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CHAPTER SIX. ✷ sleeping tea.
NO CADET IS ALLOWED TO BE OUT PAST CURFEW UNLESS GIVEN SPECIAL PERMISSION TO DO SO. THOSE WHO DO NOT ABIDE BY THIS RULE SHALL BE PUNISHED ACCORDINGLY.
— ARTICLE FOUR, SECTION FIVE THE DRAGON RIDER'S CODEX
Niamh's fingertips toy gently with the torn edges of the paper. Her skin grows rough and dry as her eyes stay trained on the words written in ink. A series of bullet points and instructions her brother gifted her before she crossed the parapet, which she snuck in at the risk of losing her life. Although not all the letters stand as tips and tricks to help her get through her first few months as Basgiath, some are simply notes about Cyprus' life as a lieutenant. She reads them when she can't sleep, hoping the comfort of knowing her brother is safe will put some weight on her eyelids.
At home, when she couldn't sleep, the handmaidens would fix her a cup of tea or bring her a vile of some sort of sleep-inducing medicine—which they certainly weren't qualified to have. The only way she'd be able to acquire either of those things here is 1). sneak into the kitchen after hours, or 2). sneak into the healer's quadrant. Neither of those seems particularly amusing at this point, so instead she fills her head with one of Cyprus' tales from his outpost in Calldyr. Some run-down town on the coast that he was absolutely loathing at the time.
Even in the letter, he seems bored. He tells about how sandy the beach is and how nothing is happening. How he feels like a waste of space there when gryphons are attacking the eastern cities every day. How no one takes him seriously and how everyone always just assumes he's great at everything because of who their dad is—
Fuck it, she's going to the kitchen.
While her brother's whining might put her to sleep any other time, it seems that when she reads it on paper it only makes her frustrated rather than drowsy. So, she sets the letter under her bed, away from the others to remind herself not to bother with it again, and unravels herself from the towel-like blankets draped over her. Rian briefly mentioned that the first years don't get luxury items until after threshing because the school doesn't want to waste money. She guesses comfortable sheets are a part of said luxuries, along with actual leathers instead of just breathable tunics that make her look like a box.
She pulls a long, furry overcoat and pulls the hood up over her head, then heads for the door. After taking a glance down both ends of the hallway to make sure everything is all clear, she leaves her room and starts for the dining hall.
Basgiath is huge, but not big enough for her to forget where things are. The general area, at the very least. The courtyard is south, the academic wing is north, and the dining hall is southeast. Only a turn and the descent of a few flights of stairs will lead her straight there. She thinks she remembers a door near the last row of tables that she can probably pick the lock to. Niamh reaches up to her hair, making sure the pin she placed in it is still there. She smiles when she feels the pointed metal and continues to the stairs.
