Magic Academy (A Fantasy New Adult Romance) (15 page)

Mae’lin shrugged and said, “Well…
it kinda was. I mean… a battle of wills, if nothing else.”

Ala’nase looked to Firia
expectantly, as if excitement or disappointment hinged on her next
statement.

Too much pressure and attention.
Firia’s stomach tightened, and she looked down at her feet.
“Well, I mean… if that’s what everyone’s
saying…”

The beautiful young elf laughed and put
her arm around Filia’s back. “I knew it! You’re a
champion, alright. And you even earned the friendship of the one you
defeated. You’re brilliant. Both of you!” she added on
for Mae’lin’s sake.

To which the lanky elf coughed and
laughed awkwardly.

“Well he… beat me. I mean,
I was disqualified temporarily…” Too much attention. Too
fast! She had to take a deep breath.

Wait, an elf was touching her.

She looked to the other woman
curiously, as if she was losing her mind.

The sparkling, silver-eyes of the elven
woman met hers as she grinned with some excitement, though the
curious moment with the eager elf was interrupted when a loud bell
tolled and the hall’s doors slammed shut. At the same moment
she suddenly noticed as several other students were seemingly
teleported in without notice, in various states of unreadiness. One
spilling their books, another toppling over.

“What’s happening?!”
said Mae’lin, though they were all looking about in confusion.

Firia groaned. “He said we’d
know when curfew hit. I guess this is how.”

The three of her new classmates all
looked to her and nodded with some appreciation at her having figured
it out first. “That makes sense,” muttered Bran.

“She’s clever as well as
powerful!” remarked Ala’nase, her caramel cheeks darkly
hued.

It was all so overwhelming. She didn’t
think she’d ever spoken to so many people in her life, and her
entire body felt so… antsy. She wanted to hide under the
covers, but instead she forced a smile. “So we’re bolted
in for the night?”

“I guess so,” murmured
Mae’lin.

Bran looked around then pointed. “Some
of them seem in a rush to get to their rooms.”

Firia saw as some of the other students
went off to their rooms, and Ala’nase said, “Do you think
they’ll be locking us in our rooms soon too if we don’t
go there?” Her silvery gaze falling upon Firia, as if she held
the answers.

She groaned. “I wouldn’t be
surprised…”

It was so disorienting. Back in school
no one paid her much mind, leaving her to the back of the class and
her books. Now she was front and center, everyone’s eyes on
her.

“We should get to our rooms
then,” said Mae’lin, sounding a bit edgy under the new
circumstances. “I’d rather not be zapped in there if I
could help it.”

Ala’nase looked to Firia and
patted her shoulder. “I can show you the way to ours. We’re
in the same wing unless I’m mistaken. I’ve already found
mine earlier,” she said with a smile.

“Gway’lin said I’d
know it. Whatever that means.” She held onto the strap of her
sac, waving gently to the other two. “Goodnight, then. Nice
meeting you, Bran.”

The two men looked to her and bid their
farewells, Mae’lin with a simple wave and smile, Bran with a
gentlemanly bow that looked like it was ripped directly from an elven
manual.

Ala’nase led her on down the hall
towards the stairs at the back, “Oh you’ll know it
alright,” she said to her as they climbed up. “It’s
a pretty neat system, all told. Though,” she remarked, looking
about, “this curfew thing is a bit much. I mean, we only just
got here; a bit of a gentle touch wouldn’t go awry, you know?”

“They’re probably just
showing us their power. You know, make sure we understand what they
can do…” And Firia had no idea the depths those would
go. The amount of knowledge she wasn’t even aware that she
didn’t know…

As they came to the top of the stairs,
Ala’nase led her down the hall, other women – mostly
elves – heading to their rooms as they strode on by. “Mine’s
here,” said the elf, gesturing to one of the shut doors. “I’d
show you it, but… well, I haven’t done anything yet, so
it’s the same as yours I’m sure. Now… which one is
yours?” she asked, not looking around but directly at her.

