Breaking the Rules, Part I
“It was great to see you all again,” Daylarl said as he hugged his children. “You two stay out of trouble. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
While Kurgm found those two orders mutually exclusive, he stayed silent for Roshil and Oshal’s sake. Mostly Oshal, since Roshil wouldn’t listen to him anyway.
“Aonva, Nourd, it was nice to talk to you both as always.”
Aonva avoided eye contact, but still smiled.
“I enjoy knowing that you are still alive,” Nourd said, “as it makes Oshal happy.”
“It does,” Oshal said. He smiled and put his arm around Nourd for a moment.
“Sirshi, if anyone gives them trouble, rough ’em up.”
Sirshi grinned at Daylarl. He was one of the few people that Sirshi seemed to like.
“Kurgm, keep everyone on the straight and narrow.”
Kurgm adjusted his glasses and looked at his group of friends. They were unlike anyone he’d ever met, but he wouldn’t trade them for anything.
“I can only promise to try.”
Daylarl smiled and patted his shoulder.
“That’ll be good enough.”
They left Daylarl’s house and walked through the court back toward the castle.
“Thank you everyone for coming out with us,” Oshal said. “Father likes it when he has company.”
“I like him,” Nourd said. “He is nice to me.”
“He’s nice to all of our friends,” Roshil said, beaming at Aonva. “Right, Aonva?”
“He is pretty nice.” Aonva smiled back at Roshil.
“What does he do all day?” Kurgm asked, glancing back the way they’d been. “The court must have him doing something.”
“Who cares?” Sirshi said. “We just got free food on our day off.”
“Just because we all have the day off, doesn’t mean we can’t go back to the castle to eat,” Aonva said. “They still let apprentices eat meals.”
“But then we would have to eat in that large room,” Nourd said. “I do not like it there.”
They all talked on the way back. Kurgm couldn’t help noticing that Aonva was talking much more than when they’d first met. It was still about something she’d read, or the court, or magic, but she didn’t talk as loud or as fast as she used to. He wondered if that was Roshil’s influence. At least something good came of them being friends.
“There you are!”
When they returned to the castle, he immediately ran into Demndun. She glared at him with her arms folded.
“I thought we were going to spend our day off together,” she said.
Behind him, Sirshi had moved in front of Roshil and Aonva, and Oshal stepped up next to him.
“He told you he was spending his day off with us,” Oshal said. “Remember?”
“Stay out of this, Oshal. This is between me and Kurgm.”
Oshal backed up to stand with the others.
“I told you last week that I was going to spend my day off this week with them,” Kurgm said, remembering what Master Ekla had taught him about deescalating a situation.
Stay calm. Think carefully about what you’re saying.
“What about next week?” he asked.
“Next week? Next week! What about today?! We were supposed to spend the day together! Or would you rather spend it with a bunch of children?!”
Whatever the other person says, don’t let it get under your skin.
“But…”
Sometimes, you have to be ready to take the fall, even if you think you shouldn’t.
“How can I make it up to you?”
Demndun glared at him. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest.
“We’ll talk during dinner.”
She turned around and walked down the corridors.
Kurgm sank a little. He wanted to collapse. He’d been having such a good day. What had he done wrong? Why was Demndun so upset about him spending time with his friends?
“Are you okay?” Oshal asked.
“Need us to rough her up?” Sirshi added.
“I’m fine.” He turned around and checked on his friends. Aonva was shaking and almost clinging to Roshil, who was glaring at the corridor down which Demndun had left. “Are you okay?”
“I’m alright,” Aonva said. “A little… no, I’m alright.”
“I don’t know why you people think dating’s so important,” Sirshi said. “I don’t want to deal with any of that.”
“I know I told her,” Kurgm said. “I kept reminding myself so she’d know. She said she was fine with it.”
“Sirshi has been trying to explain sarcasm to me,” Nourd said. “It is when a human lies to another on purpose. Oshal says it is to hide a person’s true feelings. Could she have been using sarcasm?”
“No, of course not,” Sirshi said, “Kurgm never ever misses sarcasm.” She gave him a significant glance. “Ever.”
Kurgm wasn’t sure what surprised him more: that Sirshi would go out of her way to explain something to Nourd, or that Nourd would’ve picked up on Demndun being sarcastic when he hadn’t. Also, why was Sirshi talking like that?
“Maybe she just doesn’t like us,” Roshil said. “Most people don’t.”
“I’m sure everything will be okay,” Oshal said. “It’s just a misunderstanding, that’s all. She did say she wanted to talk to you, and not like she was going to break up with you.”
Kurgm hoped that was true. Demndun had been more annoyed with him lately, but she wasn’t planning to break up with him, was she? He had to do something to make it up to her. Maybe he should’ve spent the day with her. He did enjoy being with her. There were few things he liked doing more, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want to spend time with his other friends, as odd as they were.
“Aonva and me are going to the library,” Roshil said. “We need a break from people before dinner.”
“I… um… I’m sure everything will be okay,” Aonva said before she and Roshil left.
“Thanks,” Kurgm said. He liked how smart Aonva was, but it was hard to talk to her sometimes. Then there were other times when she didn’t want to be around people, apart from Roshil.
“We need to go too,” Oshal said. “We’ll see you soon.”
“I enjoyed spending the day with all of you,” Nourd said. “Please continue to be alive tomorrow.”
“Will do,” Kurgm said, giving him a thumbs up.
“What are you doing?” Nourd asked.
“Oh, I’ll… um… explain it later,” Kurgm said.
“Okay. I am sure I will enjoy learning more about human hands.”
After they walked off, Sirshi turned to him.
“Bye.”
With that, all his friends were gone. Kurgm turned his thoughts to dinner. He hoped that whatever it was Demndun had to say, it wouldn’t be too bad.