Helen replied in a small voice, "I'm fine. Just not hungry."
Joseph frowned and said, "Why?"
Aria sat up and put a hand on Helen's forehead, "What's wrong? You didn't even eat lunch. Are you not feeling well?"
Helen slapped Aria's hand away and Aria froze into place. Helen had never ever acted so rude.
Helen immediately regretted slapping away Aria's hand. She pursued her lips and stood up, "I'm just tired. I think I'm going to head to bed."
Aria took her hand and said, "Come on. I'll take you. I'm not that hungry either. I think I ate too many sandwiches at lunch and my stomach feels weird."
Helen slowly retracted her hand and said, "You don't have to bother. Jacob will help me. You're done, aren't you Jacob?"
Jacob who had been watching in surprise with a spoon of soup a few inches from his mouth, hurriedly dropped it and stood up.
"Yeah. I'm done. And I think I'll head to bed myself. I'm feeling a bit weird." he said as he took Helen's hand.
Aria watched with evident hurt in her eyes as Jacob and Helen left. She sat back down and hung her head.
"Aren't you going after her?" Joseph asked, very subtly handing Aria a piece of bread.
Aria sighed as she popped it into her mouth, "No. She's.....I don't know. She...."
Aria could not finish her sentence, groaned and held her head in her hands.
Joseph sighed as he wiped his hands, "Aria, you should go after her."
"But you saw how she was acting." Aria said in a small voice.
Joseph frowned, "Yes. That's exactly why you need to chase after her. She's obviously worried about something. And she needs her best friend with her."
Aria's eyes seemed to be looking somewhere else as she spoke, "I'm scared to chase after her. I'm afraid of what might happen."
Joseph opened his mouth to oppose this obviously nonsensical chain of thought when he caught sight of Aria's expression and stopped himself.
Joseph closed his mouth and stood up.
Aria looked at him surprised and he said, "Come on. Let's get some fresh air."
He then took Aria's hand and led her out of the hall, out of the castle and into the grounds.
Joseph could see that Aria was in pain and she was scared, which was normal, considering her best friend had just ghosted her, but the intensity of Aria's emotions was not normal.
Aria actually was in a lot more pain than she should have been, because the situation right now was too much of a deja vu for her.
She was scared of going after Helen because she had gone chasing after someone who did not want to talk to her eight years ago, and the result was that they had never talked again.
Aria knew her fears were senseless. Helen was not Beth, she was not seven years old any more, and she had better control over her emotions and bending now.
But something in her bones prevented Aria from chasing after Helen. She was afraid that she would see the same hatred she had seen in Beth's and the rest of her family's eyes that day in Helen's eyes.