Xoris

Chapter Twenty Five

"Xoris, wake up! You have to drink your water before the sky opens!" Alaina was shaking me, pulling me out of one type of darkness and into another.

"What? Why are you waking me up so early?" I rubbed at the sand in my eyes, squinting in the candlelight as she slipped a glass of water into my hands. I did drink it though, careful not to spill the liquid on my tunic for fear that it would stain.

"It's the Day of Gratitude, you ashclaeve." Alaina rolled her eyes, but her tone was still soft as she drank her own water.

"Right," I answered. The Day of Gratitude, where one was supposed to imagine what the world would be like if Palkhiv didn't open the sky everyday and Clesydra hadn't gifted mankind her generous red streams. If I didn't drink to my fill now, once the sky was open, I'd have to wait until nightfall.

"Now, Luina is making some pastries down in the kitchen. Do you want any?" She nudged to get me out of bed, something my stubborn, childish-self wasn't exactly keen on at the moment.

"Fine. What else is there to do, anyway?" Still, I swung my legs off the mattress and made my way out of my room. Right before the door was open, I wrapped the blindfold on my face so none of the daylight would make it into my eyes. Of course, it was fine to remove once I was out of the window-filled hallways, but it was still aggravating to have to fumble my way down the stairs. I loathed the idea of not being able to see, and a holiday about it didn't make me feel inclined to be grateful to the gods that supported us celebrating it.

"There's games, food, exercises, majik-practice..." Alaina rattled off, scooping up a candle off the wall to see who else was in the room. It seemed like everyone, and I immediately caught Luke's eye as he attempted to feed baby Asim in the low lighting. He smiled before turning back to ladle another spoonful of mush into their mouth.

"Most of that doesn't even apply to me. I want to read." All the same, I did pick a pastry off a nearby plate, biting into the centre as it released layers of jam and cheese.

"You're just being ridiculous like every Wither!" Alaina shot back. "You can read any other day!"

"Well I want to read today."

"That's all you ever do!"

"Children!" A smack sounded as my hands felt hot and sore. Luina tapped the wooden ladle against her palms, frowning at us. "No arguing. It's a Holy Day."

I frowned as Alaina and I rubbed at our aching wrists, when Luke finally spoke. "Xoris, is this about your exam? Are you worried?"

I blinked at him, at the concern all over his face. I couldn't lie to him. He always knew. "Y-yes. I was just hoping to get a bit more studying in before the end of the tally."

Asim's cries filled the air as Luke interrupted their steady feeding rhythm for a single moment to  hug me. "Don't worry about it. There's no doubt in my mind that you're going to get that scribe apprenticeship, so stop constantly over-thinking and just enjoy yourself for a day, all right? Thinking exercises should be no different than physical ones, so you need breaks for both."

I accepted his comforting embrace with a smile. Luke tended to be right when it came to whether I should worry on a subject or not, so I decided that at least for today, I'd try and not focus on the hypotheticals.

"That's right!" The Warden's gruff voice agreed from somewhere further in the darkness. "You've always been a smart child. When did you start reading again? Two Withers? Three? If anyone is set to pass their exams it's you, so for once, listen to Luke. Really, if anyone is going to be threatened by a day off, it's Merkos."