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Here’s the thing: Aisha loves answers.
Some of her earliest memories are of sitting in the front row of class, her bum scooted to the edge of the seat, with her hand shooting straight up into the air. Mrs Camomile – her primary school teacher – would turn to her with a kind smile and ask:
“Yes, Aisha? Do you have an answer for me?”
Mrs Camomile would look at her and Aisha would look back and yes, they’d both know that Aisha had the right answer. At the end of every week, nobody would ever have more gold stars on their chart than Aisha.
Oh, and isn’t it simply glorious to just know things: is there anything more gratifying than the pursuit of knowledge?
Answer: no. No, most definitely not. There is always something new to be learned, some old falsehood to be corrected. Make no mistake, Aisha is a fairy who likes to be fully informed.
And so, naturally, it is most infuriating when she doesn’t know something. And as of late, a particular question has been brought to her attention. It is a question which she had not previously considered, and this was for several reasons, most of which revolved around the fact that both parties were previously engaged in confirmed, publicly verifiable relationships.
But alas, things change, and Aisha now finds herself staring out at an uncertain landscape.
Oh, and it’s horrible. She hasn’t felt this confused since that time when she was four and her dad was trying to explain the water cycle.
What do you mean, the water I’m drinking probably used to be someone’s pee? Then why can’t I drink out of the toilet?
Unfortunately, this question cannot be solved with her father’s calm explanations or books or professors.
It can, however, be solved with some simple observational work and field research.
So, although she doesn’t have the answer to her question just yet, you can bet your bottom dollar that she’s going to find out.
And, oh, right – you probably want to know what the question is.
Well, it’s a bit embarrassing, since – in the grand scheme of things – it is a rather trivial question.
But, as she always likes to remind herself, there is no such thing as a trivial answer. You either know something, or you don’t, and Aisha is determined to make sure that she’s always part of the ‘know’ camp.
So, the question in discussion bloomed in her mind about a week ago. She’d been walking back from her morning swim – not thinking about Grey, she would like the record to reflect – when she’d seen something most peculiar over on the training field.
There had been Musa. And Riven.
Together.
Aisha had blinked. Maybe some river water was in her eyes and making her see things.
But – no. It was definitely them, and she definitely wasn’t seeing things.
They were sparring. Well, alright. She knew that Musa had taken an interest in Specialist stuff recently, but what was the Riven part about?
Weren’t they all supposed to hate him? Wasn’t that, like, a thing?
Well, maybe they didn’t hate him anymore. Maybe things had changed.
She ran it by Terra when she saw her later that afternoon. And it was, in all honesty, Terra’s reaction which made her realise that she needed to conduct some more thorough research.
“What? Riven? Why are you asking me about Riven? Why would you say that I -?” Terra paused to laugh nervously. “I never said I hated him. I mean, that’s a bit harsh. I would never be that harsh. But, you know, it’s Riven. We all know what he’s like. I mean…sorry, what were you asking?”
“Well, I was just asking if he and Musa were friendly, I guess. I saw them out on the field this morning.”
“Really?” Terra looked surprised.
“Yeah. They were sparring. It looked like they were pretty comfortable with each other.”
“Oh.” Terra paused. “I didn’t know they were spending time together. She’s never mentioned it to me.”
“Yeah, me neither. That’s why it confused me.”
“Oh. Well…” Terra shrugged, and Aisha could tell that her friend was losing interest. “I mean, you know, Musa wants to learn to spar…Riven probably agreed to teach her…she probably didn’t tell us because it’s boring or something.”
“Yeah…yeah, maybe,” Aisha had replied.
Oh, but in her heart she'd known, even then, that ‘maybe’ wasn’t going to be good enough.
Oh, no, because Aisha needs to know.
And Terra’s explanation, fine, it could’ve sufficed if Aisha had dropped the subject then and there.
Unfortunately, when she discovers a question without an answer, she’s kind of impossible to stop. Call her a dog with a bone, if you must.
After that day, she took it upon herself to make observations for the rest of the week.
And what did she discover, you might ask? Well. Let’s just say, Aisha hasn’t been this surprised since she found out that chicken the food and chicken the animal was the same thing.
As it turns out, Musa and Riven don’t just spar together.
Oh, no.
Turns out, they do basically everything together.
On Tuesday morning, on her way back from her morning swim, she once again saw Musa and Riven out on the training field. Initially, she thought this might be proof of the training schedule as suggested by Terra.
But then she saw them eating lunch together in the corner of the cafeteria. She saw, with her very own eyes, how Musa reached across onto Riven’s plate and took some fries.
