Skwyr Court

SpendingTimeWithFriends

“I used to have a big family,” Oshal said. “We had a tribe of our own. We traveled all over the kingdom. It was nice. There were always other children to play with. My sister did sometimes, but she’s always kept to herself. It would’ve been nice to have seen her more, but she was happy back then. Mostly. I think there were times when something bothered her that she didn’t want to talk about. Actually, that was most times with my sister.”

Oshal reveled in the chance to talk about the old days. Neither his sister nor his father would talk about it, and it had all built up inside him. He couldn’t remember what Nourd’s question had been, but he wasn’t complaining about Oshal’s tangent, so Oshal wasn’t going to question it.

“I miss my family sometimes,” Nourd said. “Do you miss yours?”

“All the time. I had so many friends back then, before… everything changed.”

Emotion drained out of him, leaving him empty. The worst part about not being able to see anymore was having those moments be his last memories. The last thing he ever saw was fire and death, and it’d always be like that.

Oshal forced himself to smile. If Roshil had done that, he would’ve called her out on it, but he wanted to assure his friend he was okay.

“But I’m making new friends now. Like you.”

He knew Nourd could see through him (or smell through him, rather), but Nourd was learning not to bother him about it. He liked how much Nourd had grown over the past few years. His friend was changing into someone Oshal liked being around more than anyone. Someone with whom he could be honest. Usually.

“Why do you not talk about it?” Nourd asked.

“I… It’s too painful to talk about. I lost everyone except my father and sister that day.” Oshal shook his head. “I don’t like thinking about it.”

“I understand. I would not like it if the forest were burned down either.”

Oshal smiled and nudged his friend. “You’re getting good at that.”

Nourd laughed his loud, barking laugh, which always made Oshal start laughing with him.

“I am glad. It has not been easy to learn, but I am happy that you are happy.”

Grand Master Gorkle cleared hir throat.

“I’m so sorry to have to tell you this, but Apprentice Nourd and I have things to do.”

Oshal stood up and sensed for Master Durwey. Sure enough, she wasn’t far. It’d taken time, but she’d gotten into the habit of allowing just enough of her thread to be felt for him to find her.

“I enjoyed spending time with you.”

“Me too.”

Oshal bowed to Grand Master Gorkle, then he and Lady Durwey left the gardens. He was thrilled to have spent time with Nourd, and felt better about having spoken about his life before the court. He liked Nourd a lot, and wondered to himself when they’d get to spend time together again.

“Where are we going?”

“Only back to the castle. We have nothing else we need to do today. You’ve been progressing well, Apprentice Oshal. I think you’ve earned a day to yourself. I’ll bring you wherever you’d like to go.”

Oshal ran down the list of his friends. He decided he’d try the Temple of the Rising Sun first. Kurgm hung out there sometimes, and it’d be nice to see him before he left for his fifth-year assignment in a few days. If he wasn’t there, maybe Sirshi could spend some time with him.

“I’d like to go to the Temple of the Rising Sun. I think I can get there on my own.”

“I can take you, it’s not a problem.”

Oshal made sure she could tell it was a problem for him.

“Apprentice Oshal, I understand you don’t like people helping you get around, but wouldn’t it be faster if I helped you?”

Oshal scowled. It was hard to express himself when he couldn’t see how his face looked and when he didn’t have eyes anymore.

“I guess.”

“And then you’d have more time to spend with your friends, right?”

It was like trying to argue with Aonva. She could lay out a flawless argument as to why she was right, leaving Oshal unable to find anything to say. It was worse when Roshil was there, because Roshil immediately accepted everything Aonva said as fact, and therefore argued in her favor.

“You’re right.”

“Thank you for not arguing with me.”

With Master Durwey’s help, Oshal made his way to the Temple of the Rising Sun.

“I know you don’t need my help,” Master Durwey said on the way. “I’m only offering it because you can get there better with my help. Do you understand?”

Oshal nodded. He’d gotten so used to people seeing him as helpless that it was hard to remember that not everyone did. Roshil didn’t; she’d always been protective of him. Aonva always asked in a panic, as she did with everyone and everything else, Sirshi treated him like everyone else, Nourd assumed he could get around just fine, and Kurgm always forgot to ask if he needed help. He liked his friends.

They arrived at the Temple of the Rising Sun, but Kurgm wasn’t there. Oshal only reached out to find the threads around him, not to follow his friends’ threads. The temptation was still there, dangling just within reach, but he forced himself to let them be.

