Chapter Text
Riz was nose deep in his collection of pamphlets and papers from the million clubs he just joined when there was a knock at the front door. He was alone in the apartment, Sklonda working late through the night as usual, and it was suspiciously late for someone to show up unannounced. He put down his coffee—number nineteen for the day, if he wasn’t forgetting one—and silently made for the door. He peered through the peephole, half expecting whoever it was to be turned away or hiding from view, but blinked in surprise when he saw a very familiar face instead. He unlocked and opened the door immediately.
“Adaine?”
Opening the door so quickly could have been a terrible mistake if this was someone disguised as his teammate, but she just yawned and tried for a smile. She smelled vaguely sweet and… cinnamony?
“Sorry, just got off my shift. I figured you’d still be up, but I didn’t want to just teleport in uninvited…”
“Right, the strudel job. You only just finished?”
“Yeah… eight-hour night shift.”
“But school is in like, five hours.”
She smiled meekly. “Never stops you.”
“My blood is pure caffeine at this point.” He realized they were still standing at the door. “Why don’t you come in?”
“Thanks.”
He led her to the kitchen and pushed aside some of his papers to make room for her. “Have a seat. You want some coffee? Or, maybe that’s not the best idea right now…”
“I’d take some tea if you’ve got any. I need something to keep me on my feet just a little longer.”
“Sure.” They did have tea, for the days they pretended they weren’t going to overcaffeinate and be up all night. He set a kettle on the stove to boil some water. “I’ve got some leftovers, as well. It’s not much, but…”
“That… that would be amazing, actually.”
Riz snuck a look at Adaine as he set about reheating the chicken and rice from the other night. He always thought Adaine looked shockingly well put together even after long, arduous endeavors. After their fight with Kalvaxus, after wandering aimlessly through the Nightmare King’s Forest, even after their battle with the Night Yorb, she was worse for ware, but it always gave her a kind of energetic glow instead of making her look as much of a sweaty mess as the rest of them. He looked into it before actually—he’d had a theory it was thanks to her elven heritage, but he only found evidence of the contrary, the first and most damning of which being Gilear. It just seemed to be an Adaine thing.
Now, though—now, she looked absolutely spent, and that worried Riz more than just about anything else going on.
“Adaine,” he started carefully as he placed the plate of reheated food and a fresh cup of tea in front of her. “Do you… do you really need this job that badly?”
“Yes,” she said with zero hesitation and a whole lot of defeat. “Wizard work is expensive, junior year wizard work in particular, it turns out.”
“But… I didn’t want to pry, so I’ve never asked, but… your parents, they did alright, didn’t they?”
She sighed, long and slow. Not impatiently, just… tired. “My mother is still alive somewhere in that forest apparently.”
Riz had a bad feeling he knew what that meant.
“Aelwyn and I get nothing, not until she’s dead, and that’s assuming she doesn’t disinherit us first. Aelwyn already found herself a job, and she helped me find this one, which is great because it comes with a big discount I need to be able to afford the materials I need for class, but it sucks because I have to work all through the night just to fight to pass my classes with two hours of sleep and the bare minimum supplies required, and then I have to go right back to work and do it all again, and—”
“Hey,” Riz said, seeing the panic rising and the attack coming. He slipped into the seat next to her and took her hand. “Hey, it’s alright. You’re done for the night. You’re done.”
She squeezed his hand and took a deep breath in, then out. “Yeah… you’re right. Sorry, I just…” She fell silent, just holding his hand and staring into her cup.
“No, I get it. I do. I’m… I’m probably killing myself with all these clubs as well. I won’t tell Mom that. She feels awful that I have to fight to get into college, and I know I can do it but… but in all honesty, it’s a lot.”
Adaine nodded. “I didn’t tell Jawbone either.”
Riz hesitated, but he knew now was the best time to bring it up, while they were still alone and away from listening ears. “Not to add to everything, but… but there’s something else.”
“What is it?”
“I thought I was the only one it really affected, but it sounds like I was wrong about that, so…” He sighed. “We can’t afford to go to pass/fail.”
“Us? Pass/fail? Riz, you and I have some of the best grades in the school.”
