“Philosophy?”

“You’ll start sounding like Sensei. Breckenridge?”

“Too far from Storm Chargers.”

“What does that matter?”

“Dustin, if you don’t live near where you work, you’ll be fired for tardiness. Despite how much Kelly loves you.”

“Good point.”

“Drama?”

“No, you’re good enough at that already.”

“Hey!”

“Ow! I was kidding!”

“Whatever.”

“7th Street?”

“That’s not a very good neighborhood.”

“So? It’s not that bad. And we’re ninjas.”

“I’m not coming to visit you if you live down the street from a strip club.”

“Fine. Could you take a surfing class?”

“I already have. To fill my PE requirement.”

“Could you take the same class twice, for your elective too?”

“I wonder if I could get away with that…”

“How about--“

“Opelika.”

“What?”

“Try looking for something on Opelika. It’s nice and safe, and close to everything except the track and the Academy. And nothing’s close to those except each other.”

“Hey! There are a couple apartments listed there.”

“Good. We can check them out later.”

“Ecology. You should take an Ecology class.”

“Really?”

“You’re always talking about saving the beaches.”

“That’s a great idea. That’d be fun.”

“Sounds like a plan then.”

“I’m going home to get online and check class availability. Can I drop you off somewhere?”

“Nah, thanks. I think I’m gonna go talk to Marah.”

“Good for you. Do you know what you’re going to say?”

“Not exactly. But I guess it will come to me.”

“Or you’ll stand there looking stupid.”

“You’re not helping.”

“I wasn’t trying to. Okay, I’m sorry. Good luck, okay? Meet you at Storm Chargers around two? We’ll check out the apartments.”

“Okay, sounds good. Later, Tori.”

“Bye, Dustin.”

As Tori walked off toward the waterfall, Dustin stood and dusted himself off. He headed toward the student dorms and a conversation he'd been putting off.

He had been so totally relieved to find out Marah and Kapri had survived the destruction of Lothor's ship. Relieved, and excited to see that they appeared to have joined their side. But that was the last moment he'd been sure of his feelings.

'Cause that night after the battle, as stories were told, wounds were healed, and returned ninja students were settled in, Cam had paused in his tale of what had happened on the ship. It hadn't been a long pause. Barely a second or so. And Dustin probably wouldn't even have noticed if Cam hadn't been looking at him at the time.

And sure enough, Cam had pulled him aside when the team had finally made a move to separate that night.

And he'd told him. He told Dustin what Marah had said. Asking if he was still mad at her, if he was interested. And there came his confusion.

'Cause he wasn't but he was.

Mad and interested, that is.

Most of the anger had disappeared with Beevil. Left behind had been the hurt and disappointment. He'd really thought Marah'd wanted to change. And even after it all, some part of him still trusted what he'd seen in her eyes.

Interested was another story. There was a time when they'd been talking that he thought they might have had a chance. It would be so cool if they could get back to that again. But it would take a lot of work.

He stopped outside her door, staring at her whiteboard. It was empty of any messages. Maybe as a 'transfer student' she hadn't had time yet to make friends.

But in the place of messages she'd written her name with a flourish. And sparkles. And a bright shiny sun.

It was cool. And so very her to him. She was just too up to be down. Too light to be dark. If that made any sense.

He raised his hand to knock, but before he could he heard a sound on the other side. An odd sound. Okay, maybe not exactly odd. But one he hadn't been expecting. So a bark wasn't unusual in the dorms. But coming from Marah's room?

"Marah?" he called instead of knocking. The bark came again in response, followed by shushing.

"Dustin?" she asked, and the door opened. She held it open just a crack, and appeared to be having difficulty keeping it there.

"Hi," he started. Her strange behavior distracted him from whatever he had intended to say. "Is everything okay?"

"Of course," she answered. "Why wouldn't it be?"

Nice cover, but the barker had other ideas. A black and white dog finally succeeded in pushing past her and out into the hall. He jumped up on Dustin excitedly.