“Hello, Oshal,” Sirshi said on her way past. “I really don’t have time to—” She froze. “Hello, My Lady.”

“Hello, Apprentice Sirshi.”

“How may the Temple of the Rising Sun assist you?”

“Do you know where Apprentice Kurgm is?”

“Why would I know?”

“That’s okay. I’ll let you get back to work.”

“Thanks. I have every chore here, but I’m almost finished. So close. Only a few days left on my sentence.”

“Apprentice Sirshi, you sound as if Master Moudren has imprisoned you here.”

“No. Not really. I get to leave for food and class. And sleep. I get to sleep still. Sometimes.”

“We’ll leave you to it. Have a good day, Apprentice Sirshi.”

“You too, My Lady. See you at dinner, Oshal.”

“Bye!”

The two of them left. Oshal realized he’d forgotten to ask where his sister was. Although, there were only three places she would be. He decided to try the library next.

“Are you sure? I don’t think there’s much there for you.”

“My sister will probably be there, and I’d like to see her.”

“Okay. Although, isn’t there something you’d like to do on your own?”

Oshal shook his head. He’d never thought much about doing anything alone. He wanted to be around people. Being on his own felt empty, like the world had all gone away.

They walked through the corridors, making their way to the library.

“Apprentice Oshal, I’ve known you for a few years now, and I don’t know what you like to do outside of being with other people.”

Oshal gave that some thought. What did he like to do? He liked spending time with his friends. Wasn’t that enough?

“I just like spending time with friends.”

“Okay.”

Despite not being able to sense her emotions, Oshal got the sense that she wanted to say more about it. Even if she didn’t, the question was digging into his mind. What did he like to do?

#VolumeFour #SpendingTimeWithFriends

Oshal found his sister and Aonva in the library. After asking again if he was sure, Master Durwey left him there with the two of them.

“What are you doing?” Oshal asked. His first guess was studying, but he heard an awful lot of scribbling of pens.

“Aonva had a brilliant idea,” Roshil said. He could hear the grin in her voice. “We started working on it last month. Or maybe the month before. Not sure.”

“It’s not that amazing,” Aonva said. “I just thought that it seems like only the librarian and I know where to find anything in the library. So what if there were a way for people to find books based on author or topic? At first, we tried to devise a spell, something where someone would say a topic, and they’d get a list of the books of that topic and where to find them.”

“The books are already categorized,” Roshil said. “But ‘magic’ or ‘dragons’ are big subjects, apparently. I guess people can’t just say ‘avoid’ for dragons.”

“They can, but that doesn’t explain why you should avoid dragons. But if someone wanted to know about the different dragons we know about, or more about magic, or the history of the court, then they don’t know exactly which books to check. They just know that there are books on the subject. Maybe they want a particular part of the court’s history, or want to know about the War of Torpn.”

“Don’t we learn all of that in class?” Oshal asked. He figured they’d already thought about it, but knowing the two of them, it was entirely possible that they’d overthought the solution.

“Sure, but even Aonva can’t remember everything.”

“I’m not… It’s not like I can remember everything, of course. No one can remember everything. I’m only organized, that’s all. It’s not a big deal.”

Flowers bloomed in Aonva’s mind, filling it with light and color. She rolled among them, smiling.

“But this is! She had a great idea. When we couldn’t figure out a spell, we thought ‘what if we just had cards that said what books covered which topics?’ Master Juoura said she liked the idea, so she gave us a bunch of cards to fill out. I’m working on a cabinet to put them all in. Each drawer will be labeled with the broad topic, like ‘magic’ or ‘history’, then each card will give more specifics.”

“We’re not sure about how to organize the books, though,” Aonva said. “There will probably have to be something more to it, like some sort of system for numbering them. For now, it might be good enough to organize them by author.”

Oshal listened to the sound of both girls scribbling information about every book onto cards. He wondered where the giant stack of completed cards was. Knowing both girls, Roshil’s cards were scattered in an unorganized mess that she’d fix up later, and Aonva’s were stacked neatly beside her, where she’d be terrified she was going to knock them over.

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

The scribbling stopped. He felt both girls sidling around something big, something they didn’t want to touch.

“I don’t know if there’s anything you can do,” Aonva said. “You could… well, actually… um…”

“I can keep you company,” Oshal suggested.

“Okay!” Roshil said, in the tone she used to try being nice to Oshal. She was too enthusiastic, and he could sense right through it.

