True Friends, Part II
Aonva sat in one of the study rooms in the library. She reviewed what she’d brought with her again: her notes from the last four months of class, their textbook, and spare notebooks in case Naxta forgot something. This didn’t make her feel any less nervous, but she didn’t feel like she was going to be sick anymore, so it was helping a little.
Naxta strode into the study room. Unlike Aonva, nothing bothered him. He’d never been worried about anything in his life.
Aonva jumped to her feet when he arrived. She brushed some hair out of her face, criticizing herself for not putting it back in braids. Even if Naxta was from Alforn — or at least his family was — he’d still think her hair was ugly.
“Hi, Naxta,” she said in a soft voice.
“Hey.” He slid into the chair across from her and leaned back.
“Um… Right.” Aonva sat down and opened her notebook to her notes. “So… um… with what do you need help?”
“It’s that essay Rondin gave us,” he said. “You know? Five reasons why people wanna be in the court?”
Aonva didn’t need him to spell it out for her, she’d written hers last night. The court provided religious and political freedom, social acceptance, and economic stability. Master Rondin had told them all of those during class. There was a longer bulleted list in their textbook too.
“I mean,” he continued, “why would anyone wanna be here? It’s so boring, you know? Like, nothing ever happens here. Except last year when that dragon burned down a whole farm, but that wasn’t even inside the city. It’s so boring, you know?”
What Naxta called “boring”, Aonva considered “safe”. That remained at the top of her list of reasons never to step outside the court walls. How could anyone consider “boring” a bad thing?
“Well… um… there’s a good section about it in our book,” she said, pulling her textbook to her.
“Oh, yeah, that thing. I lost mine weeks ago.”
Aonva fumbled her textbook for a moment while she was leafing through to one of several marked pages.
“Oh. Well… um… I’ve got mine, so you can use that today.”
“Alright.”
She found the page with the list on it, then turned the book to face him. “There’s this page, which has a lot of reasons why people wanted to join the court. Master Rondin already explained some of them. I took notes on those, so I can find those if you give me a moment.”
“Sure.”
Aonva left the book and started going through her notes. Once again, she’d put markers on the pages she’d been expecting to use. “I don’t know how much you remember from class, but I take notes on everything, so in case you missed something, I’ve got it.”
“Okay.”
She turned her notes toward him, then looked him over. He hadn’t brought a pack with him, or anything for that matter.
“Do… do you need something with which to write?”
“No, I’m not really good at writing.”
Aonva took the pieces of parchment she’d brought with her, along with a pen and ink. She paused, considering what he’d just said. Before she could question it, he spoke again.
“You got everything,” he said. “You got something to eat? I’m starving.”
Aonva bit back the horror at the thought of eating anything in the library.
“No… I’m sorry, I don’t.”
Crumbs would end up everywhere, what if someone spilled a drink on the books and they were ruined, or what if they attracted bugs, or…
He took the pen and parchment from her, then looked at the book again. “That’s a lot of words.”
Aonva didn’t know how to respond to that. Sirshi would’ve had plenty to say about him, but none of it would’ve been nice. Aonva glanced at the study room door. Was Roshil in the library? Maybe Aonva should’ve invited her too. Roshil would’ve had the same essay to write, and she wasn’t as diligent about her work as Aonva was. Although, Roshil would’ve laughed at Naxta by now, and Aonva didn’t want that. If she had a chance to make a new friend, she should try.
Aonva pointed at the list on the page. “That’s the important part. The book expands on each of those items in the later paragraphs. So most of the work is rewording what’s written later.”
“This still doesn’t make sense,” Naxta said. “Maybe I could see yours. It’ll make sense then.”
She glanced at her pack. Her own essay was with her, but she wasn’t comfortable letting him see it. Where was the harm in it, though? It wasn’t as though he were going to copy it entirely, but it was the best summary she had of the information they needed. Surely it’d save Naxta a lot of time if he had a more complete summary than what was in the book.
She reached for her pack and pulled out her essay. She pointed to the first paragraph. “The court provides religious freedom, allowing anyone to worship anything, so long as it doesn’t disrupt the lives of other people, and they don’t force it on anyone else. That’s one example.” She pointed to the original paragraph in the book. “The book says much the same thing, but takes a lot longer to say it. Maybe… maybe you can put it into your own words, then expand it when you write your final essay.”
“‘Final essay’?” The way Naxta said it, a “final essay” was a fate worse than death. “I’m not gonna write this again. I’m writing it once and handing it to Rondin.”
Master Rondin. Aonva didn’t dare correct him out loud, nor did she want to explain the benefits of writing more than one draft to achieve a better final product. She’d already tried explaining that to Roshil, who was far more receptive than Naxta and still hadn’t seen the point of it.
“Oh. That’s… that’s fine, I suppose.”
Naxta started writing. His handwriting was scratchy and hardly legible. Aonva was still sitting across from him, making it nearly impossible to tell what he was writing. His gaze moved between the book and her essay as he wrote, and for once, he looked like he was taking it seriously.
They went through each entry in the list and did the same thing. Naxta was slow to write, but he got there in the end. By the time they were finished, dinnertime was fast approaching.
“I have to go to dinner,” Aonva said, collecting her things. “I… um… I hope you do well.”
“Yeah, thanks,” he said, picking up what he’d written. “This’ll help a lot. At least now I know who to ask when I need help.”
Aonva kept her gaze on her belongings, then on the floor when she’d packed them away.
“Thanks,” she said in a small, squeaky voice. “I’ll see you tomorrow in class.”
She rushed out of the room. Her heart pounded, and she felt lightheaded and a little sick. She’d be okay though. She’d helped out a classmate and made a new friend. She was still a complete mess, but maybe she’d get better at it in time.
I can make friends. The more she thought about it, the happier she felt. I can make friends!