Rising Shards

Aira kicked her legs as she sat on a countertop. Ovie Chirhart paced in front of her, and Laenie searched through drawers beneath the counter.

The void room was more than a bit creepy, like a mix of a clinical testing lab and an industrial art project. The big sleek ship in the middle was cool, Aira admitted to herself, but even a cool ship couldn’t make Wildfire Hearts feel right.

Aira lit up as she saw a picture come up in the group chat. At least she was still in contact with her friends at Rising Shards; that made the stress of everything she was going through slightly easier. After her secret trip to her former school, she set it up and took great comfort in seeing anything from there, and the others seemed interested in Wildfire Hearts’ differences and definitely sympathetic to the real bad stuff there. Oka had sent a blurry picture of a bunch of bags of something on what was maybe the cafeteria table. Shortly after, Zeta sent a clearer picture of it.

“Laenie, they’re doing the pet food challenge!” Aira said, pointing to her phone. “Just like we said when that took off, you said it’d take a week for the others to do it.”

Laenie peeked up from a drawer she was shuffling through, checked her phone, and faintly smiled. Aira told herself that if she could keep Laenie smiling at least, that was worth something.
“I believe I said five days,” Laenie said before resuming her search.

“It wasn’t a bet!” Aira said. “Ovie, would you ever want to do the pet food challenge?”

Ovie stopped pacing.

“Right, I forgot you don’t do fun.” Aira said.

“I’m plenty of fun,” Ovie said. “I was in charge of the Rising Shards School News club. I got to wear TV outfits and wigs, how is that not fun?”

“Uh huh,” Aira said, remembering how doofy Ovie’s whole TV news getup was. “Did you figure out this ship thing yet?”

“That’s our next problem,” Ovie said.

“Here we go!” Laenie said, pulling out a plastic bag. “I found one of the bags, Ovie.”

“Great,” Ovie said, not at all excited. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the triangular piece of the Starlight Despair. Laenie brought the bag over, and Ovie gently placed the shard inside.

“Some kind of special void…bag?” Aira asked. She also didn’t like the idea that Ovie and Laenie had gone to the void together. Ovie was so mean to both of them at Rising Shards, but she was much harsher to Laenie. She didn’t want to think of what she could’ve said to Laenie without Aira there.

It was still surreal that Aira and Laenie could even speak to Ovie in a technically amicable way. But Ovie needed Aira’s help, and Aira needed to play along to make sure Laenie was safe, and to help out Caya. So they both had to play along, even if the way Ovie treated her before made Aira wish she never had to speak to Ovie again.

“This will protect the fragment,” Ovie said. Aira could tell she really liked to explain things to people like she was smarter than them. “And we’ll need that protection, so we don’t have to find another fragment.”

Ovie put the bag and the fragment in her pocket and turned back to the ship.

“Can’t we just fly it?” Aira asked. “I’m sure it’s not that much different from a minivan in a can. Laenie and I have experience with it—"

“I have experience too, and they said I couldn’t,” Ovie said. “It’s apparently very different.”

“So what do we do?” Aira asked. “I wouldn’t be opposed to just hanging out today, we got a bag for the shard, that’s progress.”

“Maybe we can ask around and see if anyone would be willing to help?” Laenie suggested. “Or ask The Exile?”

“They're not a 'get exiled out of your problems free' card!" Ovie snapped. "The Exile said they won’t get involved in that way. They’ll observe the mission, but they can’t interfere. And I don’t even know who could fly one of these. They’re maybe for seniors, or—”

Ovie froze mid-sentence.

“Or…?” Laenie asked.

“I know someone in our grade.” Ovie sighed. “They’re the last person I want to ask, but we may not have another choice.”

* * *

Ovie's target wasn't hard to locate; a redheaded girl with freckles that had a black eye that was strangely staring at a potted plant oddly placed in the center of the hallway. Ovie peered around a corner to look at her, then hid when she began to look the group's way, shoving the others out of sight as well.

"Why are we hiding behind a corner?" Aira asked.

"Yeah, go talk to her, Ovie." Laenie said.

Ovie made a weird groaning sound. "It may be a bit difficult."

"And why is that?" Aira asked.

"I maybe...kinda beat Narkissa up the last time I saw her." Ovie said.

"You just make friends everywhere you go, huh?" Aira asked.

