by Jillian Keep
Yae’ra fumed, and Gway’lin turned to them, speaking softly. “You two should run along now, there shall be some tidying up to do.”
They were both too eager to disappear, and the moment they were out of earshot, Firia was apologizing to Ala. Luka rubbed against her leg and she dipped down, giving him a rewarding stroke between the ears as they fled towards their rooms.
“I’ve never seen anything like that.”
Ala’nase looked quite pale, a strange state for the dark-skinned elf. “I hope to never see another one of those things for as long as I live,” she murmured. Though Firia couldn’t help but marvel at the fact her friend had stayed with her through it, regardless of her state of fear.
She’d never had someone she could count on. Not like that.
Not even Varuj, she thought bitterly.
She was content in her life, happy with what she shared with Mae’lin, but still she found herself thinking of the demon and wondering what she’d done to make him abandon her like that. He’d saved her father, and then just… left.
Had she asked too much of him?
“Thanks for sticking with me, Ala.”
“I was too terrified to do anything else,” the elvish woman said, breaking into a bit of laughter as Luka coiled about Firia’s calf like a kitten rather than a fox.
“Me too! I don’t even think we could have run away if we wanted to. Did you see how fast that thing was?” Firia’s voice rose with excitement as she, too, tried to laugh off the terror. “I was certain Yae’ra was going to kick us both out. I would have felt awful if I did something like that to you.”
Ala’nase batted a hand at the air and took a deep breath. “I’ll manage that on my own before too long, I’m sure,” she said with wry humour and a crooked smile.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if Yae’ra sent that after me just to get me kicked out. He hates that I’m here,” Firia lamented. “He tried to ignore me and not let me enter the competition, then he disqualified me because of what happened with Mae’lin…”
Mae’lin. The lanky elf popped to mind and she realized they were to meet with him. In the dining hall. The kind-hearted elf had always managed to get there before either of them somehow, doubtless in no small part due to those long, fast legs of his.
Ala’nase continued on, however: “I doubt he’d resort to attempted murder though, Firia.”
Firia paused in her steps. “Mae’lin,” she whispered, looking to her friend urgently. “Ala, I was supposed to meet him in the dining hall!”
The elf’s eyes went wide. “You don’t think… he’s still in there?” Though judging by the expression on her face she thought the prospect very real. And very alarming.
They took off, racing back towards the dining hall as their robes flowed in the air behind them. The great doors were battered, barely hanging from their hinges as they hung loosely, great chunks missing.
Running inside, Firia saw that there were a dozen or more students about, and some of the staff and senior students were tending to them.
Moving past the terrible mess of the hall, where the tables were overturned, askew or destroyed, she eyed the injured seeking out the familiar face of Mae’lin.
Again and again each one proved a different student, and Ala’nase said behind her. “Maybe we should check outside; he probably got away in the panic.”
Before Firia could respond, she saw him.
Sat against the wall, one of the senior students tended to him, his arm hanging limply by his side as he grit his teeth together in apparent pain.
“Oh no,” Firia murmured, but it was mostly to herself. She was already sprinting away from her friend, her eyes wide. Both apprehension and relief warred within her.
It could have been so much worse than pain.
“It’ll take a while to heal properly,” remarked the woman tending to Mae’lin, though both the elves turned their attention to Firia as she ran up.
Mae’lin’s grimace melted away as he looked up and saw her. “You weren’t hurt were you?” he asked, worried for her despite his own condition, obviously the more pressing.
“Of course not,” she scoffed, kneeling at his side, her hand going to his uninjured shoulder. “This is what you get for being early, Mae’lin.”
The lanky elf couldn’t help but grin as the student finished tying his arm up in a sling. “Usually it just gets me the first pudding, right off the top,” he replied as Ala’nase came up, joining the other two.
“Nobody likes a man who comes too early, Mae’lin, take notes now ahead of time,” replied the nearly out-of-breath Ala’nase.
Firia rolled her eyes as she pushed herself off her knees. “I don’t know what they’re going to do about exams with so many people injured…”
The senior student finished her job then rose up, brushing down her sleeves. “Only one student was injured so bad it seems he’ll have to leave the academy for the time being,” they remarked before peering about. “And it seems he was the one responsible for the fiasco to begin with.” With a roll of their eyes she said, “Foolish first-years,” as she began to walk away. “Dabbling in things they don’t understand.”
As Firia’s nose crinkled she stared down at Mae’lin. “Hey, did you see who did this?”
With some help from her, he rose up a bit shakily. Though the tall elf seemed more anxiously startled than physically injured. “Only a glimpse. He wasn’t one of the students I knew,” he remarked, his damaged limb dangling in its sling as he cradled it. “Soon after the creature rose up, things went flying, people went running and… well, someone tripped. I tried to help him, but then I got hit with a table,” he remarked with a wince.
“Could be worse,” remarked Ala’nase, “could’ve gotten hit by the thing itself.”
Remembering the claws it sported, that did indeed seem the more serious threat, and Firia nodded.
“Well, you’re safe now. Ala and I took it down.” Firia grinned mischievously.
