Navian smirked, his cold eyes brightening up a bit. "I mean, if you missed me, it's okay to look for me, but I certainly did not call for you," he said, snatching a towel from the bar and rubbing it against his neck.
Willow blinked at him, surprised. "Okay, but someone just told me you were calling for me."
Navian hung the towel around his neck. "I don't send people, pretty thief. I could have just sent a message to your tablet. I have access to anyone I want to contact."
"Oh, okay… but why did a certain someone call me?" Willow bit down on her lower lip.
Navian raised a brow at her, wondering why she had such a thoughtful expression on her face, but he moved on to snatch the bottle of water from the spotter's table.
Willow instantly thought of the curly blond Ascendant and frowned. Why did the idiot decide to use Navian's name? Ezrik had turned her into an ashtray because of Navian, and seeing Navian being his normal grim, loner self made her not want to tell him what happened with Ezrik. Luckily, her hair covered the burn marks easily.
She wanted to groan, but she held back. She was so frustrated, because now Ezrik was going to be thinking about why Navian needed to send someone to call her.
"I'll be going now. It's been a hectic day," she told Navian, who nodded.
"I'll send my schedule to your tablet. Have a good rest, pretty thief." He waved lazily at her.
Willow frowned. "Are you really going to keep calling me that?"
Navian shrugged nonchalantly, and she scoffed at him, leaving the gym while ignoring the stares and whispers. It seemed like people were now going to know she was Navian's Fodder, and she really didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing at this point.
When she returned to her dorm, she couldn't keep the curly blond Ascendant out of her head. He had taken her Nex-9, and she was pretty sure she wasn't going to have a good night's rest like Navian told her to.
"Who the hell is this guy? What is going on?" she pulled her hair from the messy bun, stepping into the room.
"I wish I got an Ascendant as my master though," Zira's voice came sharply with a groan.
"Are you serious? You are a Dreg, remember?" Korra laughed at her.
"But I'm a pretty Dreg. I mean, look at me." Zira pouted, and their attention shifted to Willow as she walked in.
Korra's smile vanished while Zira's widened.
"Hi, Willow. Did you have a good day in school today? We didn't see you at breakfast," Korra said smugly.
Willow narrowed her eyes at Korra and completely ignored her as she made her way to the bed. She glanced at Sage's bed, where Sage sat quietly working on her tablet. Willow almost didn't notice her in the room.
Although she didn't know her well, Sage had made it quite obvious that she wanted to be left alone.
"Anyway, Kai Quell is a really powerful Enforcer. Some people say he got an Ascendant position when he first joined but became an Enforcer after an injury but he's still a strong Enforcer who can control other Enforcers," Korra began bragging out of nowhere, and Zira swooned.
"Aww, you are so lucky."
"I am." Korra grinned, side-eyeing Willow's back. "I can't even imagine what my days are going to be like. At least I know I won't be bullied and all. Oh unlike some liars who don't know what's good for them."
Willow completely ignored her. She wasn't in the mood to speak to her roommates, who she had nothing to gain from. They didn't know anything. They didn't know what was at stake here.
She moved to the bathroom, showered, applied the ointment to her neck, and put on her pyjamas.
She was feeling sad, because if it had been Navian who sent the student, she could have negotiated with him for help. But this was someone she didn't know, someone whose intentions for Nex-9 she couldn't guess.
She felt like everything she had done, getting in trouble, being bullied, obtaining the Cyro cells, and finally making Nex-9 had somehow not given her the results she wanted.
She returned to the room, glad that it was already quiet. Since she entered, Sage hadn't said a word while Korra was using the Academy's tablet.
She lay back on her bed, covering herself with her blanket, and pulled out her tablet to see that Navian had already sent his whole schedule to her.
She couldn't help but scoff as she scanned through.
Suddenly, a notification came in. She viewed the message. [Meet me at the library, second floor, history section. E.]
Her heart skipped.
E? E as in Ezrik?
But then again, she had already met Ezrik twice today, and he had been furious and murderous towards her. There was no way he wanted to see her again… but who else did she know with a name starting with E?
She rose from her bed, put on a hoodie, and left the room, completely ignoring her roommates who stared at her until she was out of sight, Sage included this time.
Making her way to the library, she found it quiet. There was no one inside, and it was late after all.
She navigated up to the second floor, weaving through the high shelves until she reached the history section.
By the tall window stood a figure, hands in his pockets, the faint glow from the glass outlining his curly blond hair.
Willow's pulse ticked faster. She didn't need to see his face to know.
"Did you send me a message?" she asked, her voice steady, though her fingers curled inside her sleeves.