"But she's the only one that can help us?" Laenie asked.

"Yes," Ovie seethed, clearly hating that she had to say that three letter word out loud about the girl.

Aira wondered if 09 could drive them. But her part of the mission was top secret. She would only be watching them from the shadows when they were in the void. She couldn't exactly walk into Wildfire Hearts and start piloting around their void ship.

"Maybe let's go together," Laenie said. "You could try apologizing to start, and we'll back you up if she gets mad."

"You never apologized for beating me up when you were all freaked out at Iho Vinai." Ovie said.

"And you never apologized for...anything you've done to us, really." Aira said. "So we're a real functional group here."

"Hmm," Ovie said, brushing her hands through her messy hair as she looked Laenie over. "Maybe you can go Exa and threaten to beat her up if she doesn't come with."

"Let's just talk to her and not include violence in our plan." Aira said.

"Right," Laenie said, raising a fist into the air. "For conflict avoidance!"

Laenie marched onward, forcing Ovie to go with her. Aira followed a bit behind, feeling a strange aura from this Narkissa girl. Any student at Wildfire Hearts could be a problem in that way; they were all being trained in Endoran teachings now. The girl scoffed at Ovie's arrival.

"Narkissa, I—" Ovie started.

"No." Narkissa said.

"Well, we tried." Ovie said, getting ready to leave. Laenie and Aira stopped her.

"Try to apologize." Aira said.

"Hrrhgh." Ovie said. She snorted like she was about to breathe fire, then lowered her shoulders. "NarkissaI'msorry. There. Said it."

"What was that?" Narkissa asked, cupping a hand on one ear. "Couldn't quite catch it, hearing's a bit tough out of this ear after you smashed me into that wall for no reason."

"Ovie!" Aira said. "What is wrong with you?"

"Nothing!" Ovie said. "She was being really insulting about my personal life, so I naturally taught her a lesson."

"That kind of takes back the apology." Laenie said. 

Narkissa squinted at Aira and Laenie. "Now you've got me a touch curious, what exactly would the three of you need from me?"

"We have a quest!" Laenie said, pumping her fist again.

"A secret mission!" Aira said. "That needs a pilot for one of the dang ol' void ships."

The corners of Narkissa's lips turned upwards. "Intriguing. I am still sore from Ovie's heinous attack...but I find this interesting." She snapped her fingers. "A secret quest needs Wildfire Hearts' best first-year pilot, huh? I'll do it, if you do something for me."

"Here it comes." Ovie groaned.

"You slammed her head into a wall, you have no place groaning at her offering something." Aira said. "What favor do you need?"

Narkissa's smile turned a bit more devious. "I'm not going to tell you yet. That'll be the condition. Since Ovie violently attacked me for little to no reason, the favor I'm owed will be a mystery until I reveal it. But I know it, I'm not just going to make something like this up randomly."

Ovie gripped her hair and sighed deeply. She looked to Aira and Laenie to see what they thought.

"Do we have a choice?" Laenie asked.

"It's not like, a murder-y favor, is it?" Aira asked. "Because that's a no."

"It's nothing like that," Narkissa said sweetly. "So, do we have a deal?"

Aira found Narkissa's sudden change of heart about joining the mission suspicious. But every student getting trained in Endoran deception likely couldn't be trusted too deeply; just that week she'd had three lessons in mundane math, social studies, and science classes that ended with long lectures from the teacher discussing the best ways to scheme and betray people. It'd be comical if it wasn't so painful to sit through.

"I vote yes," Laenie said. She gave Aira her 'It's for Rem' look, which meant Aira had to agree with her.

"Fine, fine!" Ovie said. "We're at Docking Bay 12151920. Now either you need to go there now or just leave in general so I can have a few seconds free of you."

"I was here first, you know." Narkissa said.

Ovie growled and left. She stopped after a few paces to gesture for Aira and Laenie to follow her. 

"Freaking Chellsi and Mikeila-Keila don't need me to tell them to follow." Ovie muttered.

"We're not your lackeys, you know." Laenie said she and Aira tried to keep up with Ovie's quick pace.

"Whatever, whatever." Ovie said.

"Hey, so problem solved?" Aira asked.

"Yes, but we have to be even more careful now," Ovie said. "We are bringing a snake with us, after all."