Mae’lin looked at her with humour in his eyes, until… “You’re not serious.”
“Oh, she is,” replied Ala’nase. “She’s got a real death wish.”
“I thought it was a test,” Firia responded, her body pressing in against the larger elf’s form, her hand surreptitiously slipping into his.
“Some test,” he remarked, looking at her with wide eyes. Though when he squeezed her hand and smiled, she could see the pride there, if tinged with a bit of fright. “That’s amazing though… wow. Wow!” He shook his head. “I wish I could’ve helped.”
“It wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be,” interjected Ala’nase, quite blasé about the whole thing.
“Yea, we… kind of almost got kicked out because of it.”
Mae’lin actually recoiled at the news. “Almost kicked out for… saving everyone?” He seemed rather disbelieving as they began to move along. “That’s insane, Firia! I mean… I understand not wanting to encourage everyone to follow in your footsteps and tackle giant, roaming monsters, but…”
“Well we’re not kicked out, are we? So just be thankful for small favours and some kindred spirits who would rather I not fail in this place, I guess.” Firia clasped his hand tighter, her body subtly moving against his. “I should get you back to your room.”
Mae’lin pressed back against her, and she noticed he couldn’t help but smile affectionately. “Thanks,” he said softly. “I heard mention they’d give us the rest of the day off to recuperate… generous, huh?”
“Yeah, they’re practically saints,” said Ala’nase, pushing on ahead. “I’ll catch you two lovebirds later then. No point in being a third-wheel!” She waved over her shoulder as she headed off outside.
Firia thought she’d never leave and a smile graced her lips as she began tugging Mae’lin towards his dorm room. “I’m really glad you’re okay, but you know… we’re going to have to study a lot harder to make sure you’re up to snuff.”
With a laugh, Mae’lin grinned a bit bashfully a
s they made their way to the residences and climbed their way up. “If it wasn’t for you, I don’t think I could’ve kept my enthusiasm going this long as is. It’s a little scary how much work it takes to succeed here. Especially after all the work it took just to get in here,” he said as they opened the door to his room.
“Just another benefit of being poor, I guess,” Firia teased as she closed the door behind them. Her heart thudded as she looked over him. He was like an injured fawn, and she just wanted to coddle him. Nurse him back to health.
She didn’t know why. She’d never truly felt an emotion like this prior, and even her fear for her father’s life wasn’t entirely comparable.
It was as if she’d been shown just how fragile her mortality is.
How fragile his mortality was.
She had no way of knowing the future, of knowing what might happen to them, but she knew of the genuine affection she had for him. The true excitement he made her feel. He was her friend, someone she could trust and rely upon, but he was something more.
Something she never figured she could have.
Firia lifted herself up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his, her arm snaking around his neck and pulling his head to hers. Passion poured out of her as she reveled in the fact that they were both there, alive and alone.
Mae’lin had but the one arm to wrap around her in return, but he held her tight with it, meeting her lips with his own intensity.
He was such a gentle, considerate man, yet she could feel the heat of desire beneath the surface as their lips met. Feel the excitement that ran through him as they shared the private moment in his bed chambers that they’d never had before.
Academy life had consumed them whole, devoured all their time, their energies, so it was such a sweet relief to take the little moments for each other. To steal away from the nonstop race through the ranks of the academy and revel in one another.
It wasn’t the sort of fire she had with Varuj; it was its own thing. Different, but she dared not contrast them.
This was the affection she should crave and seek out. The innocent and honest lust between two students of the Academy. Even though he was an elf, even though there were some that looked down on him for being with her, he didn’t care.
All he wanted was her, and her blood began to warm to him.
With each passing moment she became more and more wrapped up in his body, in the sensation of his mouth toying with hers. All of the sweet, youthful seduction made her heart patter and her body squirm.
Without realizing it, she had put so much of her weight against him, her squirming causing the lanky elf to fall back atop his bed with her in tow.
Far from being a hard landing, they hit upon the soft mattress comfortably, and Mae’lin gave little more than a soft “oomph” of a noise as he held her with his one good arm.
It did, however, break their kiss, and she looked into his wide, elven eyes. The sparkle of affection so prominent, unmistakable. There were no lies in his gaze; he was true and honest, and his affection for her was no less so.
“People will be so upset when they find out about us for sure,” he remarked, a hint of amusement in his voice just before he kissed her lips again with a moist smecking sound.
“We’re used to being social pariahs,” she reminded him between the flurry of mouths and tongues. She didn’t give a shit what anyone would say about them.
This was something real.
Something good.
Something more than she could ever hope to have with Varuj.
She shifted uncomfortably at the unbidden reminder of the demon, trying to force the dark thoughts of his abandonment away. They couldn’t interfere with her relationship with Mae’lin anymore. She was finally free to like someone without being torn in five directions, so why couldn’t she just enjoy this?
His hand rubbed over her back, through the magician robes she wore, stopping above her waist. The curiously handsome Mae’lin paused though, gave her a few more soft kisses then asked gently, “Are you okay?” He’d sensed her turmoil somehow, and looked to her with those big, elvish eyes of his to try and discern what was wrong, as if reading tea leaves.
