Twenty minutes later I was out and dressed. I looked once at my reflection, but decided it was too much work to fix my hair. Besides that, I was looking forward to hearing about Sylvanus. With that in mind I exited the bathroom.

When I was out I saw that Ikovos had set out the blankets. To the right of the fireplace a comfy looking pile of blankets were laid out mattress style. I assumed this was mine because there was a ridiculously large space between it and the other two beds. I felt a little guilty when I saw that they each only had one blanket and not nearly as much room as me. Ikovos was lying on his stomach in the spot closest to mine. I couldn't see Jaden anywhere.

I moved over to my pile of blankets near the fire and sat down carefully. As soon as Ikovos saw me he sat up.

"How was your shower?" he asked.

"Good. Great, actually."

"You didn't take very long," he said.

"No, I'm not a big shower person."

He nodded slowly. Silence followed.

"So . . ." I started. "Can you tell me about Sylvanus now?"

"Oh yeah," said Ikovos. Somehow his hair was even more tousled then before. "What do you want to know about him?"

I scrunched my nose as I considered the question. "Well, how old is he?"

Ikovos jumped in, strange when he had been so secretive on the subject before. "First off, you have to know that the Meoden age quite different than us. They live a lot longer and mature slower. Thoran told me once that he was born around the same time as him, but Sylvanus is rather young among the Meoden, especially for his rank."

"And that's why he gets away with so much?" I followed.

Ikovos rocked his head back and forth. "That's part of it, but with what he's done he still should have been exiled years ago."

I sunk down a bit more, turning onto my side and leaning against my elbow. "What kind of stuff?"

He looked troubled by my question, like he was hesitant to answer. "Umm . . ." another pause ". . . bad stuff."

"Oh. . . ." It hung in the air for a moment. I couldn't help but think about my own experience with Sylvanus, and where it might have led if not for Thoran and Cornelius. A shiver ran up my spine and in the same moment door to the cabin swung open.

I jumped.

It was just Jaden of course.

"You okay there?" he toyed. Not waiting for an answer, he looked over at Ikovos. "Well, you two look like a jolly bunch. . . . What were you talking about?"

He was holding a large sword at his side. I noticed that it was dimly glowing. It reminded me of Thoran's flaming sword, only this one was a deep red rather than green.

"Sylvanus." said Ikovos.

Jaden tossed the sword into the corner. As soon as he released it all color disappeared. "Nice topic." He walked a little closer and gave his cramped spot a dissatisfied look.

I sat up a bit, still shaken, as he dropped down into his small space and leaned back against the wall, hands lacing behind his head. "I bet you're wishing you had stayed home, now."

Ikovos gave him a look, but it didn't make me feel much better. I had done my fair share of arguing for the day though, so I thought I would try the super sweet route.

"Of course not. Then I wouldn't have you guys to protect me."

Ikovos grinned, though I was sure he could tell what I was doing. Jaden, on the other hand, looked rather surprised.

He hid it quickly, but I felt contented enough to resumed talking with Ikovos. My thoughts were still on Sylvanus.

"I have a hard time understanding how the whole council thing works. I mean, I saw Thoran kill two Meoden . . . then he just goes there to have these civilized chats with them?"

Ikovos yawned and leaned into the uncomfortable, looking floor. I noticed Jaden had closed his eyes.

"The meetings aren't really in the place you were, they're in a neutral-zone. No fighting allowed."

I considered this, but still didn't feel like I was grasping the concept. Ikovos must have noticed this.

"It's not really something you can explain. You'd have to see it for yourself." I watched him lie on his back and look up at the ceiling. "Jaden will take you the next time he goes," he stated matter-of-factly.

Jaden opened one eye and looked at him skeptically.

I didn't want to get him any more irritated with me then he already was, so I backtracked. "No, no, that's okay. I'm just being nosy. I probably wouldn't understand if I went anyways." I added a sweet closed-mouth grin to try and make it convincing.

Jaden, who had closed his eyes again after starting down Ikovos, looked up at this. God, why did it always feel like he could see right through me?

"I'll take you," he said. "Now go to sleep."

