Rising Tides | 2

04 | W r e n

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My first full day on Libria, I had gotten lost on my way to the mess hall, which was stupid because the mess hall was what everyone called the Pit during mealtimes. Plus, the Pit was literally the center of the base. When I reached it today, all the fighting rings and mats on the ground floor were put away and replaced with long tables and lots of chairs. There were four lines of people stretched across the far side of the mess hall. At the beginning of the lines was a table completely covered by trays of food. Every time someone would grab a tray, one of the workers on lunch duty would replace it with a new tray from the stack behind them. It was a grab and go system, considered faster than a buffet.

I spotted Adara near the back of the first line, biting her fingernails. She had a nasty habit of doing that when she felt rushed or anxious. Making a note of her uneasiness, I quickly moved to the back of her line. As our line continued forward, almost to the tables, Adara started swaying in place, still chewing on her nails. She was too far ahead in line for me to be able to move ahead of the people between us. I sighed and ran a hand through my hair.

Finally, she reached the table. I watched as my little sister picked up a tray and began walking to the nearest table. I reached out and lightly grabbed her arm as she passed me. She jumped in surprise and looked my way.

"Wren," she breathed in relief. "You scared me."

The line started to move forward, so I motioned with my head for her to follow. "You're anxious," was all I said.

She looked down at her hands in shame. "That obvious, huh?"

"What's got you all up in a knot, Sparky?" I slid a tray consisting of steamed potatoes and some sort of meat covered in gravy off the table, and we started towards a spot to eat.

Adara shrugged. "Just things. And don't call me that stupid nickname. You know I hate it." She glanced at me with a hint of a smile in her eyes.

I huffed. "Yeah, whatever. Also, 'things'? Come on, Ada. Don't think you can get away with that as an answer."

We sat down at a spot relatively far from the crowd of people that had gathered to eat their lunch. On my left, Adara poked at her meat and cleared her throat.

"I just don't understand what they're fighting about anymore," she finally let out.

It took me a moment to figure out who "they" were: Ragan and Ember, as usual.

I shrugged. "Last I understood, Ember was mad at Ragan for keeping so many secrets and Ragan was just pissed that someone was mad at her."

Adara stuffed a piece of potato in her mouth. "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

I raised an eyebrow. "I can't tell if you're referring to my reasoning or what they're basing their argument off of."

She let out a small laugh and shook her head.

"What, I'm serious!" I chuckled.

A movement to my right, along with a solid clap on my back, shifted my attention to the pair who sat next to us. Calix, who I hadn't seen in a few days, and Giovanni Arser had suddenly joined our conversation.

"We all know you're never serious, Wren," Calix quipped. Beside him, his ginger friend lightly laughed in agreement.

I shoved Calix's hand off my shoulder. "Whatever, man."

He cut a piece of meat from his tray and plopped it in his mouth. "Anyway, what are we being so serious about?"

Adara sighed. "What else? Ember and Ragan still won't talk to each other. They don't even look at each other."