She was always flushed, but now guilt twisted with her arousal.
She wanted him. Surely she did. He made her feel loved. It was a safe and comforting feeling that she craved, but she couldn’t deny her longing for the absent demon.
Her eyelashes fluttered down and she forced a smile, enjoying how numb her lips felt from his mouth. “Yea. Just worried we’ll be caught is all.”
Mae’lin gave her an understanding smile as his hand stroked comfortingly along her spine. “It’ll be okay,” he remarked, his voice a bit lower from their long make-out session. “We should get back to studying if we want to keep doing well anyhow.”
He shifted, and she could feel it, the bulge of arousal in his loins. She’d felt it before with Varuj, and felt it again then with Mae’lin, though he was so gentle and understanding as he shifted so they could both sit upon the bed. “So where should we start today?” he asked with a bright smile.
How could he so easily shift focus? Even she was having issues with her hazy thinking, and she licked her lips thoughtfully. She tasted him there and she longed for more, but something stopped her.
Why couldn’t she just get over Varuj? He was gone! She might never see him again, and she’d be better off because of it! All he did was confuse her and make her feel things she never wanted to feel.
“Probably at something that doesn’t require much writing,” she finally said with a sigh.
“That probably means we should work on more writing,” he said with a cheeky grin before breaking into a laugh as he pulled out one of their books with his good hand.
Chapter 35
The days were going by so quickly, despite her conflicted feelings for Mae’lin, the nonstop treadmill of classes, coursework, and study keeping Firia busy both day and night. Though the growing companionship between her and Mae’lin was a balm to her, soothing the stresses and anxieties of the academy.
After the first class of the day, Firia was surprised to find herself walking alone. Neither of her usual companions had joined her afterwards, though for Mae’lin it wasn’t particularly odd.
The eager elf often went ahead to secure them study materials, a seat in class, or lunch quickly so that they’d have no waiting to be done. She couldn’t figure out how he did it even, the tricky fellow.
As she wound her way through the campus, however, she came to a spot where she heard something odd. The sound of whispering carried far, further than a lower tone, though whatever conspirators chattered away seemed unaware of that fact.
Firia was not, by nature, a nosy individual, though something seemed so familiar about the two voices, and they came from the all-too-familiar nook in the gardens where so much had happened in her time attending the academy.
She held her breath as she moved nearer, simple curiosity edging her forward. Her hair had grown long since she started the Academy, and it was pulled into a high ponytail, letting her hear a bit better.
“What do you take me for?” came a sharp voice, and Firia recognized it instantly after drawing close. It was nearly impossible to mistake Ala’nase for anyone else when she was scolding someone. “No way, find someone else for your twisted little–”
She was cut off by another, gruffer voice. “Think about it. You know we work well together, remember–” The male’s voice, so familiar, yet she couldn’t place it right away, was too cut off as Ala’nase interjected again.
“I remember a lot. I remember how you cast me off pretty damn quick after we got here. So you can think about me kicking your ass if you try this shit again!”
Firia heard her friend stomping off, and had to scurry to get back onto the path to avoid getting discovered. Though when she rounded the corner of the building again, she saw Ala’nase approaching, book clutched to her chest as she looked perfectly fine. As if nothin
g in the world were wrong.
“Hey,” she said, her usual voice, her usual manner.
That was… odd. “Hey. You disappeared after class,” Firia chided, though she kept trying to place the man’s voice.
“Elf-lady troubles,” she said in that same dry-humour she always remarked. “You wouldn’t understand.” Her bright eyes travelled over to the center of the courtyard and she remarked, “Another big gathering. Wonder what it is this time?”
Any sense of alarm Firia might have felt instantly faded, when she saw the people weren’t running or looking alarmed at all. Instead they seemed to be interested in something going on by the main gates.
“I really, really hope it’s not another trick to lure us in, only to kick us out when we prove how awesome we are,” Firia quipped as she moved closer. “And you know you can talk to me, right? I mean… you know all about my human troubles.”
Ala’nase simply gave her a quiet look for a moment before starting to nudge her way through the people with Firia. “What’s going on?” she asked to someone in the crowd.
“They’re bringing in some new student,” said the elven male to her.
“Now?” she asked with surprise. “It’s the middle of the semester!”
The man shrugged his shoulders, “Beats me. It’s never been done before as far as I know. But with the empty first-year spot after that dining hall fiasco, I guess they thought there was room for more.” His eyes darted back to the front. “Oh, watch! He’s showing off!”
“They’ve never replaced any of the others that got kicked out,” Firia murmured to Ala, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “He must be something special.”
Pushing ahead of her, Ala’nase saw him first, her eyes widening in surprise then narrowing in a certain sort of seductive trance. “Oooh, I’ll say he is.”
It took a bit longer for Firia to get a good look. All she saw were fleeting glimpses. A brown, black, gold and red robe fluttering through the air. A shot of glossy obsidian hair as it swept behind the man. A flash of light as he cast some spell she couldn’t even make out from her lack-of-vantage point.