Yuh. Long one I know. This is chapter two, part one. It's a bit long, but, I'm sure it'll be fine. Anyway, uh, basic spellcheck again. Take your time?
gonk XD
First Impressions
.1.
Itur University was just over two miles from the palace, which sat directly in the centre of Central City. It was made up of four different Halls of Residence, Calina learned, that sat in a sort of circle at each of the four points on the compass, their wings stretching so each hall almost met but only for a small garden that marked the division. It was, Calina thought quite romantically, almost like their own little city, with teashops and restaurants and cute little water fountains, and almost immediately after stepping out of the cab with Ellette at her side she decided that she absolutely
loved it.
Bellake Hall, said their acceptance letters, was the name of the hall in which they would be spending the next three years of their lives. It was the smallest of the four, but the one closest to the palace, and was built from chunky slabs of dusty silverish stone ingrained with small pieces of quartz crystal that seemed to shimmer in the afternoon light. When Jolas pulled up outside in the front courtyard, the girls climbed out slowly and in awe, both of them with their mouths open. Even Ellette, who up until that moment had been wondering how long it would be until she could go home, was amazed by the grandeur of the building, and that was just from the outside. Art and architecture- those were her modest indulgences- were to be found everywhere in abundance; from the great stone pillars and multitudes of status to the promise of paintings lining every wall, Ellette soon found herself smiling at the prospect of a little adventure.
Jolas helped them unload their luggage, which was then sent ahead to be kept somewhere just off the main hall, in waiting for their room allocations. Jolas seemed to know more than them about the whole system, despite the fact that he had never stepped foot in Central City before that day; Calina thought that it must have something to do with the small piece of paper he kept drawing from his pocket to look at quizzically. Maybe a letter from their father? There was a little comfort in that idea, at least, the fact that he might at least care for them in some respect, even if he didn’t particularly like either one of them.
“Are we just to wait here then?” Calina asked Jolas as he was unloading the last of their bags. He slid the small hatbox onto the floor, and it landed with a
fwump. Calina had to stop herself from snapping at him, reminding herself that he was the only one who knew what she was supposed to be doing around about now, and she really didn’t want to make a fool of herself. “Well, are we?” she asked again when he didn’t reply. Ellette stood by the side of the cab, staring up at the side of the building as though that were the face of her God. What a fat lot of help she was.
“No,” Jolas said. It was obvious that he was trying to annoy her now, and Calina had no idea why. She pulled a pleading, helpless face and tried again.
“Well, where do we go then, if we don’t stay here?” She looked around for any sign of other students, but the courtyard was eerily empty: Either they were really early, or Jolas and Papa had messed up the calculations and they were late. Sweet Exos she hoped it was the former.
“Where do you-” he began to answer her question with another question but for some reason decided against it. Maybe it had something to do with the disapproving look Ellette cast in his direction, or maybe not. Calina didn’t know, but she didn’t mind. Maybe she would get somewhere with him now. “Uh, it says here that the new students should go to the main parlour,” he told them, pulling the slip of paper from his breast pocket. For a moment Calina wondered why their own acceptance letters hadn’t told them where they should meet, but the thought was soon lost as she decided that there were probably other more pressing matters to be worrying about now, like where that Main Parlour was.
“Do you think we should go now?” Ellette said, confirming her own thoughts. “I mean, I don’t want to stand around here any longer, I feel like such a fool. Please can we go in and try and find the parlour?” Ellette had paled considerably since they had climbed out of the cab, probably from nerves, and the unusual white of her skin contrasted greatly with the darkness of her hair. She wiped her fringe from her eyes, tucking a longer strand of hair behind her left ear, and then began to worry her teeth against her bottom lip.
