With a closeness, he hadn't felt with anyone in a long time. Ashen watched Natal speak with Anared, as he waited for his arm to finish regrowing while sitting at his bedside, without saying too much unlike Natal who seemed like he was physically incapable of shutting up as he narrated the events that had happened in the hall they just left.
"Ahh...," Natal sighed taking a short breath before he continued speaking as quickly as he did when he first started,
"I'm just glad we all get to stay back in the academy...you know. I'm annoyed about the one week holiday we were given, but they should take it back. Left to me, I don't think a week is enough for anyone. I go home and my younger sister would not let me go the minute I want to walk back to these academy walls," Natal complained even though from the expression on his face, he couldn't hide the joy that was written all over it,
"What the big mushy bear is trying to say is that he misses his family a lot and he can't wait to go home," Anared scoffed turning to speak to Ashen, the moment he noticed that he wasn't really joining in on their conversation, with the goofy smile on his face being the only signifier that he was actually paying attention.
"I figured… Do you miss your family too?" Ashen asked, drawing the attention back to him the moment he noticed Anared's slight nudging for him to speak and say something.
"Yeah..but unlike Natal who lives in the inner city of Drago among all the fancy stuff, I live outside," Anared groaned with a smile, already anticipating Natal's usual reply whenever he brought up such a topic,
"But, we always hang out and everything I invite you over, you are the one always rejecting and refusing…," Natal replied doing his best to switch the tables on Anared.
"Natal is a noble?" Ashen asked in surprise, not having had any interaction with nobles that lived within the inner walls before.
"Yeap. His name is Natal Harefield of the house of Harefield. The second son of the Earl of the City of Drago. He managed to sneak out of his house just to make it here in his first year. I managed to help him hide long enough for the servants not to find him and drag him back," Anared explained, shaking his head in exasperation even as he recalled that led to him meeting Natal.
"And since then we became best buddies," Anared said rounding off his story even as Ashen watched Natal who seemed like he would like to say something more,
"Well, I'm not the one that's going to tell you if he doesn't," Ashen thought noticing the caring gaze Natal was sending Anared's way which the latter didn't seem to notice in the slightest.
They continued talking while monitoring the condition of Anared's arm, who seemed intent on sitting up, as his patience slowly ran out, when only the tips of his fingers remained for him to be completely healed.
Lost in their conversation, they were unaware when a small bird suddenly appeared in the room and it was only when it make a small chipping sound right in their midst, did they notice it's presence,
"Mail...Mail..." came a tiny voice from inside it, as the bird suddenly disintegrated slowly in front of their eyes, right into Ashen's laps as it slowly turned into a small envelope.
"I've never seen that before," Anared said with shock, knowing with one look how high level the bird turning envelope magic was,
"It's mostly used by the headmasters and teachers and only for students in case of emergencies," Natal explained having seen it been used but only rarely because of how expensive such high-transformation magic would cost.
"Who is it from?" Natal directly asked seeing no need for any of them to continue to be informal with each other, since they all had a mutual understanding that their friendship was bound to continue, as he watched Ashen tear open the envelope to reveal the letter written inside it, wondering why his parents would send him an urgent letter when they would have been informed by the school that he would be coming back home in less than a day.
"My parents," he muttered, just loud enough for his friends to hear before diving straight into the contents of the letter as he began reading it,
Seconds became minutes as Natal and Anared watched Asher slowly read the letter in his hand without any apparent display of emotions until they saw him close his eyes, folding the paper into smaller pieces as he did before opening his eyes back up,
"They…," Asher began only to pause, raising his head, making a final decision before he continued speaking,
"Do you know how I can make a lot of money in one week?" Was the question he asked, telling his friends about his situation without actually telling them about it.
"Oh," Anared let out, a look of understanding crossing his face as Natal did his to mirror the expression on his best friend's face.
"Where do you live?" Andrea asked as Natal silently nodded, doing his best to let Anared handle it without butting in.
"On the outside of the Inner walls of Lakod," Asher honestly replied, seeing no need to say anything less than the truth.
"I wish you lived in the city of Drago though…," was the confusing reply he got from Anared as Natal also nodded in agreement before opening his mouth to chip in,
"We would have been able to go down to the dungeons together,"
"The dungeons?" Ashen asked with a perplexed expression on his face as he couldn't help but wonder how he would make money by going miles deep into the ground.
"Special monsters are found in those dungeons and the deeper you go, the more monster material you can get and that's how we were also able to train our magic powers," Natal explained as it suddenly dawned on Ashen that the reason he didn't know such a piece of information was because not only did he not have any friends but he also never thought to ask other how they improved by leaps and bounds and just assumed they simply studied the old fashioned way.
"I've heard of it but I never actually thought students would try going to such a place," Ashen confessed, shocked to hear that Natal and Anared have actually been there,
"As long as we don't pass the first floor down, then it's safe. On the first floor, there's only small beasts which are needed more for their quantity than quality so the more you kill and store to bring back, the more the Dungeon Halls pays for them," Anared spoke next doing his best to reduce Ashen's fears about it, seeing the shocked look on his face,
"And...you actually get paid for such things?" Ashen continued in his enquiry as he watched Anared nod with a big smile on his face before speaking,
"Yes a lot more than you actually think. It should be enough to solve whatever money problems you have in a week before you come back to the academy," Anared replied with a smile glad to see Ashen smiling right back with a relaxed look on his face.
"I do exactly what you said, I'll tell you how it goes when next I see you guys," Ashen said as he continued smiling with a glowing expression on his face,
"Only If I'm able to come back to the academy though," he thought even as he struggled to maintain the smile on his face, doing everything in his power to pretend that everything was alright.
Finally, Anared's arm was finally completely healed, with Anared removing his arm from where it had been placed in the centre of some colourful magical stones and jumping off the bed unknowing triggering an alarm that swept a lot of nurses straight into his room.
Some slight confusion ensured with Natal and Anared trying to convince his nurses that he could finally leave and with Anared agreeing to a final test. By then, Asher eventually succeeded in excusing himself after asking for their room numbers, with him agreeing to meet them in Anared's room to help him pack the moment he was done packing his own.
Ashen left as quickly as he could, heading straight for his room. The moment he got back there, inserting the key in the lock and entering, glad to see that his roommate was not around after noticing that almost all of his things were gone, Ashen then sat on the floor, leaning his back against the wall expecting the tears he had held back to finally flow only for him to get nothing as he stared into the empty space in front of him before dragging the letter he had stuffed in his pocket out of it,
"Dear Ashen, We regret to inform you…," he began reading only to pause for a second right before squeezing the paper and proceeding to tear it into tiny pieces that could never be glued back together again.
"It would have been better if they'd told me that they were disowning me instead of beating around the bush," Ashen muttered to himself, pleased to know that his /anger towards them was still intact regardless.
"Homeless and Penniless, Must be a new record for me," Ashen thought determined not to step a single foot into his house, as he got on his feet with a determined look on his face, digging under his pillow where he kept all the money he had been saving after he got robbed only to become disappointed when he saw only a few coins.
"It would have to do," he said out loud almost like he was speaking to the coins in his palms before he began packing his load in preparation to leave.