Art of Alchemy

Chapter 25- The Past and Pancakes

Something was wrong. Charlie reached his friends at Tall Queens and Short Stacks, where they agreed to get breakfast last night before going to study in the library. The group looked a little worse for wear; Khed stood in the shade of the small courtyard at the front of the coffeehouses rubbing his temples. Yalli was sitting on a bench, swing her legs beneath a pale blue dress and Ezerre was talking to the doorman while leaning against the glass, a nonchalant air around him.

He looked as bright as ever, he certainly didn't appear to be the same man who'd been whistling and dancing a jig along the cobble stones as he had last night. Charlie smiled slightly remembering the way his normally so elegant tall frame had gone head over heels as the drunk man face-planted into the pavement. He had no bruising and Charlie wondered if he was wearing powder to cover up any redness on his head.

None of them were talking to each other and Charlie wondered if it was because Vehya was yet to arrive. Maybe its just because they are feeling the toxins from their alcohol consumption. Yalli, hadn't drunk anything though and she seemed just as withdrawn as the others.

"Morning." Charlie said as he approached the beautifully painted sign of fluffy golden pancakes. His stomach rumbled.

Ezerre gave him a flash of a simile and continued his conversation with the flustered doorman. Yalli stood and brushed her dress off. "Good morning Charlie." Khed gave him a lift of his chin.

"No Vehya yet?"

"I'm here." Charlie turned and his smile fell. Something has happened. And he had a pretty good idea of who had caused her to look so crestfallen, it wasn't just alcohol poisoning. As far as Charlie knew, only one person had that effect on her. Rynden you jerk.

Veyha was a sore spot between the brothers, through no fault of her own. Growing up, it had been like having a wonderful chaotic sister who would sweep into their home, provide them both with endless laughter and then leave before having to face the consequences of their mischief. She could make his mother laugh as pure as a bell and had a wit that his farther said she got from her parents. She was the only person who could make Ryn's face scrunch up like a prune, the only one who asked for Charlie's advice because she genuinely wanted to know his thoughts.

When Ryn had come home in his second year and told them in an off-hand comment that Veyha been incapacitated in the exam... Charlie had lost it at him. He still remembered the look of shock on his mother's face as the two brothers yelled at each other.

It had been tense when Charlie had seen them passing ways at the gates of Asla on exam morning. After it all, Vehya had left and gone home that day with unshed tears. Charlie had seen her on his way home from the college, only he hadn't known what to do. The evening he'd begged his brother to talk to her. And he hadn't.

Rynden had never gone to see her, not once. So when the first time her name left his lips in years and all he had to say was that the Asla staff wouldn't let him see her so he didn't know how she was, Charlie had almost punched him. Sure, he'd understood it had been awkward, he could even rationalise the notion that maybe Rynden was worried that for Vehya, seeing him would rub her nose in his success.

But when Veyha had been rejected a second time? Charlie was sure Ryn would go. He even offered to go with him, but that had only caused his brother to close up even more. In the end, Charlie had lost his two closest friends and it frustrated him.

He wanted to drag them together and make them talk; make them friends again. But he couldn't speak for his brother. He wouldn't make Rynden's choices for him. He'd seen it coming, it was slow but he'd known they were drifting apart. It was a problem he couldn't find the answer to; an equation he couldn't solve.