Do I know you?[Idés, Edita]

After a week of mourning the death of the Crown Prince students were once again full of life. Although Campus had been open for a few days, it was still quite a surprise to see this amount of people here again. Students roaming around Campus like ants, busy on their way to classes and other important business they may have.

One such student was Edita, who hurried down the corridors of one of the science buildings - a place on campus she did not frequent often - in an attempt to find Professor Lynn Chapmann's laboratory. She guessed that it acted as his office aswell, since it was the location he gave her in his email when he agreed to meet her for a quick interview. Despite being a student of literature, she had chosen an elective that catered more towards the study of linguistics, and her chosen topic for her exam paper had been: The discourse surrounding Zeals, from 1750 up until today. Additional comments from Professor Lynn Chapmann on his controversial opinions would therefore be crucial to her paper to really flesh out both sides of the academic discussion. If only she could find his damn laboratory! She stopped for a moment to check the email on her phone... Yes! It should be here! This is building 15! Frustrated she tucked her hair behind her ear and looked up from her phone again. Oh...

Right in front of her on the door that she faced was a little plaque that said: "Professor Lynn Chapmann". This was very likely the right door. So she had perhaps not been as lost as she thought... She checked her phone a last time to look at the time before she tucked it into her bag. She was only a few minutes late, which was entirely unprofessional in her opinion, but she hoped that he did not mind. Quickly she straightened her blazer and took a deep breath before knocking politely on the door. Why was she nervous?

It was a few days after that disastrous meeting and Idés honestly still hadn’t slept much at all. He had, as expected, thrown himself over his work as a way to recover and had already begun to make quite the process in his research on the unstable Zeal – with a bit of luck, he would be successfully recreating it within a week, and soon he would have a vessel to channel it through. At least something seemed to go over smoothly. Although, with Gwyn gone, there was little structure left in his work day – no one to remind him of time or place, to remind him to clean up his workplace, or, well, reminded him to eat and sleep. How had he managed before she started working for him? He honestly wasn’t sure. But it probably wouldn’t be long before he dropped by to check in on the situation and make sure she and Dominic hadn’t ripped each other to shreds.

He was in the midst of going over the progress he had made in his research when there was a knock on the door. He froze, it couldn’t be the Godia already coming around looking for Gwyn, could it? He took off his reading glasses and went to buzz the visitor in, surprised to find a regular student outside the door. He paused, she looked very familiar but he couldn’t place from where.

“Come on in,” he spoke with a welcoming smile. She was obviously here to do something, that much was clear, but in the chaos of his life,l Idés had forgotten what it was exactly. I really ought to check my calendar more, he thought to himself, parts of him hoping the girl would fill him in without him having to ask.

As the door swung open, she was met with a much younger face than what she had expected. She had known that Professer Lynn Chapmann was young - many of her friends had goshed over him in their groupchat - but she had thought he was young for an academic, meaning the age range 35 to 50. This man in front of her was clearly not even out of his twenties yet. Quickly she replaced her sligtly surprised look with a polite smile on her lips, hoping that he had not taken too much notice of her impolite stare.

"Thank you, hi," she said as she moved into the laboratory - if you could call it that. It looked like a mess to be honest. But she was not here to judge, and if this was his prime environment to work in, she would not be against that. She just knew that she would have liked it a bit more tidied up if it was her office and workplace. "I'm Edita Mikhailovna, I'm here for the interview I wrote to you about." She purposefully omitted her surname when introducing herself. It is just so embarrasing if people recognize the name from the packaging of their medicinal Zeals. "I'm so glad you agreed to do this, it will really help build a stronger case for my paper."

She fished out a small notebook and ballpoint-pen from her bag, ready to begin and take notes. It was only now, when she really looked at him that she noticed that he seemed familiar.  But where had she seen him before? It could have been in passing in the hallways on campus... Or maybe one of her friends had sent a picture of him in their groupchat whenever they had goshed over him. It was definitely plausible. She shook her head slightly as to shake the feeling of familiarity off of her, and once again produced a smile. "Ready to begin?"

Interview. Yeah, okay, that did ring a bell. About what, though? Zeals, naturally, but the student definitely wasn’t in any class he taught. Or maybe that was why she looked so familiar? He had been incredibly distracted as of late, so that honestly wouldn’t be a bad bet. Though, he liked to think himself a better educator than that, it definitely wasn’t beneath him to simply forget some of the more quiet students. But then again, he would remember if one of his students had requested an interview. So perhaps he knew her from somewhere else? A friend of a sibling, perhaps? Although it was rare for someone from Erast to make it as far as the IUC, it wasn’t unheard of. He was here, after all. He tried tasting her name on his tongue, Edita. Definitely Yidsian. There were plenty of foreigners in Erast, so perhaps?

