn’t really react. He simply opened one eye and looked up at them. “Really?”
Kek shrugged. “I don’t really know if that’s, something I want to do. Or not. Holding hands and…all that. Karim looks like he really likes it and is happy but I’ve…never known much about that stuff.”
“Well, how did Karim know then? Didn’t you two- if you two grew up mostly together?”
“Books. We read the same things, but he just knew more things than I did; he’s really smart like that.”
“Yeah,” Njal agreed, poking their book cover with a gentle tap. “You both are. I always feel like- it’s like I’m going to learn something new every time we talk.”
Lee could see Kek briefly clutch the edges of their book before quickly settling back. “Is that why you keep trying to hang around me?”
Anyone else would’ve taken that as a slight, Lee knew that as much from watching multiple fights in the city, but Njal just laughed. “One of the reasons, yes. Not because I’m looking to learn new things- I mean I am but, moreso I just- I just like listening to you and learning new things about you.” He smiled. “If that makes sense.”
Kek flicked the corner of a page. “Mmm I guess so. I just don’t know-” They sucked in a breath and Lee crossed her fingers, chanting under her breath for her friend’s confidence to make an appearance. “…If…I’m okay with the word dating yet.”
Njal fully opened his eyes and turned his head to stare out at the water. He didn’t say anything for a while, long enough that Lee could see Kek start to squirm and she contemplated hitting him with her bangles to beat some sense into him. While she decided how hard to hit him, he chuckled and Kek’s arms locked up.
“We don’t have to say we’re dating then.”
The tension in Kek’s shoulders eased and Lee set her sandal back onto the ground. “We don’t?”
“Nope. You’re just my special person then. And I’m yours, if you’re okay with- if you’re okay with saying that.” Njal tilted his head back, dragging his hair through the grass, to look up at them with a soft gaze.
Kek glanced down at him, averting their eyes when they met his. “I guess so.”
Njal grinned and pumped a fist slightly above him. “Can I listen to you read?”
“…I’d have to read out loud.”
“I’m more than- I’m happy with that.”
They sighed but Lee could see a hint of a smile that warmed her heart. They began to pick up where they left off, reading the lines in a monotone narration. Njal matched the sunshine tenfold and closed his eyes again, stretching and bending one arm under his head, the other flopping beside Kek’s leg.
Content she wouldn’t need to kill her city friend just yet, Lee left the two alone. But not before seeing Kek subtly hook their pinky finger with Njal’s, eyes not leaving the inked words in their lap.