"I've only written a bit," Orion said. "What else do you like to do?" he asked Jora, really only knowing that she liked painting and climbing.

"I dunno, class would be pretty boring without anyone there. They might be there though," she said, adding the last part after a bit of thought.

Jora looked down the hall standing up. She made fists and squeezed them so tight that her knuckles were white. "I don't know... I haven't done very much else." She thought for a bit. "I like doing anything with my mom. Blacksmithery. Gardening. Baking. I did everything you could think of with her." She said with a blank expression. She inhaled deeply, Mommy's little mutt.... Only a fool sees beauty in a worm.... If love is blind your mom must love you too much to stand the sight of you.... She heard them over and over again in her head as she bit her lip trying to ignore them.

Mitch nodded with a smile. "They could be there." He looked the way they had been walking and smiled when he saw A'ine and Alderic coming up the hall.

Alderic tilted his head. "Hey A'ine isn't this the hall we..." He stopped when A'ine elbowed him hard. Something was fishy about this to him. He saw Ember and Mitch talking. He smiled and ran over to Ember. "Ember! A'ine and I had a great idea!" He said hoping she'd ask him why. He might just win the bet with this.

"Sounds like my sister and I. What sort of stuff did you blacksmith? I've made a few sculptures, but I mostly made weapons and tools," he said, trying to keep Jora's mind off whatever dark thoughts had made her upset earlier. He noticed she was beginning to look upset again, and doubled his efforts to keep the conversation going.

Ember turned, startled to see Alderic and A'ine. "What?" she said, putting her face into a deadpan because she remembered their bet.

Jora shrugged. "A lot of things, I wasn't very good at the work itself but I could plan something for her. I mean draw a sketch and pick the materials." She crossed her arms hoping to hide her white knuckles from Orion. "I also picked up how to tell if a sword's any good." She said as she started walking down the hall. She could still hear the voices hammering in her head but was able to ignore them a little more. She still felt like crying but she could avoid it now.

Alderic smiled and did a wave with his eyebrows to accentuate what he was saying. "Welllll..." A'ine buts in. "For the record, It wasn't my idea at all! It was all his." He smiled widely. "Well, so it goes like this. Tonight at the marshmallow dig out, I'm going to try and get Jora and Orion to climb a tree to draw or something and when they get up there...." He said pausing for effect. "Well, 'Jora and Orion kissing in a tree kay eye ess ess eye n gee!' So what do you think?" He asked smiling.

Orion nodded. "I bet you had some good materials in the mountains. We had to make do with shipments coming in from the other valleys. It was pretty cheap metal," he said, wondering what sort of metal Jora had been using. He hoped he was keeping her mind off those village kids.

Ember kept her deadpan and answered, "Yeah, but you'll have to be direct to get them to kiss," she replied. Alderic would have to try harder to win the bet.

Jora nodded a little. "Everyone there didn't want it of course though... they always assume mom and I were cheats and would use cheap metal." She fiddled with her gold swan charm. "My mom actually made this for my thirteenth birthday." She said smiling an almost unnoticeable smile.

Alderic glared at her. "Aw come on that was golden!" He yelled waving his hands. "I even did the eyebrow thingy!" He added crossing his arms. The eyebrow thingy always cracked his little sisters up.

Mitch smiled. "Well, maybe if we all sing it..." He said winking at Alderic.

Orion looked at the swan. "Wow, it's beautiful! You're mom is really good at blacksmithing!" he exclaimed. His sister had been really good at tools, but neither of them good make something so small and detailed.

"Keep working on it Alderic," Ember said, and then turned to Mitch. "Sing what?" she asked.

Jora smiled a little wider. "Yeah, she so good at everything she wants to be good at...." She said her smile disappearing. She never was good at anything. Sure she liked to draw but she didn't think she was very good at it either. She heard the voice of the first time she remembered ever getting made fun of. 'Giraffe, how do you expect to fly with that thing? Or does it help you steer?' She let go of the charm and reached up to feel her neck to make sure it was human sized. She let out a breahth when she found that it was.

Mitch rubbed the back of his neck. "I meant the tree song when we get those two in the tree..." He said blushing a little. He liked having friends to plot with to do good things for other friends. It made him feel welcomed.

Alderic was split between saying 'aw come on' to Ember and high-fiving Mitch. He went with a good antenatal. "Great! Now huddle up gang, here's what we're going to do." He smiled at them as he waited to see if they'd get closer or not.

"Hard to live up to, huh?" Orion asked, hoping it didn't make Jora feel worse.

Ember took a few steps forward, hiding a smile. She was actually rather excited to formulate a plan, and Alderic was being slightly funny. Not that she was smiling or anything.

(Sorry, writer's block)

Jora shrugged. "It doesn't matter. I'll never be anything close to her." She said looking down as she walked. She beautiful and I might get pretty when I get older... But she's also all of something... That will never change.. She thought around all the boiling memories.

Mitch smiled and nodded pretending to be really serious. "So what's the plan coach?" He asked Alderic.

Alderic smiled. "Well, I don't think a bonfire is actually aloud but I have these really cool arrows that burn for hours. I'm going to make an awesome pattern and ask Jora and Orion to climb a tree to draw a birds eye view." He smiled wiggling his eye bow. "Then..." He said waiting for someone to ask what.

(*Sharpens ax* Smiles evilly at block* Block: Shivers.)