And – here’s the most shocking part – Riven didn’t get angry.
Like, what?
And then, on Wednesday, they were out sparring again in the morning. Then she saw Riven walking Musa to class in the afternoon, and she said something and he laughed, and then when he walked away, Musa stood there and…watched him go?
Huh?
On Thursday, they were out on the training fields all day. She saw them when she was walking back from her morning swim, and then saw them out there during lunch, and then again in the early afternoon when she’d popped out to see if they were still there (in a totally, scientifically backed research kind of way, and not in a creepy way).
On Friday, they sparred in the morning, had lunch together again, and then he walked her to class in the afternoon.
But it was yesterday, Saturday, which had been the last straw. Musa was completely MIA all day, and then, when she finally returned to the suite, Aisha overheard her feeding Terra some absolute crap about studying in the library all day.
‘Studying in the library all day?!’
Hello? Who the hell did she think she was kidding?
So now, on Sunday morning, Aisha’s ready to get to the bottom of it all.
It’s just turned eight o’clock in the morning and she’s just gotten back from the river. On her return, she saw Musa and Riven out on the training field – oh, because of course they were – and the sight of them had only fuelled her determination to find out just what is going on with those two.
Aisha looks over to where Bloom is fast-asleep in bed. Her bright red hair sticks out like a fireball beneath her duvet.
Sorry Bloom, but Aisha needs answers.
“Wh-hey!” Bloom sleepily cries when Aisha yanks back the duvet.
There’s no time to waste. Aisha has already wasted too much time speculating on her own.
She needs help.
“Are Musa and Riven dating?” Aisha asks.
Bloom – dear, sweet, dragon-flame obsessed Bloom – blinks through the sleep in her eyes.
“Hnuh?”
Okay, not the focus she’d been hoping for.
“Musa and Riven,” Aisha repeats. “Do you know if they’re dating? I’ve seen them basically everywhere together this week and I can’t figure out why.”
“Oh, um…I dunno.” Bloom sits up and yawns. “Uh…” Lord, Aisha can actually see Bloom’s synapses struggling to fire. “Uh, well, Sam’s not here anymore. And Riven and Beatrix aren’t together.”
Bloom nods as if she’s just provided brand-new information.
“Yeah, I know that,” Aisha says, fighting to keep irritation from her voice.
“Yeah, so…” Bloom shrugs. “I mean, they might be? Why don’t you ask her?”
“I can’t ask her.” Aisha is horrified at the mere thought of it. How could Bloom suggest such a thing?
‘Just ask her’? Just ask her?
Oh, and there’s Bloom, waking up now, looking oh-so confused at Aisha’s horror.
“What? Why not? Isn’t asking her the best way to find out?” Bloom asks, completely confused.
“I can’t ask her. She hasn’t even mentioned hanging out with him. I can’t go up to her and accuse them of dating when she hasn’t even talked about them being friends!”
“Er…okay.” Bloom looks down at her pillow as if mourning two minutes ago when she’d still been asleep. “Maybe you should wait until she says something.”
“What?”
“Well, it’s like you said: she hasn’t mentioned him to you – or any of us, actually –” Bloom frowns, “–so she’s probably not ready to talk about it. She’ll tell us when she’s ready.”
Then Bloom shrugs, smiles, and settles back down to sleep as if that solves everything.
Um, no. It doesn’t.
“But I –”
Aisha stands there helplessly, watching as Bloom, the traitor, falls back to sleep.
“But I need to know,” Aisha practically whines.
“Hngh,” groans the sleepy lump formerly known as the fairy Bloom. “’s’not our business.”
Useless. Utterly useless.
“Last time I rely on a fire fairy…” Aisha mumbles to herself, heading out into the living room.
Okay, so Bloom had been a bust. But she’s got other options.
She heads across to Musa and Terra’s room, only to find them both gone. Well, she knows that Musa’s currently out with Riven, but where is Terra?
“She’s meeting me in the greenhouse,” a voice sounds from behind her.
Aisha jumps, her hands snatching back from Terra’s bedside table.
Flora stands in the doorway, adjusting her bag on her shoulder.
“You were looking for Terra, I assume? Unless you were…” Flora steps inside, looking closer. “Uh, trying to steal her plant?”
“Not trying to steal her plant. Just looking for Terra,” Aisha confirms.
“Oh, right. Well, I was heading there now, if you want to come?” Flora offers.
