Countdown from Three

~Chapter 4~ We've worn out our welcome

“It is a common practice – or a tradition, even – for the Clandestine to name children after the seven deadly sins, like Envy. They believe that this can prevent the children from actually committing them, being reminded against them for every second of their lives since the moment they were named. There is an extension of this belief, enlarging the range of names beyond just the seven deadly sins, but they’re still the most popular.”

“I didn’t ask,” Azure stated plainly.

The emerald eyes gleamed, the corners of his lips curled up in amusement. “No, you didn’t,” he agreed, “but I just thought you’d like to know.”

Azure did want to know; from the second she heard the bizarre name, she did. There were a lot of things she wanted to know, but she had learnt to suppress her curiosity long ago, since she wouldn’t bother to ask. It was never worth it – getting attention for an unnecessary answer. She didn’t think anyone would see the curiosity that she had more than ten years of experience to hide.

She was silent for a moment, staring at the sky where her home was, through the transparent material of the tent’s top, obscured by the rain. They were camping above ground, where no on head inhabited for more than two thousand years, and possibly no one but inquisitive children had set foot on for centuries. She heard the rain fall, as she had known it would every night back in Empyrean, but the sound was alien. The noise of water whipping against the material of the tent and falling to the muddy ground was so much different from water pouring kilometres down into the unknown.

The air was cool and moist, but somehow the fire they lit beside the tent wasn’t quenched. Whatever the science genius had dropped into the pile of wood when the first flames flared must take the credit.

Without a warning, Azure turned her head. Arcthorn’s side of the tent was separated from hers by a drape that wasn’t yet let down. That offered her a clear view of him, staring back at her in mild surprise.

“Answer this truthfully,” she stared at his clear bewitching emerald eyes, “do you like Envy?”

His face appeared blank. “Envy?”

“Envy, the blond girl?” she added, though certain that he already understood. They were just talking about her peculiar name minutes ago.

“What? I thought blond jokes died two thousand years ago!”

There, the bafflement on his face must have been false. Azure turned away, hoping that he would interpret it as contempt at his joke, but was really struggling to hide a smile. Real or fake, she was smiling a lot recently. Arcthorn’s smile was contagious.

“Sorry,” alarmed that he had offended her, Arcthorn apologised quietly, half rising up from his previous resting position. For a moment he was leaning close to the boundary of their separated sides, tempted to look at Azure – and then imagining it would only irritate her further, he went back into a sitting position rigidly.

Azure clasped a hand over her eyes.

“If you wish to know, Azure,” Arcthorn was quiet, his voice barely audible in the heavy rain. “She’s shy, but amiable, good-hearted, modest, and easy to please. I like her, as a friend.”

“A friend?” Azure echoed, removing her hand. “You like her as a friend? Does she know that?”

“What do you mean?”

“She doesn’t look like she treated you as a friend, too. Envy… she’s smitten! Or did you concentrate too much on your mission to care? Either way, the word ‘friend’ is too ironic to be used in this context.”

Arcthorn shook his head slowly, staring at her. “I don’t understand what the outburst is about. Why do you care?”

“Why do I care?” she was tempted to laugh. Laugh to the verge of tears, to the brink of insanity. She didn’t understand it; fortunately, the feeling subsided after the four words were spoken. Azure blinked, her eyes and expression were nonchalant once more. “Are you the one of the rare type of people with a spectacularly high IQ nearing infinity, and an unbelievably low EQ to supplement the need of a flaw?”