Truvius sat on his bed, still glued to the sight of his roommate in dumbstruck silence. 

          His disappearance had set the Breakers on a wild equaam chase, skimming the woods and halls well into the night after the spectacle he had caused. Truvius expected him to come back eventually, but curled into the embrace of a giant, fluffy white dragon that weighed down the bed with strained creaks was still a strange way to discover him.

          He slowly slipped out of his covers, tip toeing around the bed to get a better look at Puff's face, the dragon firmly hugging Káel to his stomach as the two of them slept the morning away. Both were unfased by Káel's dried and dirtied scrapes rubbing red into the sheets, the strange cry his dragon clock was letting off passed as a simple breeze to their exhaustion.

          Whatever had happened, Káel definitely wasn't going to be waking up in a good mood.

          With every shred of poise he had, Truvius carefully snuck back to his side of the room. One night hadn't given him much time to think about an apology, but he had spent a few hours past curfew writing out a letter. 

          Truvius grabbed one of the textbooks weighing his nightstand, a small slip of paper shuffled into his notes where only he could find it.

          With a couple touch ups it was bound to work.

          He settled onto the soft bed, grabbing his pen and barely pressing the nib against the paper before a knock rattled the door. He wasn't expecting guests, and Káel hardly had any friends that would visit their room.

          The knock came again, reminding Truvius that he'd zoned out staring at it instead of opening it.

          "Coming!" he replied, quickly stashing the letter and jumping off the bed.

          As soon as the lock clicked it cracked open for him, Sev popping his head in with a fierce squint as he scoured the room. As soon as his gaze rested on Káel and Puff he welcomed himself into the room, grabbing the whining dragon clock that settled to silence in his hands.

          "Well this is a real sight, " Sev said, his naturally booming voice causing Puff to stir. "You look like someone strapped you to an Equaam and dragged you down a gravel road. Fun trip newbie?"

          Puff let out a small moan, his mouth agape with a powerful yawn as he stretched his paws out, ending the morning ritual by giving the backside of Káel's head one giant lick. Káel stirred at the sensation, his eyes fluttering as he breathed out a ragged moan.

          "Ay the living dead has risen," Sev chuckled, rounding the bed to get a better view of Káel. With a couple minor healing spells his diagnosis was complete, Káel still coming to by the time he got up to give Puff an intense stare down. "You shorter than my waist fluff bucket? Cause I've got a stable with your name on it if I catch you this big indoors again."

          Puff let out a whimpering moan, sliding his arm out from under Káel and shrinking into travel size. The disturbance got Káel to stir again, ineligible mutters escaping his lips as Sev helped him out of the bed. 

          "Yer head's dragon's breath, good thing it ain't contagious," Sev continued, bracing Káel on his shoulder as he forced him to stand upright. "Lady Samanthra wanted to talk as soon as we found ye, but she's gonna have to meet you in the nursing quarters."

          Truvius watched Sev practically drag Káel to the door, his sluggish limbs and grunting responses giving away that he hadn't completely woken up yet. As their dorm leader reached the ajar door he tossed Truvius a curt nod, shrugging Káel back up onto his shoulder. 

          "Stuff em bedsheets in the closet for me would ya Rufius? They're a bloody mess."

          Truvius nodded, waiting for the door to crack shut before grimacing. Irritation nipped at his mind as he stared at the bloodied covers, a clear wet spot still flattening the sheets down with speckles of white dragon hair. "It's Truvius."

—————

          The weekend was going well. Talli had pushed through the bulk of her homework, and was now studying up on the next topics for their Mauran history exam. Waiting for Vera to finish up with... whatever she was doing.

          Red faced a huffing, saying Vera was in a rush would be a sore understatement. She was grabbing her pants by the handful, a cascade of her casual clothing waterfalling into a large iron chest she had kept her purchases from the village in. But strangely enough, every scarf to shimmering dress she had purchased at the overpriced town was laid out across her bed, as new as the day she'd bough them. The kiss of starlight clearly hadn't graced them since she stashed them to never be worn.

          Talli felt a little uncomfortable sitting on her bed studying while Vera laboured over the mysterious task, but her many offers to help had been breathlessly turned down.

          Vera rose to her feet, wide eyes stripping the room down to every detail it could hide before she nearly lunged at her nightstand, grabbing a small blade she'd left lying about and throwing it in the overstuffed chest. "Anything else...?" she huffed, rechecking the decorative boots she'd planted by the door. "I think that's it."

          Talli blushed a little when she noticed Vera staring at her. 

          As if she could confirm the completion of a mission she knew nothing about.

          Despite her lack of reaction Vera nodded, now grabbing the fancy clothes strewn about her bed and meticulously hanging them in her closet to conceal the chest, finishing up by ripping her baggy shirt off and slipping on a simpler summer dress. 

