Amy tapped her nails on the picnic table, eyes trained on a figure curled up with a book under a large, knotted tree in the courtyard. It was the fourth day in a row she had seen this person sat alone—Zuri, if she remembered right—and she’d started looking out for them around campus. Not once had she seen them talk to a single person. Not that it was that unusual, people often hurried from one class to the next, but there was something familiar about the way their shoulders hunched when they walked. A quickness to their movements, like they might be caught doing something terrible. Like, apparently, reading under a tree.
Her mind was set before she even noticed she’d stood, scooping up her sandwich and bottle of juice.
“Hey sweetiepie, do you mind if I sit with you in the shade?”
@amy-bellevierre
The Penteveral’s collection of books was, simply put, insane. There were hundreds of them, thousands even. Stories and tales from the past, fictional and otherwise. Zuri had never imagined there could possibly be a collection as large as the Penteveral’s, but apparently it wasn’t even the largest collection out there.
And, while inaccurate in reality, it felt as though the collection of books paled in comparison to the collection of students and staff that roamed the halls. The crowds felt overwhelming. Students laughed and talked with each other, always demonstrating the vast amount of connections they had already formed. Not a singular student looked out of place here. It only felt as though Zuri was the exception.
The sound of steps approaching them made the orc freeze. While her eyes still locked on the book, she remained focused on the periphery of her vision, waiting to see who was approaching her.
Zuri only allowed themself to look up when a voice spoke up, truly breaking the relative quiet of nature. They looked up at the figure above them, taking in their appearance briefly. Maybe a few times Zuri had seen her around the school grounds, but it had always been in passing or only for a few moments. And those moments had been spent just trying to maneuver through the halls and get to class on time or find a spot outside to breathe or let Freyr hop around for a while.
A small pause, hesitant, like Zuri was considering what the odds were for the request to be a genuine move and not something with an ulterior motive. After a second, Zuri inhaled and replied with a slow “sure..” as they gathered their stuff to make room for this new person looking for company under the single Dragon’s Claw Willow tree on campus.
