Races: Online

Han gave a dull look at both Kai and Theodore. Now that finally had decided to come out of nowhere to give him the judgement that he was waiting for… he wished that they did it at a better time.

"Can't you guys read the atmosphere?" Han whispered-shouted at them and motioned for them to cut things out. If they could haul their asses out of here, that was going to be good.

He wished that he brought a handkerchief or something, because he really didn't expect tears. While a part of him was distracted and also glad that Sybeth was in a foul mood and it was clear as day, Ellynn herself was a mystery.

The exact reasons for her upset mood was still unknown to him, that he wanted to fish out answers from thin air. 

"Is it because these two are always with us?" Han started with the things that actually came to his mind. Somehow, now that he was looking at her face, more of the less savory things he was doing came to mind. "I'm already trying to make them leave."

He didn't want to do it with both of them still around, but it seemed like they didn't want to leave either. 

"Wait a sec, have you upsetted Ellynn too?" Theodore began as he sat down beside Ellynn. "Are you okay? What did he do to you? He's being a jerk, isn't he?"

It was all unhelpful in Han's eyes—until Ellynn buried her face in the guy's shoulder. It looked more like face-planting, and Theodore even winced slightly but then began to  pat her back and threw Han another accusatory look. 

"There. There. I'll raid his room and steal all of his clothes to make a new cloak for me." Theodore added.

Han stared at Theodore and wondered if he was for real, but knew that the guy had a better shot of comforting Ellynn than he did. If he was the source of affliction, she'd search for comfort elsewhere.

But it didn't mean that he liked what he was seeing.

Kai himself had his arms crossed and was giving him a look that said they needed to talk in private, but the Mage was holding back because of the presence of the other two.

Or maybe he was at least respectful enough of Ellynn's feelings.

Yesterday, Kai got out of Han's hair before the Guardsman arrived and unwittingly took him somewhere to interrogate him. Now that Han thought about it, it was a lot more suspicious that Kai was able to leave before any of that happened.

Prior to that, Kai was trying to sequester him elsewhere as well. 

Those were all important things that he noticed and needed to address.

But he couldn't bother about it now. 

Sure, he needed to get better weapons or be stuck as cannon fodder if he didn't make amends with Sybeth or forever be clueless about Kai's involvement with the Guardsman or lack of, but somehow, some things were more important than that.

Han already lost a friend before, he couldn't lose another again.

"I'll try to talk with you after classes, if that's alright, Ellynn?" Han spoke to her, a lot more gently, and only inwardly sighed when she didn't give any answers.

He must have messed up big time, far more than accidentally getting discovered by Professor Owen—wait a second. Surely it wasn't only him who got in trouble did he?

Ellynn was also present when Professor Owen and Jeanne met up with them outside of the city. What if it wasn't him, but them that made Ellynn like this and she just couldn't tell him?

"Ellynn, did uh, Professor Owen approach you yesterday?" Han asked. 

Akin to a sniffing rat, Kai's head immediately raised at Han's words and serious tone, but he chose to ignore that in lieu of Ellynn's reaction. Somehow, this time, Ellynn pulled away from Theodore and then rubbed her forehead.

Her eyes weren't completely red or anything.

Han doubted that a person could shed that much tears for him in the first place, but then she shook her head in reply. While the Half Elf probably has her own reasons for getting upset with him in the first place, this was different.

"No. Did something happen?" Ellynn asked with a small frown.

The only thing that connected Han and her to the young Professor was the time back with the wyvern. So in Ellynn's mind, there was a need to pay attention even if she didn't want to tolerate Han's presence. 

"Indeed. What exactly had happened? The Professor doesn't usually interfere with Students." Kai joined in with even Theodore nodding along. Both were piqued. 

A story was still a story, and naturally, both wanted the context for it.

Except Han was not going with that.

"Hah. Well, that's good. It's nothing for you to worry about." Han said and made it a point to ignore the two, a bit relieved to know that it never crossed the Professor's mind to approach her. Maybe the older guy just wanted Han to get in trouble—he was a lot more suspicious than Ellynn?

That sounded fair enough.

"That's your problem, Han," Ellynn said. "That's exactly my problem with you."

Wait. What?

Han tossed a look back at her, perplexed and slightly bothered. "What… what are you trying to say?"

"You never say anything. You keep everything to yourself as if you can keep secrets and hoard them to yourself. Never letting other people know—"

"Uh, that's actually what a secret is." Kai proposed.

"Shut up." Ellynn glared at him.

Kai raised a hand and then bowed out of the conversation, leaving Han to deal with the aftermath of her wrath. 

Needless to say, Han didn't get it that much. 

Or rather he thought of the opposite.

"Hold up a second, I get that you're upset." Han stared at Ellynn and gauged her reaction. When she didn't blast him with a wind gust, he continued. "But I really don't think… well, you're one of my close friends. One of the first here in the academy. What makes you think that I've been keeping things from you?"

"A lot  of things. First, you keep your relationship with my—" Ellynn paused and then fumed. "There's also the situation with Timothy that passed and then after that, you didn't talk to me for weeks and kept insisting you were fine even if you weren't. What kind of person does that?"

Han didn't think that was much of a secret or a problem with keeping secrets, but he could finally see how it bothered her a lot. 

A lot more than what she let on actually.

It was easy enough to think that she'd be understanding and benevolent, but eventually, one's patience did run out. People tend to get tired of you when they think that they've been kind for far too long enough and one has been insensitive.

In this scenario, Han considered that she really needed just to blow some steam.

"So what can I do to make it up to you?" he asked.

Whether that was the right or wrong question to ask, it was hard to tell from her look.