          Talli shifted her gaze as Vera continued to change, ripped from her notes again as Vera poked at her shoulder, arms outstretched to display her sky blue dress. 

          "How about it Talli?" She did a quick twirl, the matching ribbon bunning up her hair dancing in the air. "Do I look like a rich skatlicker?"

          Talli smiled. 

          Vera was always so funny.

          "Y-you're pretty."

          Vera paused, a smile creeping in as she breathed out a small sigh. "Close enough. If anyone comes looking for me, you don't know where I am, okay?"

          Talli naturally paid her a nod, still confused as Vera headed straight for the door. "Where are you going?"

          Vera smiled over her shoulder with a playful wink. "Nowhere."

          Talli frowned as the door closed, her friend shirking their plans yet again to go 'nowhere'.

          At least she really didn't know where she was going.

————— 

          Káel huffed out another sigh. He'd awoken with a throat as dry as the Sahara and the lung capacity of a water balloon. The sting of his scrapes was completely numbed by the spearing pain pulsing from his knuckles, a swollen purple bruise screaming in agony whenever he moved his fingers.

          If one thing was certain, it was that Ray's jaw could probably take a metal bat.

          Sev had practically dropped him in the first vacant nursing room he came across, and after an hour of waiting Káel was beginning to suspect no one knew he was there. But the suspicion was shattered when Ms. Metulas' came in, her immediate reaction being silent shock, followed by curious caution as she eyed Káel.

          "You weren't at the lessons today, were you?"

          Káel shook his head, prompting an even more suspicious stare from the teacher.

          "Might I ask why you look like a-"

          "Partially grated vegetable? I tripped," Káel replied, throwing his arm over his mouth to cough.

          "Did you fall off a waterfall and soak in the freezing water for a couple hours? Look at you! The Breakers won't be showering you with hugs after the search you put them through last night." She grabbed Káel's injured hand. "Look at your hand! Did you take your anger out on some poor unsuspecting boulder?!"

          "I punched a blockhead, but it's easy to mix the two up," Káel replied dryly.

          "Well this'll take a couple trips, a week at least. Ah, but didn't you say you were going-"

          "Not anymore," Káel cut in. "It got cancelled."

          "Well I do like to finish my sentences," Ms. Metulas chimed, motioning for Káel to lie flat on the bed. "Come to think of it I only set your rib, hope you didn't mess that up with your little adventure." She grabbed a little glass jar of thick purple spread.

          "Well it doesn't hurt."

          "Probably because everything else does." She grabbed Káel's arm and muttered a spell. "I'm going to set your hand, and you'll have to come back regularly for the next two weeks. Don't go punching any more blockheads while it's healing."

          Káel nodded, turning away to cough while she tightly wrapped his hand.

          Ms. Metulas let out a heavy sigh. "Oh, I hope you're left handed. Did you get medicine yet?"

          Káel nodded, pointing at a bundle of pasty green balls on the nightstand.

          "Ah, was that good news coming from you? That fever will go down in a couple days then. This is going to sting, don't move." She rubbed the purple spread into the giant scrape on Káel's arm, letting off a bemused chuckle as Káel squinted in pain. "Six more to go, keep still."

          Ms. Metulas started on the next scrape, quickly wrapping the wounds as she hummed a soft song to herself, its drawn and soothing notes interrupted as a guest gracelessly rushed through the door, the bright blue dress hugging Vera so foreign to Káel's eyes he wouldn't have recognised her without her flaming hair. 

          "Can I help you?" Ms. Metulas said, a dead tone causing Vera to bow her head feverishly and cook up some quick manners.

          "Sorry Ms. Metulas, I heard Káel came back but got sent here, so I wanted to make sure he was alright."

          "Few scratches and a broken hand," Ms. Metulas said, her smile reviving as Vera swiftly came to his bedside. "Your sister has quite the knack for healing, did you want to help me speed things up so I can leave you both in private?"

          Vera shook her head, something in the smile she kept dieing at Ms. Metulas' words. "My family is gifted with healing Lumience, I am the only exception," she said, watching as Ms. Metuals rubbed more paste into Káel's scrapes. "I know how to tie bandages though."

          "Well, you don't always need Lumience, now do you?" Ms. Metulas replied, surrendering the role of cloth to Vera as she started on cutting off the circulation in Káel's arm. 

          In a matter of minutes Ms. Metulas was able to finish up, making her speedy exit to the next suffering student while Káel lay in numb silence, curiousity keeping his attention on Vera. "Thanks for spilling the beans..."

          Her face contorted with confusion. "Beans? What beans? Where did you even go last night?"

          Káel casually pointed at the ceiling.

