Rising Shards

Iris sighed as she and Maia sipped their smoothies while people watching. Lots of students were around, but there wasn’t anything super interesting to see. The two had just gotten done with a B.F.S. session and their shoulders were sore from all the biting, so Iris didn’t want to just tell Maia they should go back to their room for more after they walked all the way to the cafeteria.

”Boring day, huh?” Iris said.

Maia shrugged. ”I guess.”

Boring even with Maia was still pretty fun, but Iris wanted to do something.

”Wanna do something out of the blue and spontaneous?” Iris asked.

”I’m guessing you do when you put it like that,” Maia said.

”Want to continue our ranking of who I could take in a fight on campus? We left off on the Zetokalei trio,” Iris said.

”Zeta yes, Kalei probably yes unless she’s in a mood, Oka no.” Maia answered immedaitely.

”You’ve been thinking about this,” Iris said. ”Really no on me beating Oka?”

”Hell no on Oka,” Maia said. ”She’s got like child soldier training. She’d annihilate you.”

Iris huffed and crossed her arms. ”Well, how about you then, tough gal? Who’d you beat among those three?”

”Probably the same, but I would upgrade me from probably to definitely with Kalei,” Maia said. ”I would just think of all the times she’s been super annoying trying to be funny.”

”I’d put my money on you in that matchup for certain,” Iris said. ”Who’s next?”

”Greetings, students of the spirit betterment club!”

”Ugh, here we go,” Maia muttered as their conversation was interrupted by Principal Penteldtam approaching, a smoothie of his own in his hand.

”What do you want?” Iris asked. ”Er, I mean, greetings, esteemed principal dude.”

”I was seeking some assistance and am thinking two students who would be perfect for the job,” Penteldtam said.

”Which two students?” Iris asked, looking around. ”Where are they?”

”Ha, good one!” Penteldtam said. ”I need some help delivering some vital documents over to Falling Shards and Wildfire Hearts.”

”Ugh,” Iris groaned. ”Do we really wanna go to Falling Shards again?”

The last time they were at Falling Shards it was during their Kris Krag incident.

”What’s the pay looking like, Principal Penteldtam?” Maia asked.

”I’ll give you a free day off!” Penteldtam said. ”Or wait, I was told not to bribe students with days off anymore. Hm. I have some gift cards in my desk that I could let you pick from?”

”Are we talking good gift cards?” Iris asked. ”Twenty-five minimum, none of that five dollar crap.” She high fived Maia.

”Oh yeah, they’re real terrific ones!” Penteldtam said. ”I would use them myself, but I’ve also been told I can’t do that anymore either. This job kinda sucks.”

”Sounds like you’re in trouble quite a bit,” Maia said.

”Yeah, I’ve been told I’m at the ’cliff’s edge of being legally fire-able,’ which is kind of a bummer.”

”Well, maybe us delivering whatever you want us to deliver will uh, eh...” Iris trailed off, getting bored by the premise already.

”What would we be doing exactly?” Maia said, knowing where Iris would have eventually gotten to.

”Well...the funny thing about that...” Penteldtam laughed nervously before holding up what Iris and Maia would be in charge of delivering.