Chapter Seventeen: A True Friend Helps a Friend In Need

"Looks like I might actually be able to go the festival for once," Zoran said, taking another bite of the salad.

Sam did not understand how he could eat that so casually. Not that she disliked leafy greens, but she felt uncomfortable trying to eat them whole and raw. Cooked into something else was much more preferable.

"What do you mean? You have been going the last few years," Brad commented.

Zoran poked at his food, now having the whole table's attention. "Yeah, I know that. I was just unsure of whether I could go this year because of work, but it all worked out."

"If it all worked out, then there's really no reason to tell us," Lori remarked.

"Well, excuse me for wanting to make sure you guys knew in case I told you otherwise," he said, "so you won't get the wrong impression when I leave tomorrow."

One thing Samari had noticed was how often exchanges like this occurred. Lori would say some snarky and somewhat mean thing, and usually everyone would just go with it like everything was fine. Very rarely did they take offense to her words.

Are you not letting her comments get to her, or do they really not care what she says? It is weird but nice watching them do it, she thought.

"Wait, tomorrow? I thought we...were leaving in four days," Samari observed out loud.

"We are--well, most of us are. A group goes earlier to set up the campsite before so we can get a good spot," Cyrus explained.

"Oh."

Samari hesitated, trying to pull her thoughts together of how she wanted to word her next question. She did not need to ask it, because Zoran said, "Do any of you want to go early with me?"

She smiled and nodded. "I will, if I can."

The look in his eyes made her wonder if he had asked for her sake, but she considered that she was just seeing magic where it was not. Either way, she was glad with the ease of the results.

"I'll go, too," Cy stated. "There's nothing to do here in preparation anyway."

Lorilie snickered. "I'll tag along to make sure y'all do the work rather than just play all day."

"Guess it's a group trip, then. I wonder how fast we'll be sick of each other," Brad cooed.

"What do you mean? I'm always sick of you!" Cyrus teased him.

Samari zoned out of the conversation as they began their usual squabble and insult-trade. Not really hungry anymore, she pushed her plate away. She rested her head on her arms in the open space she had made.

"What work did y-you have?" she asked Zoran as she stared at him sideways.

He propped his head in his hand as gazed down at her. "Uh, I've been hunting down a certain ticon relic that Nerok wants," he told her.

"Oh. Did...you find it?"

"No, but I have a friend coming to Xenzie who has been keeping an eye out for it, and it's in the city now," he shook his head. "I'm gonna meet up with them and see if I can get it before the festival actually starts."

A friend outside of the guild? Well, I suppose they did all have lives before they joined here. Plus, Zoran goes out all the time for trading. He must meet a lot of people in the merchant business, she reasoned with herself.

Still, she was quite curious, both about this relic he was supposed to get and about his friend. Other than our little group, it doesn't seem like Zoran has many close friends. I wonder what kind of people he likes to hang out with.

An idea popped into her head, making her smile.

"Can-uh, can I help you?"

His eyebrows creased together, prompting her to continue.

"With, finding the relic...I mean. I want to learn...a bit about trading in case-in case I ever need it for if I, uh, go on a mission, after I...get my mage mark," she finished, picking up her head.

Zoran paused, making her nervous. She was about ready to retract her question when he answered, "Yeah, I think that would be cool."

Samari resisted the urge to grin from ear-to-ear. Instead she nodded shyly and pulled her food back towards her to continue eating. A few bites in, another thought made her pause from puzzlement.

Giving her a questioning gaze, Zoran nudged her to get her attention. She waved him away, saying, "Nothing, I am fine." He accepted it and turned back to the rest of the table, who were now confused by them as well.

Does helping him count as training?

_Π_Π_Π_

In the dark of the night, Samari was in her usual spot by the trees practicing her spells. She had found a liking to doing this some nights, just after everyone had gone to bed.

