Aeyn walked up to us.

“How can you let them pay for that, Caenya?!” She began, her step stern and more akin to stomping than to walking. She mispronounced Caenya’s name. “I don’t understand you bunch. You’re all doing it nice but you’re landing in all sorts of trouble!”

“What exactly are you trying to convey?” I answered. Meanwhile, we had stood up, and I had taken a defensive position signified by my crossed arms.

“What do you mean?! Uuugh...”

She stood still in front of me, exactly at the border of my treasured personal space. Her intentions didn’t seem to be bad. I expected her to criticize us in some childish, unrelated retribution to our patronizing her yesterday.

“I think I was wrong about you people. I thought you were all arrogant and super annoying because you tie into another's business, but you’re really good friends.”

“Hmm. Thanks,” I answered, not exactly sure how to tie that in.

“I think stepping up for your friend Caenya he-”

“Caenya.”

“Your friend Caenya must be very grateful to have such great friends! To her!”

“Well, thanks!” was my reaction. I didn’t care much about compliments from outsiders, so I translated the remark into a weapon, point-blank to Caenya’s head. “Finally someone who appreciates us!”

“Ah, come on!”

She playfully slapped me on my back, and then aimed her gaze at Aeyn.

“What’s your name? You a member of Vincey’s fan club?”

“I don’t have a fan club, what’s up with that! Hmmph!”

“Uuuh… My name is Aeyn,” she replied to Caenya. She seemed embarrassed- genuinely embarrassed, unlike the other feelings that felt forced and acted onto her emotive face.

“I’m in the class of your friends, a-and I guess I had a wrong idea about everyone...”

She gazed at the floor for a while, hinting at greater treasure behind her words, which I would find out when I could. Questions armed and ready!

“Wrong idea? How do you mean that?”

“Everyone feels so intimidating to me… I don’t know what everyone is thinking of me… So I try to be intimidating too, but now you and your friends suddenly think I’m a really bad friend, so I won’t know what to be anymore...”

While she was talking, two children materialized and started pestering Aeyn. One was a young Pyuntian girl who couldn’t be older than ten, and the other was an Arachnid with purple-tinted eyes.

“Sis, there ye are!!” Exclaimed the arachnid, folding his thin arms. The girl started tugging on Aeyn’s clothes, and seemed to be wary of our presence.

“Awwwh,” Caenya started. “What are your names?”

She leaned forward and disarmingly waved at who were presumably part of Aeyn’s extended family. Her nickname Ice’s meaning really fell away when Aeyn blushed and laughed in the presence of her siblings.

“Oh, these are Sixten & Lyra! They’re my half-brother and sister, respectively, I uuuh… Have to take care of them constantly after school.”

“Oi, are ye bunch sister Aeyn’s friends?”

I wasn’t sure whether to find her brother’s accent cute, sophisticated or oddly intimidating. He clicked his mandibles together while he spoke, drawing the attention of a few passersby. There were at least five years of age difference between us- in my favor.

“Sis isn’t that great at talkin’ to friends so if I catch ye hurtin’ her I’ll find ye. And I’ll fucking kill ye. With me fist, right ‘ere.” 

I started my neural system’s recording function. This gem had to be preserved. It took all my willpower to remain silent and maintain my neutral expression. He took a stand, and behind him, Aeyn seemed to be suppressing laughter as well.

“Ye know what my name means? It’s meanin’ Victory Stone in my language. I’ll stone yer head mate! So give her gifts, and be real darn nice to her before I-”

“Sixten, thaaat’s enough!”

She patted him on his head, halting the flow of his verbal masterpiece and embarrassing him. The boy had long, braided black hair, which ruffled under Aeyn’s assault. Arachnid hair always reminded me of dreadlocks.

“Don’t worry, Sixten,” Caenya leaded, her demeanour unaffected by the events of five minutes ago. “We’ll take very good care of your sister here.”

“Really?” A distraught Aeyn replied. She almost looked emotional. “It’s true t-that I’m a bad friend, y-you know. So many things about me are bad. I can’t keep friends.” 

It was time for me to step in.

“You’re a bad friend, but your siblings seem to be very fond of you. And Tophro’s very fond of you too.”

“But that’s j-just because they don’t really know me.”

“I do agree with the fact that your mannerisms are very much different from what they are in class, but whoever you claim to be doesn’t have an effect on those who like you.”

“Like with the old man earlier!” Caenya perked up. “If you’re carrying a burden, and there are people around you willing to share it with you, you should do so, because a shared burden is an easier burden!”

She reached out her hand to Aeyn, who seemed very much embarrassed with the motion. I can imagine- I myself would probably be very frustrated as well, if my way of life has been criticized twice in the span of two days.