Aisha thinks that if anyone is likely to have information on Musa’s secret comings and goings, Terra is going to be her best shot. She is her suite-mate, after all.
“Okay. Let’s go,” Aisha says.
On the way there, Aisha figures that she shouldn’t waste this opportunity to continue her research.
“Flora, I have a question,” Aisha begins.
“Hit me,” Flora smiles.
“Is Musa dating Riven?”
Flora tilts her head, eyes widening in thought.
Good, Aisha thinks. This is a much more promising reaction than Bloom’s half-asleep confusion.
Then again, maybe she shouldn’t have accosted her five seconds after rudely waking her up, but still. Aisha’s on a mission today.
“You know, I think they could be. I’ve seen them around together a lot,” Flora replies thoughtfully. But then – tragedy – she purses her lips. “Oh, but well…”
“What?”
Aisha’s heart is sinking. Please, please no – she doesn’t want to hear any more maybes. All she wants is a solid answer.
“Well, they might just be friends. I haven’t seen them, like, kiss or anything. Who knows?” Flora shrugs. “You know, you could just ask –”
“I can’t ask her. No, no, that would be too rude. If she is dating him and hasn’t told us, then she probably doesn’t want us to know.”
“That’s true.” Flora nods. Then she frowns, shooting Aisha a sceptical look. “Erm…if you think that, then why are you asking me if they’re dating or not? Shouldn’t you wait for her to tell you?”
Aisha narrows her eyes. “You sound like Bloom.”
“In a good way?” Flora asks hopefully.
Aisha doesn’t reply.
At the greenhouse, Terra isn’t much help either. In fact, all she receives is a much more long-winded lecture about “respecting Musa’s privacy” and some gibberish about “making assumptions” from a few out-of-context sightings.
Seriously? Seriously? Why isn’t anybody interested in this but her?
By the time Aisha returns to the suite, it’s almost nine o’clock and she’s not in a very good mood. This day is not going as planned. She’s spent the past week haunted by this question, and all she wants is one simple answer.
She doesn’t want maybe and she doesn’t want mind your own business – she just wants an answer. All she wants to hear is a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ – is that really so hard?
“Oof. You look like you’re in a bad mood. What’s the matter? Did someone piss in the river?”
UGH. As if today couldn’t get any worse.
Beatrix saunters out of Stella’s room, looking, as usual, like an evil little pixie.
“Beatrix – you’re here…again,” Aisha greets in a tight voice.
“Mmm,” Beatrix drawls. “So? What’s bothering you? Would you like to…” She pauses for just long enough for it to be annoying, a sarcastic smile pulling up the corners of her red-painted lips. “…talk about it?”
“Nope. No, I’m fine.” Aisha plasters on a fake smile and then moves past towards her bedroom.
Okay, so this morning had been a bust, but the day is still young. She can still find the answer to her question. All she needs to do is find more people to ask. There’s got to be someone out there who might –
Aisha freezes. She closes her eyes, her face screwing up like a child’s as she realises that there’s one person who seems to always know everything.
Gritting her teeth, Aisha decides to suck it up, because she has to know.
It’s for the pursuit of knowledge. This is for the greater good, Aisha tells herself.
Forcing her face into a smile, Aisha turns around. Beatrix has made herself comfortable on one of the sofas, her boots propped up on the coffee table.
“Actually, on second thought,” Aisha begins, forcing her voice into a friendly tone. She tries not to pull a face when Beatrix looks up with that vaguely mocking smile. “I was wondering if you could help me answer a question.”
“I might be able to," Beatrix answers in that slow, annoyingly simpering voice of hers. Ugh. "I would’ve thought you, of all people, wouldn’t need help with studying," she smirks.
Don't use your magic on her. Don't use your magic on her, Aisha chants to herself.
“It’s not that kind of question.”
“Oh?” Beatrix now looks slightly intrigued.
“It’s a…gossipy kind of thing. Um.” Aisha feels a bit stupid right now, actually, asking Beatrix this. It’s the kind of thing that she should already know considering that Musa’s one of her closest friends. Ugh.
She swallows her pride down.
This is all in the pursuit of knowledge. She must know, at any cost.
“Have you heard anything about Musa and Riven being a thing?” Aisha asks.
“A thing?” Beatrix slowly echoes.
“Yeah. I know he’s, um, your ex and everything, but…” Aisha tails off. Yeah, why did she think this was a good idea? “Um, sorry. Never mind.”
Aisha turns to run and hide away in her room, or maybe to jump out the window, but Beatrix’s voice gives her pause.
