In Stone

12: "You're really not good at sitting still."

12: “You're really not good at sitting still.”

Caia was looking at her purple, swirly laptop like it was a particularly difficult puzzle. She was sitting cross legged on her bed, her creamy night gown stretched across her legs, looking at the little piece of electronics she had set down in front of her.

She hadn't even really meant to grab it. She had just awoken with the sunrise, images she had formed in her own mind from Caspian's story echoing from her dreams and memories, and grabbed the thing from her bedside table without thinking.

Now she was looking at it, reminding herself of all the reasons why looking up Simone online was a bad idea. She had already told Caspian that she wouldn't help and doing something like Googling her definitely qualified as 'helping'.

But it wasn't like she hadn't Googled her idol before. She spent a fair amount of time looking at Simone's work online when she couldn't see it in person. She was a member on her fan page and subscribed to her website.

Of course, that was before. Now she would be looking at the woman through the truth knowing her to be Rowan, the woman that killed Caspian's family and froze him in stone. It didn't even occur to her that he might be lying or mistaken. Caspian was her friend now, and friends believed friends. Idol be damned, Caia knew where loyalties needed to lay.

That didn't make doing this any easier though. She couldn't give him this. She could risk alienating him from her. It was a conundrum she couldn't find an answer for.

That was where Caspian found her about half an hour later. He was as early a riser as she was and he knocked gently before opening her door. When he did so, the soft smell of freshly cooked pancakes swept into her room.

“Breakfast is-Oh, sorry. I didn't realize you weren't dressed.”

“No, it's okay,” Caia smiled at him and waved him inside. He hesitated a moment before doing as she bid. She thought it was kind of sweet because there was nothing overly revealing about her night gown at all. She wore dresses shorter than this.

“What are you doing?” he asked as he looked at the laptop on her covers.

“I was considering Googling Simone. Rowan. You know who I mean.”

Caspian's surprise was very quickly covered by an indifferent mask. “I don't mean for you to help me, Caia. You've already made your feelings on that clear. I understand.”

“I know I said I wouldn't help. And I still feel like killing is wrong. Just because she did terrible things doesn't give you the right to do terrible things. Which is why I haven't done it yet. But...I still feel like I have to see her now. Now that I know.”

Slowly, Caspian walked around her bed before sitting gently on the other side. He looked at the laptop with carefully masked eyes before looking up at her. Though he knew what a laptop was, though he knew what Google was, he had never operated the machines before. Figuring out a coffee maker was easy, as was the stove. A computer was a bit more difficult and surfing the web could be considered a skill on its own. Googling Simone wouldn't be something that he could do as easily as Caia could or he would have tried it already.

He just watched Caia watch her laptop. He wasn't going to pressure her one way or the other, but he was curious about what she would choose. She could feel his eyes on her but she didn't feel any sort of urge from him to pick up the laptop.

Which was what made her pick it up and pull it onto her lap. She was too curious not to do it and Caspian wasn't going to ask her because he knew how she felt. If she was going to be his friend, if he was going to be hers, they might as well start now.