The thought then occurred that perhaps the Godia had sent someone undercover in hopes that he would reveal something to a student? But then again, that would be such a dumb plan that not even the general he talked to yesterday would think it up. Although, he didn’t put it entirely past them. Yet this had definitely been scheduled before the questioning. He quickly shook the thought, that would be ridiculous. He was going to double check his email later, though, just to make sure.

No matter, he was sure he could handle whatever questions Erida had, whoever she was. He’d figure out the actual subject soon enough. “Right, yes, of course. Take a seat – sorry about the mess, by the way, it’s uhm. Well, I’m in a work process,” he excused with a small laugh as he gestured to a nearby office chair. “Do you want anything to drink? Coffee, tea?”

“Thank you, sir,” She said and placed herself in the office chair he had gestured towards. Sir. For some reason it had felt weird on her tongue when addressed to him, despite him being her senior and a professor. Why did she have this feeling that she knew him? “Yes, thank you, tea, please”

She studied him for a bit, her brain scavenging every corner of her memory for any resemblance of him in her past but alas, to no avail. There was something about his cheekbones and nose… The angle of them seemed familiar. As if she had studied him before a long time ago. But she could not place him anywhere. She might just have noticed him in passing somewhere… She straightened her skirt in an attempt to ground herself in the present and push away this odd feeling of familiarity.

“So,” She began, returning her mind to the interview and the sole reason she was here. “I’m writing a paper about the discourse surrounding Zeals, and your opinions expressed in your article ‘On the Nature and Creation of Zeals’ have sparked quite some controversy. Could you please elaborate your thoughts on why your article received this reaction?”

She clicked her pen, ready to take notes, but when she sat there, looking at him, she just could not shake the feeling off of her that she knew him from somewhere. It annoyed her that she could not remember, and truly it distracted her greatly from the interview she had been so keen on conducting.

Idés would never get used to people calling him sir. Or professor Chapmann, for that matter, despite having been working as one for a few years by now. It felt so stiff and formal. He turned on the small electric kettle that stood on a cupboard at the side of the room. “The paper, yes,” he nodded as he rubbed his neck, trying to figure out the right words. And what actually had gone down after he had published the paper – there had been an article in the Cirrane Press Society with an interview from some hardcore Istonians who had taken offense to some of his claims. Then there was the trouble with the school board who treated it as a bad publicity case. And the questionable private messages he had gotten on his Social Media profiles – few of them being actually about the paper. Cadmus had liked it, though!

“Well, most things pertaining to Zeals tend to spark controversy. I suppose people fear what they do not understand properly and the public education on this subject is, well… scarce. So for most it’s the fear of change, coloring their perception,” he spoke as he poured the now boiling water into a cup with a teabag in it. There was a funny math illustration on it urging you to find X, which had been circled and the text ‘found it’ scribbled next to it. Gwyn had gotten it for his last birthday. “Then there’s the more extreme people who believe it will taint their own energy, which is categorically incorrect. But that probably requires a longer conversation about religious views on energy manipulation and warlock powers.”

He gave the cup of tea to her before sitting down himself. “Here you go.” Once he sat across from her, he was once again struck with that odd sense of familiarity, like she was someone important. His eyes narrowed a little as he tried to pin it down. Maybe she just had one of those faces? It definitely wasn’t a student of his as they rarely touched upon discourse in anything he taught, if at all. This was getting ridiculously distracting. It was frankly silly, which was why he asked: “So sorry for being rude, but have we met before?”

Cup reveal:

Her gaze followed him as he began preparing the tea. She watched as he rubbed his neck, obviously trying to collect his thoughts. She thought that this was quite understandable. She herself remembers reading an article in the Cirrane Press Society that did not reflect the greatest thoughts on Professor Chapmann’s article. This past week, she had also been studying almost every piece of writing containing the word Zeal, which included many of the public responses to the professor’s article.

As he spoke, she scribbled her notes down in her notebook. It was not a pretty sight, she never quite managed to develop the pretty girly handwriting most women seem to have. But she could decipher her scribbles, so that’s all that mattered. She nodded encouragingly, as he mentioned religion. This was a noticeable factor that played into the discourse surrounding Zeals Edita had found. Especially as of late. Late meaning since the 1900s.

“Yes, religious views definitely seem to play a part in this,” She jotted down ‘RELIGION’ in big fat capital letters in her notebook. She quickly looked up, smiling, as he offered her tea. “Thank you, sir,” She took the cup from him, studying it for a moment and smiling at the joke on it. “This is funny,” She said gesturing with the cup, indicating that she meant the joke on it.

