Puzzle pieces

With her morning chores done and her breakfast half eaten, Tashia sat at the table with a fork full of egg halfway to her partially opened mouth as she stared off in confusion about just what had happened the night before. There were few people left in the cafeteria to worry about her at this moment and it wasn’t until some random girl sat down next to her, plopping down her tray a little aggressively on the wooden table.

“Oh, sorry, I wasn’t trying to scare you. Darn butter fingers and all,” the mystery girl said as Tashia nearly jumped through the ceiling while the egg was catapulted from her fork to the adjacent wall.

“It’s fine, I was just deep in thought,” Tashia said as she painfully watched the egg slowly run down the wall.

“Were you thinking about the mystery boy from yesterday that doesn’t seem to be here now?” Tashia looked over at her new breakfast companion to ask her why she had come to that conclusion only to be met with the biggest and brightest green eyes looking back at her that seemed to compliment her bright red hair and freckles rather well.

“Well, um..,” was all she was able to get out before being interrupted.

“Me too. I sat with him yesterday morning for a few minutes before he left for the aura stone reading. Wasn’t really much of a talker, figures coming from a dark aura user, but he did seem friendly.”

“Do I know you?” Tashia asked.

“My bad, where are my manners, my name is Kyra,” Kyra said as she extended her hand towards Tashia.

“My name's Tashia,” Tashia said as she reached out and softly shook her hand. Once again her aura sense kicked in and she discovered this girl was also a dark type user.

“Guess you can see what drew me to the mystery boy now, can you?”

“How were you able to tell I figured out your aura?” Tashia asked.

“It was written all over your face. Masking our reaction to aura sensing is something that takes a lot of practice, but to be fair, I’m also fairly good at reading people.” Kyra said as she shifted her focus to the food on her plate.

“You seem to be more knowledgeable about auras than anyone else our age here, why is that?” Kyra glanced up from her plate and locked eyes with her for a few short seconds before a quick giggle escaped her smile.

“You seem like a nice gal who can keep a secret, so I’ll tell you how. Wait, I don’t even know your name?

“It’s Tashia,” She said as she gave Kyra a weird look. Did she not hear her the first time?

“Nice to meet you Tashia. Now, like I said, you seem like someone whom I can confide in so I will tell you,” Kyra said as she got uncomfortably close to her.

“I come from a proud family of aura users who begin training their children the second they show signs of an aura. I didn’t want anyone to know this, so I’ve been hiding my family name from everyone here so they won’t treat me differently.”

“What is your family name?” Tashia asked. Kyra just giggled and moved back to where she was before.

“Oh Tashia, I do love your inquisitive mind, but I think that might be a better conversation for later. Perhaps when we become better friends we can discuss silly things like that.”

“That's fair. Then tell me this, why are you so interested in this mysterious boy?” Tashia asked.

“Well isn’t that obvious, he is kinda cute, and plus he is another dark aura user like myself. I just had to go say hi. Plus, did you hear that he reacted to the light aura stone? What are the chances of a balanced…Balance aura user? Whoever thought to name those things the same thing must’ve been mental, don’t you think?” Kyra asked. All Tashia could think of at the moment was that the mystery boy who bumped into her last night had to be the boy they were talking about now.

“Looks like I’m not the only one intrigued by him, now am I? Careful, I’d hate for my new bestie to be my rival in matters of the heart.” Kyra said in a playful tone as she got up from the table.

“Now if you will excuse me, I’m going to go look for our boy instead of going to class,” Kyra said. Tashia was a bit speechless at the moment and didn’t quite know what to say back.

“By the way bestie, his name is Brayden,” Kyra said as she turned and walked away. Tashia wasn’t quite sure what had just transpired, but she was confident that she now had a powerful if not slightly mental new friend.

*****

Kyra was walking down a lesser used hall after depositing her breakfast tray and leaving the cafeteria when she was suddenly grabbed by the forearm and pulled into an intersecting hallway.

“Why are you toying with the other aura users of the church instead of working to complete our mission?” the mysterious man asked.

“It is not a bad idea to make allies here, especially rebellious ones like her,” Kyra said as she shook off the grip the man had on her arm. “And if we are going to talk about pointless idiotic things, then why in the world are you even risking coming here? This could potentially ruin your plan worse if you were caught here.”

“Do not doubt my abilities and just do what I sent you here to do.”

“And I will, but if you don’t trust me to get it done my way, then send somebody else. Otherwise, leave me be to get it done,” Kyra snapped back. The mystery man glared back at her and vanished without saying a word.

“That's what I thought.”