Realm of the Sun

Chapter 16

"It's rude to spy on people." Gwen reminded her.

"Especially the general of the Elite Army. Did nobody teach you manners?" Roza chimed in.

Ashlee rolled her eyes. "You guys are the ones sneaking around, yet I'm the villain. I'm going back to training." She strolled off, huffing and muttering something about crippling disappointment.

"Can we go to your room?" Roza piped quietly.

"Why?"

"I'm tired, and I want to sleep. I don't leave until dusk and I doubt sleeping on a train is going to be comfortable."

"You can sleep in your room."

"Where's the fun in that?"

Gwen sighed. "If you stop calling me sunshine, I may consider it."

"Alright, general. I will go sleep and dream about new endearing nicknames for you."

"Don't expect to be alone for long. I just need to wrap up guard orientation." She gave a quick kiss to Roza, before shuffling off.

"A witch and a general," Roza spoke aloud. "Who would've thought?"

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The sun finally set, the palace was locked up for the night, and Roza boarded the train. Solarie was already onboard, but her eyes were swollen, filled with tears. Something had happened to the girl, but Roza was careful to disturb the girl.

The intercom came on. Welcome, passengers. House Erebus will be powering this train today along with House Lai. Our Estimated time of arrival to Nebesa is forty-seven hours. Please sit tight. Roza had severely underestimated the engineering marvels and miracles that the houses had performed in order to develop the train. It was comprised of sixteen carriages, made up of four storage cars, one engine car, one conductor section, one utilities and lavatory, and nine passenger cars.

Solarie didn't talk for the whole journey, and it was strange seeing her like this. Usually, she was quiet only when she was half asleep during one of their lessons.

"I cannot take it any more," Roza snapped and marched herself over to wear Solarie was moping. "What is going on with you? You're not a bubbly demon child, or a whining rat. I hate to say this, but I'm actually concerned. What happened?"

She continued to hang her head low. Roza thought she heard sniffling, but with Solarie's head buried into her hands, it was hard to tell. Sobbing? Roza thought silently to herself. It had been a long time since Roza had cried. She wasn't entirely sure what she could do to help Solarie, but in the moment, the best she could do was draw her into a warm embrace.

Solarie flinched, but returned the gesture, still crying. "Hey, hey. You're going to be fine. I don't know what happened, but I promise whoever did this to you, I'm going to crush them." Roza lightly tossed the threat out there. Gods, being motherly was a horrible colour on her. She made a mental note to never have children.

Her pupil continued her stifled weeping, but did not say what had caused her tears. Roza admired her determination to not confess whatever had happened. By this point, she herself would probably have been sleeping or passed out, whether it be from alcohol or not, but since Solarie wasn't of age and apparently wasn't keen on breaking the law, she couldn't really offer the girl a solution. Roza dealt with things quietly and quickly; push everything down and down and down until there was no trace of any sadness; Solarie was the opposite, letting out her emotions in a big drive and push.