When I felt the hand on my shoulder a few moments later, I wasn’t as surprised as I had been the first time.
“Hey, sorry about them, they aren’t all that friendly to most people anyway, let alone… well…”
I rolled my eyes at Cale, and he fell into step beside me.
“The notorious student-spawn of the most feared tainted creatures in our world?” I supplied.
“Right,” his mouth quirked up a bit at the side, “I knew you had some charm hidden away in there somewhere.”
“So who were those people?” I asked, as I found a new seat just outside one of the doors to what looked like a giant greenhouse.
He sat next to me and pulled a bundle out of the pack slung over his shoulder. I eyed it enviously; I’d have to get one of those to carry all my books, and… my lunch…
“Dammit, I forgot.” I accidentally said aloud, as he unwrapped a baguette.
Smiling a little at the direction of my gaze, he broke his sandwich in half and handed over the second half to me, which I accepted after only a moment’s hesitation and a mumbled thanks.
“Well,” he said, leaning back against the wall, “those are the spoilt-rich spawn of the most important people in the kingdom, which, essentially makes them the most important people here as well.”
I thought about Cale’s own father, who was the commander of the King’s Guard, which was a position that constantly warred with my father’s own position as Commander of the Black Guard.
“Do you usually sit with them?” I asked, when what I really meant was aren’t you one of them.
“Usually, yes.”
“Won’t they be angry at you, for… you know…”
He laughed, “they don’t own me… although, technically, one day Hazen will, and even Rose can order me about. They generally don’t abuse that power though, not at the Academy anyway.”
It took longer than it should have for me to process what he had just said, and then dredge up what I knew of the royal family.
“The Prince and Princess…” I turned my eyes back to the bench beneath the cherry tree, where they had all gathered now, occasionally casting furtive glances to where Cale and I sat.
All except for the dark-featured boy, who still exuded boredom.
“Yes, Rose is the little girl with dark hair, she’s your age I think, nearing her last year here. Hazen is the one who looks like Rose, he’s my age, they kept us back for commissioned training because of our powers… and I suppose because of our families too. We grew up together inside the castle, he really isn’t so bad as he seems.”
I squinted at the girl with dark hair, making sure that the faint shimmering of her skin which labeled her as a fae wasn’t just a trick of the sunlight that had initially fooled me, but once I was sure, I drew back, confused.
“But Rose is fae, and Hazen isn’t?”
Cale turned to me with raised brows.
“The queen is a fae, you didn’t know that?”
I blushed, and busied myself with my baguette half until I could think of a suitable answer without lying.
“I didn’t really grow up around here, we only moved after my mother died a few years ago, so that I could start training. The tutors refused to travel far from the kingdom when they knew who they were going to be working with.”
“So are they starting you in beginner classes then?”
“I don’t think so,” I thought back to my last lesson, “they really should have, though. I guess they would only want me here for as short a time as possible.”
Cale made a face, and rolled up his sandwich wrapping into a ball, throwing it back into his bag.
“People can be so narrow-minded.”
I though that was as good a time as any, to bring up the question I had been burning to ask.
“How can you not be scared of me?”
He sat up straight at that, and turned on the seat to better face me. At his full height, my head barely brushed the top of his shoulder, and his eyes flicked over me in a way that left no doubt in my mind as to just how frightening he found me.
“No offence, little synfee, but you really just don’t look that scary.”
“You realise that’s the whole point, right?”
He chuckled, “I don’t mean your physical appearance, it’s your…” he frowned and gestured a hand to indicate my body.
“You just gestured to my physical appearance.” I laughed.
He shook his head, still frowning, and then peered closer, as if inspecting something.
“No, I meant your aura, it’s something that I can—wait, you’re wearing a glamor!”
I winced at that.
“Not this again, Hectarte said the same thing, but—”
“You are,” He interrupted, “it’s moulded to you like a second skin, like it’s been there forever.”
His voice was slightly accusatory, and I acknowledged that he was probably starting to come around to the opinion of the rest of his friends after all.
“I’ve never even heard about it until today.” I insisted.
He gave an absent nod, still focused with a narrow-eyed intensity on my cheek, seeing something that I couldn’t.
“Yes, I can’t see a tear anywhere, you’ve never lifted it. Sometimes shape-changers who haven’t learnt to control their ability build up a glamor over time.”
“I’m not a shape changer, I was tested this morning.”
“Oh?” This snapped him back to attention, and his eyes returned to mine. “Interesting.”
Somewhere, a bell sounded, and I quickly juggled with my books, trying to find my timetable.
“What do you have next?” Cale asked, standing and swinging his bag over his shoulder.
“Specialised elven elementals.”
He chuckled, and grabbed my timetable.
“I’ll show you where to go, and don’t worry, I know what you’re thinking, but you won’t be the only human in a class full of pointies. Some of the stronger benders have to study the elemental magic too.”
“Thanks.” I muttered, keeping my head down as I followed his lazy path through the moving crowd of people, who all gave me a wide berth.
“So what did you specialise in?” Cale asked over his shoulder.
