The Glade and Its Glitch: Book 2 Allies or Enemies

Chapter 4

Moonlight shone down from the sky as Lloyd sat on the roof of the monastery. He watched as if filtered through the trees below. Just one week ago he'd been in his room and seen Huntress. He hadn't told his brothers about it yet. That night everyone had been so swept up in taking care of Cole, that Lloyd was too distracted to bring it up. Plus, he wasn't in the med-bay all that much, and that was where everyone was staying.

A shadow disrupted the light patches on the grass. Lloyd guessed it was Soar, he tended to spend a lot of time outside. It surprised Lloyd, he thought that after living outside in the Glade for years Soar'd want to be inside. It didn't sound like the Glade had been a good experience. But it seemed that Soar was used to the outside.

On more than one occasion Kai had caught him taking a nap or even just sitting in a tree. He'd told the others about this and Zane said it was likely that he wasn't used to the indoors.

Jay had suggested that maybe Soar was like a cat or he was a shapeshifter. But that idea was shot down pretty quickly.

After Jay's blatantly stupid idea Nya decided to give it a try. She suggested that Zane was partially right. She said maybe it wasn't that Soar was not used to the indoors, it was that he was used to the outdoors. Maybe he was more comfortable outside. The ninja had seen on the security cameras that the people of the Glade liked to sit in trees. Perhaps Soar felt awkward inside homes like he didn't know what to do with himself.

Zane agreed with Nya and said he hadn't thought about that. Kai had just looked at his sister proudly. Shrugging, Jay had reluctantly agreed that Nya's idea was probably right.

"I still think he could be a cat. We saw that ape in the tree." he'd protested.

But Nya gave him a playful slap on the back of his head and he shut up.

"It's a nice night isn't it?"

Lloyd turned to see Kai walking up beside him. "Yeah, I guess."

Kai sat down next to his brother and put one arm around him. "You ok? No one's really said much since we got Cole back. You've been pretty quiet."

He shrugged, "I don't like the smell in the med-bay so I'm not in there very much. And everyone's just thinking a lot. And I'm just a little overwhelmed."

Lloyd didn't feel like talking about Huntress yet. But lately, it had been all he could think about. That along with Cole was building and stressing him out. Even just thinking of all the things weighing on his mind was overwhelming Lloyd. His breathing picked up, he wasn't hyperventilating, but if he wasn't able to calm down soon he would be.

Kai nodded and then tilted his head, "You know you can always talk to me. Right?"

Lloyd nodded and leaned into Kai's chest. "I know, I'm just thinking."

"Ok buddy," Kai rested his chin on Lloyd's head.

The two sat like this for some time. It took a minute, but eventually, Lloyd's breathing evened out.

"Do you want to talk about it now?" Kai asked. He began to gently rub his hand in circles on Lloyd's back.

The younger boy shook his head and buried his face in Kai's gi. Eyelids drooping, Lloyd adjusted his arms to wrap around Kai's torso.

Humming, Kai smiled, "It's alright little bro. I'm here for you. You're safe right now." After a minute Kai looked out to the monastery courtyard.

Kai let his thoughts wander to his sister. Jay was coming back in a few days, and Nya was very excited. When he left, Nya stayed in her room for most of the day. On the one hand, she was upset that he had just up and left, but she was also worried about Cole. It hurt Kai to see his sister hurt. He had also offered to give Jay a stern talking to when the boy got back from the junkyard. But Nya said he had a lot of things to think about, and Jay just needed time. Kai thought that was dumb, they all had things to think about, Cole was in a coma for crying out loud. But Kai knew better than to go against his sister's word, so he relented.

"Kai?" Lloyd spoke up.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for sitting with me, I appreciate it."

Kai smiled proudly, "I enjoyed sitting and thinking too. It's no problem, and you'll always be my little brother."