“Wait, it’s fine. I’m over the Riven thing. That was over a while ago now.”
Aisha turns back to face Beatrix, but not without the lingering feeling of wanting to run away.
“Musa and Riven, huh?” Beatrix lounges back like a cat, spreading her arms across the back of the sofa. “Hmm…well, I can’t confess to hearing any total confirmation, but I’ve heard whispers. Yes, it wouldn’t surprise me if they were.”
“Whispers?” Aisha echoes. Like a moth to a flame, she draws closer to Beatrix. She drops onto the opposite sofa and leans closer, as if hoping to obtain knowledge via osmosis.
“Oh, you know, general school chit-chat. They spar a lot out on the field.”
“Yes, yes, I always see them.” Aisha feels like a conspiracy theorist whose theories are finally being entertained. “I’ve seen them getting lunch together, too.”
“Yes. Stella and I’ve noticed that. We’ve seen them walking to class as well.”
“Yeah! He walks her to the door like they’re a couple!”
“Mm. So." Beatrix shrugs. "Yeah. My best guess is that they are."
Finally. It's the closest to a straight answer she's gotten all week!
Aisha sits back against the sofa as she considers this new information. If there are rumours going around about Musa and Riven, and if Beatrix, gossip queen herself, thinks it's true, then it probably is, right?
A door opens, and out walks a sleepy looking Stella. She stops dead in the doorway, noticing Beatrix and Aisha on the sofas.
"Bea?" Stella sounds surprised. "How long have you been here?"
"Oh, not long," Beatrix replies. "Twenty minutes or so."
Stella frowns. "Why didn't you wake me up?"
"Because we were up talking late and I thought you'd need some sleep," Beatrix replies patiently.
"But you're up," Stella points out, moving over to the sofa. She sits down besides Beatrix - maybe a bit too close, actually - and puts a hand on her knee. "I wouldn't have minded. You could've gotten into bed with me."
"I was going to, but I heard someone elephant stomping into the suite. I went to make sure it wasn't a burglar."
Aisha frowns, momentarily confused, before realising that she's the one being insulted.
"Hey! I don't stomp," Aisha says indignantly.
"Could’ve fooled me,” Beatrix snarks.
Aisha glares, but refrains from making another comment. She can be the bigger person.
“Anyway, Stella,” Aisha says, turning to the girl. “I haven’t gotten to ask you yet!”
“Ask me what?” Stella frowns.
“About Musa and Riven! Did you know they’re dating? Well, I mean,” Aisha hesitates, “we don’t know know, but we basically know know.”
Stella blinks. For some reason, she darts a glance at Beatrix, who looks on the verge of laughter.
“I, well, um, yeah? I thought it was kind of obvious,” Stella replies. “They hang out pretty much all the time.”
“Oh, really?” Aisha deflates a bit. How long has she been blind to this knowledge? “I only really started noticing this week.”
“That’s because you’ve always got your head in a book,” Stella teases good-naturedly.
“Or flirting with blood-witches at the river,” Beatrix adds slyly.
“Hey,” Stella says a little sternly, squeezing Beatrix’s knee. Her hand is still resting there, a fact which Aisha’s brain is a bit too slow to register – she’s very focused on the Musa/Riven revelation right now. “Don’t be mean.”
“It’s not being mean. It’s being truthful,” Beatrix insists. They have a stare-off before Beatrix scoffs and rolls her eyes. “Fine, whatever. Sorry. That was uncalled for.”
“Thank you,” Stella says happily, as if she were the one being apologised to.
Aisha stares at the two of them dumbly. It’s like they’ve forgotten she’s there.
“Do you want to get dressed? It’s not supposed to rain until the afternoon, so we should be able to eat breakfast outside without getting drenched,” Beatrix says to Stella.
“Okay. Give me ten. Alright, fifteen,” Stella amends, seeing the look on Beatrix’s face. The pause extends as Beatrix’s eyebrow raises even higher. “Fine. I’ll be half-an-hour,” Stella grumbles.
“That’s more realistic.” Beatrix smiles with all of her teeth, her cheeks softening, and Aisha briefly thinks about how bizarre it is to see the girl actually smiling and not smirking before her phone buzzes and she forgets all about it.
Stella squeezes Beatrix’s knee again, returns the soft smile – one which Aisha misses because she’s checking her phone – and then heads to get changed.
“Oh no, we have an exam on Friday!” Aisha panics, reading the email from their professor.
“That’s fine. It’s a week away,” Beatrix frowns, her usual sourness returned now Stella is no longer next to her.
