36. Loveleena
LOVELEENA
Waiting for Ahmina’s truth potion was torture.
And honestly, both her patience and her noble manners were wearing thin.
On the positive side, she had finally received a response to the letter she had written to her sister, letting her family know where she was.
Lana explained that her mother and father were livid but glad to know her whereabouts.
She included a pack of tully—from Gina, she said—a picture of Park, some clothing, and a coin purse with enough for Loveleena to buy a few things in the village.
She sat in the mess hall, twirling noodles around on a fork. They had gone cold while she played with her food absent-mindedly.
“What’s gotten into you?” Emerson asked from across the table.
Loveleena groaned, avoiding his question. She had been spending a lot more time with Emerson lately. They shared almost all their classes, but more importantly, they shared the same sense of humor, and his sarcastic nature could always make her laugh. It made her miss Park even more.
Artie plopped down beside her, butting into their conversation. “Babe, you look miserable,” he said. “Tell us your problems.”
The truth was that she was miserable. She wanted to set this stupid school on fire.
She had made no progress on finding out what happened to Park.
Ren was MIA. Ahmina was still working on her truth potion.
And all the while she ruminated on why an entire group of well-respected, confident people would cover up her best friend’s disappearance.
“Just got my monthly.” She lied, hoping the two men would drop it. “What’s new with you?” she asked, in effort to steer the conversation away from herself.
“Well, I was stalking the third years. I’m mega crushing on one of them.”
“Oh yeah? Who?” Gossip was the feel-good shot she needed.
“Tiras. Have you seen him? God, that man is a gift from the Goddess… but under no circumstances tell him I said that.”
Unlike first and second years, third years weren’t led by professors.
Instead, they were mostly taught by Defenders in the field to transition them beyond graduation.
Artie often joked about his crushes, but he was a formidable opponent in Combat and Strategy.
She knew he wasn’t just spying on the third years for eye candy.
He absorbed their technique and worked it into his own training.
He mastered the art of getting attention in the right way, to be both respected and non-threatening to peers.
Something Loveleena still hadn’t figured out how to do in this Goddess-forsaken school.
“I don’t know him. What squad is he in?”
“The one led by Serena Lennox.”
“Wait. Serena is Lennox’s sister?”
He looked at her like she was stupid. “Yeah?”
“What else do you know?”
“Well…” He mirrored her body language, closing the distance between them.
“The third years are all at the Battlegrounds right now doing some sort of training. A few graduate Defenders are leading it. Serena is there of course, so is Ren. But it seems more intense than anything else I’ve seen them do out there. ”
“Really?” Loveleena glanced at Emerson, who had gone back to eating, unconcerned by Artie’s report.
“Unfortunately for me I can’t watch Tiras get all sweaty and bloody because I have Alchemy in ten.”
“Hmmm…” She leaned back on the bench, thinking.
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned here,” Artie said, standing up. “It’s that you have to go after what you want. So, whatever has got you down, don’t sulk around in the mess hall. Do something about it.”
Loveleena liked Artie. He was brutally honest and always told it to her straight.
“You know what, you’re right.”
Emerson froze as she climbed on top of the table in front of them. “What are you doing?” he asked, apprehensive.
“I’m doing something about it. Just like Artie said.” She cleared her throat, ignoring Emerson’s objections.
“Hey!” She called over the crowd, garnering the attention of everyone in the room.
“Last year, Park Kem was a first year here.” Even the new recruits recognized a noble name.
“Curly black hair, brown eyes, handsome and funny—ring any bells? No?” A couple students whispered, but she ignored them.
“He went missing last year. Yeah. Missing. Someone here knows what happened to him and they’re keeping it a secret. Which is pretty fucking—”
“—Get down!” Emerson whispered behind her, tugging at her pant leg and she shooed him off.
“—Anyway, he was my best friend. Is my best friend. We grew up together, and believe me when I say I will go to no end to find out which of you are covering up his disappearance and make sure you regret the day you were born—” Emerson pulled her down by her arm sleeve and she stumbled onto the bench below.
