The Lightning Mage

29 | The Eye-Fone Passcode

"Yeah, her name is Becca. She's a healer. She joined right before you quit."

"Oh wow, a fighter-healer pair from Dawn Avengers." Lyn laughed. "You two are one hell of a power couple, aren't you?"

Emily rolled her eyes as she settled on the seat next to Lyn. "Don't you dare flirt with her."

"What? You know I won't do that to you, Em."

"I find it really hard to trust you on that."

Lyn chuckled and took a sip of her beer. "Say, what do you want to drink? I'll get drinks for both of you. My treat."

Emily gave her another eye roll. "You don't always have to offer to treat, you know." Her face softened. "Anyway, how have you been, Lyn?"

"Oh, you know, not much. I- I was suspended from questing until recently, as you probably know, so I'm just chilling around for now. Can't wait to be back to work though. I got our team a really good fighter and stuff, so it'll be great, I know it."

"That's good to hear." Emily nodded. She peeked at Lyn with a peculiar, uneasy expression. "Lyn, I'm... I'm sorry I didn't come see you at all."

Lyn's eyelashes fluttered. "Oh, that's okay, Em, really. I- I didn't actually allow any visitations at all, not even for my parents," she said, forcing her tone to remain as lighthearted as possible. "The prison was a far way out from everywhere, so it's not worth it."

That explanation was far from the truth, but she had to hide the real reason. The cursed place had such a strict no-magic policy that they only allowed a healer to come by once every two weeks. Thus, Lyn had to deal with the pain of her injuries and the visibility of her scars while waiting for the healer's visit. She didn't want people in her life to see her bleeding and suffering like that. She really didn't want the pity.

"I see." Emily tapped her fingers on the table as her brows furrowed deeper. "Well, I'm still sorry anyway."

"What for?"

"I feel that it's partially my fault."

"What? Why would you say that?"

"I've..." Emily paused. Her mouth closed and then opened a couple more times as she pondered her words. Finally, she sighed. "To be honest, I've been suspicious of your fighter for the longest time, but I didn't know how to tell you. If I had cared a little more and looked into her background, then I could've warned you about—"

Emily's sentence was cut short when Lyn slammed her cup down on the bar table.

"Don't," Lyn mumbled. Her eyes were fixated on her abused mug, while her smile was wiped from her face. "Just, don't."

The two of them sat in awkward silence for a while.

"You like her a lot, don't you?" Emily whispered, her head hung low. "I've never seen you this dedicated towards someone before. We were together for four years and you- you were never like this with me. You won't even take my side whenever I was quarreling with Irene."

The atmosphere around them became even more awkward, if possible.

"Uh, s- sorry, Em," Lyn said. It had been a while since she had thought about their relationship. "L- Look, I- I know I was a terrible girlfriend back then..."

Thankfully, Emily decided to cut her off. "Yeah, whatever, I don't want to hear any of your stupid excuses. I'm over it, so let's not dwell on it any further, okay? Where is Irene anyway? You're always with her."

"Oh, I, uh..." Lyn scratched her hair. A little bit of some leftover soot fell out, but she pretended not to notice. "I needed some alone time, so I decided to come alone."