Wish upon the Stars chapter 339

Benny didn't look so good. That was to be expected. I left Callie to  talk to the others about what we'd learned and deal with next steps  (sometimes it was really nice not to be in charge) and pulled my best  friend aside to talk. Since we'd left the dorm he'd been quiet and  almost listless. I hated seeing him like that, and I knew if it was me  he would have been right there to talk me through it, so I did the same.

Or  rather, I DIDN'T talk. I just sat, and waited. We were out behind the  house, sitting down and staring off through the yards of the places  nearby, and he wasn't saying a word. That was fine, I could do quiet  too. I'd leave him to his thoughts until he was ready to say something.  He sat there, staring off into space for a while, before finally saying.  "I want to just ignore it."

I shrugged. "Then do that, it's your relationship."

He  scowled at me. "What are you? Stupid? She lied to me, almost got us  both killed, or at least seriously messed up. I can't just forgive  that!"

I looked at him levelly, and his shoulders slumped  with a sigh. "Which was your point. So, what? I never talk to her again?  I can't even imagine that. I miss her already you know? It's been like  an hour since we left and I want to call and hear her voice again."

That  I could understand. "I don't think you should just never talk to her  again." I said carefully. "Hell, I won't tell you not to forgive her.  She was thinking of you at least a bit during all this. But she's also  way too subservient to her family and that's going to go badly for you  long term." I shrugged. "Which is to say...I don't know? This isn't  exactly my area of expertise. I've been in one relationship and I  basically won the lottery."

He nodded. "Yeah. I know. I  want to forgive her. But I don't want to forgive her because I want to  forgive her, you know?" I cocked an eyebrow at him (I'd taken off my  mask when I sat down) and he rolled his eyes. "I MEAN that I want to  decide based on the merits of her actions, and not be influenced by how  much I care about her."

It took real effort to hold back  the snickers, and when he looked at me I just lost it and burst out  laughing. He just glared at me. "Are you stupid?" I asked incredulously  once I finally stopped cackling. "It's a relationship. How much you care  about her is all that matters. You're not a robot Benny, even if you  sometimes swap your parts like one."

"You're a dick." He  said flatly. "But...you're not wrong. So what the fuck do I do man? Do I  call her up and try to make things work. Do I cut all ties?" He sounded  a bit scared.

"I'd say you wait." I said with a shrug.  "Give it time. Let yourself cool off, let her think things through. If  things are going to work out you both need to approach it from a place  that isn't so...fraught."

"That." Came a voice from behind  us. "Is actually surprisingly good advice." We turned to see Zeke  leaning against the wall casually. "Better than I'd have expected from  you. That girl of yours really is good for you. Color me surprised, I  thought you'd never grow up."

I stuck my tongue out at him, not at all proving his point. Benny looked up at him calmly. "What are you doing out here Zeke?"

My  uncle shrugged. "Heard about your bad news. Wanted to offer my  condolences. Also wanted to say not to hold it against her too much.  From the sound of it she tried to shield you more than most would. It  can be hard to ignore a family like that when you grow up in it." He  sighed. "I dated an elf girl once. Fucking nobility get their claws in  deep. They have a long time to practice."

Benny looked  troubled. "If it was just me I could probably get past it. But it wasn't  me, was it? I'm not on the team for the tournament. She tried to hurt  Shane and Callie. I don't know if I can get over that."

Zeke  nodded, walking over to sit down next to us, leaning back against the  wall. "You know. I've known you almost your whole life. You were just a  little thing when you and Shane became friends. And I've always thought  you were good for him, got him out of his comfort zone. But I never  really thought you had what it took to stick it out once he got his  ability. I thought he'd leave you behind, that you wouldn't be able to  keep up."

"Gee." Said Benny sullenly. "Thanks."

"My  point." Said Zeke firmly as he rolled his eyes. "Is that what you just  said was probably the first time I've considered you an actual companion  rather than a freeloader. Not that I'm saying it was right or wrong.  But it makes me think you're the kind of person who might make it out of  all this alive."

I looked at him oddly. "I always figured  you thought of Benny like my version of you. You and dad were close  when you were younger right? And he was raised outside the family, so  when the two of you were friends before you became the scary badass you  are today, right?"

He stared off into the distance,  nodding slowly. "Yeah. Yeah we were. But do you think we were the only  one?" He asked sadly. "All the candidates have friends, kid. They all  consider bringing them along. Hell, the whole Candidate process is aimed  at cultivating strong allies over time, it's natural to make sure that  your earlier and staunchest allies are the ones who come along with  you."

