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“Sending another letter home?”
Relm rolled up the bit of paper and sat beside Alice. “Yeah. Asking advice.”
Alice flipped a few more pages of her geology book. “About what?”
“Love. Denial. Things like that.”
Alice looked over at her with a blink of surprise. “That's pretty deep, Relm. Aren't you a little young for that?”
Relm gave a snort and looked away. “Apparently not.” She shifted her gaze back to Alice. “Are you ever going to tell me what happened last night?”
Alice glanced back to the book. “I lost my appetite.”
“And that's why you were bawling your eyes out? Right.”
Alice gripped the page and turned it. It ripped slightly. “Hey, I can't help it if you don't believe me.”
“Sheesh. I can't believe you believe yourself.” There sounded a knock and Relm stood. “I mean, have you ever heard of ignoring the obvious? You've got a classic--” She pasted on a perfect plastic smile. “Hi, Riley.”
Alice winced, but she didn't move or change her gaze from the book in her hands.
“Hey there, cutie. Where's Alice?”
“She's busy being in denial.” She stepped back. “Come on in. Misery loves company.”
He stepped in, after several odd looks at Relm, and then came to stand by Alice. “Hey there. Can we go for a walk?”
“No thanks.”
“No meat. I promise.”
Alice shook her head. “Really. I'm busy. Maybe later.”
He took the book out of her hands. She glared at him. “Come on. A short little walk. I won't hurt you. I swear I don't bite.”
Alice took the book back. “But I do.” She turned through the pages. “Go away.”
“I mess up once and that's it? No more Riley? No second chance?”
“You barely had a first one. I'm not interested.”
Riley's face showed shock. “But--”
“Go away.”
Relm came over and wrapped her arms around Riley's. He looked down at her in surprise as she fluttered her eyelashes at him. “I'm interested.”
“What?”
Relm sidled closer, lowering her eyes to her finger as it ran up and down his bare arm to his shirt sleeve. “You don't just have eyes for Alice, do you? What about me?” She lifted her eyes to him.
“Uh . . . well, I, uh . . . .” He cleared his throat. “Sure, cutie. What'd you have in mind?” He sent Alice a 'see what you're missing' look, but she wasn't paying attention. He frowned and moved his focus back to Relm. “You up for a walk?”
“A walk? Oh no. I had something different in mind.” She took hold of his hand and led him over to her side of the room with her paints and brushes. She picked up a brush and touched her chin with it as she gave him a coquettish smile. “How about I paint you?”
“Paint? Well, sure, I guess.” He looked around for a stool as Relm dipped the brush in a bit of yellow paint. “Where'd you want me to sit?”
Relm approached with just enough sway to her walk to grasp Riley's attention. “Oh no, Riley. I wasn't talking about painting on canvas.”
She touched his arm with the brush. He leaped back from her, nearly stumbling into her bed. She took a step toward him with a meaningful expression.
“Uh, I just remembered . . . I have an appointment.” He cleared his throat and continued to back toward the door. Relm beat him to it and leaned against the door with her hands in the small of her back, her young curves positioned in just the right way to make him swallow hard, fighting to keep his eyes from sinking from hers. “Come on, cutie. Let's keep it civil.”
“What's the fun in that?” she purred. She stepped forward and he stiffened, swallowing hard when she leaned into his chest. “Roar.” She bit at him and he yelped, diving for the door and slamming it closed behind him. Relm straightened and sent Alice a 'you owe me big' look.
“That's disgusting,” Alice mumbled.
Relm shrugged and came to sit on Alice's bed. “Hey, I do what I can to further our purpose.”
“He definitely won't be back here anytime soon.”
“Don't count on it. He's denser than any guy I've met.”
Alice nodded with a reluctant smile as she looked over at Relm. “So I noticed.”
Relm gestured to the bit of rolled up paper on Alice's desk. “You gonna write back and tell them you're sure he's fine?” She glanced over at the paper. “I know. You could write a note for Gau letting him know that you're fine and that everything's great. You could even let him know that you're planning on visiting home before classes get started.”
“I am?”
Relm looked over at Alice with an innocent expression. “Oh. You weren't? Sorry. I thought you'd want one last night with the fam before the heavy stuff started.”
Alice set the book aside. “Relm, what did you do?”
“Nothing. Honest.” Relm smirked slightly. “Well, mostly. I just sent Setzer a note to have him come next weekend and take us back to Border for a day. I want to check it out and meet this Eric guy. Besides, I haven't seen Gau for a while and it'd be nice to say ‘hi’.”
“Relm,” Alice complained.
“I know, but it's already done. You'll have to deal with it.”
Alice sighed. “Fine. Whatever.” Alice tossed aside the book and rolled over onto her side. “I'm going to take a nap.”
“Chickenlip.”
“I'm ignoring you,” she said with a yawn. Alice heard Relm snigger as she drifted off to sleep.
Alice sat up with a yawn and a stretch, slowly opening her eyes as her mind worked through the morning fuzzies. The darkness of the cave made her tilt her head and frown in confusion. Cave? She pushed herself to her feet, dusting the leaves and dirt from her hand-woven leather pants. She stared at them. Um, Alice. What's going on? What's the matter with your memory? Are you going nuts?
A ferocious growl sounded from outside the cave, and her head shot up as her eyes pinpointed the entry. A smaller, human shaped shadow grappled with a winged form. Alice's heart went to the soles of her feet as she hurried to the opening.
“Gau?” She stumbled on a rock and nearly fell to her knees, barely recovering in time as her hands met the cold and hard surface of the opening to the cave. Gau fought a dragon. “Gau!”
Her call distracted him, making it possible for the dragon to slice him across the chest. The blow sent him flying backward like a rag doll. Alice screeched and ran forward, sliding to a halt beside him and gathering his bloody form into her arms.
“Gau?” She shook him, but he didn't move. The ground around her trembled as the dragon approached her, but she just continued to stare down at his limp body, blood oozing from fresh cuts. “Gau--” Her voice broke, and she lowered her head as the tears fell. A hiss sounded just behind her.
Alice clenched her jaw and snapped her head around, eyes focusing on the dragon and its siren smile and hazel eyes--rage blinded Alice's mind, face and body burning red. Her mind popped, a ferocious scream curdling the air as she dove at the dragon, claws extended--
Alice sat up with a screech.
So did Relm. “What?” she asked, magazine dropping to the floor.
Alice puffed, dream slowly fading. Finally, she shook her head and laid back. “Nothing. Just a bad dream.”
“Really? Gee. I would never have known.”
Alice turned over onto her side. “Give me a break, will ya? I’ve had a bad couple of days.”
“I know. That’s why I think we should go out--” Relm brought a hand up to her mouth. “Crap! I forgot to tell you Terra and Edgar want to have dinner with you tonight.”
Alice sat up sharply. “Geez! Why didn't you tell me that earlier?”
“I didn't have the chance!”
“What do you mean you didn't have the chance? We've been here for hours!”
“No, you've either been on Self-Pity island or in Sleepsville. I've been here.”
Alice f
rowned and stalked to her section of the closet. “Great. I don't have a blasted thing to wear.”
“Just wear anything. They don't care.”
“They're royalty, Relm.”
She shook her head. “No, they're Terra and Eddie. Humans. Nice people. They don't care what you wear.”
“Well, I do.”
“So I noticed.” Relm stepped up to the closet and started pulling things out. “Let's see what we've got.”