Tales of Arcadia: Mordred's Curse

Part 5

A few days had passed since Mordred had run into Irene and his half-brother. Ever since that day, he'd seen Irene and Douxie meeting up, either with a usual quartet of other friends or by themselves, but even then, Mordred had noticed that with each day, Irene had grown more anxious, and even though Douxie had noticed, he'd never gotten the chance to ask what for, or if he could help in any way. But with each passing day, he also noticed Douxie was growing close to her, despite barely knowing her.

The true concern came when one particular day, the tall brown-haired man was late to one of the group meetings, and it only seemed like Douxie, Irene, and one other were left. Mordred had seen Irene and one of her close friends Ian's persona completely changed once their backs had turned from Douxie. Irene and Ian were heading to a car while Douxie headed back towards the library. Ian had put a hand around Irene's shoulder. Mordred couldn't tell what they were saying from his distance, but something about the complete change didn't give him a good feeling about it.

"Hey," he said as he walked up to Douxie.

"Hey!" Douxie gave a half-smile, "You... Are very, very late, my brother."

"Yes, yes, I accidentally read 5 pm, not 3 pm... That... I'm not sure on how I messed it up," Mordred said in a haze, trying to think of how to word what he'd been noticing as Douxie hugged him.

Mordred hugged him back, but once the two had stopped, Douxie noticed Mordred's expression with a quiet, "Uh-oh..."

"uh oh what?" Mordred asked.

"What's with the face...?" Douxie asked, his smiling seeming to fade a bit.

"Right..." Mordred said. Carefully, he continued, "How have things been going with you and Irene...?"

"Really well, actually," Douxie said," She's a bit odd, but she's been dealing with a lot recently." Douxie shrugged, "She seems to just- kind of get me, I don't know how to describe it."

"Any idea of what those things are?" Mordred asked.

"Which things-?"

"The things that have been making her act weird?"

"Oh, some family issues," Douxie said, "Her sister's been sick for... About a month now? I'm not sure how long, but it's been bad."

"...Why do you ask?" Douxie said quietly.

Mordred looked around to make sure no one else was in the library.

He sighed, "Hisirdoux, I don't know if you can trust her. I don't think I do either, but I don't want you to get too caught up with her."

Douxie went quiet for a while, "I know you are just looking out for me, but I'm not the same as I was last time we met. I wouldn't be worried about that."

"Well, I am." Mordred started before confessing, "I saw her and Ian leaving the library as I came in... it didn't just look like a friendly sort of interaction. Douxie, whenever you're not looking, her entire expression changes, and so did his just then. I don't... I don't like it, and I don't want you to get hurt."

"... thanks," Douxie said simply. Mordred couldn't tell what he was thinking.

"Hisirdoux, how long have you known this girl?" Mordred asked with genuine concern.

"Longer than you," Douxie pointed out.

Mordred laughed, "Douxie, I'm older than you."

"Not by much."

"Just make sure you look out for anything suspicious," Mordred pat him on the back as he headed over to a bookshelf.

"Will do," Douxie promised.

"Oh..." Mordred muttered as he pulled out a book, "Douxie, have you actually seen Irene's sister? How do you know if she's actually sick?"

Douxie hesitated. "... why would she lie about her sister being sick, Mordred...? That... doesn't make ANY sense."

"Sorry I'm asking so much, I really just don't want you to get hurt, sorceresses can be really dangerous... Heh, even for you."

"Sorceresses"

"You-- Douxie bro, it's so obvious she's a wizard, how'd you miss it?" Mordred laughed, "Sorry, sorry, I'll drop it now, promise."

Douxie raised an eyebrow and glanced towards where Irene had been last.

Mordred watched from his distance, dropping his shoulders a bit, but stayed where he was to look at the book he picked up further.

He didn't mean to go as harsh as he did with bringing it up, but he didn't want to see Douxie's hopes go high, only for something worse to happen.

And then the air went weirdly quiet as the daughter of a wiz returned with an awkward laugh, "Heh, forgot my bag."

She kept her eyes to the ground just in front of her feet, Mordred moving a bit as she snatched her small black bag on the chair next to him.