The Fateful Heart

"It's not what you're thinking," James said quickly, still not looking at her. "They - they wanted to help, I think. They - they found out about -"

He held his breath for a moment, and glanced at her, just for a second as he loosely gestured to his upper body with one hand.

The next few words came out so quickly they ran together.

"And they felt bad, and then Nathan healed one of the wounds on my arm, and they didn't ask more questions, and I went to bed. That was all."

Evaline's expression softened as James explained, and she flushed the negative feelings away. She felt like she was one word away from turning around and saying they had to go back to face them, but it appeared she misunderstood.

Nathan had healing magic. He was the one person she didn't get to fully know, so she didn't know what type of mage he was. Now it was starting to make sense. He wanted to help James, but James didn't want them to know about his injuries. And he didn't want them to help. She could see why this would upset him, especially since she went through something similar with James before—but worse, since she unbandaged most of them.

"Oh," she said quietly in response at first, trying to figure out what to say. Something to make him feel better.

Considering she was guilty of the same crime, it was hard to think of something.

"I'm sorry that happened," she said after a pause, looking at the ground in front of her.

"It's fine," James said quickly, even though it wasn't. He wanted to change the subject. "On the plus side, I have one less injury to worry about."

He cleared his throat.

"Did everything go alright with Raya?"

Was it fine, though? Evaline wished she knew. James said he did, but she wondered if he truly ever gotten over that night she found the infected wound.

She didn't anticipate having these thoughts so soon after leaving the camp. Although she wanted to dwell on it later, she was glad for the subject change.

Evaline nodded. "Yeah. It did. Well... sort of." She sighed. "She wasn't happy that I wasn't staying. I'm not sure why she got so angry. I guess she figured she could argue my logic and convince me to stay."

James hummed.

"I wonder if she just wanted another friend," he mused.

Evaline sunk her teeth into that thought.

"I think you're right," she said, reflecting back on their last experiences together. "I guess she's lonely."

"I mean, there's probably a pretty big maturity gap between here and the younger girls, and I'm sure Maisy is good company, but besides them there's... Jared and Nathan," James said. "Granted, we were only there for a day, so I don't think we can really say for sure how all of their relational dynamics play out."

"I suppose you're right," Evaline said. "And I'm not just saying that either, since I spent more time with them than you did. Raya seemed to be an authority rather than friendship figure to the other girls. Jared told me that they were practically brother and sister with their shared history, but I think his presence might be tiring for her sometimes. And Nathan, well, I actually barely talked to the guy. But he and Jared seem like good friends, and Raya practically eye rolled them away while I was saying goodbye. And I'm sure Maisy is always busy with Leah. So then that leaves Red. But he's, you know." She let out a small laugh. "Tiny."

James smiled.

"Very cute, though," he said. "He's got that going for him."

Evaline let out a short laugh. "Leah is cuter," she said. "Sorry, Red."

"She was very cute," James said. "And it looks like her hair will be just as red as Elrick's."

Evaline looked over and raised a brow. "Maybe," she said, feeling the beginning of a grin tug at her lips. "Or he might end up having auburn-colored hair like you instead."

James grinned. "Or that."

Evaline grinned back, letting the conversation die down naturally. But she wasn't ready for the silence to fall between them yet.

"Did they talk to you at all while I wasn't there?" she asked. "Besides, you know, Odeta teasing you and calling you Tibby."

James shrugged a little.

"Not really," he said. "I was ignored most of the time, but I didn't mind it."