Despite the early mornings she spent in the kitchen, she found it difficult to simply go to sleep right once the sun had set. When she was not practicing, she was in the library reading. Sometimes she would do a workout set before bed if she had felt lazy in the day.

As she practiced, she found her gaze drifting to the trees and their shadows. She had been looking at the shadows a lot lately, ever since she had been caught that night.

There he is, she thought, spotting a figure invisible in the landscape. He's here again, just as he always is.

Since that day with the nightmare, Samari had felt as though there was a presence following her at night. It had taken her some time to be able to see him hiding by her, and she still had some difficulty with finding him. Still, once she found him, she was sure as day that he was there.

Shadow Knight is stalking me. I wonder why. From the rumors, it's not like him to be concerned like this for others. Then again, he hasn't had to help others get their ticon flowing, has he? At least, not that I know of. I've never even heard of someone helping another with their ticon until Charming!

Frustrated by her progress, she stopped the spell she was trying. No matter what she did, she just terrible at mind-based spells. Even simple levitation was a struggle. You can't be good at everything, she kept telling herself, using it both as an excuse to give up and motivation to keep trying.

Laying down on the grass, she stared at Shadow Knight.

"How long are you going to follow...and watch me? Not just, uh, following me, but using...your...ticon to do so, tsk tsk," she said, hardly loud enough for him to hear her.

He didn't respond or move, making Samari question if he was really there. She brushed the thought aside and stood up, walking over to where he was.

The closer she got, the easier it was to see his shadow ticon apart from the shade. She stopped before reaching him, not wanting to invade his personal space.

"Hello, I can see you. Don't...act like I-I can't," she complained.

This time, he shifted his position, pulling in some of his ticon so she could see him a bit more. He didn't seem to notice what he had done, the action almost reflexive as though he had just relaxed himself.

There was a long silence, and Samari folded her arms. Finally, he replied, "I prefer to watch people than interact with them."

"Does that mean you like me?"

His head tilted sideways. "I do not fancy you, if that ridiculous notion is running through your head."

Samari over-observed his words, a bit. While they were a bit haughty, he said them in a tone that meant no disrespect to her. She smiled at the idea of his treating her as an equal when they clearly were not.

"No, I meant, as a fr-iend," she corrected him.

"There are few that I consider as my friends."

She nodded knowingly, looking downward. Her hands folded behind her back as she relaxed her position. "I get that, but I cannot....quite place what, uh, draws the line between...friends and good...acquaintances."

Shadow Knight turned, leaning his back against the tree. "Well, I use a simple standard. 'A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him, I may think aloud.'"

Wow, that's deep, and it makes a lot of sense. If only I had thought of that when Cy and I were discussing it. It's a lot easier than my lengthy explanation!

"That seems to be right. If...if that is the criteria, then...I also have few fr-riends," she realized. "Or, maybe not any because I...am not comfortable telling them h-how I feel about them, but I do-don't really want to tell them because...I don't really know...what...my feelings mean."

Oh, drat, what did I just say? Stupid, stupid, stupid! Shadow Knight doesn't care about your drama! she cursed herself.

"Debatable. But if they're truly your friends, they won't care that you didn't tell them something so personal. Just don't hold it from them when you figure it all, if it might change how you act toward them or they might disappoint you," he said.

While his advice cleared her mind some, the area was filled with the amount of confusion she experienced. She pushed the complication to the back of her mind for her to overthink another day and decided to stay with them not caring.

A heavy thought fought its way to the forefront of her mind and pushed itself out her lips before she could stop it. "But wh-what if the ones I see as true friends...do...not see me the same and only go with...what I say because...because they don't want to hurt me by rejecting me?"

Samari was surprised by the doubt that she had hardly known was in her. Shadow Knight said nothing yet looked at her, almost as though he were waiting for her to explain. Whether he was or not, she continued.

"Like, today, I pried into my friends...business when he di-didn't tell us...the whole story, and I sorta...invited myself to help him when I-I don't even know if he needs help. But, I want to be someone that he asks for help...when he needs it, and knows that I will help him."