Oshal sat and listened to the girls filling out cards. He had little concept of exactly how big the library was, so he didn’t know how long this project would take them. They must’ve finished planning it out recently, otherwise he would’ve heard about it before this. Although, the more he thought about it, they had been conspiratorial at dinner lately. Maybe they were working on it then. Either way, most of the time they’d spent on it must’ve been planning out how it would work.

“How many cards do you have left?” he asked.

“It’s less about how many cards we have,” Aonva said, “and more about how many books we have. Every time we run into a new topic, we make a new card.”

“But we’re not as worried about the topics as we are about the books,” Roshil said. “I’m working on all the books I know, which is a lot of the engineering books.”

“I’m working on everything else,” Aonva said. “We’ve got books about the temples set aside, though, because Sirshi wanted to work on those. Kurgm’s here sometimes, too.”

“He’s our book fetcher. We tell him to bring us books, and he does. It’s very helpful.”

“That’s good. How much of the library have you filed?”

“Don’t know,” Roshil said, at the same time that Aonva said, “About a third of it.”

“Do you know how much longer it’s going to take?”

“We’re not finishing today,” Roshil said. “If you’re bored—”

“I’m not. I was just asking.”

“Probably another month,” Aonva said. “There are still a lot of books, and it’s slower when we don’t have someone fetching books for us.”

Oshal opened his mouth to volunteer, but realized he didn’t know where any of the books were. They couldn’t easily direct him to find them, and even then, it’d probably be faster if one of them did it.

“If you want to leave, you can,” Roshil said. “Don’t feel you need to keep us company.”

“I like being with friends.”

“What happened to your other friends?” Roshil asked.

The truth was, it’d been getting to Oshal that his other friends were so mean to his sister and Nourd. After Demndun’s group had upset Kurgm so much, he wasn’t sure he wanted to spend time with them anymore. He liked it when everyone got along, and his sister was never mean to anyone (unless they actively went after he or Aonva). Aonva was never mean to anyone, Sirshi only snapped when people annoyed her (which was often, but she didn’t hold grudges for long), and Kurgm tried to be nice to everyone.

“I decided it was more important to have good friends than a lot of friends.”

For a moment, he was sure his sister knew he didn’t entirely believe that. It was hard getting over not having a lot of friends anymore.

His sister stopped scribbling. He could sense her frowning, the frown that always accompanied a problem she was trying to solve.

“Oshal, what do you like to do?”

That was the second time that day someone had asked that, so Oshal was prepared with an answer.

“I like spending time with friends.”

“Then what? Just sitting around and talking? I’ve known you your whole life, and I don’t know what you like to do other than talk to people.”

Oshal didn’t have an answer to that. He liked doing what other people wanted to do, even when he couldn’t always participate. But then, what did he like to do? He wasn’t sure anyone had even asked him that before.

“I don’t know,” he said, as much to himself as to his sister.

“Something to think about while I get more books,” Roshil said, getting out of her seat.

He thought about that the rest of the time in the library. He really didn’t know.

#VolumeFour #SpendingTimeWithFriends

The next day, that question stuck with Oshal. What did he like to do when no one else was around? He rarely had time to himself. He always tried to spend time with other people, whether it be Nourd, Roshil, or Kurgm. Without much time alone, he didn’t know what he liked to do.

He had history with Master Rondin that day. She lectured him on the formation of the court. He’d never had a normal school experience, as he had to have notes read to him, but at least he still got to learn. He wasn’t sure what he’d have done otherwise.

“You’re doing well,” she said as they were finishing up. “We’ll meet next week to review. Do you still have study partners?”

Oshal stood up to leave, then thought about the question. He wasn’t sure anymore.

“I think so. I can always ask Apprentice Aonva for help. Or Apprentice Kurgm.”

He sensed Master Rondin smiling.

“I’m sure Apprentice Aonva would be happy to lecture you on all of this. Until next week, Apprentice Oshal.”

He bowed to her.

“Until then.”

He started out of the classroom, then stopped.

“Master Rondin, what do you like to do for fun?”

“At the end of a long day, I like to sit alone and read. Why do you ask?”

Oshal didn’t want to involve her in his search to find out what it was he liked doing when on his own.

“Just wondering.”

He knew she hadn’t bought it, but she wasn’t going to push it either.

“Take care.”

He walked alone to the gardens, hoping to find Nourd. While he did, he sensed his friend in the Druid’s garden, where he wasn’t allowed. A little let down, Oshal turned to leave for the library. Hopefully his sister and Aonva would be there again.

“Oshal?”

Oshal smiled and turned to the voice.

“Hello, Kurgm. How are you?”