She took a sip of the tea, careful not to burn the roof of her mouth, but failing slightly. Grimacing slightly at the burning sensation that quickly would be gone, she once again looked down at her notebook, this time underlining the previously written word ‘RELIGION’ to emphasise its importance.


She froze as he said those words. A moment of panic ran through her veins. She slowly looked up at him, trying for the life of her to remember where she had seen him before. He must have felt the same about her, when he had seen her. That she seemed familiar the same way that she felt that he was familiar. “I’m not sure, but you do seem familiar…” She narrowed her eyes slightly as she looked at him. Trying to figure out where she might have seen him. “Are you from Erast?”

He couldn’t help the slight smile when she mentioned the cup. It was a funny cup.

Then she mentioned Erast. Well, shit, that would explain it. His time as a teen delinquent was long behind him now – he was honestly never that great at it to begin with. It was mostly about survival back then, they were a big family to feed after all. And then he had found himself in a tight knit group of friends that, well... Did what people do in Erast. Most of his friends from back then were in jail or dead now. His closest friend Samuel had even taken the fall for him once, which was probably the only reason he was where he was today. Samuel had died in prison. Idés couldn’t help but frown slightly at the memory. How was he gonna get out of this conversation without having any of that brought to light? He honestly kind of regretted having asked now.

“Yes,” he nodded as he shifted slightly in his chair. “Erast. The southern side, near Baker Lane.”

But it did clear things up a little – perhaps she had a similar background? Who knows. It was hard imagining any student at campus as criminals. He had a hard time seeing anyone in that light, really. In his experience, everyone had a reason to do as they did. He still had yet to place who exactly Erida was, though. It struck him that she might be someone important. “You too then, I assume?”

“Oh, Baker Lane!” She said enthusiastically in recognition. “I know that street quite well!” She tilted her head slightly as she studied his face more intensely. They must have known eachother in their past. But who was he? There were quite a few kids in her friendgroup back then…

“Actually, I’m from Cirrane, but I hung out with lots of kids in Erast,” She slowly brought her cup to her lips and took another sip of the tea - this time without burning half of her mouth. Or maybe it was already burnt and couldn’t get any worse. Now that she thought about it, it was actually quite odd that she had spent so much time in Erast when she was younger. Especially since her parents never seemed to care that she was gone all day… Or maybe they just knew she was safe somehow? Oh… Ofcourse. Ofcourse they knew she was safe, they probably had a contact looking after her at every corner in the the whole capital.

“I knew a kid named Sammie… I wasn’t best friends with him but he was always there whenever we hung out - the whole friendgroup, I mean,” It felt weird to think back on her old friends from her younger years. She hadn’t given them a thought in a long time, and for a moment she felt almost guilty about it. That she could just forget them and continue on living her privileged life. But she had truly loved her friends from Erast, despite their critical circumstances. But those were circumstances they hadn’t been at fault for. Her best friend had been Vicki, another girl only two years older than Edita, and Vicki had introduced her to Sammie and his gang. Most of which were now in prison. Although she did think that she heard a few years ago that Vicki had become a hairdresser…

“Perhaps you knew him? It seemed like he knew everyone,” She smiled down into her cup of tea at the memory of him. And then she remembered that he had died, and sadness drifted over her for a second. She took another sip of the tea and looked up at the Professor in front of her seeing if he might recognize where they knew eachother from. “He also went by Samuel, I think?”

Idés nodded. “Sammie, yes. We were quite close. We all were, really,” he spoke, absentmindedly picking up a pen on his desk and fidgeting with it. He hadn’t spared a thought to any of them in years. It had hurt too much, really. But now it made him nostalgic in the saddest way. None of them had really deserved what had happened to them in the end. They were only kids doing what they could to find their place and no one had intervened. Yet here Idés was, as a professor at some fancy university, only because he had been able to get good grades in a high school that barely taught them anything at all. It all felt so unfair. He tried not to notice the pang of guilt deep in his stomach as he simply smiled at Edita.

“Where did you know Sammie from? A friend of that girl, uh,” he spoke, rubbing the back of his neck. “What was her name again? Victoria?” He remembered the girls. There were always half a dozen people hanging around their spot, in some dingy old basement beneath the laundromat Kevin’s parents had owned. And Samuel particularly always had a way with women, he was an incredibly charming man, after all. It went without saying there had been a lot of girls. Though he did remember that one girl's crew in particular, mostly because Samuel spend half his time raving about her. It seemed they came multiple times a day at some point. It had been like one constant party that one day got out of hand.