I don't think you can do any more damage to his perspective of you than you just did.

"You do not seem like one to impose on others, accidentally or not," he stated.

Fiddling with her hands, Samari glanced up at him. "I kinda...asked if he wanted help with it, and he said yes, b-but, could it have been...just to make me feel...wanted?"

"Perhaps," he answered, making her heart drop. "If there is one thing you can know about friends, it's that a true friend helps a friend in need. Maybe he does want help with whatever he's doing and felt, mhm, needy to ask, or maybe he sees that you need to spend more time in his world for you to be comfortable with him."

I have no idea why Shadow Knight is unapproachable when he's so understanding, she wondered.

There was a long silence between them, filled with the ring of the crickets' song and the occasional breeze. Samari chuckled, brushing hair pulled by the wind behind her ear.

"For someone who...has so few friends, you sure...sure are great at giving ad-vice," she mentioned.

He smiled, looking up to the stars between the branches' canopy as she followed his gaze. "You learn a lot by observing."

Sam felt her heart ping. It seemed lonely to her, for him to just watch others as they went about their daily lives, as their relationships grew and they made improvements on themselves and others; and yet, she felt at peace with it, because he had said that he would rather be on the outside looking in than to join in. She wondered if he truly felt that way or if he was covering up something deeper.

"Do you think...we, I mean, you and I, might be friends, someday?"

"Who's to say we're not?"

His response came so swiftly, she had trouble believing she had not imagined it. Looking to him, she felt a smile on the edge of his lips, although she could not see it.

Flustered, she turned away and went back to the spot where she had been practicing. She sat on the ground, ready to try the spell again, but her mind was too chaotic to focus. Instead, she stood up, determined to leave.

"It's late, so I should, uh, go to bed, cause I have...I have to leave tomorrow, for the trip, so I should sleep well," she stated. "Goodnight."

With that, she started to walk away, yet worried, she turned and went back to him.

"Sorry, I didn't mean any, uh, disrespect by j-just walking away. I didn't k-know how to, how to respond, so I, uh, nevermind. Thank y-ou for the, advice. Sorry to bother you with...all this," she blubbered.

She felt the urge to bow and run away, but she paused her retreat to let him respond.

"It's not a bother, because I like hearing others when they don't second guess themselves, even if it ends up being their worries that they give me," he informed her.

She nodded, her way of acknowledging that she heard what he said. "Do you like settling other's worries, then?" she asked, putting the information she had just received into practice.

Shadow Knight looked at her. "I suppose, sometimes, I do. It's nice to be the reason for their smile."

"Yeah, I agree. Well...goodnight, actually this time," she said.

"Goodnight, Samari," he said with a chuckle in his tone.

As she walked back to the main building, she felt giddy and pleased. I learned so much from Shadow in just one conversation! I should try talking to him more, or would that be annoying and weird? But, is he my friend now? Am I his friend??

Shut up, or you'll never get to sleep! That's right, focus on one thing at a time. You're gonna go to the festival with your friends, and you're gonna help Zoran find the relic, and you're gonna stop thinking about it!

Goodnight, brain, I shall think of nothing else but nursery rhymes until morning. There was an old lady who swallowed a fly...

A/N: hahaha when you need to sleep but your brain is going haywire! Me like every day.

So, how's y'all doing? Whacca think?

What is this relic Zoran is trying to get?

Why is our shadow bae following Sam-Sam?

How well do you think she will be able to compose herself the next time she sees this man who knows so many flaws of hers?

No special character facts today! Do you guys like those things? I'm gonna do them more like every-other chapter so we don't run out of people to talk about and you end up hearing about people from my fanfictions that I will never actually write.

Vote, comment, and check out my updated Instagram page, spider8hawk, that is now strictly bookish stuff!

New chapter: Departing Reveals