“What the hell was that?” Gabriel asked, over a bundle of vitamin-reinforced rice wrapped in a grape leaf.
“I know!” Maxwell added, fork piercing a dumpling, “You totally could have beaten her!”
“Not what I meant, Max,” Gabriel said. He shoved the rice wrap in his mouth with a fork, while gesturing a knife, pointedly, at Alex. “That was scary. Like, murderous scary. What the heck is up with your Pair?”
Alex swallowed nervously, despite having no food in his mouth. The Franklin Dining Hall was full of their class and the next, along with some of their Guardians, though Alex had, thankfully, seen neither hide nor hair of Elza. “She, uh…”
“Yeah?” Gabriel said. “Please, tell me there’s something that makes sense about all of this. Pairings are supposed to make sense. Love is supposed to-“
“Yeah!” Maxwell interrupted, also clearly nervous, but definitely not wanting to hear another speculative word out of Gabriel’s mouth.
The students, in their training, had been graced with a theater class, performing great plays of the past: Morality plays of the past three hundred years. Shakespeare, one of the greatest English playwrights, preserved against all odds. A bit of Marlowe, a bit of works that had to be rewritten and adapted for kosher use, all of which taught them how to pretend. It was an important skill - being able to act as though the unreal was real helped immensely in closing the gap between the two, and controlling the mechanisms by which this was done. Gap-closing magic was the single most intuitive and dangerous form of magic, and so, giving the students the necessary tools to deal with it was a sacred responsibility.
Unfortunately, fiction, and the performance thereof, also trains people how to lie.
“She’s very passionate. Incredibly righteous. In fact, she’s held back by making sure that everything she does is in accordance with the theology that she understands.” The half-lie served him well, and he built on it. “She could be much, much more powerful with a bit more theological knowledge - I think that’s why they Paired us. And she can’t stand people being wrong, which is why they Paired her with me - she couldn’t tolerate anyone else,” Alex said. That sounded believable enough to him.
“Huh,” Gabriel said.
“Wow!” Maxwell added. He took a sip of his ice water. “She’s got to be amazing if she’s like that, and she’s just as stubborn as you are.”
Alex did his best to ignore this, as right as it was.
“That sounds fake and dumb,” said Rachel, who sat down next to Gabriel with her tray of food. The sudden presence of Gabriel’s Pair killed all momentum the conversation had had, and after a few moments of awkward silence, with Rachel smiling obliviously, she tried to charge onwards. “So, what do you think about,” she started, at which point the fact that she was now sitting mere inches away from Gabriel, who she thought was extremely cute, and pretty cool, and a bunch of other positive descriptors, took away her powers of speech.
Alex and Max looked to each other, and slid off the bench seat of the booth, taking their trays with them. “We’ll be right back,” Max lied, “Just getting some dessert.” When they’d both made it only a few paces away, they heard Gabriel and Rachel’s nervous laughter. When they made it to the self-serve food stations, Max spoke up again. “Should I feel bad about leaving them?”
“No,” Alex said. “They’re figuring each other out, and we’d just get in the way.”
Max nodded, uncertainly. “Yeah… Shouldn’t we be trying to spend more time with our Pairs?”
“It’s only been a few days,” Alex said, adding a carob nut brownie to his plate. “So yes, in the long run, but don’t worry about it yet.”
Max sighed in relief. “Good. I haven’t really, uh… figured out how to talk to Tabbitha yet? Or our Guardian?”
“Haven’t you talked to her in class before?” Alex asked.
Maxwell, who had just grabbed a pair of tongs for unknown purpose, froze. “I mean, yeah,” he said sheepishly. “But it’s all different now.” That statement, secure in its truthfulness, sat between them for a while as they pondered various confections that they probably weren’t going to eat. “Your Pair scares me,” Maxwell said, unprompted.
“More or less than Francesca?” Alex asked. He seemed to have a habit of surrounding himself with girls who frightened others.
“Yes,” Max answered.
They spent more time browsing the food, and eventually made their way to the fruits. Food engineers from the City of Arcadia had been trialing a new, lab-grown variety of banana, and Alex had been meaning to try out the supposedly creamy, smooth fruit.