Now, Idés however hadn’t ever been the most extroverted person and the other guys had been more than welcoming to the female visitors. Sometimes the girls would brave the chance and take a shot at him. Although, he had to admit he had always been way more preoccupied with Samuel. He had been his entire world, really.

Oh, so he must have been one of the boys who always hung out with Sammie… She tucked a stray hair behind her ear once again, while she tried to remember him from the group. There had been Sammie ofcourse, the light of the party, and Kevin, whose parent’s basement they used to hang out at… He had also been kinda cute, Edita thought. So who had the man in front of her been?

“Yes! Victoria! She was my best friend for a while… We used to call her Vicki” She looked down and smiled at the thought of her, remembering her company and all those hours they just talked and talked, about boys and nothing of any importance really. And she used to have this huge crush on Sammie, and would just go on and on and on about him and how she could never get a moment with him alone because he would always have this other kid hanging around hi- oh...

“You’re Idés,” She said suddenly, looking up at him almost surprised by herself that she could remember, and surprised that he sat right here in front of her. He had been the tall scrawny kid, who had always been quiet, at least when us girls had been there, and who Vicki was kinda annoyed with because he would never leave Sammie’s side. He was in the way of true love, Vicki had always said about him. Edita smiled at the thought. Now when she looked at him, she could still see the scrawny kid he had once been. How did she not recognise him earlier?

“I remember you.”

Now that she talked more about her, he did remember Victoria. Or, Vicki, as she called her. Vicki and him had definitely had their, well, differences. Really, he had a feeling that she had hated his guts. He hadn’t cared much for her either, but that had more to do with the fact that he and Samuel had known each other for a long while before she had even entered the picture. Not to mention that they had important business to attend to and she often serves as a distraction. Or, more likely, Idés had been a bit too possessive of his friend. It had been fine with the other girls, but when Vicki had started becoming a semi-permanent stable around their space it had rubbed him as wrong. He couldn’t help but feel a bit embarrassed at the memory, she really had just been trying to get a relationship going with the biggest player in the district. She had successfully beat the other girls to the competition, but then there he was, the scrawny nerd who couldn’t catch a hint.

“That would be me, yes,” he nodded, with a slight smile on his lips. It had been a long time since he had seen anyone from that time, it honestly felt like he was finally getting confirmation that it actually happened. “I think I remember you too.” Of course he remembered Vicki’s best friend – the slightly younger girl who always seemed so carefree. She had been someone important, he remembered Samuel talking about that once. But Idés couldn’t remember in what way.

“What is she doing today, Vicki?” Part of him was almost afraid to ask.

As he confirmed that he was indeed the Idés from her childhood, she could not contain the smile on her lips. She hadn't seen anyone from that friendgroup in what felt like an eternity, although that was obviously not true. Her life now, just felt so much different, at least her life at university, from her past, that the contrast almost made her childhood feel like a dream she had dreamt a long time ago. And it had been a dream that she had truly enjoyed and loved. Thinking back, she hadn't imagined that anyone of them would go to university at some point, and definitely not become a professor like Idés had! Or... She had known that she would go to university... It had been part of the plan ever since her father had decided that she should become part of The Family. But she hadn't imagined that the other kids from her childhood would become academicians. It just hadn't really been in the cards for them. But here he was.

She put down her teacup, that she had been holding this entire time, on the table beside her. She hadn't drunk much from it, but reminiscing her past with Idés interested her much more than finishing her cup of tea. Quickly the pen and notebook joined the cup on the table. As he asked about Vicki and what she might be doing today, she pulled her lips into a small line, considering her reply. She didn't really know, she only had an idea of what she might have been up to. "I think she might be a hairdresser now, but I'm not sure. I know she is okay tho."

The last part she felt like she had to add. She knew that most of their friends were in prison or dead, so being okay and alive was important to mention.

"But how are you?" She asked, tilting her head slightly while looking at him. Truly looking at him like she couldn't believe her own eyes. It kind of made her feel varm inside to think that she was not alone with these memories. She had someone to share them with, or at least just know that one other person also had these stories in their past with them. It made her realise that she had felt lonely for a long time... Being alone in this world of academia, despite the friends that she had from classes. But they didn't know her truly. Idés knew parts of her life that only few in the world knew about. "I assume you got out of the nasty business we were involved with at the time?"

Idés smiled when he heard Vicki was doing alright. That was a relief, to know it hadn’t all ended in tragedy. “That’s good.”