Firia didn’t know what to say,
but then she caught glimpse of some light out of the corner of her
eye and turned to see a glowing orb of light hovering by the door at
the very end of the hall.

“I guess that one?” she
asked, her finger pointing towards the door. “They do like to
show off, don’t they.” Her lips tugged into a smirk
despite herself.

Ala’nase’s lips curved up
at the corner, showing just how big a mouth she actually had. “You
see the light too, huh?” she asked. “Seems like we only
see the light for our own rooms. Cute trick, isn’t it?”
she said as she guided Firia to her door and stood back half a step,
arms behind her.

Firia was paranoid, so far from her own
playing field, but she was too excited to hold back as she pushed
open the door.

Perhaps an elvish student might’ve
been disappointed, but to her? The room was magnificent.

It had the same intricate carved-wood
beams in the corners, the smooth stone walls, but it also had a very
comfortable-looking bed that dwarfed hers back home in both size and
quality. She also had a desk, chair, chest, dresser, mirror and clear
area that looked intended for spell practice. All in all, it was more
space than she’d had back at home in her own bedroom, and in
much finer luxury.

She almost felt like crying, but she
couldn’t. Not with Ala’nase at her back.

Firia let the sac down to the floor and
turned to look at her new friend, smiling genuinely. Now that it was
just the two of them she felt less trapped and overwhelmed. “I
guess this is it. Thanks for showing me the way.”

The beautiful elven lady gave a salute
while backing away deftly. “Glad to help you newbies,”
she said in a mock-pretentious voice, following it with a wink. “I’ll
catch you in th–”

With the sound of the bell she was
ripped from where she stood, and from out of an open door further
down the hall Firia heard the woman’s voice carry out, “Aw
damn.”

She closed the door and smiled to
herself, though the sense of creeping loneliness struck her before
long.

After so much activity, it seemed odd
to stand in the room in such complete silence. Her mind wandered to
Varuj, her companion that still dwelled with her.

She tried to contact him without even
realizing it.

Waited.

She felt that faint, barely noticeable
warmth, but he didn’t come. It worried her, she realized. He’d
never refused to come to her before.

Maybe he couldn’t, the thought
occurred to her.

She had to put it aside though. If what
was keeping her in her room was keeping Varuj where he was, it wasn’t
likely to be something she’d solve that night.

The day began with another loud clang
of the bell that resonated throughout the campus.

It had been a strange night for Firia,
and it had taken a while for her to get to sleep. Despite the rather
plush, comfortable bed that so outclassed her own, it was foreign to
her, and she felt more than a little isolated where she was.

Though before she could finish
preparing she heard a knock at her door. Upon opening it she saw the
visage of her new elven associate, Ala’nase, a loose-fitting
robe about her as she rubbed her eyes. “I can’t believe
they want us to get up so early,” she groaned.

Firia’s sleep schedule was
completely screwed up, but her excitement had managed to make her
seem a bit more chipper. “I guess we’ll get used to it…”
She opened her door to let her new friend in, almost nervously at
first. “They didn’t really go over the schedule very
well, did they.”

Ala’nase moved into her room with
a great deal less finesse than Firia was used to seeing elves move
with. She very nearly slumped!

“They didn’t go over it
with us at all, as far as I’m aware,” she groggily
stated. “Though I assume with how things are going, any moment
now we’ll be zipped off to something else without warning.”

Firia let out a bitter laugh, nodding
her agreement. “They do like showing off how little control we
have over our bodies, don’t they?”

Ala’nase nearly snorted her
amusement. “They probably get quite the kick out of it,”
she said with a roll of her eyes. “Though I suppose we should
make our way to the dining hall as soon as we can, or risk going
without. Sounds like the kind of thing they’d love to do to us,
to really hammer the lesson home, y’know?”

Firia was quickly getting the
impression that Ala’nase was far less formal and eloquent than
most elves of her stature.

It was refreshing to say the least, and
as she put together the few things she thought she might need, she
motioned towards the door. “Hopefully with any luck the food
will be as opulent as the… food-a-torium.” She grinned,
hoping Ala’nase would get her joke.

