The Mountain Dancer

Chapter 46: Rekness & Shaynike

He was seeing how long he could get away with moving the same three books from pile to pile when Shaynike appeared. Stoneworth had wandered off somewhere again, leaving him alone with the endless volumes. Only four more days of school (and detention) left. It didn’t make sense to keep it going for the whole rest of the year, but old Minyel wasn’t changing his mind.

He had given up trying to bust into the Communal Stone itself, and had been experimenting with floating light probes into the column of air above the stone. There was a thin string of aspectral power that ran all the way up the boreway to the roof, allowing things like the flashstep to work, or the lights that they used for stuff like the Frostcycle Feast. This string was much easier to tap into, though he didn’t know what would happen if it were to be upcycled. He was thinking about this as he shuffled around with the books, so engrossed with the problem that he nearly walked into her.

“Hey, Rek,” she said.

“Oh, hey,” he said back, slightly annoyed at the interruption.

“Did you miss me?”

“Yeah, where’d you go? I sent some shards but you weren’t answering.”

“You sent maybe three.”

“You weren’t answering.”

She closed her eyes and leaned against a bookshelf. He sensed that this was going to be a tricky meeting – Shay was usually more excited than this to see him. But she was probably still all shaken up from the whole incident. Which reminded him that she’d probably want to hear about his plan. It should cheer her up. 

“So, about the Dance,” she started to say, opening her eyes.

“Yeah! Oh man, okay. So I know what we’re going to do to get them back. Wait’ll you see this new Artwork I can do.”

“Rek...”

“It is literally sick, haha. I can show you tomorrow in the Feasting Hall if you wanna see. I just need to­ –”

“Rek!”

Great, now she was shouting at him. Stoneworth would hear. Rekness shushed her and looked around, hoping the tutor would keep away. He was dying to tell her about the cool trick and couldn’t risk anyone hearing.

“Stop yelling,” he whispered.

That got him a mean stare. Why wouldn’t she just give him a chance to explain the plan? Try another angle, he thought, remembering his conversation tricks. He went to her and gave her a big hug (she always liked that). He actually missed the feeling too. Now the he was in the middle of it, it reminded him why he was doing all this crap in the first place.

“Hey, I’m sorry,” he said.

The hug had worked – she was no longer looking like she might want to render him. In fact, he thought she might start to cry.

“For what?” she said. He could barely make out her voice.

“I should have sent more shards. And probably been a little more excited to see you. I just got a lot on my mind lately. But I promise, you’re going to like what it is.” He remembered that he hadn’t even told her about the book he found either. Double good news!

She took him by the hands and led him to the nearby couch. They sat facing each other like she liked to. He had a feeling there was going to be some kissing in his future. It had been a while, after all. That curious part of him wondered if Shay would ever want to do more than just make out. Maybe after she learned about his plan… or maybe after he pulled it off. He grinned.