He paused when Edita asked about the business. They’d been selling drugs out of the basement, the supplier being someone who Samuel had known – Idés never met them personally. It was hard to remember everything that had gone down, really, it seemed everything happened all at once. It had started around the same time the IUC talent scouts had offered him a scholarship. Samuel had been so proud of it too, bragging about his genius best friend to anyone who would listen. The memory of it made Idés feel all warm inside.

But then their supplier had suddenly turned on them which was something to do with the money one of the boys owed them. It had been like being at war, everyone had been scared to show their face on the streets for a while. Kevin got shot at one point, he vaguely remembered. Then one day Godia showed up with a warrant to search the basement and needless to say, they were screwed. It was then it came to light that Samuel had been Nachon all along, too. Idés only got off in the end, because Samuel had pretended he had used his powers to persuade him – and therefore, Idés was deemed innocent. No doubt because he didn’t want the scholarship to go to waste. The official story was that Samuel had committed suicide in prison, but Idés severely doubted the validity of that.

“It blew up in our faces, as was inevitable,” he said, a hint of sadness in his voice. “But I managed not to be wrapped up in it all. Because of Sammie, really. So, here I am.”

Edita nodded understandingly as Idés said that the whole operation had blown up in their faces. She noted the sadness in his voice. It was understandable. She had heard about what had happened to the others when things had gone south for them. It had been horrible. Despite having taking part in selling the drugs from Samuel's supplier, Edita had luckily not been caught in any of it. That last month before the supplier had turned on them, Edita had barely spent any time in Erast. Her father had been sending her on one job after another with The Family, as if he tried to keep her out of Erast. He probably had done so to keep her safe. It would not have been unlikely that he had known something was about to go down with all of his contacts around the city.

"You're lucky then..." She said, forcing a smile on her lips, but her voice could not hide the sadness behind it. Dealing with drugs and other illegal activities had not stayed in Edita's past. It was still a huge part of her life, actually even bigger than it had ever been before. She felt truly torn between two worlds, the world of The Family and her own normal life at university with normal friends whose biggest concerns in life was either an upcoming deadline or whether or not a certain someone liked them back. It was difficult for her to navigate between these two lives that she felt she had. "Sammie was truly the kindest person I've met, you were really lucky to have had him as a close friend."

She felt the prick of tears begin, which surprised her. In an attempt to compose herself she straightenen her back and adjusted her seat in the office chair. She knew that she obviously had fond memories of the people of her past, but it surprised her that reminicing about them would get to her feelings like this. "I'm sorry," she said, wiping a tear away with her fingertips and chuckling at herself. This truly is a ridiculous display, she thought. "I just havn't thought about any of them in a really long time."

“I am,”  Idés agreed, nodding solemnly, deep in thought. “I was.”

Then she started tearing up and he seemingly snapped back to reality. Oh no. He frowned and reached over in a nearby drawer, searching amongst random junk for a pack of tissues.  

“Hey, it’s okay.” he said reassuringly. He found a pack deep in the messy drawer and offered them to her.  “I haven’t either, for what it’s worth. No use dwelling on what we can’t change.”

There it was again, that disgusting pang of guilt. Partially about everything that had happened with Samuel and the others, it was extremely unfair that he was sitting here when they weren’t. But the guilt probably had more to do with making her cry. He shouldn’t have brought up the past to begin with, that never did anybody any good. Here she was, being so nice, seeming happy, even, to be reunited. But then he had gone and spoiled the mood with his sad little story. And he had probably ruined her interview too, which was seriously unprofessional of him. But he could probably still salvage that, if just a little. And therefore he offered a small
“I’m so sorry. Let’s focus on the now, yeah? Your interview?”

Her gaze followed him as he was looking for what she assumed would be napkins, still chuckling at herself while her tears trickled out of the corner of her eyes. Was this embarrasing? A little bit, she thought, but then again, it was Idés she sat across from right now. She nodded at his words as she graciously took the napkins he offered her, sniffling a bit as she tried to get her emotions under control. He was right - there was no use in dwelling on what they couldn't change. The past had been and would never be otherwise. While drying her eyes with the napkin, she seemed to relax again. She was glad that it was Idés of any professor she showed such a ridiculous display of emotions, but partly it was also because it was Idés that all these emotions had surfaced.

"Yes - the interview," She said, her nose sniffling one last time and she looked around for her notebook and pen. For a moment she had been truly captivated by her past and memories so that she had completely forgotten about the interview - the reason she was even here to begin with. She grabed her notebook and pen from the table beside her, where her half finished cup of tea, which had probably turned cold now, stood, presenting its funny joke on its front. "Right, where were we..." She looked at her notes, trying to make sense of them... She chuckled once again, as she shook her head slightly at herself "Sorry, this whole conversation just threw me for a loop"

Idés couldn’t help but chuckle as well. This was an absolutely absurd situation, and her seemingly still being in good spirits made his guilt absolve, if just a little. It felt off, playing the role of professor with Edita now that he knew she was an old friend and not just any other student. One of the many downsides of being roughly the same age as most students on campus was that this would always be a risk. She knew where he came from, that made it hard to keep any appearance of any kind of professional authority. “Yeah. Yeah, me too,” he agreed, nodding.

