“Morning,” N smiled as Sori sat down beside him. She glanced over at him before nodding in return.

N frowned at that. Ever since she’d run off, Sori had been a little distant. It was like something was on her mind. Something big. In trying to think of what it could be, all N got was all the bad things going on in Sori’s life. From the council forcing her to do things to the Ravi incident, Sori had been having a bad time of it lately as it didn’t seem like she was dealing well with it.

The night before, N had asked Luhan about how Sori was feeling. After all, if anyone would know, it would be Sori’s fae best friend, right? So he’d asked his roommate and gotten no answers. All Luhan could tell him was that Sori was feeling a mess of emotions. Oh, and Luhan also said that she hadn’t come to him or any other fae to calm her down. Apparently, that was very important.

When lunch came around, Sori separated from the others. Kris made a move to follow, but N moved faster and was up and gone before the dragon could get up.

“Let them go,” Yuri advised the older, “it will be fine.” Kris nodded and returned to his seat, trusting Yuri to be right.

--

“Please tell me what’s wrong,” N called up to Sori.

After leaving the cafeteria, Sori had headed off into the forest behind the dorms with N trailing behind her silently the whole way. It wasn’t until they were getting close to the ceremony grounds that she finally stopped walking. However, once she stopped walking she shifted into a bird and flew up into the trees. Once she’d found a place to sit, she landed and changed back into her human form. It had taken N a few minutes to find her in the thick branches, but he’d been trying to talk her down ever since.

“I don’t want to talk to you,” she replied, “I don’t want to talk to anyone.”

“I know,” he nodded, “but it might make you feel better.”

“I’ve heard that one before,” she smirked slightly, “lies. Spilling my guts doesn’t make me feel better.”

“Maybe you spilled your guts to the wrong person?” N didn’t know what exactly was wrong with what he’d said, but there must have been something judging by how Sori glared at him.

“I’m just worrying about pointless things,” she finally said, turning away, “nothing of much importance.”

“I think it’s important,” N told her, explaining further when she gave him a questioning look, “you’re my friend. When you’re upset, I want to know why so I can help make you feel better.”

“It’s about the council,” Sori said, jumping down and landing just in front of N, “and what they want from me.”

“Joining?” N asked, “Or mating?”

“Mating,” she frowned, “the more I think about it, the more uncomfortable I get.”

“No one can blame you for being worried about that,” N said, patting her shoulder since he knew she wasn’t big on hugs, “who they pick as your mate will affect the rest of your life. You’d have to be crazy to not be bothered by that.”

“I’d never given having a mate much thought,” Sori sighed, taking a seat at the base of a nearby tree, “even when I was with Kris, I’d never planned on it going anywhere. Having a mate, having children, just never seemed to cross my mind. Even if it did, I didn’t want it.”

“Now they’re going to force you to have both,” N frowned slightly, sitting down beside her.

“I could live with a mate I don’t love,” she told him, “or even like. It’s the children part that gets me. What if I can’t do it? What if I can’t be a mother and the children the council tells me to have end up messed up because of my failure?”

“I’m sure you’ll be a great mother,” N assured her, “if you’re involved in their lives, any child of yours will turn out great.”

“Whatever you say,” she rolled her eyes before starting to get up.

“Are we going back to class?” N asked.

“No,” she replied, “I’m going to the lake.” She started walking off, leaving N. “Are you coming?” it didn’t take long for N to jump up and join her.

--

“Your aura still says you’re a shifter,” Sori said as the pair sat at the edge of the lake.

“Huh?” N blinked, confused as to where that had come from. They’d been sitting in silence until then and now Sori was trying to strike up a conversation.

“Your aura,” she explained, “it still says that you’re a shifter. It’s flickered out a few times, changed a few times to say you’re fallen or warlock a couple of times too. But now it says you’re a shifter.”

“Alright,” he nodded, still not knowing where she was going with this.

“Do you want to try learning about shifter specific gifts?” she smiled ever so slightly at N’s confused expression. He looked so cute when he was confused.

“Sure,” N’s confused expression turned to an excited one at the idea Sori had given him, “can I try shifting?”

“If you feel confident enough,” she nodded, “then pick the animal you want to shift into and give it a try.”

N nodded. Sori started to explain the process to him, but he stopped her. Ravi had told him about it enough times that he knew what to do. He could do this. It was like trying to summon his ghost, he just hoped that he got better results with this.

After several moments however, nothing had happened and N sat down. He frowned slightly, trying to figure out what he had done wrong.

“You must not be ready,” Sori shrugged, patting his shoulder lightly, “it took time for your aura to start showing. It will take time before you can change it at will and even more time before you can use the powers it gives you access to.”

“So I have to wait and see what happens,” N frowned even more at that, “great.”

“Good things come to those who wait,” Sori let out a small laugh before turning her attention back to the lake in front of them.

“I’m sick of waiting,” N muttered.

“I know,” she nodded, “but that’s how the world works. You have to wait for good things to happen.”

“Did you ever have to wait for any of your gifts?” he asked.

“No,” Sori shock her head, “I never had to wait for them. Sometimes I wish I had of had to wait, though.”

“I thought you told me not to regret stuff like that,” N joked and Sori smiled slightly.

“Just because I said it doesn’t mean I always agree with it,” she told him, “sometimes I wish I was different.”

“I think all of us wish that sometimes,” he sighed, laying back against the grass and spreading his legs out in front of him.

“When did you get so wise?” she smirked slightly, “normally I’m the one who says things like that.”

“Maybe I’m just growing as a person,” he replied, laughing lightly.

“Let’s go back to the dorms,” Sori suggested after several minutes of silence, “it’s getting late.”

“You’re right,” N nodded, finally noticing that the sky was getting darker and darker with every passing minute.

The pair made their way silently back to the dorms.

“We skipped a lot of classes today,” N said once they stood in front of the boy’s dorm.

“Just power and species based,” Sori shrugged, “nothing that can’t be handled later.”

“I guess,” he shrugged, “it’s not like talking to Minji is helping much anymore.”

“Don’t worry,” she patted his shoulder, “you’ll master your powers in time. Just don’t stress yourself out over this.”

“Thanks,” he smiled ever so slightly before Kris dropped to the ground before them.

“There you two are,” the dragon sighed, retracting his wings before putting his shirt back on.

“I was just heading back to my room,” Sori shrugged, “night.” She waved before leaving.

“Night!” N called back before she entered the girl’s dorm.

Once she was gone, N headed off to his own room. Kris watched him go before smiling slightly.

“He’s totally crushing on Sori,” the dragon laughed before following N up to their dorm room.

A/N: just some kind of fluffy bonding time between Sori and N. I’M BACK!! and in 2 weeks as promised. Well, sort of. I haven’t managed to completely shake my writer’s block, but I have managed to throw together a few chapters for all of you guy that I can’t wait to post. Mostly though, I’ve thrown together special chapters, so guess what you’re getting tomorrow and for the next few weeks until my writer’s block stops blocking my ability to work on the actual story? lolz there goes the surprise. All special chapters will be posted here