“Yes. It feels odd standing out here with nobody around.” The courtyard was deserted but for a single young man who had just walked out of the entrance to Bellake Hall and was now headed in the opposite direction to them. The cobbles seemed to echo up every sound they made and amplify it to magnificent proportions, even a sound so little as the scraping of a suitcase across the ground, and these unnaturally loud noises were then thrown off what seemed to be each and every pillar that stood around the sides of the heavily ornamented yard. “Do you need us any longer?” Calina made sure she asked Jolas before they left. She didn’t want him making some fatal error that she could then be blamed for.
He was stood with all the bags around his feet looking relatively lost and unsure, but he shook his head anyway and gesture that they should leave him to his job. It
was what he was getting paid for.
“No, that’s okay,” he assured them. “Miss Calina, Miss Ellette, it has been a pleasure to escort you this far. I hope to see you again at some point.” He took the small flat cap from his head and bent over in something of a regal, mocking bow. Calina didn’t bother to even give that an answer, and so she turned away from him before he could rise.
“Good bye Mister Jolas,” Ellette said politely. “And thank you.”
He nodded to her, and then went back to checking each of their bags in turn. Ellette wandered over to Calina and attempted to link her arm through her sisters. At first Calina resisted, but where was the use in that? She was sure to make enough enemies in this place as it was, she might as well accept her sister as an ally now, hadn’t she?
“You didn’t need to thank him,” she told her snidely. “That’s what he gets paid to do.” Well, there was no sense in being overly nice to her, was there? After all, she
was the older sibling: Isn’t it a sister’s job to make life a pain? Calina thought so, and it amused her to no end when Ellette took her arm back and stormed off ahead by herself- at least until she reached the entrance to the hall, then she stopped. She turned around and gave Calina a ‘hurry up let’s get inside look’ and it was obvious that she definitely wasn’t about to go inside by herself, whether Calina had wanted her to or not.
The open foyer that adjoined the doorway was, like the courtyard, empty. It was a large room, from which two staircases linked onto at ninety-degree angles from one main set of stairs at the far end of the room, opposite the door. Inside it was cooler than it had been out in the warm, September air, and there was an unnaturally cool, yet not unpleasant breeze floating through from one of the five rooms that exited to the right side of the doorway.
For a moment Ellette and Calina stood together, side-by-side, just in front of the door as they let their eyes adjust to the dimmer lighting inside. Once the blinding white spots had dissipated from her vision, Calina found herself gazing around the room- if you could call it a room; surely it should have a name more grand? The walls were a pale mauve, bordered with thin swirling patterns halfway down, and along every wall there was a selection of antique paintings and statues sitting on small pedestals, which grew up from the shiny wooden floor like vines in a jungle.
“Which one of those do you suppose is the Main Parlour?” Calina asked quietly, afraid that if she spoke too loud she may be heard throughout the whole Hall.
Ellette shrugged.
“It’s bound to be one of the bigger ones, isn’t it?”
“How can we tell if they’re big or not just from looking at the outside?” Calina raised her eyebrows, unsure of her sister’s logic.
“Well, I guess we’ll just have to go and have a look, won’t we? We’ll probably be able to hear people if it’s a busy room.”
“Fair point.”
Together they headed for the right side of the foyer, walking past each of the five doors in turn, and then walking back again, until they found one that sounded promising. Ellette put her ear to the door, while Calina stood around nervously, swinging her purse back and forth and trying to look as natural as possible. It was the third door from the entrance that Ellette had chosen, and she opened it a little to peer inside.
“Hello? Is anybody there?”
Calina was stood on the wrong side of the door, but the voice from within was difficult not to hear. Ellette glanced back at Calina, who shrugged, and then she opened the door. Together the two sisters poked their heads around the door, Ellette more forward as Calina hung back, afraid of appearing in a compromising position. All she could make out around the thick wooden door was a mostly empty room, and on a small chaise longue, reclining comfortably, was a middle-aged woman with owlish glasses and a book resting on her chest. Calina didn’t know where the noises had been coming from before: Presumably she was reading to herself, for it didn’t seem as though there was anybody else in the room.
“Can I help you?” the woman asked, her nose wrinkling as her glasses slipped down.