Before I could respond he had returned to his leaned-back, closed-eye, trance.

I scrunched my nose and looked at Ikovos who appeared asleep apart from the grin on his face. He was never much help to me when it came to Jaden.

Feeling free that I wasn't being watched I let my tongue stick out at Jaden for a split second, before turning on my stomach and pulling over my covers.

As soon as I laid my head on the pillow the room became darker. Surprised, I looked at the fire and saw that is was now a deep maroon. My eyes peered over to Jaden, but he hadn't moved.

I sighed and rested my head in my hand.

The fire reminded me of my first night in the study . . . and I couldn't help but feel comforted. It was strange, though, to watch such foreign-colored flames wisping up the all-to-normal wood.

After a few minutes I laid my head back on the pillow.

I'm never going to be able to get to sleep. There's too many thoughts running through my head.

I must have been wrong about this. Within minutes I was out.

Chapter 6.

Rain WHEN I woke up the first thing I heard was the soft tapping of rain, falling on the roof. I opened my eyes and saw that out the window the sky was a very dim, silvery-blue.

I lifted my head off the pillow a couple inches and looked over at Ikovos and Jaden. I almost expected to see the latter still sitting against the wall with his arms behind his head, but it appeared he was now sleeping peacefully in his small cot.

I dropped my head back down and told myself I should try to go back to sleep . . . but then the rain got louder and I couldn't help myself. With another glance towards the boys, I carefully crept out from under the covers and reached for my coat from the knapsack. My shoes were still by the door so with jacket in hand, I tip-toed over, picked them up, and gently twisted the knob.

Jaden and Ikovos looked undisturbed.

I opened the door and walked through, letting it click softly behind me.

The first thing I did was slip on my shoes so that my socks wouldn't get wet. The only thing bad about rain was wet socks. Next, I shrugged on my coat, hugging it around me tightly.

Around here it never rained. It always seemed to be sunny. Most people liked this fact, but to me there was nothing more magical then rain . . . rain and dawn. Of course it was both right now, which accounted for my inability to stay put. I was sure I'd hear about how stupid it was from Jaden when he got up.

I walked slowly around the house to the hill I had been on last night, taking in the dripping scenery as I did. Once I had reached the spot where I'd been before, I took a second to look around, but was unsatisfied with the view. I turned back to see that the top of the hill was only a few dozen yards away, and couldn't resist the urge to keep climbing.

By the time I got to the peak, I was completely soaked through. It was a wonderful feeling. Still, I guess it's just human nature to avoid standing with the rain pouring down on you, because I chose a seat on a rock under one of the few trees atop the hill.

With a deep breath I took in the sky and all the open space around me: wet . . . calm . . . clear white light with the faintest glow of blue draping everything. The rain fell slowly, reflecting the blue in each drop, causing everything it touched to sparkle.

In spite of all this, I found my gaze wandering to the cabin at the base of the hill. It must have been the first time that people had distracted me from my favorite weather.

"But they're not like other people are they. . . ." I whispered softly. I thought of last night.

Sitting there, all alone, and surrounded by the noisy wall of rain, I knew wouldn't be able to escape my own mind. I decided to give in and consider the utterly confusing aspects of my new friends.

Like that, I thought, that right there . . .

Friends.

Ikovos, I think, was a friend. He talked to me like a friend, he treated me like a friend, heck, he even declared that we should be friends. I smiled. There was no doubt in my mind, or at least very little, that we were friends. Real friends. I liked the feeling.

The happy moment was quickly smothered.

And then there's Jaden.

Forgoing the view, I laid back on the rock and looked up at what was visible of the sky through the dripping leaves.

He didn't treat me like a friend, and, although bold, he didn't talk to me like a friend either. Unlike Ikovos, any declarations he had made were of dislike or indifference.

My stomach squirmed involuntarily as I thought of the way he had been back behind my house. Before the cuffs, before the arguing, before knocking me over. I scoffed, but couldn't deny the still-present feelings . . . he had been different there for a while.

Sweet? . . . No. Sympathetic? . . . Not really. Friendly? . . . Maybe. Did I like it? . . .