“Good. Enjoying this nice, warm season day. What about you? Looking for Nourd?”

“I was, but he’s busy.”

“Well, I’m free. I’m not doing much, just watching the bees, mostly. My mother used to say…”

Light and dark dueled inside him, both vying for control. There was something else, just beneath the surface, something trying to break free. While weavers couldn’t hear peoples’ thoughts, Oshal could sense something inside Kurgm. He’d asked Master Ekla once, but she’d told him to leave it, so he tried to ignore it.

“What did she say?”

“She’d say that bees always worked together to help one another, and that we should learn from them. They work hard for the hive, never for themselves.”

Kurgm led him to a bench and they both sat down.

Oshal felt the sun on his face and smiled. He missed the days of seeing a bright blue sky overhead. He could still hear the birds chirping and children playing, so he could imagine it. It had to be good enough.

“Your mother sounds like a nice person.”

“She was.”

They sat in silence for a time, while they listened to the bees drone by.

“Once, me and some friends found a bee’s nest,” Oshal said. “One friend dared another to touch it, and it angered them. They went after all of us, and a lot of my friends got stung. But Roshil was there too. She tackled me to the ground and covered me. She got stung all over, but I barely got stung at all.”

Oshal eased into the memory. Despite wanting to run away, he’d felt safe with his sister watching out for him. He’d always imagined returning the favor, but he could only do so much for her.

“As much as your sister gets on my nerves, seeing you two together makes me wish I’d had siblings. All I had growing up was the kitchen staff, and sometimes Master Ekla.”

“She’s a good big sister, too.”

Kurgm laughed. “Sure, let’s go with that.”

Despite his answer, Oshal sensed that Kurgm agreed with him. There was conflict in him once again, between raging fire and distant ice, but there was light there too.

Oshal figured Kurgm wanted a different subject, so he asked Kurgm the question that’d been on his mind all day.

“What do you like to do for fun?”

“With all five minutes of free time I have on a normal day? I’m doing it now. Just sitting and watching the gardens. I would’ve been doing this with Demndun, but… we’re not together anymore.”

A shroud of darkness filled Kurgm’s mind. Oshal felt him curl up inside it. On the outside, Kurgm put on a veil of false happiness, but Oshal could still see through it to the misery underneath.

“I’m sorry,” Oshal said.

“It’s fine. I’ll be fine, it’s just… I thought me and her were going somewhere, but she was different than I thought. I guess people change.”

People did change. What happened when his sister changed? What if she didn’t want to spend time with him anymore? What happened when they were separated, assigned to different cities in the kingdom? What happened when he was moved to a different city and had to make new friends? What would he do?

“I don’t know what I like to do,” Oshal said. “I always do what everyone else does, but it’s not always what I want to do.”

“Then don’t. If I’ve learned anything these past few months, it’s that you shouldn’t do what everyone else wants unless it’s what you want.”

“What if I don’t know what I want?”

“I think you’ll find out eventually. You can get along with anyone. Just keep trying new things until you find something you like to do. I never got to do much of anything growing up. I barely left the castle. Now I can’t wait to leave for my assignment.” He paused for a moment. “You’ll always have Roshil, right?”

He was right. No matter how much Roshil changed, she’d always be his sister. They’d always be family.

“Thank you, Kurgm. I feel a lot better now.”

A burst of warmth erupted in Kurgm’s mind.

“Ha! One day, I’ll get the hang of being a knight!”

Oshal laughed with him.

“I know you will.”

#VolumeFour #SpendingTimeWithFriends

Later that day, Oshal returned to the library, looking for his sister. Sure enough, she was there, filling out cards with Aonva. This time, they had company.

“Oshal, long time no see,” Kurgm said. “Pull up a chair.”

Oshal sat down. He heard another pair of footsteps creeping closer to the table, and a thread he didn’t recognize got closer.

“Back!” Sirshi snapped.

Her outburst was accompanied by the sound of one hand hitting another.

“What was that?” Oshal asked.

“People keep trying to mess with our cards,” Sirshi said. He sensed her glare on the culprit. “It’s my job to get them to leave us alone!” She emphasized the last three words.

“She’s good at it, too,” Kurgm said. “How’re you doing? Still figuring out what you like to do?”

“Yes. I’ll be fine, though. I wanted to spend time with my friends.”

“Where there’s so much for you to do,” Roshil muttered.

“It’s fine,” Aonva said. “Really, Oshal, if you want to stay here, you can.”

“I’m happy for your company,” Kurgm said.