“Alexander,” a familiar voice said, and he looked up to see Rosaline, who grabbed a banana out of the food station. “They’re pretty good, you should try one. Also,” she said, trying to fit the next sentence in casually, “You two should come sit with me and Tabbitha.”
Alex grabbed a banana. “Okay, but why?”
“We need to talk about Elza,” she said, and began to walk away, before looking back at Alex, who hadn’t moved, owing to Maxwell grabbing onto his sleeve. Alex knew he was nervous about Tabbitha, but… “Max, would you rather be awkward around your Pair, like we all are, or would you rather have to sit across from Gabriel and Rachel being… that?” he said, gesturing back at the booth they’d been sitting at. Gabriel and Rachel had entirely gone shy, staring into and playing with their food, while almost constantly stealing sidelong glances at each other.
“Okay, yeah,” Max said, and threw his trust in with Alex’s judgment. He still clung onto his sleeve, though.
They followed Rosaline to a standing height table, where Tabbitha was already sitting on one of the stools, and sat down with them. Tabbitha straightened up upon seeing Maxwell, and Alex could feel the extra tension in his grip.
“So,” Rosaline said, leaning forward on her elbows, as the others ate, “As her Pair, we need you to keep an eye on Elza.”
Alex looked at the two girls. As far as he could see, they were effectively opposites - Tabbitha tall, pale, with just enough hair to spike up a little, and shyly withdrawn almost every time he’d seen her, and Rosaline - short, dark, with bountiful curly hair that’d put Samson to shame, and, as he was beginning to understand, authoritative enough that she was keeping Tabbitha afloat and Elza anchored. Or at least she was trying to.
He nodded. “Besides today, what’s concerning you about her? For that matter, where is she?”
“Exactly,” Rosaline said. “She left early, with a takeout tray, saying that she wanted to eat alone. She usually eats with us, and this is the third night in a row that she’s left the dining commons early. Now, sure, that might be unusual, but it wouldn’t normally be enough to be a cause for concern. You might have gathered that she’s… erratic.”
Alex could agree on that. “That’s a word for it, yes.”
“But coupled with her match with Francesca today? Something’s got her more emotionally unstable than usual.”
“Yeah,” Tabbitha added, her voice soft enough to fall asleep on. “She feels… spiky.”
Alex wasn’t quite sure what that meant, but he nodded anyway. She was already strange, but finding, protecting, healing, and then having to turn in the maleficus must have really taxed her emotional state. He couldn’t say that, but it gave him hope that it’d all shake out over time, as she processed the event more. Maybe he could get her to ask Julian for some counseling about it - Sure, he was also strange, but the man had far more life experience than them, and that was what he was here for. And considering that he was supposed to be the protector and advocate for his Wards, he shouldn’t be too judgmental about the whole series of events, especially since she did the right thing in the end. “I’ll talk to her about it.”
Rosaline sucked in a sharp breath. “Maybe… keep your distance for a bit? I’m not sure she’d want to talk to you about whatever’s going on. You were just forced into each other’s lives. Knowing her, she needs time to get used to that.”
“Are you sure it’s not just that?” Max chimed in. “Uh, you know, Pairing jitters?”
“I don’t…” Rosaline started, and looked to Tabbitha for conference. “She’s talked about that,” Tabbitha said. “She’s…” Tab trailed off, and Rosaline finished her sentence. “Dealing with that in her own way, I think.”
“What does that mean?” Alex asked.
Rosaline sighed. She wanted to protect her friend from herself. “She wants to mess with your head. I think she wants to feel more control over the whole Pairing situation.”
Alex’s mind was briefly flooded with thoughts of their sudden kiss on the night of the dance. “Elza’s definitely accomplished that.”
Rosaline watched Alex’s eyes unfocus with a skeptical expression on her face. “Anyway,” she said, “I don’t think it’s that. Just keep an eye on her, and keep me filled in on anything unusual, okay? I’m worried about my friend.”
“Me too,” Tabbitha said, trying to add some more weight to the sentiment.
Alex shrugged. “Sure.” He’d have a harder time not watching her.