I went to this stupid party yesterday... T_T Wasted my time, and got a terrible headache. *sigh* It was recovering before...
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What a déjà vu! Exactly a week ago, Princess Tathiette had challenged her with similar words. Roxanne chuckled soundlessly at the memory of that dramatic duel. Then she was a loyal subject of Elrtiv, bounded by her obligations, unable to vanquish the Princess severely, but now there were nothing restricting her from thrashing the daughter of… Katheryne Helles. The woman who had her mother killed, jeopardized her life with a curse and deprived the privilege of living as a normal person from her. She only regretted that she hadn’t the skill and resolve to kill Katheryne with her own hands!
Her daughter, presumably uninvolved in all this, should not pay for her mother’s mistakes, sure. Yet –
Natasha had chosen this. She was the challenger. She was the one who had introduced herself as that woman’s daughter. She was the one who chose her own path.
She would get what she had wished for, whether it should turn out as she had expected, or – highly probably – not.
Are you so confident to challenge a Speaker? One word of mine shall lock our fates.
“But you don’t speak.” Natasha responded flatly. In her eyes Roxanne perceived a light portion of shock and disbelief.
This is not the place to talk. Roxanne scanned their surroundings carefully, though her hearing had informed her much. Already past eight in the morning, the suburb had aroused without drawing their attention. Now and then, a few squeaks of tires could be heard, awfully loud for the originally silent atmosphere. Most cars speed pass the school with barely a halt, while a few smoothly swerved through the main entrance and parked before the sign of Carlanthe High.
Natasha gave her a curt nod in agreement, waiting for her to continue.
I’ll meet you at the oval.
With a click of her fingers, Roxanne evaporated in thin air before Natasha’s eyes. Though with her new found abilities, Natasha ought not to be surprised, she was. For a girl who lived for fourteen years with almost no knowledge of magic, instantaneous teleportation was still hard to get used to, right?
Natasha shut her eyes tight with effort, and performed an instantaneous teleportation herself.
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Natasha found herself in the centre of the school oval, for the second time of her short school life cursed the immensity of it. Everything in Carlanthe were huge – no, vast, to spacious for its actual needs. Her eyes could barely touch where the ocean of green end. The wind swept mildly, carrying the fresh morning scent across the field, and lightly brushing the beads rain remaining on the grass from the earlier rain. The oval formed ripples like a real ocean, quite a fascinating sight even for a Natasha who was eager to find Roxanne. Her eyes followed the wind to her right with her head slightly tilted, following on specific wave along.
Her eyes stopped. That wave ceased twenty metres away from her, so did the one following it, and so did the next… Her eyes travelled at that point up to the level that lined with her sight.
“You’re there, aren’t you?” She didn’t speak loudly, but she expected Roxanne to hear it.
The wind started to exceed that point right after she had finished her sentence, as if it had all been her imagination. Natasha stared with momentary bewilderment.
“I’m here.”
The voice was unfamiliar, but the calmness of the voice she had recognized. It had perfectly matched the appearance and air of –
Wait, how could it be –?
Natasha swiveled with her mouth half opened, her eyes immediately found a totally visible Roxanne. She stared with disbelief.
“You –”
A beautiful smile spread on Roxanne’s face, a wisp of her golden hair caught in the soft breeze, heaved and dropped along its movements. Her amused aquamarine eyes shone, as serene and relentless as the moonlight. In her white uniform dress, her entire appearance became almost surreal. Like a goddess, too stunning to be existed in this world.
“I talk. I know. Stop gawking.”
Wonderful imagination, Natasha. The black hair girl thought to herself. Now stop and wake up.
Silence.
Roxanne sighed first and gave in.
“You may have time to lose, but I don’t. Will you tell me about your challenge?”
Natasha inhaled deeply and raised an arm to pinch herself. Ouch! That hurt. She winced and tried her best to hide her grimace, meeting Roxanne’s eyes as evenly as she could manage.
“Why are you showing me this?” Her eyes narrowed.
“You have been proven a worthy opponent,” Roxanne elucidated tranquilly, “you recognized where my invisibility sphere was before I teleported again, behind you. You ought to know.”
Natasha mentally calculated her own chances. If the girl she was facing wasn’t mute, her identity as the Speaker would be valid, that would mean –
“You still have your chance to call this challenge off, before the first bell of this morning sounds.”
She had planned to win, though she didn’t need to. They who told her the truth would help her. They had only asked her to challenge, and then they would finish this for her. She didn’t want to. She wanted to avenge her mother – by herself, alone. Yet if she must give up, she knew they could handle this – they had the element of surprise, probably enough against a Speaker, a girl of fifteen. At the back of her mind, though, there was a voice doubting whether the girl she was confronting was just an ordinary girl of fifteen.
Against all the odds, Natasha simply couldn’t call it off. Give up a on a match not yet started, one that she had asked for confidently minutes ago? What does that make her? An unworthy coward. A useless wimp. Then even she would despise herself.
“No. I’ll not give up.”
Roxanne didn’t seem too surprised. Indeed, if Natasha had given up, she would not ever be a worthy opponent for her, ever. She had at least her pride.
“You have made your decision,” she stated.
Natasha frowned, not at her comment, but at her lightheartedness. “Don’t you fear that I shall inform others of what I’ve heard today?”
“You won’t.”
“You sure are confident.”
Roxanne grinned.
“Friday this time, meet me in the school’s tennis court. Bring as many witnesses as you wish, but this match will be between you and me.”
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“Hello?” Alzentis waved a hand in front of Roxanne for the thousandth time, trying to get her attention. He sighed in defeat when no response came, “Trenton!”
“Huh?” Roxanne straightened reflexively and slid off her chair, spinning in a revolution while her eyes scanned around anxiously.
“You’re alive,” Alzentis exclaimed with evident lack of enthusiasm, obviously meaning to be sarcastic, “that’s a relief.”
Roxanne bit her tongue. Not only that she had been tricked, and that she had been used to talking when confronting Natasha, that she had even forgotten to keep being the mute Roxanne Lynwood. Major slip. It was lucky that Alzentis didn’t notice – or didn’t react to that, at least. She fished her notebook out of her pocket.
How did you know about Trenton?
Alzentis shrugged. “It’s not that hard to figure out a person’s name when you’ve been cursing him for the entire morning.”
Roxanne’s eyes widened in alarm.
“I was just joking. Do you want to stay here through the entire recess? If you do, I’ll leave. Just to let you know that here is technically out of bounds, so we’re currently breaching the school rules.”
For the first time, Roxanne noticed that there was no one else in the room besides the two of them. She didn’t write an extra word, soundlessly picked her books and stationary from the desk and stride towards the door with Alzentis metres before her. She raced up to him, and tapped on his shoulder twice gently.
Alzentis turned his head slightly so he could see her.
Can you teach me how to play tennis?