Ellette went to step forward a little. “Uh, we’re-”
“Oh, you’re new,” the woman said by way of dismissal. Ellette tossed Calina a confused look. Calina shrugged her shoulders again and pulled a face. They stood in the doorway for a moment, unsure of what to do. The woman had almost immediately started reading her novel again, but she soon put it back down. “I’m sorry, did you want something?”
“Yes, uh, would you please be kind enough to direct us to the Main Parlour? I’m afraid we’re a little lost.”
“Oh, no chaperone. Of course.” The woman gave them a small smile. “You see the big staircase out there?” Calina checked just to make sure, and nodded. “Well, there’s a door underneath the left side that’s a bit hidden. You should go there.”
“Is that the Main Parlour?” asked Calina, not trusting this woman’s unspecified credentials.
“It’s where you need to go.”
“Thank you,” Ellette gave a small bob of a curtsey and then left the room, closing the door behind her.
Once they had taken a number of steps away, Calina grabbed Ellette’s arm and said stiffly, “
You’re not supposed to bow. We’re nobility.”
Ellette sniffed.
“I’ll bow if I want to. It felt necessary, and rude not to.”
Calina threw her hands up in the air in frustration at her sister’s lack of social nous and then began to lead her over to the staircase which the woman had suggested.
“Oh there’s no hope for you,” she said lightly. “You would have been better born a poor girl, or a Seture.”
“Religion is something to occupy the empty time, not to fill the whole day. I wouldn’t want to spend my life in some Mif Unionist Setury, that would be a waste.”
“A waste of good looks,” Calina muttered.
“A waste of time. I can do so much more for people out here.”
“Whatever,” Calina brushed her off with a roll of her eyes. “I wish you’d stop talking about it.”
“Then you should stop bringing it up.”
“I should.”
They crossed to the staircase and, as the woman had advised, there by the side, just before the stairs they saw a door which was partially hidden in shadow. It was just as large as all of the others, but still Calina was sceptical. How could there by a room through this door, unless the staircase went nowhere? She glanced up, and the staircase
did appear to go somewhere. This must be some kind of joke.
“It looks like a broom closet,” she commented laconically.
“Oh hush.” Ellette glared at her and headed for it, careless of her sister’s current cynicism and pessimistic acceptance of the world.
The room that they found themselves in shortly after was much more than Calina had hoped for from the little door. It was round, and quite large with a dome shaped ceiling that reached its pinnacle with a round window of glistening glass, showing nothing but the careless blue of the skies above. The floor was carpeted with a fussy reddish colour, and was soft under their worn travelling shoes. Calina didn’t quite understand how it was possible that this room could be here, but she wasn’t going to complain; on first glance the room looked like
exactly the place they were looking for.
Inside the room there were many people milling about, young women of around their own ages. Many of them were dressed in their finest dresses, it seemed, but their finery was no match for Calina’s ideals. She gave the room a cursory scan and sniffed delicately to express her disinterest.
“Well, they don’t look very
society,” she said with a shake of her head. “We must be in the wrong room.”
“Oh la,” Ellette murmured softly. “I don’t think so. Look at her.” She gestured towards the podium at the far side of the room, upon which stood an imposing middle-aged woman. Her clothes, unlike those of the girls around her, were fine and carefully embroidered; her wig- for it was surely not real hair- was tall and white, and her face powdered almost to the point of obsession. Calina and Ellette glanced at each other curiously.
“She looks as frumpy as an old cow,” Calina muttered as her features shifted into a frown. “I still think we’re in the wrong room. These girls are all- well- they’re not who we should be mingling with.”
“Why? Because they’re not societ-
ee?” Ellette questioned, annoyance apparent in her demeanour.
“Exactly.”
