There was a cooldown. Natalie and Jordan’s second make-out session didn’t provide further energy.

They did, at least, keep better control of themselves. Jordan hadn’t mounted Natalie in her excitement, and while Natalie had definitely gotten hard again, she wasn’t naked from the waist below, so Jordan was spared from the physical proof of how excited Jordan’s tongue wrestling made her.

Kissing her best friend. It really shouldn’t be so much fun.

Natalie cleared her throat. “Yeah. There’s one. A cooldown.”

“That makes sense.”

Did she sound disappointed, or was Natalie imagining things?

“So,” Natalie said. “Looks like it’ll take time to progress.”

“Not that long,” Jordan said. “Only need two or three more, to get to the next stage. Plus, I bet it’s because it’s me.”

“Huh?”

“It might not be an absolute cooldown. Might be independent to each person.”

“Oh. So, like, every girl has their own?”

Jordan shrugged. “It’s the first thing that came to mind.”

She didn’t sound bothered by that. Though, why would she? It wasn’t like she and Jordan were a thing. What would she care about Natalie and someone else coupling up?

Ugh … these kisses of theirs were definitely leaving Natalie more of a confused mess than they should. She needed to rein herself in. They didn’t mean anything. Natalie didn’t want them to mean anything. She liked what she and Jordan had. Best friends, since forever. She wouldn’t risk that for anything

“Guess I’ll have to figure it out.”

Jordan nodded, still unconcerned. Natalie had a good read on her; she really must not care if Natalie was with someone else. Whether that was because she had open views on relationships, or because she didn’t have feelings for Natalie …

Of course she didn’t have feelings. What was Natalie thinking? Ugh. Kissing another girl had never left her a mess like this. Receiving her class had left her more disoriented than she’d thought. And Jordan’s kisses. Why was she so good at them? Natalie thought Jordan had only had one or two partners. Why was she so good, then?

Pull it together.

“Later, though,” Natalie said. “Uh. So. Letting Tenet know is going to be weird. Hope it’s not a problem.”

“Being a mage hybrid class?” Jordan said.

Natalie nodded; the lewder parts of her class, she just wouldn’t divulge.

“Hm,” Jordan said. “Paladins are more fighters than they’re casters, aren’t they?”

“I guess it depends?” Natalie, like Jordan, had spent plenty of time learning the endless amount of common adventuring classes. But there were too many to know in depth. There were as many classes as there were grains of sand on a beach. Infinite, more less … though maybe not actually. “I think most paladins are more fighter than mage? But even if it’s just a small part of my kit …”

“You’ll figure it out,” Jordan said firmly. “It’s not your strength, but that’s fine. You’ll work through it. If there’s anything you’re good at, it’s persevering.”

For a second, Natalie held Jordan’s serious gaze. The words washed through her, comforting in a way even her parents couldn’t have managed. How did Jordan say something like that with such confidence? Like she knew what she was saying was right. That she wasn’t trying to be comforting, but speaking with total conviction. No doubt in her mind. A foregone result. Natalie would figure out her ill-fitting class, and that was that.

Natalie glanced away. “Yeah. I guess. Thanks.”

“You’ll just have to be extra good at punching people, until then,” Jordan said, bumping shoulders.

Natalie laughed. “I can manage that, at least.”

Jordan smiled, too. A brief silence. “Paladin, though. That’s going to be interesting. Having a patron. Is that how it works?”

“No clue. Probably? Who do you think it is?” Natalie asked.

“Hm.”

Jordan wasn’t especially religious, the same as Natalie, but she absorbed information better than Natalie did. She always seemed to know what was going on, when it came to anything. Even half-zoned out, their weekly congregations at the church left more lingering knowledge in Jordan than it did Natalie. She might know who the ‘goddess of lust’ was.

Jordan had always been a sponge when it came to academics. Natalie might have cheated her way through classes using her, once or twice. She’d determined not to do so at Tenet … not that academics were particularly a focus, there.

“Niemh?” Jordan finally said. “Goddess of love and passion? That seems most likely. Could be others. Ffien, of beauty? Some interpretations have her as an icon of lust. Eyrlis, fertility and agriculture?”

“Eyrlis is Upper Pantheon,” Natalie protested.

“And?”

Natalie paused. She didn’t know where she was going with that. It just seemed absurd for Natalie’s patron to be Upper Pantheon.

“Not that it matters who it is,” Natalie said. “Paladins and gods don’t convene. Not literally.”

Jordan paused. “Well. The gods are silent, but that they did exist at some point seems beyond reproach. So maybe worship is required? That they’d … what, disown you, if you didn’t?” She hesitated. “But probably not. Dunno.”

There was merit to what she was saying … certain records were convinced that deities once roamed and interacted with sapient life … but Natalie wasn’t so sure. Ancient texts were nothing if not unreliable. She didn’t know if she bought into the divine, as blasphemous as it might be to say. Just, there weren’t any recent records of such. Even paladin classes, while holding to certain gods, never spoke to them. And who else, if not a paladin? Or a priestess, she guessed. But the same argument applied.

“Yeah,” Natalie said. “I guess.” It wasn’t the time to get into that.

Jordan collapsed back into her bed, splaying out. “I can’t believe we’ll be heading off to Tenet in a few days. You’re really cutting it close with your birthday.”

“I’ll let my parents know they should’ve been more considerate with their timing,” Natalie said dryly.

Jordan snorted.

A brief pause.

“I guess I should be heading back,” Natalie said. Her parents would be expecting her. They’d known Natalie would hang out with Jordan, briefly, to celebrate, but she still had a curfew, even if it was her unlocking. With how much trouble Natalie got in on a regular basis, a curfew was inevitable. And while she wouldn’t be afraid to break it, and annoy her parents, now wasn’t the night. Might as well keep the peace for the two days left until she shipped off to Tenet.

Plus … she needed time to think. Jordan’s presence was distinctly not putting Natalie at ease, like it normally would. Or, it was, but it also wasn’t. Seeing her laid out across her bed, shirt bunched half way up her stomach … their experimental kisses had Natalie’s thoughts turning in directions they really shouldn’t.

“Ah,” Jordan said. “Right. Okay. I’ll see you later?”

“Tomorrow,” Natalie said. “But yeah, they’re waiting. Should get going. And I’m pretty tired.”

“It’s a lot to take in,” Jordan said with a nod, reading Natalie as easily as she always did. Except … not wholly, because it wasn’t just Natalie’s class that had her head spinning. “Try to get some sleep. There’s plenty of time to figure things out.” She sat up, then patted Natalie’s knee. “And you have me, to help. Don’t forget that.”

Natalie didn’t think she could.