“I’m a bender, and of the elementals; I got fire, wind and water.”
He jolted to a stop, causing me to run into him. I quickly dropped back as he turned on me with an incredulous expression causing the people around us to pause too.
“You specialised in three elements?”
Common manners would have demanded that I at least answer him, but caught in the sudden circle of eyes, I could only blush and shoulder past him, snatching my timetable as I went. When he caught up to me, he didn’t try to take it back, but I was almost relieved at his presence, because I really had no idea where I was going.
“Sorry, you just shocked me.” He said, falling back into step beside me.
“It’s fine,” I muttered, still keeping my head down, “but I don’t really want everyone knowing that I’m more of a freak than they already think I am.”
“Some will hate it, sure, but others will respect you for it. Having bender abilities alone can often be difficult to master, but combining that with even one other elemental force… well, to be honest, I don’t know how you haven’t imploded yet.”
I found myself laughing again, and he shot me a quick, almost relieved look, and then motioned to the building we had come to stand outside of.
“It’s the third door down, better get in there early, so you can find a seat up the back. Don’t go too far back though, if you have Carren, he’ll just make you move forward so he doesn’t have to shout. I’ll meet you back here once you’re done.”
I wanted to tell him that he really didn’t have to do that, but he was already walking away, and so I moved toward the classroom that he indicated, and soon found myself in a huge auditorium. Moving half-way up the slope of seats, I chose one on the left h
and side, and quickly set out the relevant book for this subject. I tried not to look up as people came into the room, but with the auditorium lights behind me, it was actually a lot easier to observe without being observed in return. A few times, people came to sit near me before actually taking notice of me, and after that, they hastily moved away, so that I ended up with a broad circle of empty seats around me.
While the majority of the class did seem predominately elven, both pure and half-breed— discernible by the harshness of their elven-based features—there were also a handful of human and fae in the room. While the fae had their slender beauty, and barely-shimmering skin, the elves had pinned-back, tapered ears and sharp, pointed features. Though many generations of crossbreeding between the species had begun to lessen the more dramatic dissimilarities.
The last to walk through the door was the Prince Hazen himself. He spotted the stretch of empty seats around me and began climbing the steps to where I sat. He didn’t actually look at me once, and even sat right in the row below me, something that I might have been secretly grateful for, if I wasn’t sure that he simply considered himself too important to take notice of me.
The professor started lecturing without much of a preamble, and paused only to ask those up the back to move forward so that he didn’t have to shout. I supposed that this meant he was Professor Carren. He explained that the practical lessons wouldn’t start for another month, so I was confident that this would be one of my more painless subjects. That is, until he announced that he was partnering us up for practical ‘projects’, outside of class time, instead.
“I understand that we all have commitments outside of Academy hours, but since this specialisation subject is so different for so many people, I’ll be splitting you up into partnerships that depend on your own element.”
That had me mortified and hopeful in equal degrees, mainly because I was sure no other person in the Academy had specialised in three elements—that much I gathered from one of my tutors, who had declared that I was lying about the whole thing—which might mean that they wouldn’t partner me with anyone.
“Chan, you’re with Green, Grendle with Farlow, Kelly with Drackon, Harrow with Read and Sekron—who is absent again, as luck would have it…”
Surely I heard that wrong.
The dark head in front of me snapped up, and I could see him scanning the room for me, until realisation dawned and he slowly turned in his seat to peer at me. Apparently, so had the rest of the class, even Carren stopped reading off names and cleared his throat.
“Is there a problem Hazen?”
Those dark eyes were still fixed on me, and for the first time, I saw a new emotion replace his ever-bored expression. Astonishment.
“No, Professor.” He spoke with his eyes still on me, and I felt powerless to do or say anything under that heady gaze, until he finally turned back in his seat. “I thought these were supposed to be groups of two?”
When the eye contact broke, I felt as if all the air had been sucked out of my lungs, and I slouched back in my seat, baffled.
“There is an odd number of students in the class, and you, Harrow and Sekron are the only three in the Academy with such… unique elemental specialisations, there is limited scholarly knowledge in your situation, I feel that you will learn better from each other.”
I didn’t hear Hazen’s reply through the sudden roaring in my ears, and for the second time that day, I was sure that my face was glowing as red as my hair.
At least he didn’t go into specifics, right? I tried to console myself, barely listening as Carren finished pairing off his list of names.
“At least once a week, I want you to spend time working through your own element’s chapter, with your partner. And by the time we start practical lessons next month, I expect everyone to be fully prepared. You’ll each be opening the lesson with a demonstration.”
So much for my favourite class.
“Professor Carren?” One of the elven girls near the front had just shot her hand into the air.
“What is it Chan?”
“What if we have more than one element?”
There was a certain smug tone to her voice, and for once, there wasn’t anyone staring at me, as they were all too busy staring at the elven girl.
“Then you’ll spend two afternoons a week with your partner, one for each element.”
