There were a few nods from around the table, and she sighed in relief. Tisha looked a little confused, then seemed to have a light bulb moment as she blurted, “Oh, I get it! It’s like how we don’t get any skills on our list until we’re ten, but everything we learn helps our stats, and then when we get the actual skills, it’s easier to get past the first levels. Right?”
“What the what?” Jade gawked at Tisha, then at the other people around the table. “You’re telling me you guys didn’t get any skills until after you were ten?” Various nods confirmed her statement. She studied them curiously, then asked again, “Do any of you have walking or eating as skills?”
Will outright laughed while everyone else was watching him with perplexion and shaking their heads. “Hah, eating and walking as skills! That’s a great joke! Who needs to have a skill to learn to eat or walk?” He just kept laughing and laughing, not noticing that Jade was now giving him a death glare and everyone else was silent. When he finally noticed, his laughter died pretty immediately as he asked in astonishment, “No, seriously? You have…?” Miffed, Jade decided to ignore him and went back to eating what was on her plate. He belatedly seemed to remember that she’d said she couldn’t walk in her world, and he apologized, “Jade, I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking…”
“Obviously.” She muttered darkly. With a sigh, she smiled at him because he looked really, really sorry and she couldn’t handle the feeling that she’d just kicked a puppy. “Don’t worry about it. I already knew I was different.”
“But in a good way.” Stephen chose that moment to interject. Jade just smiled a little helplessly at him. How was different good? She had just wanted to be normal...
Speaking of, how had they all magically appeared here so quickly? Unable to come up with a good explanation, she decided it was easier just to ask. “By the way, not that I’m not grateful for your concern, but don’t you all have better things to be doing? How did you even know something was wrong with me in the first place?”
“Well, most of us were at the library getting ready when that boy came tearing in to inform Stephen that Will had made a spectacle of himself by practically dragging Doctor Mike to The Green Dragon. Will doesn’t get worked up about much, so we figured it was important and decided to come investigate, and then we found you looking all dead and everyone kinda freaked out.” It was Tisha who answered, apparently a little thoughtlessly from the dirty glances thrown her way after she finished speaking.
Jade was grateful at the moment for her loose lips, though in the future she made a mental note to be careful what she said around Tisha. Still, her explanation illuminated a couple of things for Jade. First, Eric, Stephen, Camille, Tisha, Lucas, and Damian had all been preparing something at the library. She guessed, given the dirty looks, it had something to do with her new study room there.
Second, Stephen had a group of people who reported to him about unusual things. She upgraded him from rogue ninja to spymaster in her mental inventory of everyone. Third, Will had personally run to fetch a healer when he found out something was wrong, which was definitely out of the ordinary and kinda sweet. Fourth, everyone had freaked out that she almost died, which granted, she could have guessed given their reactions upon seeing her in decent health once more.
She could feel the warm fuzzies tingling in her heart. She hadn’t known them long, but they’d shown her kindness and given her their friendship and concern. She felt her eyes starting to water and quickly took a drink, tilting her head up to the light as she did so to try and blink away the potential tears before anyone noticed.
Putting her drink down, she smiled deeply and murmured as she made eye contact with each of them, “Thank you, for everything.” She glimpsed at least one other person discreetly dab at their eyes, and she decided to lighten the mood.
“Still, the day must go on! I know I was supposed to meet Eric and Damian at the library, but what are the rest of you doing today?”
Chapter Twenty-Eight – Cursive
“We’ve been doing some research at the library. Lucas and Stephen were kindly helping us out.” Camille interjected with a smile. Her expression was guileless, as if she hadn’t told a bold-faced lie. Jade just let it be, grinning.
“I see. Well, If you’re all ready, why don’t we take a trip over to the library then? I think I’m going to take it easy for the rest of the morning, so some research and reading sounds lovely.” She smiled at Damian and Eric, “After, of course, we get the contract done.”
“Yes, let’s go!” Tisha jumped up in excitement, and Jade’s smile widened a tiny bit, and she could see Camille mentally hitting her head against a wall. Everyone started to get up, preparing to leave while Jade snuck over to Kaylee and Jessica.
There were tidying up and getting ready to clean up after the rest had left when Jade hugged them both from behind. Surprised, they tensed until they turned and saw it was her, relaxing again. She said softly, “Thank you, really. If you two hadn’t been looking after me this whole time, I would probably be dead. If I can ever do anything for you, you tell me, okay?” They mutely nodded, hugging her back. She knew they wouldn’t ask her for anything, so she’d have to find her own ways to repay them.
She let go and they went back to tidying, and turning back, she saw Stephen and Eric watching her speculatively. She fluttered her fingers at them, raising a brow. “Whatcha looking at?”
Stephen chuckled softly and shook his head. “Just wondering when you’ll stop surprising me.”
She shrugged innocently. “Maybe when I’m dead.” They both frowned and she just grinned, speaking softly so only they could hear. “I’m not scared of death. For most of my life, I’ve been told I’d die within a week. No one knew why I was alive, but I went on living despite their predictions. I’ve already lived a fuller life in the last three days than I was able to in eighteen years. If death should come, it comes. But until that day, I choose to truly live, and I shall do it without fear of an end.”
Leaving them with thoughtful looks on their faces, she made her way over to the door where Tisha was bouncing impatiently. “We’re going, we’re going. Hold your horses.” Jade laughed as she poked Tisha in the side, causing her to squeal and squirm away.
Tisha scream giggled, “We didn’t bring any horses!”
Jade rolled her eyes, then deadpanned, “It’s an expression from my old world, it’s basically telling you to be stable.” She held her serious face for a moment, then couldn’t help it and started giggling at her terrible pun. A few other people were chortling quietly while Tisha whined that she didn’t get it.
Eventually they got out the door, moving as a larger group to the library. She had tried to maneuver towards the edge of the group so she could maybe siphon a few people along the way, but every time she tried, it seemed like they corralled her right back into the middle. She gave up, just enjoying the burble of conversation as they walked and watched the expressions of those around them as they saw the noble party passing by. Many people gave tiny bows to them as they passed, and those in her group who were nearest would generally nod and smile at them.