Pentad of Un

Chapter 18 - Kestek

     Kestek lounged on her bed while Adif got dressed in the washroom, trying to sort her thoughts. The elf had woken up, cleaned and treated her sword, then she carefully sheathed the blade and got out her clothes for the day.

     "I can turn the other way," Kestek offered.

     "I'll just use the washroom," Adif replied, going into the other room and closing the door behind herself.

     Kestek shrugged and stretched out her wings while she waited.

     Jelro's swan and owl were busy preening themselves while the bat clumsily flitted around and found various things to hang upside-down from.

     Kestek watched the animals, then her thoughts started wandering.

     She wondered what kind of things Jelro wanted to do with his life after dropping out of The Academy. What had his plans been before he found out that he was a halfling?

     "You would've been the first student ts'osen by a group if there were a cooking class."

     Kestek could feel her face heating up as she heard Jelro's compliment in her head.

     She felt bad that Jelro had gotten caught up in the situation in the market, but she didn't mind what had happened—especially since it had been Jelro she was with during the incident. Had it been Luss or Shayrow with her, well, that would have been a very different story.

     Adif came out of the washroom, fully clothed and guzzling down the contents of a bottle of water.

     "All yours," she said, setting down the empty bottle and carefully putting on her sword's sheath.

     "All right." Kestek went into the washroom and pulled out a new outfit from her storble.

     She washed her face and brushed her hair, then she put on a bit of facial cosmetics to give her lips and eyelids some color and her eyelashes some definition.

     "You look nice," Adif said as Kestek came out of the washroom.

     "Thank you." Kestek straightened out her belt. "I was wondering, do you always have berries in your foliage?"

     "Huh?" Adif blinked. "Oh, no—only during flowering season."

     "Don't you grow flowers?" Kestek inquired.

     Adif gave a quizzical smile.

     "No? I'm a gymnophyte elf."

     "Oh." Kestek uncomfortably shifted, busying herself with twirling her hair with her fingers.

     She didn't want to admit how little she knew about other species. She hadn't ever had friends that weren't sprites, and it wasn't like there were classes at The Academy about other species.

     Besides, she knew the basics, like what other species looked like. She wasn't that clueless—not like one of the sprites in Wrija's class that had mistaken a goblin for an ogre.

     Wrija...

     "Do you mind if I make a call on my C-stone?" Kestek said.

     "I don't mind. I can step out."

     "Yes, if you would."

     Adif slipped out of the room, taking the swan, owl, and bat with her.

     Kestek pulled out her C-stone and traced her finger over it to contact Wrija.

     "Hello?"