A Light in the Shadows.

A day in the Shop

I woke in the morning, still next to Jelequi.

I smiled softly, seeing Jelequi adorably leaning on my shoulder.

Jelequi was quietly breathing, still asleep.

I gently shifted, picking up my book.

Jelequi yawned, holding onto me softly.

I smiled, blushing slightly.

 God, she was so adorable.

Jelequi opened her eyes, looking up at me.

Her face turned pink. "M-morning... Sorry for falling asleep on you.." Jelequi said, embarrassed.

I looked at her, saying "it doesn't bother me." Jelequi sat up, "Well.. How was your sleep?" Jelequi asked, her face still pink.

 "Good" I said, my face lighting up.

"That's great!" Jelequi smiled.

 "How about you?" I asked.

 "It was good." Jelequi said, looking in my eyes and sending butterflies flying to my stomach.

I blinked, staring softly back.

Jelequi smiled, "Your eyes are beautiful."

"says the one with the special beautiful different color eyes" I said back.

"But thanks."

 "Just because my eyes are rare, doesn't make them more beautiful than your glowing, royal blue eyes." Jelequi replied.

"I know, but they just happened to be" I threw back, smiling softly at Jelequi.

"You are so kind..." Jelequi said, laughing slightly.

"Says the sweetest elf I know" I said, and then "when you don't value yourself, you learn to turn back compliments, making myself feel less awkward and the other person happy, though you're one of the few people i actually mean it when I do it."

 "Well, you should value yourself!" Jelequi said kindly, "Well, should we head down to the shop?" "okay... I should probably go soonish..." I said reluctantly.

 "Oh.. alright. Well, since you don't have to go yet, we still have some time!" Jelequi said, getting up, extending her hand to me.

 I took it, lacing our fingers together instead of letting go.

Jelequi smiled, then headed out of her room, down to the shop.

we entered the shop, Amharic sitting at the counter.

"Hey Amharic." Jelequi greeted them, "It's been a few days."

"Yeah, sorry about that." Amharic replied.

"Hi," I said.

"Hello, Seraphina!" Amharic said happily.

"Well, why have you been gone?" Jelequi asked.

"Family stuff. My mom didn't want me to leave for a little bit." Amharic replied.

"Was it about that dare with your sibling?" I asked. "Correct. My parents didn't believe the letter was a joke, even though all 5 of us that went to the party came back!" Amharic complained, "My mom thought Marikel was going to take me with him!"

"oh..." I said, feeling sympathetic.

"It's fine, my siblings talked some sense into my parents, so I was able to come out to the shop today!" Amharic said. "That's good!" I said, smiling and nodding. Jelequi nodded along with me.

"Yeah, so I was able to open the shop in the morning today." Amharic mentioned.

"Thanks for doing that!" Jelequi said.

I smiled.

"So, how are you two?" Amharic asked.

 "I'm good!" Jelequi said.

"Good" I answered with less enthusiasm, though still genuinely.

"Cool, cool." Amharic said.

"How about you amharic?" I asked. "Good, great!" Amharic said, smiling.

"Nice, nice" I said smiling, noticing the use of repeating a word twice in carrying it on.

"What is with the repeating words?" Jelequi asked, "First, 'cool, cool.' Then, 'good, great,' well, that one is just two similar words. And then you repeated 'nice,' Seraphina." Amharic shrugged.

"I was just copying amharic as a joke," I replied.

 "Oh, makes sense." Jelequi replied, laughing slightly.

I laughed as well.

"I had just done it cause I felt like it." Amharic mentioned.

 I laughed. "That does seem like something you would do," Jelequi replied.

"Of course it is," I said.

"Also, what is the crack in the glass?" Amharic asked, pointing to the window. In the window was a small crack about at eye level.

"Yeah, what is that?" I asked.

"Oh, Xentri threw a shuriken at Gol- an annoying customer when she got angry." Jelequi explained. my eyes narrowed.

"What were you going to say?" I asked Jelequi, my voice lowering dangerously.

"were you going to say... goldarn?"

Jelequi sighed, "y-yes..." I sighed as well, saying, "what was he doing to deserve a shuriken being thrown at him... other than the fact that he's annoying and a terrible person?"

"I don't know the whole story, since I walked in the middle of it, but it sounded like he just wouldn't leave when Xentri told me to.

 I think the thing that set her off was when he mentioned her name, saying that he knew who she was." Jelequi explained.

"That makes sense." I said. "100% does!" Amharic said, "Also, did he mention her first name, or lastname?"

 "Lastname."

"That would set her off even more." Amharic said. "Mhm" I agreed.

"Yeah." Jelequi said, "Xentri did end up cutting his cheek."

"how, did they get in a fight?" I asked.

"Xentri threw the shuriken out of nowhere, and cut his cheek while it passed by him." Jelequi said, "After that, I asked Xentri to kick him out, so she did that."

"Oh yeah" I said. "That Goldarn guy is weird." Amharic said.

"I hate him," I said blankly.

 "He is really annoying, and scary..." Jelequi said, holding my hand tightly.

I nodded, hugging Jelequi.

"Thank you.." Jelequi said, hugging back.

"Aww, you two are so cute together!" Amharic said.

I pulled away, my cheeks pink. Jelequi's cheeks also went pink.

"Y'know. How about you two go hang out again." Amharic said, pushing both of us out of the shop.

Because I was too lazy to update for the last few centuries and annielesbean got tired of reminding me, the chapters will probably be lower quality, because I'm just gonna copy and paste the story until I'm caught up. sorry about that, have a wonderful day/night!