“Sometimes I really wonder about you Calina, I do. You’re so caught up in your own little world that you fail to see the-” Ellette’s voice was drowned out as the woman at the back of the room began to speak. Her voice was strong and commanding, and her pronunciation- if not her appearance in Calina’s book- betrayed a good education and upper class upbringing. Ellette stopped speaking and the two sisters turned to listen.
“Good afternoon,” the woman addressed the room loudly. Her voice was almost basso, trembling with power, and she stood tall and proud. Her earrings were like Aevemass decorations, hanging low and heavy- they were possibly the most fashionable accessories on her person, though her dress was possibility as late as last season’s colours. “I am Madame Delehan, and as you may well know, your Head Mistress here at Itur. I think a spot of tea, and then we will be arranging rooms.” She smiled at the congregation of girls, many of who smiled back nervously, and then she climbed down from the podium and sent off for the tea girls, who wheeled great trays into the parlour from another room off to the side. Calina, not wanting to appear rude, took a cup of tea when she was offered, but it was too sweet and so she hardly drank any of it. Ellette refused, and instead took to staring rather impolitely at the Head.
“She seems very fashionable,” Ellette commented, gazing across at Madame Delehan’s ruffled sheeyma-material dress. “Her dress is sheeyma, look, like yours.”
“Fashion, ha,” Calina snorted. “Frumpy.”
“How would you know?”
“Because I’m soc-”
“If you say
society I’ll stop speaking to you.”
“Well it’s true!” Calina exclaimed. “I don’t know what you’ve got against it.”
“Against what? Your warped sense of importance? You think that because you’re beautiful you’re important, and because you’re important you’re always right! Why don’t you stop being so
foolish?” Ellette shot back. Instantly she regretted it, and Calina could see this by the way she blushed furiously and began to fumble at her prayer beads. In truth the statements hadn’t hurt her pride in the slightest. Ellette was simple-minded: What did she know of society, or the people in it? “I’m sorry,” Ellette mumbled dolefully.
“Oh that’s alright, Letty,” Calina said and patted her on the shoulder. “You’ll understand when you get a little older.”
Calina took the time, perched on a small straight-backed chair with her tea in her hands, to look around at the other girls in the room. It appeared as though there were a majority of girls from Kalippe West, like Ellette and herself, and a number of Northern Aephianese girls with their caramel coloured skin. It didn’t look as though there were many from the tribes in Eula, but Calina thought that was to be expected, after all they were so
uncivilised, and they had their own schooling system still, didn’t they? None of the girls, though, looked like nobility, or even as though they had much money to their names at all. In fact, some of the younger ones looked like they had been accepted on charity alone- and this was a fact that worried Calina immensely. Wasn’t this supposed to be one of Exos’ most honoured universities? Hadn’t it been officially opened by their ruler when he came to power? Where were all the
rich girls?
Only one way to find out.
As Madame Delehan was making her rounds of the room, greeting each of the girls individually, Calina caught her with a small wave of her hand, daintily and with a practiced grace. Madame Delehan crossed the room quickly, her feet barely rustling the sheeyma gown around them as she moved, giving the illusion that she was in fact floating.
“Madame Delehan,” Calina pronounced in her most sophisticated voice. “How nice to meet you. I’m Miss Calina Roe, Ugas Nobility, the House of Ikala, and this is my sister, Miss Ellette.” She was considering offering the Head her hand, but she eventually decided against it. Madame Delehan didn’t look like much of a hand-shaker.
“Ah, yes, the Roe girls,” Madame Delehan murmured softly, eyeing both of them in turn. “I’ve heard a lot about you two.”
“You have?” Calina couldn’t help it; her curiosity always got the better of her. “All of it good, I hope.”
“Oh my, of course,” Madame Delehan affirmed, though how serious she was being Calina couldn’t tell. She raised her eyebrows when she spoke, and her head nodded backwards and forwards continuously, making it confusing to read what she was really trying to say. Calina wondered if she nodded her head like that even when she was disagreeing with somebody. “Did you want something in particular?” Madame Delehan asked, then, pursing her rouged lips as she waited for an answer. “Only, I’m a very busy woman, as you can imagine, and I have a lot of business to attend to. First I have to get you girls accommodated.”
