THE APPLE OF SNAKES

xlvi. stables staple

With Corbett and Hamelin gone... things were different.

Nerluce couldn't put his finger on what it was, but the entire atmosphere of the fire Affinity dorms had shifted with their departure. Maybe it was the fact that almost... everyone was gone. Only seven people had passed the test. There was Nerluce, Lyana, and Eko - of course - along with three boys and one girl. They were nice enough but Nerluce wasn't particularly close to any of them nor did he want to be.

He missed his friends but he couldn't help that so he threw himself into his work.

"Are you sure you don't want to come?" Lyana asked for the third time that evening. "I know... what happened last time was awful but... but maybe that's why you should come? We only get to do this two times in our whole lives. Why not make one good? Besides you've been moping for two days now."

"I have not been moping," Nerluce said. "And I don't want to go."

"Eko is going!" Lyana protested.

Like that mattered. Eko wasn't the one who lost control and used forbidden magick. Nor were they the one who got dragged back to Ethera by the collar by Aristide. At least they had the decency not to push Nerluce on this though... it wasn't like Lyana knew. Because Nerluce didn't want her or anyone else to know.

"I've got my evening chores to do," Nerluce said.

"You are not going to hang out with Aristide instead of us!" Lyana said, throwing her hands up in indignant rage. 

Nerluce rolled his eyes. "I'm not hanging out with Aristide. I am going to be cleaning the stables. You're more than welcome to help me."

"No thank you," Lyana huffed. "I'm going to torment second years."

"And I'm going to torment them when they come back," Nerluce said. "I think I'll get Aristide to help me." He snickered. "I bet at least one of them will piss themselves."

"So you are hanging out with him!"

"No."

Lyana didn't look like she believed him which... was fair. Unfortunately, whether or not Nerluce and Aristide hung out tonight was largely not up to him. Aristide had his moods and while they were friends - hopefully - Nerluce might piss him off or vice versa. Regardless of that fact, Nerluce, currently, had no plans to spend any extra time with Aristide tonight and he most certainly wasn't abandoning his other friends for Aristide.

Nerluce got up and pulled on his outer robes. "I don't want to go, Lyana. It's just... a bad memory for me."

"I get it... I guess," Lyana mumbled. "You were awake the entire time, right?"

"Unfortunately yes," Nerluce said.

The memory was cold and unwelcome in his mind but it was always there, just beneath the surface, like Nerluce's magick. But... the magick was only one part of the horrible, horrible night. Jurine's screams, the blood on Lyana's face, the way Aristide had looked at him... gods Nerluce had thought he was going to die. He probably should have.

But he was here now and he was going to live without regrets.

"Have fun without me, though," Nerluce said, tying his robes shut. "You can use it as an excuse to drink more."

"I guess I can," Lyana said. "But it would be more fun to drink with you."

Nerluce paused as he slid his boots on, thinking about Lyana's words. "Well... one day... we can go drinking together. Just me and you. And I'll buy all the alcohol that you can drink." He offered her a grin. "Just not tonight and not with all of these people. Is that... okay?"