Vorden and Minx looked at each other then started running in the direction of the scream. Enroute, she asked the trees for directions. When they got close, she grabbed his arm to slow him down, impressed he was able to keep up with her. She got a description of the situation and said they should circle around and then act. It only took a few extra seconds, but it enabled Vorden to pull a first-year male student off a first-year female student.
One looked and both were devastated. Minx could hear sounds of a fight behind her while she treated the girl's injuries. The girl explained to her, a boy named Rylee asked her to take a walk to get to know each other. She thought he was a nice guy. He had made an advance and she rejected him. She turned to walk away when he hit her from behind and beat her. She talked to the girl and got her calmed down.
Her uniform shirt was ripped from being grabbed and a certain upper part of her body was partially exposed. Lana gave hers to the girl, who introduced herself as Ren. She was a healer, but he kept beating her until she was out of MC, unable to heal herself.
"I can't accept your shirt… What are you going to wear?"
Minx grinned and put on her stage 2 armor. "I'm Minx, by the way. If you're a healer, why not work with D. Hayley? I'm there for the second half of club period every Friday. She'd appreciate the help when you can provide it."
Ren nodded and smiled, "I'll look into it."
Minx was thankful for the cover of darkness so the finer details could not be seen of her or the other girl. It would be rather embarrassing for Vorden to see them that way.
Minx noticed the sounds behind her had ended and turned around. The other boy, she now knew as Rylee, was being held by Vorden. The tall bond had the boy's arms behind his back. She added a few injuries of her own. She noticed the look on Vorden's face and lost control of herself. She stepped closer to him. They locked in a kiss until he pricked his finger on a thorn from her armor. They then returned to the dorms without another word.
The next day, after the daily routine was over, Vorden knocked on her door. Minx was rather shocked to see him. She had just returned to get a few books because she wanted to return them to the library. "Are you busy? Can we walk for a few minutes?"
"Sure," she already had her bag with the books she wanted to return, so she followed him out. They went back to the same area of the park they were in yesterday.
She believed the purpose of this walk was to continue the search for Tucker. While she asked the trees to help, their concept of time was different than that of humans. Unless the time was the immediate moment, the tree may be very wrong. It could have been yesterday or a few years ago. As she continued thinking along these lines, they passed the area where the attack on her took place. They walked in silence, each contemplating their own issues. Once they were deep enough into the forest Vorden was sure of their privacy. He turned to look at her.
"About last night," he said with a heavy sigh.
She was thinking he may feel some form of sense of failure for not helping her. "It's okay."
Vorden shook his head, "the kiss…the hand holding… That can't happen again," he spoke quietly, haltingly with sadness in his eyes.
She was a little miffed, this was the topic that had him all in his feels. "Excuse me, that wasn't even you. It was this guy," as she reached up and jabbed her finger into Vorden's forehead on the side of the person who was controlling the body at the time.
"Of course your situation is complicated, there are three of you in there. I bet the fights between you are interesting… We got caught up in the moment. Why would you want to carry it any further with me?"
Vorden looked like he wanted to hit something. "That is not what I said."
"Sounded like it to me…"
Vorden sighed, hating himself for being in this situation but the fear of what would happen if he allowed her to get close was very real and palpable. "You are right that my situation is complicated. You being active in my life increases my problems exponentially. You are making things worse," Vorden's voice got lower as he closed his eyes and almost whispered the last part. He thought she was a nice person and felt enough people had been killed. He didn't want her added to that list.
"How is making this guy here interested in the world around him making it worse?" she jabbed the other side of Vorden's forehead. "He seemed to spend all his time at the back when I first met you. He comes forward more frequently now. I would think that's a good thing?"
"It would appear that way to some but no."
"So, being more interactive is bad? How do you expect him to heal from his trauma? Why would you deny him the chance to heal? What are you afraid of?"
Vorden sighed. He didn't want to talk about this at all. This was a family secret and her knowing about it could also put her in danger. If he found out…, "he was only 8 years old when the trauma happened. His maturity level is stuck at that of a child. His power level, on the other hand is far beyond me."
She nodded, "temper tantrums. You don't want to deal with temper tantrums…"
Vorden just looked at her with a bit of fear in his eyes. "Did you not here me say he's stronger than I am with our ability?"
"Look. Death is nothing to fear. Every morning I woke was something to be grateful for because we could have been killed in our sleep easily. We weren't valued. We weren't cherished. We were obligations that were forced upon another. I was told quite often …" Minx stifled a sigh. Her eyes tried welling up and she forced them to back down. They didn't deserve such a response from her.
"People here complain how rough this is. This environment is far more relaxed than where I came from. I never thought I'd even have a future. Every day for me has been an exercise in taking care of my brother. That has been my only focus. My only reason to keep going. This place has taught me that I may be permitted a hope that I could have a future. It's possible. I have not asked you for anything. I don't need you to protect me. You have no reason to, anyway. All I want is the ability to defend myself. Will you at least think about it?"
Vorden sighed and nodded. Why can't I be mean to her like I am to Layla? I'm supposed to be the one who can talk us out of any situation. What has she been through?
"Let's head back. I need to return these books to the library and get some studying done before bedtime," Minx said and turned back toward the dorms not caring if he followed her or not. Yes, he didn't need to go with her the night before, but he was acting weird and she didn't like it. She returned the books, selected more and returned to her room.
A few days later, she had plans for after school so she Minx brought a sandwich to Logan over lunch period. She wanted to try something with her energy bars, and it required uninterrupted concentration, so she felt this was best.
Minx placed Logan's sandwich on the desk. She was getting ready to get his attention when he looked up.
"You're early," Logan said, looking at the time.
She smiled, "I have a test I want to try this evening, so I figured I'd bring it early, if that's okay? Why did you ask me to bring my cooking tools to you?"
"Do I understand correctly that you enjoy cooking outside?"
Minx nodded, "Yes. In the orphanage, Midas and I used to hide in the woods and cook. Denial of meals was a favorite punishment. The others blamed their wrongdoings on us quite frequently, so we would have starved. This gear is all camping equipment from the used section, but it works alright," as she unpacked each item, showing him what she was using, "for the purposes of cooking outdoors. There are even towels to muffle the sounds so if it's packed properly, I won't attract beasties."
"It wasn't silent the other night because you had gotten behind and acted in haste. Correct?" Logan responded.
"Yes, I was sparring with my roommate and lost track of time. I didn't pack properly. The oven is also brand new. I didn't realize I had to have a beast crystal to use it, so I bake bread in my kitchen in my room." She looked at her watch. "I need to get going, class is starting soon."
"Leave these here. Cooking outside on your gear is not safe. You could start a fire. Allow me to create something better."
Minx didn't feel she had much of a choice, so she simply nodded with a smile. Repacking all the gear would make her late for class. She skipped and sang her way back to class, but the intrigue of Logan's idea tickled the back of her mind.