“It was about that, actually,” Calina said, relieved that she didn’t have to bring the subject up by herself. “It was only, I was wondering with whom we would be sharing a room. I’m sure it would be highly inappropriate for us to share with-” she gestured around the room, unable to find the correct words. “Well, to share with anybody here.”
Madame Delehan raised her eyebrows even higher- if that was possible- and let out a vibrational laugh that echoed around the room. Calina looked around nervously, hoping that nobody else was paying attention; not that it mattered,
they didn’t matter, but it was hard to control a flushing face once the red started to spread. She’d learnt that from experience.
“There is something wrong with your fellow students?” Madame Delehan asked with a thin-lipped smile.
“Well, yes, actually.” Calina was trying not to be rude, but it appeared she was failing miserably. Ellette turned away and pretended she wasn’t listening, just so she wouldn’t have to face the embarrassment of being related to her sister. “Madame, we- my sister and I- are not of the dormitory class. We are Ugas Nobility, and we’ve come here to-”
“How very sorry for you, my dear. What a shame.” Madame Delehan brushed her off with a dismissive tone. “Now, if you don’t mind I’m sure we can resume this conversation after I’ve sorted out your roomies.” She waited for no reply, turned straight on heel and walked away back around the room to greet the rest of the girls.
“She didn’t even listen,” Ellette said softly, waiting for Calina’s reaction. “Don’t bother getting upset about it. She wasn’t even listening.”
“
Roomies?” blurted Calina as if Ellette had said nothing, aghast at the horrific turn of events. “
Roomies? I thought if we were early we wouldn’t have to have them!”
“Well, obviously not.” Ellette said, finally turning to face her sister. “Look, it won’t be the end of the world, will it? If we have to share a room with a few people? Just because we come from the nobility it doesn’t give us the right to request whatever rooms at will, Lina. These people have just as many rights as we do.”
“They don’t,” said Calina sourly. “That’s why
we’re nobility and
they’re not.” She pouted and tried to calm herself by readjusting the small silver butterfly clip in her hair.
“But Calina we’re not even proper nobility!” Ellette exclaimed in frustration. “We’re not even-”
“Hush!” Calina cried. “Oh at least if you’re going to berate me, do it softly! Just because we’re not First Generation, or Newly Proclaimed, that doesn’t mean that our titles don’t mean anything.”
“They
don’t mean anything. Fourth Generation means we haven’t been proper nobility for three generations now. Seriously, Calina, you need to get your priorities straight. We’re here to learn.”
“But these people are
common!” Calina hissed. “Letty, we may not be that rich, but we definitely don’t belong here.”
“Yes we do. Sometimes I think all you care about are materials possessions.”
“You can’t get through life on faith alone.”
“Ah, you’re wrong again.” Ellette was now tired of arguing. She shook her head and her black fringe bounced across her forehead. Why could Calina never just listen? She was tired, but she wasn’t going to give in that easily. “People have lived their whole lives on nothing more than blind faith. It may not be what I intend to do, but it didn’t do them any harm, did it? Maybe it would do you some good to think about going to church-”
“
Don’t.” Calina held up her hand before Ellette could even get past the word church. ‘Church’ wasn’t in her vocabulary, and it was never going to be, so Ellette could stop that talk right now. Why did everything always turn to religion with her? “Don’t even bother saying it. You won’t get anywhere.”
“I know. I never do.”
“Then why do you keep trying?” Calina could feel a migraine coming on.
“Because you’ve got to give in eventually.” Ellette looked over Calina’s shoulder, at the podium, and changed track. “Oh, look. She’s getting ready to speak again.”
“Oh, fantastic. Can’t you see how ecstatic I am?” Calina rolled her eyes, but turned her attention to the Head anyway. After all, she would be a powerful enemy, and not one to make on the first day.
