Weird

Jamil

Morning broke with me still asleep which was rather unusual for me. Usually, I was out of bed before the crack of dawn. But today, I probably would have continued sleeping till noon if a knock had not woken me up. I groaned lazily as I stretched my limbs. The knock came again, forcing me out of bed.

I stumbled over to the door in nothing other than a black trouser. Opening the door, I was surprised to find Blaire standing there and even more so to find that she looked more of a mess than I probably did, but then again, I couldn't see myself through a second set of eyes. Her chocolate brown hair had become all tangled and messy making me feel sorry for her as I imagined her trying to tackle that forest. Her face did not look much better with red looking eyes and eye bags. Her nose was running and her mouth looked like one of her lip paints had gone rogue and traipsed aimlessly all over her mouth instead of her lips. Her blue gown looked she had wrested it from a couple of deer who were using it for a picnic. And, oh gods, she was not wearing any footwear. This was totally unheard of. Blaire, the face of beauty in the entire Druid Peak Pack walking barefoot? I had better go check to see if the world was ending already.

"Did you fight a set of squirrels in the night?" I couldn't help asking. She sighed in exhaustion. Another new thing. The usual Blaire would have punched me or at the very least given me a sharp retort, not take my comments lying down and sighing like the 'not so beautiful other girls' like she liked to refer to the others. "Are you okay?" I asked worriedly but she simply gave me an empty stare before turning to look toward the door like she was expecting something or someone to walk in at any moment. A silent gasp escaped me as I realized what she was looking out for or more correctly, who. "Indrik did not return last night?"

She turned eyes that looked so sad, they hurt to look at toward me and nodded. "You don't suppose he left the pack again, do you?" She sounded baleful as she looked at the door again.

"Blaire!" I started, feeling miserable that I had to see her like this. Amongst all of us, Blaire had been the one who was the most affected by Indrik's punishment imprisonment so I could understand why she would not want him to get into trouble again. A wave of anger washed through me as I thought about the one who was responsible for making Blaire feel like this. I mean, sure, he was miserable. I absolutely understood that. But he should understand that there are people here who love him as well. People who would do anything for him without a moment's hesitation. People who would lose their sleep because he wouldn't come home. People like Blaire. "I wouldn't worry about Indrik. I am sure he is fine. You should trust him to take care of himself like he always has. Besides, he has his maid with him to protect him now." I was going to add his wolf as well but I figured that was not really much assurance since he hadn't even started training yet.

"That maid." Blaire's eyes turned extremely cold as she clenched her hands by her side.

"Come on, Blaire. You heard Indrik, right? She didn't poison Indrik. She merely did it on his orders. Besides, that helped him to unlock his wolf which you would agree is good, right?"

Her eyes softened slightly but she still huffed. "You don't really believe that, do you? While I agree that the poison helped him unlock his wolf, I still do not believe that Indrik would poison himself. I mean, sure, he is impulsive but he would never risk his own life. Besides, there is the doctor's report that she asked him about the poison and probably stole it from the store. So, you would forgive me if I don't really trust her to care for him." I smiled, glad to see the fire starting to return to her eyes. That was more like it.

"But she didn't plan to kill him. If she had planned to kill him, she wouldn't have let anybody know, would she?"

Blaire shivered. "You were not there, Jamil. You ought to have seen the vicious look on her face. I was so scared." She shook again. "No! I don't trust him with her." She declared.

I raised my arms in surrender. It was a task fit for Hercules whenever Blaire made up her mind about something. "Fine! But you should go take a bath. You look like a nightmare fit to..." I stopped myself not sure the last part of, 'fit to keep Indrik away' would go down well with her.

"Oh!" She gasped. "I totally forgot. I was here to inform you about Beta Green's summons. He asked to see the three of us. You don't mind informing Ulo, do you?"

My brows furrowed. "You two are not still fighting, are you?"

"Oh, no!" She replied a little too quickly. "I just don't feel up to meeting one more person looking like this." She gestured at her dress. That was believable but I had a feeling that her reason for not going to him was more than that. I decided not to push it as I watched her pick her way back to her room. I was thinking about going back in to get a shirt when I noticed Ulo's open door as he stared after Blaire. He turned to me and scowled when he noticed me staring at him.

"I'm guessing you heard about the meeting?"

"Whatever!" He snapped as he retreated, shutting the door with a bang.