The elf stared at her.

Then abruptly broke into a laugh.
“Food-a-torium,” she repeated before standing up and
fixing her pale hair. “You want to head over with me once we
freshen up then?” she asked.

“Sure. I think I remember the
way.” She always had been keen with directions, after all.

She could barely believe her luck,
though. A friend. Who seemed really nice.

That was almost as exciting as starting
her lessons.

The pair arrived at the dining hall
together, the taller elf on the lookout as she wore a rather fancy,
elegant dress-robe that hung diagonally from her shoulder. “Hey,
there’s your friend,” she said with a gesture, pointing
out Mae’lin to her at one of the side booths, eating by
himself.

Firia was far less impressive in her
simple robe, but she’d done her hair in as elaborate of braid
as she could muster. The last thing she needed was to look ratty on
her first day.

“He’s all by himself. We
should join him.”

Ala’nase set off without delay.
“You two are close then, huh?” she asked with a raised
brow as they made their way through the increasingly full hall, so
many students bustling about for a table and meal.

“We just met. I mean… we
went to school together but didn’t talk until the competition.
What about you and Bran?”

The elf simply shrugged then
immediately turned her attention to Mae’lin, who still wore
much the same thing he had on the day before, Firia noticed. “Hey
you, trying to eat without us? That’s not very nice,” she
said.

Mae’lin looked up with surprise,
the lanky elf seemingly lost in thought as he ate. “Oh hey! I
mean, morning!” he managed. “Take a seat or–”
he looked, noticing they didn’t have food. “Oh, you get
your breakfast down there, if you didn’t know,” he
remarked helpfully, pointing to where some of the students filtered
to and fro.

“Watch my bag?” Firia asked
the elf, surprising herself with a level of actual trust.

It was her chance to make changes,
after all, and she really didn’t want to be a social pariah.
Again.

“Of course!” he said as the
two of them went off to get their meal.

As Firia approached the twin doors that
marked the coming and going of so many, she saw that there were the
occasional familiars – similar to her own, but not quite –
taking the place of some students, carrying trays all the way back to
their masters at their tables.

“Well that’s convenient,”
muttered Ala’nase a bit enviously.

“And lazy,” Firia retorted.
“I suppose everyone’s trying to show off today. Make sure
people know how great they are.”

Her new friend laughed. “Maybe,”
she said as they made their way into the serving room. “Though
if my parents were anything to judge by, magicians just tend to use
their magic in place of everything after a while. Becomes a real pain
to watch when you can’t do the same, let me tell you.”

The line moved quickly, and within mere
moments, Firia found herself looking at an assortment of appealing
breakfast dishes, all looking meticulously prepared and quite rich.
Though, they were all behind glass and all single servings.

A glance ahead showed her how it was
done, when she saw one of the senior students simply take a tray,
hold it up and make a hand gesture at what he wished with it then
forming upon his tray.

Firia had a passion for magic, for
learning new spells, but the fact that it literally seemed that
everything was done magically was jarring. She was so used to having
to do everything herself that it was quite a culture shock.

She elbowed Ala’nase gently,
motioning towards the older students.

Together they made their selections and
ventured back to the table with Mae’lin. It was only her second
day – her first day, really – at the academy, and already
Firia had better accommodations, far better food, and more friends
than she’d ever had. The realization dawned on her as she
looked at the steaming food on her plate and the smiles of her two
new elvish friends.

“How’d you two sleep?”
asked Mae’lin, nearly finished with his own food already.

“I don’t think I really
did,” Firia admitted sheepishly.

Ala’nase answered in a surly
manner, “Not enough of it.”

Mae’lin looked between them as he
finished off his last wafer. “I got so excited practicing
spells I made myself exhausted and passed out… I think.”

Ala’nase looked over at Firia,
then broke into soft laughter.

She grinned in return, looking down at
her food before beginning to devour it with relish. Though still,
years of eating small made her full far before she was finished. Her
thoughts again returned to Varuj, and she wondered if she was
starving him again.