“Marvellous girls,” Madame Delehan was saying. “Now, as you girls are lacking chaperones- of course this isn’t a problem, it just means we need to invest a little more time in your safety- I will be putting most of you into dormitories, though there are a number of girls who I will want to speak to later.” At this point she made eye contact with a number of girls, mostly closer to the podium, but a few were further back, possibly out of embarrassment, Calina and Ellette included. She then turned her attention back to the rest of the girls. “So, if we just remain patient I’m sure we can settle this relatively quickly. Good? Good.”
After this Madame Delehan and the tea girls set about ordering the new students into groups of twelve. Twelve to each dormitory, they were assigned by name, family and age. The tea girls- or rather, women- who had taken care that all of the crockery had been removed from the room, split themselves into teams, each woman taking charge of one group.
The whole process took a little over half an hour, in which time Calina and Ellette sat together at the back of the room, awaiting their own designation. When their names were not called out, Calina breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed a little. At least things couldn’t possibly get that humiliating; it was like being herded like cattle, grouped and then prodded into place one by one. No, at least their family name had saved them that small dishonour.
“She does look like a cow, doesn’t she?” Calina said quietly after a while. Ellette thought about it for a moment, and then smirked.
“I supposed she does really. It’s all in the hips, and that wig.”
“She looks like a cow in a lady’s hairpiece.” They laughed at that, tittering together both out of the small humour and their own nervousness at what was about to come. For saying this was their first trip away from home, Calina thought, it hadn’t been a particularly enjoyable one yet. Hopefully that would soon change.
Once the rest of the girls had been sorted into their respective dorms, they left with the tea women, who turned out to actually be chaperones for each dormitory. In their dowdy grey uniforms and white aprons they looked almost like nursemaids. Another humiliation Calina was extremely glad they seemed to have avoided. They trailed out together, in groups, one by one until soon the room was almost empty. There were perhaps, ten or fifteen girls left now, enough for a full dormitory. Calina felt her heart sink; what if Madame Delehan put them all together, because they were the richest?
She looked at them- the other girls- and decided that they didn’t look rich. Not
that rich. On the whole. Although there were three girls huddled together by one of the windows, with flaxen blonde hair and perfect skin, and jewels around their necks. They were richer than Calina and Ellette, and more fashionable, but they were obviously in the same situation. Perhaps it wasn’t a matter of money at all, or titles, perhaps it was all to do with the chaperones. Calina couldn’t fathom why girls such as those should have no chaperone, but then she didn’t quite understand why her own father had sent her to Itur without one.
“Right then, girls,” Madame Delehan addressed the remaining girls with a smile. She climbed down from the podium and gestured that they should all gather around. Calina climbed reluctantly to her feet along with Ellette, and a number of other girls who were hanging back around the far side of the room. “I know this is perhaps not what you would like to hear, at least for some of you.” She looked specifically at the blonde girls, and then at Calina. “But I’m afraid that to keep you all safe the university has had devise a special programme for girls such as yourselves. Without chaperones, or nannies, or nurses. Some of you are here because your parents saw fit to ensure your safety- both physically and socially,” here she looked at the blonde girls again, “and some of you are just lucky. I have decided that you girls should have the luxury of sharing a room with only a small number of other girls, close to your own status, and there you will stay.
“There will no room swapping, no arguments, no rule breaking. You have privilege, but you are not immune. If I find that any of you ladies have reneged on your promises to the board- and I
will find out- you will have your rooms taken from you. It will be dormitories for you like all of the others. Is that understood?”
The girls gave a collective nod of affirmation.
“Good. Now then, for the chaperones.” Calina felt her heart sink, again. Privilege was one thing, but if their chaperones were anything like the others, than she might as well just give up any dreams of having a good life now. She could see the other girls, the blonde ones, look the same way. One of them rolled her eyes, and the tallest began to pout in a way which actually wasn’t unbecoming.