Besides, it seemed so trivial to talk about Zeals and controversy and whatnot, when she was sitting right there. Really, he was much more curious to know what she had been up to for the past 8 years or so. It seemed absurd. Had it really been that long since everything went down? She sure had  grown a lot since then. But then again, he supposed that he had too.

“If it’s all the same to you, we could postpone the interview. Maybe go for a walk and catch up instead?” He suggested, then immediately second guessed himself if that was an inappropriate thing to do. “Only if you want to, of course. And if there’s anything you’re desperately missing in your paper, you’re of course welcome to drop by or send an email.”

She appreciated that he had chuckled. She knew it wasn't at her, but the same reason as her earlier chuckles: the absurd situation of the two of them having met once again at university. The great contrast between this meeting and the last time they had seen eachother, which was probably in the basement of mr. and mrs. Kevin's laundromat back in Erast. The difference between the to locations and situations being too great to pretend it wasn't noticable that the illusion of a teacher-student relationship would no longer hold up between them. He might have become a professor in the meantime, but Idés would always, at some level, be the tall scrawny kid from her childhood.

"I would like that very much" She said with a smile on her lips as he suggested they went for a walk to catch up instead of doing this - she would almost say pointless - interview. She looked down at the notebook in her hands, quickly skim reading her notes and nodding approvingly at herself. This could wait. It wasn't like her paper would be published anywhere, so it didn't have to be perfect anyways. She closed the notebook and put it into her bag along with her pen. She wouldn't be needing those anymore for now.

"Do you need to sort some things before we leave, or...?" She asked looking at his messy office. She honestly did not know what part of the mess he was currently working on, but she did have a feeling that she had distrupted him in his work when she knocked on the door. She raised herself from the office chair she was sitting in and pulled her bag onto her shoulder.

He looked over at the mess at his workstation and frowned slightly. There was still a lot to be done around here and he wasn’t even sure what he was aiming for yet. So getting a feel for what was urgent and what wasn’t, that was hard to say. It was both important that he got this right, but also not world ending if he took a small break, he had been working hard. Plus, he could return and work tonight as well. He shrugged as he grabbed his coat. A new one, as the old coat was at the EFA with Gwyn. “It can wait,” he said with an easy-going smile on his lips. “Let’s go.”

The two went out of the messy laboratory and the, frankly, uninspiring science building out onto the campus grounds. The May sun was shining from an only slightly overcast sky. It really was quite a beautiful day, which Idés hadn’t actually noticed as he had spent most of it cooped up with his work. He really should prioritize getting some more fresh air into his routine.

Then he looked onto Edita and again it struck him how ridiculous it was that they should meet again. And under these circumstances, no less. It was absolutely absurd. It made him curious to know more about her, but he didn’t quite know where to begin. He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling somewhat awkward.

“So, uh, you’re studying literature now?” The statement came out sounding like a question and he immediately doubted whether he had even gotten the topic that she was studying right. “How long have you been doing that?”

Her gaze followed his towards the mess at his workstation. For a moment her interest piqued as to what he was working on. She had no idea what a professor in his field would do as his work. Tinker with bits and pieces? Look at one zeal after the other all day long? It couldn’t be that, she was sure of it. There must be an element she could not imagine that pulled him into his work to leave his workstation looking like that. She looked at him again as he spoke, a smile on her lips and nodded in agreement. Yes. Let’s go. ”Great.”

The weather was nice outside. Not overly sunny, but with a pleasant overcast that still let the sun shine through plenty. Immediately as they went out into the sun, Edita closed her eyes with a sigh of pleasure and let the sun warm her face for a moment. It reminded her of her childhood - not all of it was spent in Kevin’s parents’ basement. They had often, especially in the summer, hung out in either a random parkinglot or someone’s backyard. What had they been up to back then? They had honestly just been young and stupid the whole lot of them. She opened her eyes and looked at Idés. Perhaps they still were young and stupid.

“Yeah, I’m studying literature now,” She said. They strolled past the pedicured bushes and greenery that prettied the university campus. It truly was a pretty university. She had visited some other universities in Ilomar before she had applied to this one, but she could not deny that this one had caught her eye from the very first visit. That she had grown up in this city, and therefore knew the campus area well, was also an added bonus. It was just home somehow.