“People in class talk a lot about you,” Nick noted. “They all say you’re very mysterious. Some say they want to get to know you, so if you’re going to make first impressions make it count. Ironically, your defense-mechanism seems to have dealt more damage than-”

“Okay okay, stop there, t-that’s enough! Thanks for the advice everyone. But Nick is a creep.”

“Just Nick?” I curiously inquired, with a simulated hint of sassy pride. 

-

I briefly felt bad for the success of our morally questionable stalking, but it seemed to have paid off positively for all parties. I was in no way proud of being called the Creep Detectives. Okay, perhaps a bit- I thought it was hilarious- but generally I was not the type of person who needed recognition or attention from people outside of my close circle.

“Yeah. Actually, you too. Just thanks to Caenya, then.”

I wasn’t sure whether she was teasing, throwing a tantrum or deliberately making a point of distancing herself from us. I didn’t mind.

“Anyways, I’ve got to get going. Grandpa Tolven is waiting on us to come back-”

“There you are, Aeyn! I was wondering what was keeping you up.”

Fate revealed its mysterious hand to us, and the Arachnid elder from earlier showed up. He wore a scarf he didn’t wear before, implying he’d visited his home. He shot an almost goofy wink in our direction.

“Our work here is done,” I spoke. “Have a great day, Aeyn. Mister Tolven. And you two too!”

“Ye bet. I’ve got an eye on ye mate. An eye, ye hear me?!”

The elder took the two children by his four-fingered hands and marched away. Aeyn seemed to be scolding one of her siblings, looking back only to wave at Caenya.

“That was a noteworthy encounter,” Nick spoke as he wrote on his log. “The elder seemed to have been looking for advice to give to Ice.”

“Ice?” Caenya started, but my quick reply was so swift it almost interrupted her subconscious flow. “It’s her nickname. Doesn’t fit her. She’s completely different in class. She’s the girl we told you about this morning.”

Caenya chuckled, probably remembering Nick showing the poem he wrote to her. She looked after her.

“She doesn’t seem as mean as you described her, then. She’s just finding herself. Isn’t everyone, growing up?”

My sarcastic expression moved over Nick, who understood the cue and comically replicated my face.

“I mean, everyone always warns us about puberty!!” Caenya countered, comprehending my unsaid point very well. “It’s a real problem even! The Academies have a whole group of trained professionals to maintain discipline and help with mental stuff, right?”

“Not for us, no qualms at all,” I voiced. “Take some pride in being perfect!”

“Don’t become arrogant now, Vincey!”

“Oh, I won’t spout it to everyone. I will always judge myself equal to others. But at the same time, also not, you know?”

Caenya playfully attacked my laughing face, and I parried. Sometimes I wondered how close to the truth my joking was. Was I ahead of others in developing myself? Factually possible, but always arrogant to assume, though I could factually say that I had a rare life-changing event pretty early on in my life.

All I could do to make sure I wasn’t the evil guy was to make sure I only strike when I know I was right, and stay in the background. And I was fine with that.

“How do you mean, Vincent?” Nick calmly replied while I was attempting to prevent myself from becoming a victim of manslaughter.

“That’s-” Caenya always beat me in one on ones, and she had my arm rotated behind my back in a lock. “-probably the culmination of our attitude. We really shouldn’t step out of bounds too much because in all honesty, Aeyn has every reason to call us creeps. We can’t go around being arrogant just because we happen to possess ample knowledge on the subject. It can never give us a moral high ground.”

“Are you being honest?” Caenya suddenly stated. I tapped her back a few times, and she let me go. Damn, she was strong!

“Honest?”

Her face contorted into some form of half-sarcastic, half-compassionate expression. “You seem to have some qualms you want to share too, but you’re playing them off as jokes.”

“Maybe.”

I unconsciously looked away and scratched the back of my neck. I prided myself in picking up on social situations but being the target myself had my pride disoriented. I paced around a bit, but the movement slowed my thinking, so I sat down again instead. Nick mimicked this and also sat down, his sharp blue eyes scanning me as if he were a journalist reporting the day’s summit in news. He probably looked that way all day today- it was just now that I noticed it.

“I’m not quite sure myself, actually,” I mumbled, and I scratched my chin. Why was this so hard to answer?

“I don’t think it bothers me per se, though I do sometimes wonder how biased society is on these things.”

“Dude,” Caenya stated in a serious voice. “You’re fourteen. Some members of High Command are over two hundred years old.”

I burst out in laughter- more than a minor cackle, actually. It was a burst of passion.

I was proud of how I was, and I would continue to be so, as long as I could do it well.