I wouldn't answer this one. Probably because I already knew what the answer was . . . and I didn't like thinking about the fact that something I had done made him stop.

"Maybe I just make him crazy," I said aloud . . . but the logic in the statement was faulty. Why, then, would he have asked Thoran to let me stay?

"Ugh." My mind was throbbing and I wasn't reaching any conclusions. One thing I had to admit . . . or correct, as it were. He had talked to me friendly, some of the time. And obviously, though not in my presence, he had treated me like a friend also, by talking to Thoran.

My initial question hung pensively in the air as I sat back up. Friend or not? I still didn't know the answer, so I decided to go with my usual policy: 'When in doubt, stick with the safest scenario.'

That was it. I needed to keep myself guarded. A, no honesty, no vulnerability policy with Jaden.

I sat there for a few more minutes, contemplating my decision, then decided I'd better go inside. Maybe then I'll have a chance to dry off before the boys wake up. I made a sour face when I noticed the rain had slowed and a patch of blue sky was breaking through. It was still holding in place when I entered the cabin, trying my best to be quiet.

To my surprise both the boys were still asleep. All I could see of either were distinguishing mats of hair.

I patted over to my bed, but passed it in favor of a spot as close to the fire as possible. It was still maroon like the night before, but it was, unexpectedly, just as warm as the brighter flames. I was grateful for this and, pulling off soggy socks, I moved my feet closer to the fire.

As I watched it I thought about the possibility that I could be able to control it. When Ikovos had tried to teach me magic I was a complete failure. I remembered the book in the study had said that the illumination spell was useable by both classes, and wondered if the process worked the same for offense artisans. Still undecided, I held out my hand as Ikovos had instructed and tried again to conjure the light. This time with the fire in mind.

First, I just stared at it, trying to follow the patterns that Ikovos had told me to take my mind through. Impatient as I was, I didn't give that a lot of time before moving on to something else.

I tried waving my hand around, then strumming my fingers in random orders. With some reluctance I decided to see if snapping would work. Of course there was a problem with this, because I had never really been able to snap. . . .

I concentrated, nonetheless, on my fingertips and imitated the motion I had seen others use successfully.

No noise. I tried again . . .

Nothing. I tried yet another time and it still just sounded like soft skin rubbing together.

After a few more, my fingers were starting to feel like I'd given them a rug burn. I stopped myself from complaining and stuck the edge opposite my nail in my mouth. Somehow sucking on finger injuries always made me feel better.

Without cause, I looked out from under wet hair to my left. I almost wasn't surprised to see Jaden sitting up comfortably against the wall, staring me down. There was no doubt he had seen my unfortunate attempts at snapping, but my face didn't change color all the same. Maybe my veins were still tired of pumping blood to my face from yesterday.

I kept my eyes on him, expecting a wave or a nod, some sort of acknowledgment . . . you know, the type of thing any normal person would do.

There was nothing. Just hard . . . dark . . . paralyzing . . . eyes.

Okay, maybe he had been sitting there five minutes, tops. How the heck did he look so . . . well . . . good to put it plainly? It's supposed to take people time to collect themselves in the morning. They're supposed to look disheveled!

He didn't at all.

His dark hair was flawlessly unkempt. It fell down in layers around his face, almost completely concealing his eyes, which were also free of any sign of morning, no circles, no squinting, incredibly attentive. No flinch of a yawn appeared around his mouth. His jaw was held firmly in place. For the first time I noticed a scar on his neck. My eyes followed it curiously down beneath his shirt, before realizing too late that he was probably still watching me. Like an idiot I looked up to check, and quickly discovered that my blood was having no problem circulating. I felt my face get hot and looked away as fast as humanly possible.

Though I kept my eyes barreled into the fire, I could just imagine the smirk he must have been giving me. I wanted Ikovos to wake up very badly now, believing that somehow it would make the situation less awkward.

Maybe Jaden was thinking along the same lines, because out of the corner of my eye I saw him lean forward and jostle Ikovos's hair thoroughly.

"Time to get up sleepyhead."

I thought of reminding him he had only woken up a few minutes ago, but definitely, definitely wasn't going to provoke him right now.