Where Fires Dare to Burn

Chapter 05 - Six Strings of Therapy

"If I place higher, you have to do all the notes for our next... three cultural archaeology lectures."

Luke nodded sagely. "Alright. And if I win..." He looked around for inspiration, when a suitable punishment occurred to him. "If I win, you have to sing a duet with Kenny next karaoke night."

Gabi scowled. "Now that's hardly an even wager!"

"You two know I can hear you, right?" Kenny interjected from further ahead. "You'd be lucky to share the stage with me."

"I'm sure," Gabi shot back, before turning her attention to Luke. She stuck out a hand. "Alright, Mr. Hawkshot. You're on."

They continued on exchanging tips and barbs in equal measure now that the wager was confirmed. The group wound its way through the residence halls, closing in on the noisy light show of the student union. Idle chatter accompanied them as they threw song recommendations back and forth, some of them more ambitious than others. Despite his tenuous skills as a singer, Luke found himself looking forward to the foolishness that he knew would be coming.

Just as they were passing the last of the residence halls, however, he spotted a flicker of movement to his left, well away from the bustling lines of students. He turned his head to look and saw four figures tucked away in the shadow between two blocks of student dorms, three of them lined up facing a fourth.

That fourth was Oaklynn – even from this distance he could tell, her dark tresses of hair unmistakable in the evening light. He could see her gesturing angrily, but the words were lost in the bustle of the campus.

Looking at the trio that faced her, Luke felt an instant coil of tension in his bones when he recognised Kasper in the centre. The brawny student was standing close to Oaklynn, looming over her as though trying to intimidate her. He didn't know the other two; they stood back slightly, just watching the argument unfold, glancing around to make sure no-one was watching.

"Hey, what is it?" Gabi asked when she noticed him stop. "Luke?"

"Over there," he said simply, nodding in the direction of the confrontation.

Gabi looked. Her brow furrowed. "She's your anthropology buddy, isn't she?"

"Yeah."

"Who are the others?"

"The one doing all the talking as Kasper," he said, as Kenny and the others also reversed their course to see what was going on.

"The crazy guy?" Kenny moved up alongside him to get a better look. "What about his friends?"

"Never seen them before." Luke shook his head. Whatever was going on, Oaklynn looked more and more distressed and he heard a high pitched shout of anger cut through the air from her direction as she pointed at Kasper.

"Doesn't look like they're friends," Kyan put in after a moment. "Should we go say something?"

"Yes."

Luke started walking, his mind made up before Kyan had even voiced the suggestion. The others were dragged into his wake as he set a furious pace along the path. Kenny pulled level with him after a moment, his room mate's normally cheery features stern as he examined the situation. This time he found nothing worth joking about and stayed quiet.

"I told you no!" Luke heard Oaklynn snarl, a venom in her voice he'd never experienced before. "I'm not a part of this. I don't answer to any of you!"

"You don't get to just flaunt the laws," Kasper growled back. "And you can't stay here on your own. There has to be oversight."

"I don't need oversight from the likes of you." Oaklynn looked the other student up and down distastefully. "So why don't you just get the hell out of my face with this old world crap? Go be a good little soldier and run home to the Mahar. Tell her I said I'll come see here when I damn well please!"