Crossing Paths

Rowan quickly returned to his room, had his bath to wash of the grime accumulated in the previous day, and then left his shared living quarters with the mess hall as his destination. All of this was done within thirty minutes, so he was sure that his roommates would still be waiting for him in the mess hall.

As he left the living quarters, with his hair slightly damp, he suddenly froze, and so did the person walking past him.

"Rowan?" Amelia Hardman asked, surprised.

"Hey Amelia, it's good to see you again." Rowan smiled at the dark haired beauty. "How have you been doing these past couple of days?" He stopped completely to chat a bit with Amelia.

"I'm doing okay, what about you?" Amelia smiled, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. Rowan's eyes darted to her rosy, round ears for a second. They were much different from the pointed ears of a Drubad.

"I'm doing fine, I guess." Rowan nodded.

"You guess?" Amelia asked, turning around, and Rowan followed. She was heading in the same direction as himself, so he figured they could walk together.

"Ah, well. I met up with my older brother. He was injured and he is in the medical bay. Kind of bitter-sweet, I guess." Rowan explained.

"Oh... I hope he's okay now." Amelia's eyes widened.

"Yeah, he'll be back on his feet and swinging in a couple days. That guy doesn't know rest." Rowan laughed. "Your room is in this wing?" He asked.

"Yeah, it's actually just a couple corridors down from yours. Who would have thought. I ran into Ben and Dustin yesterday, and they were asking if I had seen you yet." Amelia answered, making hand motions to describe where her room was located.

"Oh, I haven't seen either of them yet." Rowan sighed. Ben and Dustin were nice, and he did not mind being friends with them. He had just not had any way to get in contact with them since arriving at the base.

"Well, we can exchange contacts so they e can keep in touch. I can also send you their contact info." Amelia grinned widely. She took Rowan's hand and swiped their wrists across, and Rowan's comm flashed once. There, you have my contact information now. I can send you Dustin and Ben's info later?" She asked.

"Alright, I gotta get to the mess hall, and then off to training." He agreed.

"Oh, cool, I'm also heading there too. We can go together!"

Rowan easily agreed for the two of them to head to the mess hall together, and on the way, they constantly spoke with each other. They shared the few experiences that they had since they came here, and told each other about their roommates. Rowan also told her about the trip to the library he had made the previous day.

"Connor sounds like a bookworm, but a cool one. I would like to meet him," Amelia said with a thoughtful look, "Robin is also nice; maybe he could sing for me sometime. But Elijah... I don't know enough about him, I want to meet him too so that I can know more." She said.

Rowan looked at her weirdly for a couple of seconds before shaking his head. Amelia was probably just curious, nothing much. He had heard that humans were quite the curious race. That was what spurred them on to make so many ground breaking technological innovations.

After some time of walking, they finally reached the busy mess hall. A lot of young, new recruits bumbled around, and there were some more Nobles hanging around too. The guards were also present. Everyone wanted to get some food in their belly before returning to their duties.

Upon stepping into the mess hall, Rowan immediately heard his name.

"Rowan! Over here!" Robin stood up, waving his arms widely, with a shit eating grin spread over his face.

"Ah, that's Robin." Rowan smiled. He led Amelia over to the table where his three roommates were sitting.

"Robin! Sure took your time!" The yellow haired boy exclaimed.

"Yeah, sorry. I met a friend and had to talk to her. This is Amelia, guys. Amelia, meet my roommates." Rowan explained and introduced Amelia to the three other boys.

"Oh, hi. I'm Robin. Nice to meet you." Robin turned his eyes from his roommate, and onto the girl that accompanied him. Connor and Elijah introduced themselves too, but before any further words could be shared, Amelia heard her name being called.

"Oh, that's my roommate. I better be going. We'll catch up later, Rowan." Amelia said after seeing who it was that called her.

"Alright, see you later." Rowan waved and the human girl departed. Rowan sat down on the empty spot by Robin, and the three boys turned to him.

"Since when did you know any ladies aside your mother?" Elijah asked, looking at Rowan suspiciously.

"Why didn't you introduce us to Amelia sooner? She's good looking." Robin chirped, using his hands to support his head, while his eyes had hearts in them.

"She is good looking." Was all that Connor said before turning back to his food.

"...You guys..." Rowan was speechless. He just shook his head before getting up from the table and going to get something for himself to eat.

When he got back, he saw that Robin was still looking and acting weird, so he did not spare a moment, before slapping him upside the head.

"Snap out of it and stop being weird." He rolled his eyes while the yellow haired boy nursed the back of his head.

"You didn't have to hit me that hard..." Robin whined.