“I’ve just started on my masters last September, so around this time next year, I should hopefully be finishing up on writing my thesis.” She could not help but smile at the thought. She loved studying, and despite the master thesis being an end for her studies - unless she could continue onto a P.hd. - she still looked forward to it.  ”So it’s been almost four years now.”

”And you’re here too! And you’re a professor! How did that happen?” She looked at him excitedly, partly baffled by the fact that it was scrawny Idés from her childhood who had become a professor since the last time she had seen him, and partly excited to hear all about him and his journey up until this moment.

He listened attentively as she told him about her studies. The way the sun hit illuminated her face made her look almost golden and the smile on her face made Idés smile too.

He chuckled when the topic came around to his job, as he knew it would eventually. “Well, it just kind of happened, I supposed. It’s all a bit convoluted” he started, taking a breath for what would inevitably be a longer story. “I was awarded a full scholarship by the ICU talent scouts, I think back in 2014? That meant they already had an eye on me when I started studying the following year.” That had been a hard year. Between dealing with the death of his best friend, to starting his career as a student, it was a wonder he had even made it through. He frowned slightly. “And, well, I suppose my field of study was picked somewhat randomly. My dad used to work at one of the zeal-factories in Leeside when I was a child, you see. I suppose the interest came from there.” He had never really thought about it in that way before, but that made perfect sense. He remembered his dad sometimes being allowed to bring surplus supplies home from the factory and Idés had spent hours studying them on the living room floor. There was an ironic bitterness that his dad would be the inspiration for his way of living today. The topic had been an easy choice for him when he started studying, while he was dealing with all the other messes in his life.

“Anyways. A year later I was working as a lab assistant for the woman who used to have my position, who I supposed became my mentor of sorts.” Professor Martha Sutton, an extremely stubborn but kind woman. While her and Idés had their professional disagreements on certain topics, it had never been unpleasant. They had challenged each other in a lot of ways and quickly became friends. “She was already nearing pension age when I started working for her. I assisted her with some of her most important breakthroughs in the calculations used in EZPEC-exposure, which is why she insisted that the school board hired me once I was done with my own thesis. Which, they made an exception for, usually you need to have a Ph.D. already to do that.” He rubbed his neck, as he took a breath, realizing exactly how stressful the last couple of years had been. “So. She retired in 2021, because she would be moving to Costa Sterna with her wife, and I took over her job, on the condition that I handed in my Ph.D in 2022, which I did. This year I’ve been able to start focusing on my research in earnest. So, I’ve been pretty busy,” he said with a laugh. “I think I’m the youngest professor they’ve ever hired, they still mistake me for a student in the staff-only areas sometimes.”

He realized that he had been blabbering on and that the story really was a mouthful. It was only when he recounted it he realized exactly how much had happened in such a relatively short time. He didn’t usually talk this much, but Edita felt easy to talk to. “Sorry, I’m rambling,” he chuckled. “Do you know what you’re writing your thesis on?”

She knew the topic of him being such a young professor would probably not be a surprise for him, which is why she chuckled along with him before he began telling his story. There was no denying - he was a very young professor, and that would always raise some questions. He had probably told this story an annoying number of times, but Edita did not care, because she didn’t know this journey of his. And she was truly interested in it. She wanted to know how this boy from her childhood - this one lucky person - managed to get out unlike so many of their unlucky friends. It was a sombre thought, but nonetheless, it brought her happiness that she was not the only one who was no longer stuck in that environment… Her thoughts paused for a moment, realising that that was not true. He was the only one who got out. She was still in it, stronger than ever.

She gave Idés all of her attention, to push away the sad thoughts from her mind. She didn’t want to think of that right now. ”Oh right! I do remember Sammie bragging about you getting into uni and everything,” she added as she put a smile back on her lips. She loved hearing about how he had managed to get to this moment as a professor, and it was truly impressive. She at least was very impressed by his achievements. She nodded in some sort of agreement when he said that his interest in Zeals probably came from his fathers work in a Zeal factory. She could only agree. She could imagine that she would not have been as interested in Zeals as she were if she hadn’t grown up in a family that was so financially tied to the production of Zeals.