That made sense to me, but Zeke wasn't done. "But it  usually doesn't happen. Most of them can't keep up. They get left  behind, or just decide not to follow. I'm the exception, not the rule.  It takes...a certain kind of person, to abandon everything you have to  follow a friend into the unknown. It's not an easy life." He looked  down. "I don't recognize myself some days. The prices I paid weren't on  Eli, but they were steep. Sometimes I'm not sure if they were worth it."

I looked at him in concern. "So you regret it then? Leaving your planet? Following dad back to the clan?"

"No."  He said thoughtfully. "I guess I don't. If I had regrets I wouldn't  have made it this far. Most of them were diluted as I became what I am,  if they ever really existed." He looked at Benny. "My point is that  you're going to have to make sacrifices for this if you want it. I did. I  wasn't sure you could do that before. Now I'm a little more convinced.  That said, it might be wise to consider what's going through your head  as I say all this. Consider the attachment you feel to your family and  your reticence to leave, and then consider that Celine might be feeling  the same things."

Benny's eyes widened, as he realized  what Zeke was saying, in a roundabout way. "What happened to making  sacrifices?" He said wryly.

Zeke shrugged again. "Giving  some things up is one thing, but you don't need to give up everything.  I'm not saying to get over it or anything, I'm just saying if it's this  hard for you to let go of your family, imagine how it must be for her.  The fact that she did as much as she did is pretty damn impressive."

That  got a thoughtful nod from my best friend, and he drifted off into  silence, but I felt the need to ask another question, once that didn't  have to do with any of the drama with Celine. "What about you? Do you  still have a family? You said you had to give up a lot. Have you seen  them since? What were they like?"

A wistful smile crossed  his face. "I was part of a small clan on a C-ranked planet called  Rossus. Elijah's guardian was a crabby old bastard named Edgar, one of  his uncles. Malachai always took care of his kids, and Eli and his  brother and sister are among his favorites. Edgar was B-rank, like I am  now, though much less personable. He ignored Eli mostly, and Eli grew up  at my place."

His tone was somehow sad and happy at the  same time. Like he missed those days, but thinking about them hurt him.  "I lived with my parents, two sisters and three brothers. I was the only  one close to Eli. My mother stopped talking to me when I told her I was  leaving. My younger sister cried. My older sister told me she  understood. My brothers said they hated me."

He chuckled  glumly. "I checked in on them a few decades later. Cassia, my older  sister, became the matriarch of our clan and reached C-rank. Olena, my  younger sister, got married and had three children. My youngest brother  Cyrus became an elder in the clan. Cassia boosted the two of them to  peak E-rank with pills, and the other two died in a border dispute with a  rival family."

I was stunned. Zeke, my uncle Zeke, had  nieces and nephews. "I'd like to meet them sometime maybe." I said  quietly. "If you're interested in letting me."

Chuckling,  he patted my back. "Maybe someday, kid. But probably not soon. I stay  away from them. You know how Fantasy works. Draws us toward things that  are...interesting. I'm real interesting, and having me around might draw  them into something more interesting than they can deal with."

Benny  was still quiet, but he was looking at Zeke a bit differently. My uncle  smiled at him. "Thank you." He said sincerely. "For being there for him  when I can't. And for being a better friend than I gave you credit  for." He stood up. "Anyway. I won't bother you all. I'll just leave you  with a bit of advice. I don't have any regrets about leaving home, but I  DO have regrets. I can tell you one thing for sure. I regret the people  I DIDN'T give chances to a hell of a lot more than the ones I did, even  when it didn't turn out well."

With that uncharacteristic  bit of seriousness Zeke turned and strolled away, leaving Benny to  stare thoughtfully off into the distance. I clapped him on the shoulder  and got up to go inside. He'd talked, he'd listened, now he needed to  process. Benny had always been like that. Once he heard what he needed  to hear he needed time for it to sink in. He wasn't going to call her  right now or anything, but he would think about everything at least.

I  headed back in to meet up with Callie, who was talking to the others,  and slipped my hand into hers, twining our fingers together. She didn't  stop talking, though I caught a flash of a smile at the corners of her  mouth as she squeezed back. Seeing how bad Benny was feeling over Celine  did one good thing at least, it reminded me how lucky I was.

Sadly  being romantically lucky didn't make me lucky in other ways. We knew  more about this mess now, knew the main antagonist from the Fairieland  was a female E-ranked elf named Nalia. She didn't seem to know I was a  Candidate though she almost definitely knew about mom given Grimmengap  had been there for Aiden's explanation about that. Which meant she  didn't know about Zeke. We still had advantages, but we had to move  fast. First step was figuring out where the hell she was.