Rayna: "Steven? I didn"t expect you so soon."At her dorm, she greeted us happily but a little confused. I quickly explained myself about Joan"s wishes and she eventually decides to let me in. I sat down on Rayna"s bed and realized Young Mi wasn"t here.
Steven: "Where"s Young Mi?"
Her eyes light up for a moment and proceed to knock on the door to the bathroom. It slowly cracks open and lots of steam comes drifting out as I could barely see the light reflect off Young Mi"s body.
Rayna: "Steven is here, you should cover up."
Young Mi: "Oh, I don"t mind if he sees me."
Rayna: "Have some shame! He"s here with the little girl I told you about."
The door slams shut.
Rayna comes out forcing herself to smile but her eyebrows were upset. Young Mi knows how to tilt someone but to do it towards a group member is something new. Have they been not getting along as well as I was led on or are they just playing around?
Steven: "Are you alright?"
Rayna: "Young Mi knows how to push my b.u.t.tons. She knows I don"t mind you living with the Kanna girl. So she teases me asking "if it"s alright adding more people to the list."
Steven: "The fu—What did you do to her? You should get even with her."
Rayna: "I don"t know how. I teased her once and she wouldn"t stop doing it back since."
I never figured that older people would play around like this. I never even took Young Mi to be playful.
Steven: "If you were as observant as you say you are then you"d know she"s bashful."
We waited and talked about Joan until Young Mi was out of the shower. She was moderately clothed and only came out momentarily to greet us and retrieve her hairbrush. By the time she was finished, she came out and motioned for her to come to sit by me.
She did without knowing any better.
Steven: "Hey, Young Mi…"
I didn"t know what to do at first and I sat there for an awkward 10 seconds.
If we all did it then Young Mi would be blushing pretty hard.
Young Mi: "Oh? Oh dear… I never thought I was that important to everyone."
Steven: "Hey, Rayna… don"t you agree that she"s beautiful even without makeup?"
Rayna: "Yeah, she"s very humble for not using it to her advantage. I wish I could be more like her."
Steven: "What do you think, Joan? Is she pretty enough to have her portrait taken?"
Young Mi: "Oh… I get it… now I get it… I won"t tease Rayna. It was a fun little game but if she really doesn"t like it then I"ll stop."
Good!
Young Mi knows we"ll push back if she wants to play with us. However, I"m not sure if I got her as well as I wanted to. She"s still as hard to read as she only smiled while looking down at the floor.
Steven: "Why would you talk to Rayna like that?"
Young Mi: "I didn"t have anything else I could use. Besides, some of what I said was true."
Rayna: "Like?"
Young Mi: "I"m not romantically interested but I care about him in my own way."
Rayna: "Then you saying "I don"t mind if he sees me" was a lie?"
Young Mi: "Yes. Romance is something I haven"t done in nearly 650 years. So, if I offended you, I"m sorry."
Rayna: "I…"
She opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something but stops herself.
Rayna: "I forgive you."
Young Mi: "Besides, what are you doing here, Steven? Weren"t you going to stay in your dorm?"
Steven: "Joan was tired and wanted to sleep with us."
Young Mi: "I would a.s.sume with the both of you, she never met me before now."
She looks to Joan and gracefully waves at her.
Young Mi: "h.e.l.lo, my name is Young Mi, what"s yours?"
Joan lifted up her notebook.
Joan (Notebook): "Joan of Lira."
Young Mi: "What a wonderful name! Do you know her circ.u.mstances, Steven?"
It was basically all written in the notebook. I asked about the notebook and Joan showed everyone what wrote with me giving context. They asked questions of their own and she"d answer them honestly.
Young Mi: "I"m sorry you had to go through such, sweetheart. You"re safe with us if you really want to stay."
Joan (Notebook): "Can I really stay?"
Young Mi: "Of course you can. We don"t live here at the academy mind you; we"re a little nomadic but our home on Sefre might be permanent, right?"