"No! Come back here!" she cried, trying desperately to pull the half-grown puppy back into her room. The door was open now so Dustin walked in, the puppy eagerly following him. She shut the door quickly behind them.

"Oh, Dustin, I'm so sorry! I know it must be against the rules or something. But please, don't make me get rid of him. He's been with me like forever! Well, not forever. But all the ever he's ever known, you know? Please, Dustin. I swear, he won't be any trouble and no one will know he's here. Okay, no one else. Because you already know, and so does Kapri. And…"

Dustin tried repeatedly to break into her monologue, but she wouldn't have it. Or wasn't listening. Or something. He wondered if she was always like this when she fought for something she believed in. It was kinda cute.

"Marah!" he shouted, finally getting her attention. He guided her over to sit on her bed, and he pulled out the desk chair for himself. He was reminded of their first conversation at the track, and how similar this all was. 'Cept for the dog. Who had jumped up on the bed and sat beside Marah, panting happily.

"Marah, it's okay. Animals are allowed on campus."

"Really?" she asked doubtfully.

"Sure. I mean, the Wind Academy's all about animals. Like, you've seen the animal signs on all the element banners and stuff. There's a whole animals with your element thing. It's really cool."

He continued on excitedly, "Some people can even turn into an animal of their element. Like, Sensei's an Air ninja, and he can turn into a hawk!" He paused and scratched his head. "Well, he did turn into a guinea pig that once. But I'm pretty sure some freaky ninja energy helped with that."

"So Earth ninjas…," she motioned between herself and him.

"Are land animals. And the lion is the symbol 'cause of the whole king of the jungle thing."

She was scratching her dog's head thoughtfully. "Can you become a lion?"

He shook his head, but his lopsided smile was hopeful. "No, not yet anyway. It's like way, way, way advanced stuff. I've studied the idea, but I don't think I'm ready to try it yet. It'd be pretty cool though, huh?"

"It so would," she agreed. Dustin reached over to pet the dog too, who for his part sat adoringly soaking up the attention.

She looked so happy that her puppy was safe. Dustin couldn't help but smile. Any awkwardness that should have been between them had been abandoned in the softness of puppy fur.

"When did you get him?"

"Back when Kapri and I sold Uncle's PAM months ago. He was such a little thing then. The dog, I mean, not Uncle," she clarified unnecessarily. "I hid him in the forest before the opening of the Abyss junk. I was worried about what might go down, and he wasn't safe on the ship. I thought I'd never find him, but after the whole battle mess he was right where I'd left him, waiting on me."

"He sounds pretty special," Dustin agreed.

"His name is Ninja," she added, ruffling his ears.

"That'll be fun to yell across campus."

"I never thought about it that way," she giggled.

A silence lapsed between them till Ninja, either fed up with the quiet or having sat still for longer than any puppy naturally could, jumped off the bed and started on a sniffing trek around the room.

"So, um, Dustin, why are you here?"

With the dog gone, he didn't know what to do with his hands. He finally gave up, knowing that they would be up and gesturing when he started talking.

"I was kinda hoping we could talk." He ran a nervous hand through his hair. "You know, about junk and stuff, and well, maybe us." He was almost mumbling by the end.

But she heard him anyway. Or was thinking the same thing.

"You and Ninja were some of the only good things of the whole last year." She looked down, "Do you think we could be friends again?"

"I'd like that, a lot," he smiled. "Hey, you wanna go for a walk? Show Ninja the coolest trees on campus?"

"Sure," she said, looking up with smiling eyes.

As they left her dorm room, he paused again at her whiteboard.

"He should be on there too."

"You're right." She ducked back inside for a marker and added to the colorful image. Then she nodded approvingly, tossed the marker back in her room, and walked away with dog and boy.

They left behind a black "& Ninja" below the orange sparkling "Marah" and the yellow shining sun.