“It’s not ‘fine!’ I need to get revising! Oh, no.”
With that, Aisha rushes off to her bedroom, leaving moody Beatrix alone. As Aisha rummages through her books, trying to find the textbook she needs, she hears Bloom – still fast asleep – turning over in her sleep.
“No, no!” Bloom suddenly exclaims. Aisha spins around, book in hand, worried that Bloom is hurt.
However, it soon dawns on her that Bloom is just talking in her sleep again.
“No, no…the dragon flame…is not…the same as…dragon fruit…” Bloom’s voice peters out into incomprehensible mumbling.
Uh. Okay.
Aisha spends the rest of the day frantically studying for next Friday’s test, all whilst deliberately avoiding looking at her phone and the many, many unread texts from a certain somebody who shall not be named.
It’s late afternoon when there’s a knock at the door. She’s been alone in the suite since midday when Bloom finally got out of bed and said something about going to see Sky. Aisha had been very absorbed in her studying by that point and had vaguely mumbled a goodbye.
“Come in!” Aisha calls. She’s been studying flat out for hours and she could do with a break. Besides, she’s beginning to realise that she was definitely panicking for nothing because she already knows most of this content pretty well.
To her surprise, Musa walks in the room.
“Uh, hey. You got a sec?” Musa asks awkwardly.
“Yeah, of course. Er.” Aisha puts down her pen and swivels around in her desk-chair, giving Musa her full attention.
Musa walks over to Aisha’s bed and perches on the end of it. She fiddles with the chunky headphones around her neck and takes a deep breath.
“Um. Uh, well. I don’t know how to say it, so I’m just gonna…say it,” Musa says.
Aisha’s not sure she’s ever seen Musa so nervous.
She tries to give the girl a reassuring smile.
“Okay...” Aisha says slowly. “What’s up?”
“It’s nothing bad,” Musa rushes to say. “Actually, um, it’s a good thing. Er, so, I’ve sort of been seeing someone lately. You know, after Sam left I didn’t think that I would…well, I wasn’t sure there’d be anyone else. At least, not for a while.” Musa shrugs. “But, um, this kind of just…happened? And I guess I’ve been feeling a bit awkward about telling people – Terra, in particular, honestly –” Musa admits “- because of the whole Sam thing.”
“Okay,” Aisha nods.
She really hopes that her excitement isn’t showing on her face, and that outwardly she appears as relaxed and calm as she usually does, because inside she’s throwing herself a fiesta at the fact that she’s finally, finally, going to receive the answer she’s been desperately searching for straight from the horse’s mouth –
“It’s Riven,” Musa confesses in a sudden rush. “I…I’m seeing Riven.” She pauses, perhaps thrown off by the fact that Aisha is suddenly absolutely beaming at her, having not been prepared for that kind of reaction. “Um…yeah.” Musa frowns, looking a little bit freaked out by the extent of Aisha’s display of happiness. “He’s actually kind of great once you get past the, uh, you know, asshole part.”
“Musa, I’m so happy for you,” Aisha tells her gleefully.
Then, purely because she can’t help her joy at finally having the answer, she surges forward and tackles Musa into a celebratory hug.
“Oh, right. Uh, okay?” Musa laughs. “Wow, I didn’t know you’d be so happy about me having a boyfriend.”
“I’m just really, really, really happy to know,” Aisha tells her sincerely. She releases Musa from the hug and sits beside her on the bed. “Gosh, this is great. If I can be honest, I kind of already thought maybe you guys were together. I’ve seen you together a lot this week and I wondered…”
“Oh, well, yeah.” Musa laughs, shrugging, faintly blushing. “We weren’t trying to hide it, or anything. It was just…have you ever had something where you feel like telling people might jinx it? Like if you let the world know too soon, then it’ll be over?”
“I mean…” Aisha laughs awkwardly. “The only guy I’ve ever liked turned out to be a lying weasel, so…I can’t say I have enough experience to relate.”
“Right, right.” Musa smiles sympathetically. “Hey. We’ll find you another guy – a better guy. I promise you, one day you won’t even remember that dude’s name.”
“That day can’t come soon enough,” Aisha sighs.
Musa squeezes her hand sympathetically.
“Hey, so,” Musa asks after a moment, sounding a little nervous again. “Do you think the others will be cool?”
“What, with you and Riven?” Aisha asks.
Musa nods.
