Bane

September 9, 1978

"Wait, why can't we see each other anymore?" Trent's brown - almost black - eyes were always so much more expressive than his voice. Nadjia felt twice the guilt she thought she would.

"Jonathan's home, Trent."

"...but you're my best friend!"

"That's just it, Trent, we're friends, and we've gotten closer than appropriate. I am supposed to be with him. Not you. Not anyone. Jonathan."

A shadow grew over Trent's expression. "Four years. We've been close four years. I've always respected you, your space, and I've never crossed any lines."

"I'm not even saying we cannot be friends... just that we can't be whatever this was going to turn into. Whatever you thought this was going to be."

"What I thought. Whatever I thought this was going to be. I can't believe you're breaking up with me like I'm some summer fling."

"Summer fling?" The lunch bell rang. "There was no fling, Trent! Oh, my God, I want to pull my hair out right now. We hung out. A lot. We're still friends! Why are you so upset?"

"...because you were crying a good three months when I met you, and it wasn't me, it was that boy! He left you to go off to his hoity-toity college. He never wrote, he never called, he never once visited."

"Alright. Lunch is over, and I have class. Can we talk after school?"

"Yeah, sure." Trent stared at his feet, and had to actively force himself not to yell, or lash out. After all, this was not her fault. It was this Jonathan, this faceless nobody that seemed to dominate her entire world. His fault, and no other. "After school, then."

✟ ☧ ✟

Nida rushed to the door before the second chime, opening it to see the smiling face of Lillian Plow.

"Lillian, won't you please come in?"

"Nida Sharif." Lillian nodded, stepping inside, "you have a beautiful home. The Order has taken good care of you. Sufi, correct?"

"Insha'Allah." Nida bowed her head, and smiled. "Welcome to our home. Amir, and I are happy to have you as our guest."

"The honor is mine, of course."

"Amir will be with us shortly."

"What brings me to your lovely home today?"

"We are very concerned..." Nida's grave expression matched the near whisper of her voice.

"Yes. The Walker boy is returned, and things are not going as your agreement with The Order hoped they would."

"Jonathan is distant with Nadjia, and Nadjia is angry with Jonathan. She is spending a lot of time with some boy in her school. If she breaks the accord we made with Judge Grifford and Clayton Walker, things will not go so well for our family, I do not think."

"So you want me to influence her?"

"No." Neither Lillian, nor Nida heard Amir enter the den. "We need protection... and to learn how to protect ourselves if need be."

Lillian's grin spread a little too wide, and Amir suppressed a gasp.

The diminutive woman was all too suddenly, too clearly, what The Order warned. "I can help with that. I am not permitted to form any circles, and I cannot influence Driftwood with you... but I can give you the means to do so yourselves."