Young Writers Society

Jayk blinked at him.

Aerik did too.

And then they exchanged a glance.

“Well, hell,” Aerik answered thoughtfully. “That’s fair I guess. I can’t really give you details, or I wouldn’t really be protecting the secrets, would I? But... well... I basically get fed all the gossip, and then talk to people who make decisions, and then talk to people who can make those things happen. Like, what are we going to do now that Femola knows Jerica’s alive?”

“Kill him,” Jayk answered.

“That has my vote,” Jerica’s weak voice cut in as she appeared at the end of the hall.

Elias was relieved that they understood his frustration. He was also relieved that Aerik finally gave a clear answer. He was beginning to understand... kind of. It sounded like a black market for information. How that worked, he had no idea. But he didn't really know how anything worked around here.

He flicked his eyes to all three of them who were so eager to kill him. Elias nervously laughed as he saw Jerica return at the end of the hall.

"Maybe imprison him?" he said casually.

“Kill,” Jerica repeated, striding towards them. But where her steps were usually decisive and powerful, she now shuffled along weakly, more exhausted than she’d been in a long time. But she was bathed and healed and back in clean clothes, so that made things better.

“We’re not gonna kill him,” Aerik said.

[insert be a lot cooler if you did meme]

“I’ll make you some tea,” he continued, walking to the kitchen. “Come. Sit.”

Jayk got up as she approached and she gratefully took his chair, then looked over at Elias and raised her eyebrows, too tired to even know what she wanted to ask him.

Elias gave a forced smile, deciding to not comment. As Jerica came closer, he sat next to her, fiddling with his thumbs.

"So," he said in the silence. "You, uh... healed?"

“Yeah,” she answered, voice a bit weak too. She slid her sleeve up and pushed it up so he could see that her arm was now perfectly mended, not so much as scars where the Scelinon had tore her flesh open “They can speed up the healing process... just condensed all the pain, and all the tired, to right now. Which really fucking sucks.”

Elias nodded. "Yeah... I get that." He grimaced. "That does suck. Sorry. I had no idea what was happening."

“That’s why you were supposed to hold her,” Jayk muttered, sending him an annoyed glance.

"Maybe I would have if someone answered my questions," Elias mumbled back.

“What what happened?” Aerik asked, walking back into the room stirring honey into a mug of tea.

Elias fake-grinned. "Just pleasant conversations. Right, Jerica?"

“Fuck there was,” Jayk cut in. “He let go of her and she decked me.”

“Hah!” Aerik smirked, handing the tea down to Jerica. “We all want to.”

Jerica cringed and looked at Jayk. “Sorry again.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Aerik said, waving his hand dismissively as he settled down on the hearth next to jayk and across from Jerica. “Give it a few days. You’ll do it on purpose then.”

“Har har,” jayk said flatly. “But don’t be sorry. It wasn’t *your* fault.”

He cast another salty glance at Elias.

"Yeeeeah, about that," Elias said, drawing out a fake laugh. "My... hand might have slipped when I held you down, so..."

“No harm done,” Aerik said.

“Speak for yourself.” Jayk rubbed his jaw and Jerica saw there was a small bruise forming.

“Eh, she's punched me too,” Aerik said dismissively.

"Yeah, me too," Elias said casually. "I think it's rite of passage at this point."

“We should start a club,” Jayk laughed.

Jerica rubbed her face. She hadn’t *meant* to punch any of them... well, she’d intentionally punched Aerik. But that was in the middle of a sparring match and he punched back. So it was fair.

“Hey, don’t beat yourself up,” Aerik said, giving her a playful shove. "It won't help you any. You're still not in the 'I was beat up by Jerica' club."

She snorted."Well, maybe stop deserving to be hit. All of you."

"Aside from being hit," Aerik said, brushing her comment aside as he looked back at Elias. "How've you been finding Beirania so far?"