“It’s fine, it doesn’t feel like rambling, I love hearing about what you’ve been up to.”She smiled at him before she continued: ”You were very lucky to have her as your mentor, it sounds like she thought you were brilliant,” She said, for a moment not noticing that she had insulted him. Insinuated that he was in fact not brilliant but had managed to keep up the pretence for his old mentor. When the realisation hit her, her eyes widened in shock and her cheeks reddened slightly with embarrasment. ”Not that I think you're not! I do think you are… I just,” She raised her hand to hide her face momentarily in it trying to hide from her embarrassment.”I just phrased it really badly, I’m sorry.” She chuckled slightly, looking up at him again. Now that they walked next to each other she truly noticed their difference in height. Just like in her youth he towered over her. But he wasn't intimidating, it felt safe despite it all.

“I think I’m going to write about Zeals, like I do in this paper,” She said as an answer to his question and made a motion towards her bag where her notebook was in, adjusting the strap over her shoulder at the same time. “But I’m gonna focus on their presence in 17th century literature. The rhetoric concerning Zeals in that timeperiod is truly unique.” A giggle escaped from her lips before she explained: ”It’s kinda funny how our topic of interest is both Zeals, but at the same time we’re still so far away from eachother in our field of study.”

He couldn’t help but let out a light-hearted laugh at her embarrassment. He didn’t take offense. He knew he was clever, yes, but so were many people in the world. His career and achievements didn’t make him better than anyone else, far from it. He had simply known and connected with the right people at the right time, his success came from just as much luck as it had hard work. Besides, he didn’t truly believe in brilliance or god-given talents. One could learn almost anything with the right kind of drive and curiosity. Interest created intellect, not the other way around. “Don’t worry about it,” he said, an amused tone in his voice. “I’m not that brilliant, really, I’m just a nerd with a fancy job-description.”

He then nodded when she explained the topic for her thesis. That was interesting. He did have some knowledge about the historical context of Zeals, but knew very little about their place within literature. His field of study focused much more on the practicalities of what a Zeal was and its capabilities. It was interesting that she was approaching from an entirely different point of view. “I could imagine,” he agreed when she said it was unique. The 17th century, that must be about a 100 or so years before the production became industrial. “It’s approached as quite a taboo subject within that kind of literature as well, I assume?”

Then she giggled at something and he couldn’t help but smile at that, though wondering if it was something he had said.  It was cute. Then she explained why she had laughed and it made sense. He chuckled as well. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Now, he was a rational man and as such he didn’t really believe in fate, but at the same time this was some coincidence. In some ways, Zeals had brought the gang together in the past as well but they had still been a world apart even back then, with Edita sticking to Victoria and Idés with Samuel.  It was funny how it should be Zeals that brought them back in each other's orbit. A second chance to actually get to know each other. “A very weird coincidence.”

The sun peeked through the clouds, showering the two in its warmth. Idés noticed they were approaching the study café. A nice coffee in the sun didn’t sound bad at all. He made a gesture with his head. “Fancy something to drink? My treat.”

It did ease her embarrassment that Idés began laughing. She knew he didn’t laugh at her, but rather at her embarrassment. She couldn’t help but join in on the laughter. He truly had an affectionate laugh - she must admit she quite liked it. She couldn’t really remember his laugh back when they were kids, it was after all a long time ago, but she must have heard it before. She giggled once more when he spoke. ”Well, that’s one way of putting it.” She said, amused by his colourful description.

“Actually,”She said quite a bit too passionately, but also gleaming from his interest in her study. ”It’s obviously not a topic that we are introduced much to in the study of Literature, and the little that we are introduced to does write about Zeals as taboo. The whole rhetoric in academic articles surrounding 17th century literature also approaches the subject as quite taboo. But -” She added a dramatic pause, even lifting up a finger as well to mark its importance. ”There is actually a bit of 17th century literature that praises the use of zeals; for example poems that refer to them as tools or extensions of the human body, there is even an epic that describes  Zeals as helpful remedies to fix a broken soul. There’s quite a variety of interpretations of whether these poems and epics actually are describing Zeals and not some other thing, but I believe they do.”

This was perhaps a bit of a passion project for her. She had to admit that. ”Now I’m the one rambling,” She said with a light laugh. As the sun peeked through the clouds once again she could feel its warmth on her cheeks and sighed pleasantly. It was such lovely weather. As Idés suggested something to drink she looked up, noticing first at this moment that they had been nearing the study café. She hadn’t been aware of where they had been walking, she had purely just been enjoying Idés company without noticing her surroundings. ”Sure, I would love a coffee right now.” She said, smiling at him for a moment before she turned her attention towards the café.

Upon entering the café, Edita was immediately met with the glorious smell of freshly grinded coffee beans. Truly nothing could compare to that. For a second she stood there, just breathing it all in. Then she looked back at Idés with a smile. "What are you gonna get?" She asked, then looking towards the very chick blackboard where the options was listed. Hmmm, what would she get?