I was so mortified then, that I almost shot a hand into the air myself, simply in protest of spending two more ‘sessions’ with Hazen—and Cale, apparently—than what everyone else was forced to do. But I really didn’t want to admit something like that in front of a room of people who already had reason enough to snigger behind my back. And besides, Hazen didn’t have to know that I had three elements. I would just tell him that I had one. The trouble was Cale, who had walked me right to his own class, but disappeared before it even started. Perhaps he would keep quiet about my elemental powers if I agreed to keep quiet about him skipping class?
Fully intending to lie to Hazen about my elemental abilities, I was relatively cheered by the end of the lesson, and sat back in my seat again when the bell rang, waiting for everyone to clear out of the room before I made a move. Unfortunately, Hazen lingered also, taking too long to gather his books, and finally, actually turning to me before he walked back down to the bottom of the auditorium.
“What days are you free?”
When I realised that he was going to wait around until I answered, I quickly gathered up my own books and began to move toward the exit myself.
“I really don’t mind… I mean… just, whenever, ok?”
He watched as I hurried out the door, almost running straight into Cale, who caught my arms, laughing.
“Easy, little synfee. I saw your timetable, and I know you have Ranger Physics next. I’m sure you must just love to hunt things down, but you’re supposed to be dissuading the cannibalistic image, aren’t you? No need to be so eager.”
I scoffed and elbowed out of his grasp, still a little rattled at how easily he touched me, but the smart-ass reply died on my lips as Hazen came out of the classroom behind me. Cale noticed, but his smile was easy when he turned it on the other, who actually quirked his lips in response.
“I’m going to walk Purple-Eyes to the gym, I’ll meet up with you soon.” Cale said to him, giving a kind of mock salute that almost had me nervous that he was going to get into trouble for taunting the future King, but Hazen only nodded, turning to go the other way.
Perhaps I never would have noticed the look that passed between them as Cale began to lightly push me in the right direction, but when I realised that Hazen was going to walk off without saying anything about our scheduled training sessions, I looked back at him in habitual reaction, reluctant to have to be the one to bring it up. And that’s when I saw it.
Hazen had that blank expression back again, the one he had worn when I first saw him, and I again felt that he noticed nothing in front of him, except that he was maintaining eye-contact with Cale, who looked mildly annoyed. The moment didn’t last any longer than a second, but I felt that the time dragged until Hazen finally looked away and Cale proceeded to steer me away.
“What was that?” I asked when we were out of earshot.
He looked down at me, and arched an eyebrow.
“What was what?”
“Never mind. So you skip class often?”
He laughed at that, and drew my arm through his. I left it there, feeling a little awkward, mainly because I wanted to placate him enough to get him to agree to the one-session-a-week plan with Hazen.
“I don’t need to be there, little synfee. Neither does Hazen, but he’s much more obedient than I am. I suppose it works for him, if he’s going to let advisors boss him around for the rest of his life.”
“Well we got paired up, Hazen, you and me, for one session of practical a week.”
“Three sessions.” He made a tsking sound, and waved a finger at me.
“How did you know th
at, you didn’t even go to class?”
“Carren caught up with me earlier, he was worried that people would give you a hard time today.”
Suddenly, Cale’s strange behaviour made sense, and I wanted to hit myself. The professor had asked him to befriend me, and had even grouped me together with him and Hazen to make it stick. I would have been flattered that someone was looking out for me, if I wasn’t temporarily disappointed that Cale hadn’t been struck with the sudden urge to be nice to me. It might have been a romantic notion, but I still hoped that someday I would randomly stumble across someone who simply didn’t care about my heritage, though Cale certainly did a very good job at acting like he didn’t.
He walked me to the gym, and deposited me at the door with a flourish of a bow before disappearing, and I left my books at the door with all the other bags and knapsacks and book-piles. Ranger Physics quickly became my favourite subject of the day, as the Professor—a handsome human man by the name of Arrol—had everyone working too hard to spare the time it would take to stare at me. And the physical exertion was nice too, if I were honest. Only human’s seemed to be able to inherit the ranger abilities, so the class was devoid of elves or fae, but their abilities were all far superior to mine, and by the end of the lesson, I was beginning to understand why I hadn’t specialised in the ranger ability despite my previous tutor’s proclamation that I had. This left me with a heavy heart as I shuffled out at the end of the day, knowing that it would likely be one of the classes taken off my timetable.
To my relief, Cale wasn’t waiting for me when I got outside, and I immediately took off for the office, hoping to get my new timetable and be on my way home as soon as possible. I opted for one of the paths that I was familiar with, from my childhood walks with my father, as apposed to going through the main gates again. It was a small service gate in the wall behind the Black Guard barracks, which were isolated enough in themselves. They weren’t really barracks, not like the soldier’s barracks used by the Kings Guard, only a series of connected buildings around a centre courtyard that they used for training. Usually I would have gone in and worked off the stress of the day with whoever was running the afternoon drill, but I was just too drained, both emotionally and physically. So I bypassed the barracks and headed straight for the service gate, which was unlocked, as always. It led into an abandoned walled garden, and though the wall was in a crumbling state of disrepair—so much so, that I could skip right over it—the forest around this particular stretch of the castle wall was so dense, that it barely needed guarding anyway.
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