“You’re joining us outside?” She knew that she probably looked stupid, staring at Avyr all surprised like that in the middle of the hall but— “you haven’t eaten outside since we got back from the Dragonspine range though!”
Avyr huffed softly, giving her an annoyed— more exasperated than anything— sort of look as he slipped past her. “For good reason. It’s cold out there. They don’t make jackets in my size, for reasons you can probably imagine if you put your mind to it.”
“Hey! I’m not that dumb. Obviously I get why you didn’t co out, but— why now? It’s not like it’s all that much warr than it was last week.”
Avyr just gave her a smug look, flicking his tail dismissively as they continued towards the cafeteria. “I figured sothing out.” Infuriatingly, he didn’t explain any more, no matter how much she badgered him to reveal—
It turned out not to be necessary.
The mont they stepped outside, she could feel it— a faint but present warmth, hearty and bright against her from Avyr’s direction. He looked the sa, but she could see the way the air around him twisted and shimred, a faint haze borne from water evaporating and refreezing around whatever… zone of warmth he was producing. She bit back a squeal of excitent. “Is that a qi technique?”
“Say that a bit louder, maybe the rest of East Saffron will be able to hear.”
“Sorry, sorry—” but she was bouncing on her feet the rest of the short walk to her usual spot, off by the big willow tree and the sheltered little bit of open ground, already awash with late winter blooms. A little bench rested beneath the outstretched canopy, kept free from snow by the arched branches spilling out overhead, replete with an overflowing abundance of vibrant spring buds. She couldn’t wait to—
A startled yelp wrenched her out of her thoughts, as Mimi and her friend whom she didn’t bother to rember the na of both tumbled off their seats at their arrival. For a mont the four of them stared at each other in awkward silence… before Mimi picked herself up, glaring Avyr’s way. “Don’t just sneak up on us like that! One day you’re going to scare soone half to death.”
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“I… wasn’t sneaking.”
“Then why didn’t I hear you coming?”
Avyr paused for a second, then repeated— “Lily wasn’t sneaking.”
Mimi’s friend snickered. “He’s got you there. If you couldn’t hear Lily, then you deserve everything you got.”
“You fell too!”
“No—” she brushed so snow off her jacket, looking for a mont the very image of the prim and proper East Saffron young lady— “I was startled off my seat by the surprised shout of soone less than a foot away from my ear.”
Mimi stared at the other girl for a mont in awe at the audacity of her, speechless. “That— no— that’s the sa thing! You’re just being pedantic— there’s no difference between fell off because you were startled by Avyr and fell off because you were startled by !”
“I’d say that there’s a great difference between the two of them, clearly—”
“Either way your rear end ended up in the snow, so—”
“Mimi. Tongjing.” Avyr’s soft wl cut through their argunt like a soft knife through argunt-flavored butter. “This is pointless.” He stalked lithely forward, curling about the area with a feline’s purposeful movent, inspecting their little alcove for a mont before he brushed off the bench and sat down opposite them. “It’s nice here. Do you usually eat with Lily?”
Mimi shrugged casually. “Not really. Maybe… one out of three days? It’s really easy to get howork answers off her if you give her food.” Lily flushed— that was not true! It wasn’t her fault that the remuneration they gave was not proportional to the amount of work— one simple calculus problem per dumpling was an absolute steal, and she wouldn’t hear otherwise…
Avyr’s look was… very knowing.
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