Madame Delehan motioned to somebody, unseen, in the doorway through which the girls had entered first, and only a moment later four fantastical pieces of technology wheeled through. They were humanoid in shape, but robotic in build, with clockwork gears and mechanical limbs. Each had two eyes, almost like camera lenses, which were a deep purple in colour with emerald green rings around them. They were almost hypnotising. Apparently made of brass, each one of them gleamed with the afternoon light that fell through the roof window.
“These wonderful pieces of technology, for those of you who have not had the opportunity to see them before-” Calina could tell that there were only one or two girls who
had seen them before, “are called Nurses. They are each programmed to look after their charges, whom I shall assign in just a moment, and from then they will act as your guardians. They will not allow you around the campus by yourselves, especially not at an inappropriately late time, and they are set to record any information which may be damaging to the Hall’s reputation. I would advise that you treat them as you would any chaperone or nanny. With respect.”
The things glided forwards in a way which made them seem almost as if they were walking, and the majority of the girls stepped back skittishly, Calina and Ellette included. They came into the circle of girls to showcase themselves and then went over to Madame Delehan’s side.
“Don’t be afraid of them,” the Head said with a wolfish smile. She was enjoying this. “They’re perfectly harmless, and, well, treat them as humans. They will be important to you, and so you must take care of them. If you don’t take care of them, they won’t take care of you. It’s that simple. And no, ladies, that isn’t a request for you to vandalise school property, for if I catch you there will be hell to pay.” With that she smiled again. “Now then, roomies.”
She looked at each of the girls in turn, as though judging them by their posture and the clothes they were wearing. Calina, when Madame Delehan looked in her direction, made sure to make eye contact and flash her sweetest smile. Hopefully, if they were being arranged by wealth, Ellette and her should be put into a room with the three blonde girls. That was definitely the most she could hope for, but surely it was the least Madame Delehan could do?
She started with the youngest girls, and began to pair them with older ones. There were generally four girls to a room, or two rooms that were adjoined by a small bathroom. As she worked her way up the list of girls, which she had drawn from an unseen pocket in the bosom of her dress, Calina noticed that it was becoming more and more likely that she should get paired with the blonde girls, and she began to grow excited. Finally something was going right!
“Now, Miss Calina and Miss Ellette,” Madame Delehan said to them. There were only a small number of girls left unpaired now, and Calina was anxious to get to her room. “I was considering putting you with the Jensin girls,” she said gesturing to the blondes, “but after our little chat earlier on I felt it would perhaps be more necessary to room you with girls a little less fortunate than yourselves. I’m sure you understand, but it would definitely be beneficial.” She waited for Calina’s reaction, which was to pale in embarrassment and purse her lips, and then she smiled. “Such a clever idea of yours, I must say, wanting to give something back to the world.”
“Oh, but, there must be some mistake,” Calina began to protest. Madame Delehan had twisted their own conversation to use to her advantage. That wasn’t fair! “You see I didn’t mean-”
“There has been no mistake Miss Calina,” Madame Delehan said forcefully. “Now, if I could pair you with Miss Medina Thurr, and her sister Miss Azaliah, then I can get you all off to your rooms to unpack.” Ellette glanced at her sister, who was shocked into submission, and silence.
“It will be okay,” she whispered softly. “It’s only a room.”
“Yes,” Calina said with resignation, her head lowered in shame. “I suppose you’re right.”
Madame Delehan waved her fingers at two of the only girls left, one of whom had taken a seat on one of the chairs, and who was watching the whole process with disinterest. The other girl was younger, and seemed much more enthusiastic. She walked towards Calina and her sister almost immediately and extended her hand.
“Miss Azaliah Thurr,” she said with a grin, her brownish blonde hair bouncing on her shoulders. “But you can call me Az. Everybody else does.” She seemed about the same age as Ellette, Calina thought, but the other girl she couldn’t decide on. She was taller, and much thinner, and if she hadn’t been told that the two girls were related she wouldn’t have guessed as much. The other girl had thick, dark hair that was scraped back into a lax bun and held down by a small bandana-type headband which clashed awfully with her outfit.