“I’m just here because I can get away with hitting people,” Sirshi said.

The four of them continued their work, while Oshal sat and listened to them mutter to themselves.

“Need more books,” Aonva said. Something slid over the table. “These ones.”

“On it,” Kurgm said. “Oshal, you want to come?”

“Sure.”

Oshal followed Kurgm through the library.

“It’s great having someone else here for this,” Kurgm said. “I’m not gonna make you hold books or anything, but I like the company.”

“I’m glad I can help.”

Kurgm looked through the shelves, then started humming to himself.

Oshal smiled, then started humming with him.

Kurgm stopped.

“You know that song?”

“Whenever we were near Torpn, my father would sneak me and Roshil into the theater. Or even near it, if we could. It was nice to hear the music. Everyone was so happy to be there, it was so warm and inviting.”

Kurgm grabbed the books off the shelf and started walking back to the table.

“Our Lord True Knight has this friend, Yindar. I think they’re in a relationship, but he says it’s complicated. Anyway, she’s a violinist that travels all over the kingdom performing. I go see her play whenever she’s here. You should come next time.”

Oshal smiled. That sounded like fun. He wondered if Nourd would want to go. Nourd loved poetry, and singing was like poems with music.

“I’d like that.”

They sat down at the table.

“I think I found something Oshal likes,” Kurgm said. “Music.”

“Like those boring concerts our father used to drag us to see?” Roshil asked.

Their father enjoyed seeing performers. He said it was like lying, but in a good way. Roshil’s disinterest had not changed.

“I enjoyed them,” Oshal said. “Even that one time we got thrown out.”

“Only because someone tripped and forgot the escape route father told us,” Roshil said, her giggles betraying her.

“But you came back for me,” Oshal said, smiling.

“Yeah, because I’m a pushover.” She playfully shoved him, still giggling.

“There are concerts around here all the time,” Aonva said. “I’ve never been to one, but I’ve read about them. Skwyr Court’s nothing like Torpn, but there are still concerts here.”

“Torpn’s not that great,” Sirshi said.

There was an edge to her voice that betrayed an underlying eruption waiting to happen. Oshal had always liked going to Torpn, but if it was going to set off Sirshi, then he decided that it was best to avoid the topic.

“Master Grund and I worked on the stage during the cold season,” Roshil said. “Because while they won’t make the performers play in the cold, making us build in it’s not a problem.”

“Maybe we could all go together next time they play,” Kurgm said. “All six of us.”

Roshil was the first to react to Kurgm’s suggestion. A gray mote of boredom clouded around her, but some sparks went off too. She had ideas that were good enough that she didn’t mind going to a “boring concert”.

Aonva’s immediate reaction was panic, as usual. It was probably the thought of being around so many people. She closed herself off inside a cave and started pushing a rock in front of it.

“It’s okay if not everyone wants to go,” Oshal said. “I’m fine if it’s just me and Kurgm.”

“That’s a lot of people,” Aonva said.

“Don’t worry,” Roshil said. “If it gets too bad, I’ll make a distraction so you can escape.”

“Just make sure you remember the escape route,” Oshal said. “If you forget it, father and Roshil will never let you live it down.”

Aonva laughed a little.

“I guess I could try it.”

“Well, that’s four,” Kurgm said.

“I’m sure Nourd will want to try it,” Oshal said, hoping it wasn’t just wishful thinking. Nourd was his best friend, after all, and he always hoped that Nourd would be open to the things he liked. Instead of just being “hanging out with friends” (a phrase he’d had to explain did not involve bats), now it could be “listen to music”.

“Sirshi?” Kurgm said. “Care to make it six?”

Sirshi drummed her fingers on the table.

“It’s okay if you don’t,” Oshal said. “I wouldn’t want to make you do something you didn’t want to do.”

“Fine,” she said. “Next time there’s something going on, I’ll go. I mean, if everyone else is. Someone’s got to look out for you. You’re all too nice.”

Oshal smiled. This was what he wanted. To have fun with his friends. He’d forgotten about the concerts, about the music. It wasn’t always easy to remember his old life, especially knowing that it was all gone. But he had a piece of it back. He didn’t need to have a lot of friends. Just five good ones.

“Glad that’s settled,” Roshil said. “As Master Grund would say,” she cleared her throat and grumbled, “Now everyone get back to work.”

Everyone laughed, even Aonva, if a little hesitantly. In that moment, that perfect moment, Oshal knew that this is what he wanted to do.

#VolumeFour #SpendingTimeWithFriends