          "The roof?! What? You felt like crawling up thousand year old shingles for the hell of it? No wonder you look like a skinned animal carcass!"

          "I just needed a moment," Káel sighed, gritting his teeth to tame the pain as he leaned up. "But I have a plan." His gaze darted to the corner of the room, the sight of Phantom fueling his smile. "I'm getting you out of that rock."

          Phantom tilted his head, arms already folded to cement his disbelief. "Pardon?"

          "I said I'm going to-" Káel's throat stuck, his body lurching forwards as he broke down into a fit of violent coughs.

          "Take your medicine? Nice plan," Vera cut in, already pouring a glass of water as she shoved the green pebbles at Káel. "Don't chew them if you value your tastebuds."

          Káel tossed the medicine in his mouth and chugged it down with the glass of water, going right back to Phantom. "Any ideas on where to find the ritual they used to seal you?"

          "Let's not go jumping to any conclusions..."

          "What? You can get me back to Earth, right?" Káel pressed,  raising his voice when Vera jutted her thumb at the door. "And then Ray was all, of course I can! It'll take a hundred days or so!"

          Phantom hummed. "Probably, I have some useful connections, but it's not going to be instantaneous."

          Káel nodded, dipping his voice to a whisper as he looked between the two. "That's fine, at least I can trust you guys. We need to figure out where to start..."

          "Zalius might have jotted something down. Perhaps in his personal journal."

          "Did I just hear a we?" Vera muttered, her nose scrunching as Káel blatantly ignored her.

          "Great, let's go the room and look," Káel started, feeling Vera snatch his arm to keep him in place. He could hardly fight against the grip, naseau still fluttered around his head and siphoned his strength, but something in Vera's eyes ignored that, another reason pressing her to keep Káel in his place.

          "You have all the time in the world to plan this out. Get some rest for now."

          Something was off.

          Be it the forced floral scent Vera was permeating, or the bold blue dress, the first one he'd seen her in since day one. He squinted, noticing a few pieces of jewelry and a thin silver necklace. Or a choke string, as she often called them.

          Something had scared her tomboy wardrobe away and slipped her into a foreign skin. 

          Vera waved her hand in Káel's face, successfully breaking his pensive stare as she released a deep sigh. "Someone's coming to visit," she said, staging a smile as Káel clicked in. "It would be really nice if they didn't find me though."

          "Oh?" Káel chimed, smacking the corner of his covers for Vera to have a seat. "If that's the case, it sounds like a fun story to pass the time."

          "It's a lot of stories," Vera replied, the covers sinking as she obediently laid back on the foot of the bed. "Do you want to hear the one where he accidentally sat on Cinder multiple times in one day, or the one where he speared my best friend through the heart and left his carcass to rot in a field?"

          Káel stopped, blinking in the hopes that Vera's face would turn to joking laughter. 

          But it didn't. 

          With a nervous chuckle he mirrored the forced smile Vera had on. "That escalated quickly... sarcasm, right?"

          Vera shrugged. "I could start with how he tried to behead a little boy in front of me, he looked a bit like you too."

          Káel hummed in discomfort, Vera's laugh lacking the flutter of a well done joke. "I think I'll pass. Does Lumi have restraining orders? You might want to look into them."

          "What about you?" Vera said, a playful spark lighting her eyes as she tucked her arms under her head. "Got anyone you hate seeing?"

          "Oh, for sure. Bieber, my dentist, my therapist, people ringing my doorbell." Káel laughed under his breath, home filling his mind as he picked through every little thing that had set him off. Taking for granted the memories of joy he'd given up for them. "There's a whole list."

          Vera smiled at his words. "A list? Sounds exhausting." 

          Káel thought about it for a moment, feeling his cheeks burn a little in embarrassment. He didn't actually have a person he truly hated seeing, at least not enough to hide from their visits. 

          Excluding the doorbell people of course.

          "I guess, yeah. Who's visiting though?"

          Vera opened her mouth, her words twisting into silent panic as a knock sounded from the door. Three curt impacts that had her immediately slip off the bed and squish herself under the frame.

          Káel tried to play it cool, the shaking bed stilling as Vera found a comfortable position. 

          As comfortable as you could get under a bed of course.

          He got off the bed fighting a smile at the childish action all the way to answering the door. 

          Vera had just crawled under a bed in fear.

          He bit both his cheeks to keep his mouth from smiling, every muscle in his chest straining not to laugh before he grabbed the handle, three knocks sounding off again and more impatient than the last.

          Whatever was on the other side could very well be the person she didn't want to meet, and answering the door breathless with cackling laughter would be the peak of disasters.

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Quality Quip #35:

'A fear of the known is much worse than a fear of the unknown.'

~Anonymous