The weekend flew by as Lenz and Naomi spent the rest of it out in town to distract themselves.
When Naomi headed out of her room that Monday, she found a letter from Jeremy. The letter reminded her to attend her lessons, since she had missed one day already.
She'd usually be excited to see Jeremy again, but it's hard to be when she was still trying to forget the embarrassment she experienced that weekend.
Damien had probably forgotten about it already. At the very least she'd be sure of that, but trying to convince herself was difficult.
It didn't help that when they had met up by the library again, Damien's attention was specifically fixated on Naomi, and it was impossible for Naomi to ignore.
He had been definitely thinking about what happened over the weekend.
Jeremy cleared his throat when he found Naomi and Damien standing aimlessly outside Diplomat's Lounge.
"First you guys skip my lessons. Next thing you know it you're running tardy. I can see why Miss Labelle worries for the both of you."
Naomi laughed nervously before following Jeremy in. Inwardly, she thanked Jeremy for taking her out of that awkward situation.
Jeremy motioned the two to sit at the table as he searched the shelves.
"Putting the last week past us, I want to start talking about the upcoming community projects seniors are required to partake in for this year." He pulled out a book and set it in front of them. "Most people wait to do it until their last month, but you guys are not going to be most people."
Naomi flipped through the book, seeing years of community project logs since the academy was made. The very first logged project was by her very own grandmother, the well-known Scroll's Outreach, where she reached out to illiterate communities to teach them how to read.
"The obvious thing is to do an outreach." Naomi thought out loud.
Jeremy shrugged, "Obvious, but impactful. Although, I do want the both of you to put some thought into what projects you'd take up."
"That will be... difficult."
"Of course it would be. This will be the biggest boost in either of your reputations. Pick something you're personally passionate about. Naturally, people gravitate towards sincerity and passion."
"May I ask what you've chosen as your community project?" Damien finally spoke up, catching both Jeremy and Naomi off guard. Jeremy smiled at his sudden interest.
"Well, I am fortunate enough to have a team of three to work with me, so we were able to uptake a bigger project." Jeremy dug into his pockets and pulled out a picture of his team at a construction sight. "As of now, we're working on bettering the trade infrastructure between our four countries. Although, I do know it is a bit controversial."
"That's amazing," Naomi exclaimed, "It's so expected of someone from Camellia. I don't see a problem with it though. Better trade benefits all four of us, no?"
"Of course it does." Jeremy chuckled.
Azalea and Camellia had been involved in an unspoken competition for years over which country had more affluence, but it was all in good spirit. Each country valued very different things, so there was little to no competition in the first place.
"So we don't have to work alone on this project, right?" Naomi asked
Jeremy nodded, "It's better if you work with others, especially in terms of holding each other accountable for different parts of the project. Working alone will overwhelm either of you."
Damien looked to Naomi, just as Naomi did. Although Naomi first thought of Lenz when Jeremy brought up working with others, she couldn't help but wonder if it would be possible to work with Damien as well.
Jeremy then patted the book before them, "We only have one copy of these logs, so this book cannot leave the room. Please, for now, work civilly and review what kind of project either of you can get involved in. When we meet again next week, I'm going to require the both of you to present your projects. Then, I can go off from there and better help you. Alright?"
Naomi and Damien nodded with fire in both of their eyes.
Damien quickly skimmed through the book, while Naomi looked over his shoulder desperately trying to take some notes down from the very little she'd been able to read.
Was she that a slow of a reader? Had she never been aware of it?
Majority of the projects had been education out-reaches. If it wasn't that, it would have been resource distributions. Naomi selfishly wanted to be different like Jeremy had been. Although, she wasn't sure where to start.
She'd lived in the comfort of Azalea her whole life. She could only imagine what others struggled through.
As Damien kept skimming through the pages, Naomi noticed a few things. Most of the projects in the book involved the two most affluent countries, Camellia and Azalea. It only made sense since most of their students came from the two countries, but it also contradicted the idea that community projects should be geared towards those in need the most.
The Autumn Country, Quince, was a difficult country to hold projects in as they were ruled heavily by nobles. The class system was still prevalent in their country. The rich wouldn't allow a group of students to bring change to any of their set systems.
The Winter Country, Forsythia, had the most difficult terrain of the four countries. It'd probably been what turned most students away from helping their community. Although, helping Forsythia was what made most sense.
"Forsythia is the only country we could help." Naomi blurted out loud.
Damien looked at her with an unreadable expression. He flipped through some pages again as if he heard nothing, before looking up.
"How are you able to do that?" Damien asked.
"Do what?"
"Make a conclusion so descively, in a single moment."
"Do you want the correct answer, or the truth."
Damien rolled his eyes, "Just answer."
"I go with my guts?"
"What's the correct answer?"
"We'd be able to do more in Forsythia than any of the other flourishing countries. It won't be easy. We'd need a year's worth of planning. We'd definitely need funding."
"And what do you plan on doing there?"
Naomi thought for a moment.
There were many possibilities her project could take direction of. To say the least, the barren lands of Forsythia didn't leave much for its people. It was just a matter of finding out what the people needed the most.
Education was the least of their worries when they were struggling to even meet their basic needs. Resource distributions would only last them a few months until they were left with nothing again. None of the traditional projects would do much benefit for Forsythia.
Naomi held her head, deep in thought. She finally understood why there were so little community projects in Forsythia. Although she wasn't one to give up so easily.
Naomi closed her eyes to focus, when it finally came to her.
"That's it!"
Damien jumped in his seat as he looked at Naomi in question.
"Traditional projects won't have much lasting benefit for Forsythia. Instead of depletable resources, what if we give Forsythia the ability to create their own?"
"Create their own resources?"
"Forsythia has the potential to become self-sustaining. With a little bit more research on their agriculture and climate, wouldn't it be possible? Although my knowledge on Forsythia is limited..."
Naomi side-eyed Damien.
"I can help." Damien shifted in his seat and pulled on his sleeves, "If you're okay with that. We can work together." Then he smiled ever so slightly.
Naomi stopped breathing. She could feel her face give in to the smile creeping into her own expression, but she inwardly reprimanded herself in time to smile just an enough amount.
"Then, I'm looking forward to working with you."