“Miss Ellette,” Ellette introduced herself. “It’s very nice to meet you.”
Calina rolled her eyes. Could things get any worse? She supposed their was one plus side, though, at least she wouldn’t have to spent all of her time with these girls, not if she could get around those stupid ticktock Nurse things. They couldn’t be that intelligent, surely?
“Good, well, if that is settle then,” Madame Delehan said brightly. “I think it’s time to show you to your rooms. Follow your designated Nurse, they will show you the way and answer any of your questions.” With that she turned on her heel and headed for the door, not waiting for any questions that her students may have wished to ask her. She was obviously a
very busy woman. The two remaining Nurses which had been waiting patiently for the last girls to be paired headed over to their new charges; one came in Calina’s direction, and the other wheeled silently towards the blonde girls who greeted it with little interest.
“Good afternoon,” said their Nurse. “I am Nurse Annoa. You may call me Nurse, or Annoa, or Nurse Annoa.” The Nurse thing nodded it’s head. Calina couldn’t tell if the sound was coming from the small moving jaw mechanism on the thing’s face, or not, but it sure as hell creeped her out.
“Uh, hello,” Ellette said with a weak smile. The Nurse turned to her and nodded it’s head again, acknowledging her.
“Miss Calina, Miss Medina, Miss Ellette, Miss Az, you shall please follow me. I shall take you to your rooms.” It’s voice was robotic, and tinny, but sounded amazingly female. Ellette glanced at Azaliah, who was staring at the thing in awe, and they smiled at each other.
“Yes, you lead we’ll follow,” said Medina dryly. It was the first thing she had said, and Calina looked at her curiously. She hadn’t noticed before, for the lack of light where Medina had been sitting, but the girl most definitely wasn’t normal. Her skin was tinted a light purple, lilac maybe, as if she suffered from serious circulation problems, although she seemed perfectly healthy, and she was awfully thin. Calina had to refrain from letting her jaw drop. Oh could this get any worse! Not only had they been paired with two girls who looked like they didn’t have a penny to their names, but one of them was
purple? This most definitely wasn’t good.
“Yes, we’ll follow,” Calina repeated weakly, beginning to feel faint. She had to say something, or the lump in her throat may have stopped her from breathing altogether.
The Nurse thing moved away slowly, giving them time to get themselves together and follow, and then it- she?- sped up. Azaliah and Ellette went on ahead, chatting amiably, as young girls are prone to do, about everything and anything. Medina didn’t move, as though waiting for Calina to leave before her. Calina hung back, also, gazing at the girl with a mixture of disgust and awe.
“You’re Miss Calina,” Medina said after a moment, attempting to be civil although she was well aware of Calina’s reaction to her. “How nice to meet you.” Was that sarcasm?
“You’re-” Calina was going to greet her; at least try to be polite, but she couldn’t help herself. “You’re
purple?” she blurted. Medina snorted.
“Oh, you noticed? I thought the powder might hide it.” Again, sarcasm? Calina couldn’t tell. “Is there something wrong with that?”
“No but, you’re
purple,” Calina said again, tripping over her words.
“Yes, and you’re
blonde, but I’m not complaining,” Medina retorted in a light tone, all the while keeping a straight face. Her mouth hardly even moved.
Calina was shocked, but not all that perturbed by Medina’s insult. Instead she smiled her best smile, teeth and all. Maybe Medina would be a challenge to overcome, rather than an unsolvable problem. Maybe the purple girl wouldn’t be too damaging, really. Maybe Ellette was right. Or maybe she was wrong, maybe this would be the worst three years of her life. Either way, Calina knew that she was going to be in for a bumpy ride, and one thing was for sure: She didn’t like Medina Thurr. At all.
“Touché. Well played. Let’s follow them, shall we?”
