Chapter 9

Jace awoke to a light knocking on his door. When he opened his eyes, he was blinded by a white light. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯?! He wondered in confusion. He looked around panicked, his head spinning in confusion. Finally, he managed to calm down and take a real look around him. It was just his room aboard the 𝘌𝘯𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥, and he had been too tired to shut off the light before he slept. It was still all new to him. In his eyes, he was in the lap of luxury. He's never had even a semi-comfortable bed, let alone a personal room. He wasn't sure how he felt about it, it was new and he wasn't used to new.

The light knocking came again at his door, and he started. In the shock of waking up, he had forgotten what had awoken him. He glanced down at himself, he was still wearing the clothes from the day before, but that didn't bother him. He'd never owned more than one pair of clothes in his life anyway. He scrambled to his feet and toward the door. It took him a second to remember how to open it, but then it slid open smoothly. He stepped back and was greeted by the sight of Sara standing on the other side of the door. She took one look at his bleary eyes, tousled hair and clothes, and gave a slight grin.

Jace just stood there for a second, his sluggish mind trying to cope with the wave of yesterday's memories and Sara's social status. She just stood there as well her arms crossed expectantly until Jace realized she was waiting for a greeting.

"H-hi." He fumbled out, not sure what else to say.

She smiled again. "Aren't you going to invite me in?" She asked, leaning towards him.

Jace stepped – more like stumbled – back. "C-come in," he said.

She flew past him, then flopped onto his bed, staring at the light in the ceiling and her legs hanging off the side of his bed at the knees. Jace had never met a merchant's daughter, but he was pretty sure they didn't act like 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵.

Sara let out a sigh, "I'm glad you're finally awake. This morning has been the worst. I had to talk to my father this morning at it was awful! I basically had to beg and plead to let me go to the Cadet Academy. I'm lucky my grandpa was there, or else it would've been completely hopeless. I don't know why everyone compliments my father's 'honeyed tongue', he's just a grumpy old man." She slid further onto his bed and propped herself up on her elbow. "And somehow everyone found out who I am! So now they're all walking on eggshells around me. Even Sam and Charlie are all "yes ma'am, no ma'am with me. Ugh, it's the worst!" She stared accusingly at Jace. "Now you don't even start doing the same thing to me or I'll slap you." She glared at him as if he'd already done the deed.

Jace relaxed. This wasn't Sarantani Mortonesse, second daughter to the main Mortonesse family, basically nobility (Or not basically in some cases). This was Sara, the girl with whom he had played card games on the tugship and talked about Stryker's stories together. He was super relieved she didn't expect any proper behavior from him, had he didn't know a thing about etiquette and how to treat a lady beyond common sense and his gut.

He grinned at her, his relief causing him to put his guard down a little bit more than normal. He then bowed at the waist, his torso parallel to the floor and his arm outstretched with his head down, like some butler greeting his master. "Oh, your majesty, how could I ever offend you in such a way. Walking on eggshells? Nay, I shan't walk at all for fear of disturbing the air around you." He said eloquently, or what he thought was eloquently at least.

The room was silent. Jace looked up, a little worried he had offended Sara in some way. He saw her staring at him, her mouth agape.

"Who are you, and what have you done with Jace?" she asked, her eyes wide.

Jace immediately straightened, then blushed. He wasn't sure how to answer a question like that. He wasn't sure what had come over him, but it had seemed like the right response. He settled on a simple shrug.

Sara got up and came closer to him. "No really, what happened to you? You get a spell cast on you last night or something? That was out of the blue." She looked him over as if she could find some evidence that he was a fake Jace.

He shrugged again and blushed a deeper red, "I dunno, I was just reacting to you." He sat on his bed next to where she'd been laying. She sat next to him the pushed him with her shoulder.

"I like this new you, you should bring him out more often." She grinned, a slight tone of teasing in her voice."

Jace shrugged, then decide they'd talked about him long enough. "I do feel a little bad though, not treating you like your social standing. I mean, shouldn't that bring some respect?"

To his surprise, her mood went serious all of a sudden, she laid back again and stared at the ceiling. When she finally spoke, her voice was low and sincere.

"I'm not kidding about wanting to start from scratch, I don't want my status to help me at all, I want to earn my own name and status. Right now, when everyone bows and scrapes at me, they're just respecting my family, mostly my father and grandfather. I don't want to lean on them anymore. I want to be respected for me and my accomplishments."

Jace turned his head to look back at her. "Y'know it's not a bad thing to use your family as a springboard for your success, it would definitely make things a lot easier."

She met his eyes. "Yeah, I know, and that's what everyone is gonna tell me. But that's not what I want, even if I have great success using my family's name, it will still be attributed to my family." She sat up; her eyes still locked with his. "Plus, what if I don't want to go down the same path as my family? Straying from my family's path while using them for strength will ultimately cause harm to their reputation, and I do still love them." She grinned playfully. "I mean, imagine how much fun it would be to mess around in the black market for a bit."

He shrugged. "I don't have any problems with that, laws are just the rules set up by a bunch of people. Who's to say they're right? The black market's easier anyway."

She pushed against his shoulder again. "See that's why I like you. Rules don't mean nothing to you!"

She turned at looked at the wall across from them and just sat there, silently for a while. Jace was surprised at how comfortable it was just to sit there. I mean weren't people supposed to talk in situations like this? But he couldn't think of anything to say that was worth breaking the comfortable silence, so he gave up and just enjoyed it.

Finally, Sara spoke up. "How are you feeling? Y'know, with Stryker and everything?"

That hit him like a sledgehammer. His eyes immediately teared up. In this vulnerable moment he was sharing with Sara, he was unable to hold back his emotions, and tears started streaming down his face. He looked over at Sara to formulate a response, then he noticed her eyes were wet too. He realized then that Sara had been almost as close to Stryker as he was, and she had probably had it just as hard, she had simply been hiding it for his sake.

Without thinking, he reached out and grabbed her, and pulled her into an embrace. Then they both began to sob uncontrollably, thinking back on the kind man who had rescued them and grown so close to them over the time they'd spent together on the tugship.

He wasn't sure how long they cried, or how long they sat in silence, just holding each other seeking and finding strength in each other's company, but when they finally pulled away, Jace felt much better, and he knew that he and Sara shared a bond that transcended social status or anything of the like.

Before they left his room, Sara stuck out her hand to him. "Best friend?" She asked.

Jace started. He'd never had a friend before, let alone a best one, but he supposed, if he had other options, Sara would be his first choice anyway. He grabbed her hand. "Best friend." He said, shaking it.

She smiled and a mischievous glint stole into her eye. "Great, now go clean yourself and change. You look like a bush from sleeping in your clothes like that."

She fled before he could think of a response for her.