Rayna: "I have nowhere else to go."
Steven: "If I live too long people will eventually get suspicious. So… you know where my last stop is."
It was time to set the beds once we saw Joan yawning. She"s way too tired to keep up but we"re too busy talking! I took my bath and changed into fresher clothes. Once I got out, Rayna and Young Mi were still trying to figure out how we"re all going to sleep.
Young Mi: "Are you sleeping with your clothes on?"
Steven: "Yeah, it feels appropriate if Joan is staying in the same room."
Rayna: "Hmm… how are we going to do this? This bed"s not big enough for 3 people."
Young Mi: "We could put the 2 beds together like a chain and sleep like that."
Steven: "I wouldn"t ask you to McGyver it and inconvenience yourself. I don"t mind sleeping on the floor or with you if you"d let me."
Young Mi: "Nonsense! I did this all the time when Dai-tai and Niroja were younger when my bed wasn"t big enough. It works but there"s a small void in the middle you"d hate to get stuck in."
The void could be worse…
I don"t know if I ever told them about the time I explored the void. I guess it"ll be a good story to tell everyone back on the isle.
After we slid Young Mi"s bed frame so it was right next to Rayna"s, we jumped on the bed and called it a night. From left to right, it went: Rayna, Joan, Me, and Young Mi. It was fun to have everyone together like this and I realized we weren"t doing this for any real reason. We"re doing this so a little girl can go to sleep and have fun.
Young Mi: "Are you comfortable?"
Steven: "I am… it"s always fun to gather everyone for a sleepover."
Young Mi: "Have you done it before?"
Steven: "Not really… I lived in a city where all my friends are pretty close together. Same was true for Everhand."
Not that Hei"an and here is any different. The only difference is that we all live together. There was the village house that everyone stopped by and visited but that was at the time our group started to form.
Rayna: "Hey, darling."
She whispered.
I looked her way and see her watching over Joan, who had already fallen asleep. I can"t help but feel bad; what if this was the first time she"s ever slept on a bed?
Steven: "How is she?"
Rayna: "I never have seen someone sleep so comfortably."
Steven: "She should teach us how to sleep so well."
I jested.
Rayna: "Are you seriously going to adopt her?"
Adopt?
It actually got me wondering as it hadn"t crossed my mind if I should bring her to Everhand. I imagined that she"d be living in Sefre, which is just as good of an idea.
Young Mi: "That"s a good question."
She chimes in.
It seems like the best course of action is to make the call back on Sefre where we can all get together and decide.
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Steven: "Well, I don"t think either of you would. So someone has to. It"s either me or Lilith. I thought It"d be good to wait until we reach the isle to make a decision… to y"know… see what"s best for her."
Young Mi: "Trying to be smart? You"re a little young to be called a dad."
Steven: "I don"t care about being young, she doesn"t even have to call me dad. I just want to make sure she grows up smart and healthy. If that"s something that Lilith or I can"t do then I"ll find someone who can and is willing to adopt."
Young Mi: "Oh, you did think things through; very good."
Since it"s another person I might be taking in, I have to cover all angles now.
I felt Joan"s hand come up and latch onto my sleeves. She might have woken up but when I turned to her, her eyes were still closed. Is she pretending to be asleep and eavesdropping on us this entire time or were we too loud?
Joan tried to be sneaky about it and once she tried to slightly open her eyes I had already caught her. She didn"t try to play it off and knew she was caught.
Steven: "Oh—you were awake, Joan?"
She slides closer to me and Rayna closes the gap. We were all very close together and Joan looked happy.
Young Mi: "Maybe this plan of yours doesn"t fail just after you can up with it."
Steven: "At least give it a day or 2, huh?"
Rayna: "We have bad fortune in Esnia. Any plan we come up with goes south and we"d have to improvise. Though… I guess this one didn"t fail, we just know how it might end. I know you better than anyone."
Steven: "Let"s go to sleep… tomorrow is going to be a busy day for Young Mi."