Rising Shards

The Falling Shards library in the boys' dorm was pretty much the same as the small one in the girls' dorm. Workers and volunteers packed some of the books, while they were giving others away.

They had a lot of comic book collections, so I was hoping to find one of the Tower of Hate and Love comic adaptations I hadn't bought yet. I felt a bit less overwhelmed by the crowd with Oka by me, and Lillia there helped too. Also helping was seeing Kara Valor searching through the boxes of comics, taking breaks to eat from a bag of trail mix.

"Oh hey," Kara said when she spotted us. "See anything good? I have a lot of these already."

"Nothing for me yet, but if you see any Tower stuff let me know," I said.

"So you just here for the freebies, or do you have something else going on?" Kara asked, eating another handful of trail mix.

"My main mission today is to bust skulls and crack some eggs to get some more girlies at Rising Shards!" I said, punching one hand into the other's open palm. "Well, I was gonna, but my fellow egg cracker went to do something else."

"Righteous, keep fighting the good fight," Kara said, giving me a fist bump.

I gasped. "You know what I meant?"

"Course I do," Kara said. "Me and Mars cracked each others eggs when we were cracking each others' skulls. It's how we fell in love and junk."

"The world is a magical place sometimes," I said wistfully. "So what are you up to? Are you keeping an eye on me while Stella's on vacation?"

"Kinda, Tik's been watching you like a hawk so I haven't really had anything to do," Kara said.

"She has?" I said, looking around.

"Mhm, Mars too," Kara said. She cheerfully added, "You won't find them."

"That's…a bit disturbing." Lillia said.

"Nah, that means you're safe," Kara said. "Though I do get the sense something weird's going on with this, so keep your guard up. Probably just me being overly cautious, but whatever."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked.

"Just me overthinking is all," Kara said. "But don't worry." She winked. "We got your backs, alright?"

"Alright…" I said. Kara left us on that ominous note, crumpling up the empty trail mix bag in her clawed hand.

Trying to not worry too much, I went back to looking for Tower of Hate and Love comics, noticing that nearby a familar boy had arrived and was in the superhero comics section.

"Oh, hey," Syval said when he noticed us. He had a bigger power blocker on than I remembered him having, but I didn't say anything about it as that would be rude.

"Hey, Marble," Oka said.

"Name's not Marble," Syval said. "I dunno why you have trouble remembering me, but whatever."

"Oh yeah? I bet you don't remember our names." Oka said.

"Sure I do," Syval said.

Syval kept looking through the comics.

"Waiting to hear em, bud," Oka said.

"You're uh…that one." Syval coughed.

"Uh huh," Oka said. "Now Sandwich and Not-Sandwich, those are guys I can remember."

"Those aren't even their real names," Syval said.

"Sorry, that all came out really rude, didn't it?" Oka said.

"Sure did," Syval said. "But whatever."

I noticed Lillia glaring at me. I wasn't as good at understanding her expressions as Oka was, but I got this one; maybe we could gleam some info from Syval about the Kalei situation.

"How are you feeling about the move?" I asked. "Are you gonna stay here or go with to the new building?"

"I don't know…I haven't decided yet," Syval said. "At least it's our choice, I guess."

"As long as Sandwich and Not-Sandwich stay, I'm good," Oka said. "Those are, as they say in 'the biz,' my boys."

"And me, too, right?" Syval asked.

Oka had a stone-faced expression in response.

"And me, right?" Syval said.

"Sure," Oka said, sounding like someone just offered her cereal made of discarded metals.

"If I were you, I'd stay at Rising Shards," I said. "Or switch there, I guess. Then you can hang out with Kalei and Aira more. Because…you all hang out a lot, lately? Perhaps?"

I thought I was being sneaky about it, but Lillia's blunt sigh said otherwise.

"Hm," Syval said. "Yeah, I dunno…"

In spite of the crowded library with chatter all around us, the awkward silence really stung. Syval paged through the latest comic he picked up with an odd, forced smile. It felt like more evidence to whatever strangeness was going on with Kalei, but I had no idea how to capitalize.

"Hey Zeta, tell him about that egg thing," Oka said.

"Oh gosh yes!" I said. Immediately in my mind it was clear what was going on. Maybe Syval is having gender identity issues, and Aira and Kalei are helping him figure them out. That would explain Marmalade being involved too. But wouldn't Kalei ask for my help with this? Unless Syval is so annoyed by Oka's constant misremembering that they didn't want me around. But the pieces are maybe finally coming together! "Syval, have you ever wanted to be a girl?"

"Huh?" Syval said.

Syval's expression turning to pure confusion dashed my theory in moments. But…maybe Syval just hadn't considered it yet?

"You know…like…" I coughed, confidence waning quickly.

I was so excited at the idea of my Falling Shards visit. I would be proactive and get something accomplished, chase a goal and see it through. I wouldn't be someone who just drifts from place to place letting things happen to her without a goal in mind, like Anastasia said about me. I had pamphlets I had ready for anyone at Falling Shards who seemed like they could maybe have some gender issues to sort through, people I could be a guiding light to. It was easier said than done, because my first attempt had me feeling like I was slowly melting into an embarrassed puddle. I tried to get out one of the pamphlets but they all fell to the ground.

"A-ah, dang…" I said.

Oka and Lillia helped me pick up my pile. Then Lillia pushed her glasses up, effectively tagging me out.

"Putting a pin in that for now," Lillia said. "Syval, I'm just going to come out and ask. What's going on with you, Aira, and Kalei?"

If Syval was confused by what I said, it looked like Lillia just pulled a knife on him with that question.

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