“And Kristen and Fig have some of the worst. Adaine, if they get expelled, or if any of us quit, the whole adventuring party goes to pass/fail. The others will be alright, but… you and I…”
“Our financial situation means that isn’t an option,” she realized. “Riz, that’s…this is bad. Very bad.”
“I know.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?”
“I didn’t know it would affect you too—”
“It affects all of us because it affects you.” She settled and looked away. “But I might not have told you all either, if I had been in your place. I kept the money problem from Jawbone and Sandra-Lynn after all.”
“Sorry.” Riz let go of her hand to clasp his together in his lap. “I know this isn’t making you feel any better.”
“I’d be lying if I said it was.” She started in on her food. She must have been starving—she ate half of it in under a minute. “This helps though.”
“Glad I could be of some use.” He took her cup to refill and fetched himself some more coffee. “I’m guessing you didn’t come for my cooking though.”
She stopped eating abruptly, eyes wide. “Oh, I’m so sorry, I completely forgot—”
“Whatever it is, it can wait until you finish that. At the speed you’re going, I’m sure it won’t have to wait long.”
She glared at him like she was considering hitting him with Tasha’s Hideous Laughter but must have been too hungry to argue.
Riz returned to the seat next to her with their drinks. He found himself studying her again. The realization that she was pushing herself to this point struck another chord of annoyance with Fig and Kristen. The rest of them were out here fighting for their academic lives, and it was a fight to get Fig and Kristen to even care about their own. And Riz knew for a fact that Adaine did a good deal of their homework for them, on top of everything else.
That reminded Riz…
“Adaine, do you remember that long-ass paper we’d each need to write about our spring break quest in order to get anything for it?”
Adaine scarfed down the last of her food, put down her fork and gave a satisfied sigh. “That was what I came to talk about.”
She dotted her mouth with a napkin, one of those ladylike quirks from her upbringing that snuck back into her mannerisms every so often. Riz liked that side of her—not the old money, posh side per say, more so the merging of those qualities with the freedom she took for herself when refusing to be under her family’s thumb anymore. The contradiction was charming. Endearing, even.
She lifted her tea—again with that same ingrained poise—and brought it to her lips to blow cool. “I know we’re both dying, but I think we should seriously consider doing it.”
“You know that will mean us writing them? All of them.”
She smiled into her cup. “I might have already started on Kristen’s.”
Riz couldn’t help but smile as well. “I may already be halfway through Fabian’s.”
“I think that’s our answer then.”
“That’s a lot of extra work on our plate.”
“It’ll go quick if we work together.”
“That is true… alright. Same time, same place?”
“You mean tomorrow?”
He nodded. “Unless you’d rather sleep after work. We could do this on the weekend instead.”
She shook her head. “We’re too busy with the others then, and I have work either way. No, tomorrow is perfect.”
Riz didn’t think “perfect” was the right word for it, but he didn’t argue. Adaine’s eyes were already half-closed, and yawn after yawn crept up on her as she tried to drink her tea.
“You should get some sleep for now.”
“Yeah…” she murmured, rubbing her eyes. “I’ll just… I don’t know. I’ll Dimension Door until I get to the manor.”
“Do you have any left?” Did she have the energy for even one, was the real worry on his mind.
“Maybe… no, you’re right. That’s stupid. I’ll just go back through the mall and try to enter directly into the manor from there.”
“Adaine.” Riz put a firm hand over hers on the cup. “You look like you’re about to fall asleep in your tea.”
“I’m alright,” she muttered, but let him take the cup from her hand. “Just tired.”
“Right.” He put the cup down and helped her up before guiding her into his room and sitting her down on his bed. “I think you should lay down for a bit. Sorry about the size though. You’re a lot taller than a goblin.” He’d grown quite a bit and was closer in height to his friends than he’d ever been, but his bed was still too short for her to stretch out on fully. Thankfully, she was too tired to mind, and curled up in the bed with minimal urging to lie down. By the time Riz got the blankets up over her, her breathing was deep and steady with sleep.
She really was exhausted. As much as he wished she had a more comfortable place to sleep, he was glad he’d insisted she stay. Who knows if she would’ve made it back to her own bed in this state.
He made sure she was tucked in before quietly easing the door closed behind him and returning to the kitchen. The night was young, and he still had things to do. He poured himself cup number twenty-one and went back to his notes.