“Yeah, of course! If you’re happy, they’ll all be happy for you! And, um, well…” Aisha begins sheepishly. “I…may or may not have been asking them all if they thought you guys were dating and –” Aisha rushes to speak faster as Musa’s mouth opens in surprise, “ – they basically all told me to mind my own business, so I think I might’ve eased them all into the idea already.”
Musa stares at her in disbelief for a few seconds. Then her face cracks wide in a smile, easy laughter tumbling from her mouth.
“Oh my god. Right, okay. Well, thanks then, I guess,” Musa laughs.
“You’re welcome,” Aisha jokes, relieved that Musa isn’t upset about her snooping. Yeah, that wouldn’t’ve been good. Then, remembering what Stella had said, she adds, “Oh, yeah, and Stella thought it was obvious you guys were dating, so I don’t think you have to worry about getting her approval. You know she definitely would’ve complained to you by now if not.”
“Definitely,” Musa agrees with a laugh. “Oh, but,” Musa says, eyes sparking in mischief, “I don’t think she’d dare to judge my dating choices nowadays. You know what they say – ‘people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones,’” Musa snorts.
Aisha tilts her head in confusion. “Wait, what do you mean?”
“Well, you know, because of Beatrix.”
“What about Beatrix?”
Aisha doesn’t understand why Musa’s staring at her like she’s grown another head.
“Um. Because of Stella and Beatrix?” Musa’s voice goes up on the end like a question, as if she’s no longer certain of what she’s saying.
“What are you talking about?” Aisha is genuinely, completely lost.
“Uh, I mean, they haven’t said anything, but…have you seriously not noticed?” Musa asks.
The two of them sit and stare at each other in mutual befuddlement.
“Stella and Beatrix?” Aisha repeats stupidly.
“Yes. Stella and Beatrix,” Musa repeats back, like they’re in some weird game of telephone.
“Stella…and…Beatrix…” Aisha says slowly, the dots still not connecting.
“Ye-es…have you not…noticed…?” Musa awkwardly tails off.
Noticed? Noticed what?
Musa’s staring at her like she’s missing something really, really obvious. But…what?
Is Aisha being really dumb right now? Is she on that fairy prank show? Are the cameras rolling somewhere, the audience members clutching their stomachs as they laugh about how stupid she is?
“I mean…Beatrix is here all the time,” Aisha says slowly, thinking aloud. The cogs in her brain, so usually quick and squeaky clean, are moving at the pace of a glacier. “And I mean…I’ve heard Flora complaining about Stella staying up on the phone really late talking to her. I guess I see them having lunch together a lot? Actually, I don’t really remember the last time I had lunch with Stella without…without…Beatrix…being there…”
Aisha tails off as the realisation hits her with the force of a ten-foot wave.
Oh.
Oh.
“Oh.”
“Ye-ah…” Musa grins as she sees that Aisha’s finally caught on. “I’m like, pretty sure they are. I mentioned it to Terra but she, uh,” Musa suddenly grows a bit sheepish, “she got mad and said I was speculating on something that Stella should be able to tell us in her own time. So, er, I don’t know if we should say anything to her.”
“But…” Aisha frowns, thinking back to earlier this morning. “I don’t think they’re hiding it. I mean…oh my god, I’m so dumb.” Aisha laughs at herself as she recalls this morning through the lens of what she knows now. “Oh wow, it was so obvious, and I literally sat there with no idea.”
“Why, what happened?” Musa asks.
“Just Stella and Beatrix being Stella and Beatrix in front of me and I didn’t notice.” Aisha shakes her head. “Man. And I pride myself on knowing things.”
“Hey, we all miss things,” Musa shrugs. She smiles and playfully nudges Aisha’s shoulder with her own. “That’s what friends are for.”
“That was so cheesy,” Aisha grins.
“I know, it felt wrong,” Musa cringes, laughing. “I won’t do it again.”
“Promise?”
“Oh, shut up.” Musa grins and rolls her eyes. Then she stands up, far more visibly relaxed than she had been on her initial arrival. “Alright, well. I’m gonna go spread my good news.”
“Have fun,” Aisha calls after her.
Left alone once more, Aisha returns to her desk. From the top drawer she retrieves her notepad, and flicks to the pages she’d reserved for her investigation into the Musa and Riven mystery.
Flicking to the bottom of the page, bypassing her observation notes about sparring times and lunchtime cafeteria sightings, she grabs her pen and inks herself one final note.
Are Musa and Riven dating?
Besides the question, in big, bold letters, she writes YES.
She closes the notebook with a feeling of great satisfaction.
Investigation successfully concluded.
The end.