“Girl, that is not what I meant,” Artie laughed, while Emerson held her arm so she couldn’t get on top of the table again.
“You’re all cowards!” She seethed to the room at a last attempt to get people’s attention. The crowd quickly went back to their conversations, talking about her in hushed voices. At least they were talking. The more people who knew about Park, the more likely it was someone would come forward.
“Loveleena,” Emerson said, eyebrows furrowed. “Have you lost your damn mind? What the hell.”
“I’m fine,” she spat, annoyed.
“Is what you said true?” Artie asked.
“Yes,” she said, aggressively stabbing her fork into her noodles.
“Tell us about your friend, then.” Artie’s request was firm but soft, and despite her rising frustration, she obliged—leaving out the part where Ren snuck her into the Academy and forged her attendance papers.
“Maybe,” Emerson said between mouthfuls, “people aren’t telling you anything because they genuinely don’t know.”
“I don’t believe for a second Park just ran off into the forest,” she argued, stealing food off his plate. “Someone has to know something.”
“If anyone does, it’s Ren,” Artie said, picking up his belongings to leave. “Anyway, I’ve gotta go.” He pointed to Loveleena as he walked toward the exit. “If no one wants to tell you the answers, don’t give them a choice.”
Artie was right. And right now, she had the perfect opportunity to do just that. Her noodles sat abandoned on her plate as she got up to leave.
“Hey!” Emerson threw his palms up with a questioning look. “What about sparring together during free period?”
“Change of plans.”
????
Her first stop was the small bookstore in the village.
It took almost her entire coin purse to print Park’s photo on all the paper the shopkeeper had.
Then, she spent the next few hours writing MISSING in bold letters underneath, with a corresponding message.
Some of them simply stated the last time he was seen.
Others described his personality, his likes, his dislikes.
Most of them offered some sort of reward, and on a few of them, she started a rumor about Ren—for no other reason than to piss him off.
Last seen with Ren Elmerian.
A secret love affair? Ren and Park were in love.
Did Ren betray Park because he was jealous?
The story itself didn’t matter as long as it created enough intrigue that Ren would be hassled by curious students.
He had no interest in helping her find Park? Fine. But she wasn’t going to let it be easy on him.
She spent hours putting up the posters all over the Academy and throughout Defender Village. Pleased with herself, she swiped a bottle of wine from the kitchens and headed to her last stop.
Breaking into Ren’s apartment was surprisingly easy.
And it was even more fun with a popped bottle of wine in hand. In fact, she was enjoying herself so much, she thought she should break into apartments more often.
Ren’s place was just as she would have expected. Simple, organized, and meticulously clean. Ugh, his cleanliness was insufferable; it made her want to pull stuff out of the drawers just to make the room feel more human.
Instead, she wandered around the studio, examining the details of his life, until she finally plopped down on his perfectly made bed and pulled open his bedside drawer.
It was bare except for a notebook, watch, and photograph.
Setting the bottle down, she picked up the watch, running her hand over its grey palm leather-band and silver casing.
Its wands clicked away, reading about two hours behind, and she set it to the proper time before gently replacing it and picking up the photograph.
The colours had faded, showing the passage of time.
She ran her fingers over the silhouettes of three young children, two boys and one girl by the looks of it.
They were all dressed casually but in an attire foreign to Jarrian fashion, and she wondered where the children had gotten their clothes.
The little girl's dark hair flowed in silky straight strands down to her waist. The boys were taller, but not by much. Siblings, she presumed. She didn’t know why but the thought of Ren having a family never crossed her mind.
Her heart softened, as she thought of her own family. It was the first time she had been away from them for this long, and if she was honest with herself, she was starting to miss them.
She tucked the photo back in the drawer, closing it quickly, and began her work. By the time she left, Ren’s apartment was covered top to bottom in posters of Park that read:
May no one look for you when you go missing.
Your complacency is murder.
And, her personal favorite:
you’re a fucking coward.