Happy two hundred fans to me! Thanks, everyone! :)
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Chapter Eight - The Magisters
"Dante?" she asked, holding my shoulders. "Who's Dante?"
"Him, the man from the window."
As soon as the words came out of my mouth, she let go of my shoulders and dumped herself on her bed, her arms stretched sidewards, eyes closed. It was clear she was thinking of something deep, something you need to focus on. I wanted to talk to her, but I felt the need to look at the window, to look at the lake, to look at the small moving thing again. That need pulled much stronger than the need to talk to her, so I looked at the window again. Remekiah made his way up my dress. His head emerged from inside my dress, leaning on my neckline.
"Remekiah," I mouthed soundlessly, poking his cheek softly with my forefinger.
He just looked at me in reply, knowing if we make a sound, Kosh would hear us and she'd know I was talking to someone.
I pointed at the thing inside the lake. "What is that?" I mouthed.
Remekiah didn't answer. As I looked down to meet his eyes, I noticed his eyes were growing larger and larger, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. But he wasn't looking at the thing in the lake, he was looking at something above, something in the sky. My eyes looked at the direction he was looking at, then I saw it.
"A dragon?" I voiced out, my eyes widening.
"What?" Kosh asked.
Quickly, Remekiah hid inside my dress as Kosh walked towards me. I acted as normal as possible to hide the snake inside my dress, but Remekiah's shivering was tickling me a bit, so I had to bite my lip to keep me from smiling.
"Hmm?" I asked.
"Dragon?" she asked, then she glanced at the window. I hope she doesn't see the dragon, I chanted in my head. I had a bad feeling about this, and I knew things would get worse if Kosh saw the dragon. "What dragon?"
"I didn't say anything," I said.
"Really?" she asked, a bit shocked to know I didn't say anything. "Well then, let's get you back to your room. This day's a bit big, and it's your first day here in Aethelgard."
As soon as my door was closed, I hurried to my closet and grabbed a new dress to wear. With my help, Remekiah slid out of my dress, landing on my bed and crawling underneath the covers. I quickly changed into a new dress before jumping on the bed and slipping my hand inside to grab Remekiah and talk to him about the dragon.
"Ow, ow, ow!" Remekiah whined as I pulled him from under the bed cover and held him by the neck. "Hey, you're hurting me!"
I ignored his outcry, rolling my eyes. He was such a drama king. "What do you know about the dragon, Remekiah?" I asked, knowing Kosh would not hear me anymore because it had been a long while since she left. I knew I sounded like I was forcing the answers out of him, but actually, I really was.
"Dragon?" he replied. He shook his head. "I don't... I don't know anything about the dragon."
"Give me a break, Remekiah. I know you do." Seeing Remekiah shaking his head, I continued, "When Kosh heard me and walked towards us, you took that chance to hide inside my dress and keep me from asking questions."
He furrowed his eyebrows. "What do you mean?" he asked, trying to look innocent.
"You know something I don't, but you don't want to tell me," I answered, tightening my grip slowly. "Remekiah, tell me what you know or I will--"
"Ssss...afia!" he screamed, squirming in my tight grip. "I... can't... breathe!"
My eyes widened. I released loosened my grip as soon as I realized my grip was too tight, making him slide down my hand and land on the bed. Running my fingers through my hair, I sighed. Oh, my. I was too determined to get the answers as soon as possible that I didn't realize I was already hurting Remekiah, my friend. His suspicious actions bothered me so much that I forgot he was my friend, and just like Kosh, he would help me in his own ways. He might know something I don't, but like what he said last time, sometimes, some things were better off unknown.
I apologized to Remekiah and he nodded, understanding me. Feeling tired and exhausted again, I crawled to my bed and made myself comfortable before drifting to sleep.
The opaque clouds were thick and covered the sky above us. Leaning on the stone walls which reached up to my chest that kept me from falling down the castle, I inhaled the fresh air. Even in the rooftop of this castle, the wind still blew hard, but it wasn't cold, and it wasn't hot either. The temperature was just warm. I let my hair fly with the wind, enjoying the view, enjoying the feeling of being free.
"Are you alright, Safi?"
Dante? I quickly turned around, but as I was about to embrace him, I saw his eyes looking at me with concern. "Dante, is something wrong?"
The wind blew harder. My hair flew towards him as did the wind, and his golden yellow hair flew away from me. He looked me in the eyes as he cupped my face. When he wiped something away in my face, my eyes opened wider. I was crying! But why? I wondered. There was no reason to cry, and I didn't notice I was crying until he wiped the tears away.
"Safi, I may not beside you at all times, but I will always be there to wipe your tears away for you," he said. The wind was blowing hard, but I still heard his words clearly.
"Thank you." Even if so many thoughts were running in my head, that was all I could say.
Sunrise came. I was awakened by Remekiah's loud hissing. Knowing it's already time to prepare for my next classes, I rummaged my closet to look for the perfect dress to wear. Not that I was expecting something big to happen today, I just felt like wearing something suitable for a lady since my first class was demeanor class. I needed to impress Madame Tana today, or at least keep myself from getting in trouble today.
"Ouch," he complained as I gently pushed him aside, as I was looking for my slippers, "can you not see me here?"
I knew I left it somewhere here. I just couldn't remember exactly where. I crouched and looked under my bed. Maybe I took my slippers off last night without noticing it, I thought while I was looking under my bed. Seeing my slippers were nowhere near my bed, I decided to look for it inside my closet. Maybe I was really exhausted that I accidentally placed it inside my closet?
"Safia!" the now annoying snake called.
"Not now, Remekiah," I yelled back. "I think I'm late for class and I can't find my slippers!"
"Safia!" he called again.
Terribly annoyed, I grabbed a fistful of my clothes and threw them at the irritating snake hissing on the floor. "If you're not going to help, just keep quiet, please," I begged.
Constantly making 'tsk' sounds, Remekiah crawled towards me. I looked at him with furrowed eyebrows. What was he planning to do now? When he went past me, I was even more confused. What was he doing? But what was I doing? My eyes followed each of Remekiah's movements. I was late for class, and here I was, expecting Remekiah will help me find my slippers. He went under the closet, still hissing. After a few seconds, his head emerged from under the closet, then his tail came into view, wrapped around a pair of slippers.
I hurriedly scooped Remekiah up, slipping my feet into the slippers in the process. "Why didn't you tell me?" I asked him.
He wrapped his body around my neck, crawling slowly. "If you asked for my help instead of pushing me aside, I would've told you already. But no," he hissed. "you tried to do it on your own. You wanted to do things without my help. You didn't believe I could help you. Listen to me, Safia. Don't try to do things on your own, because you can't. If you can, what am I even here for?" Then he hid inside my dress and left me alone to hear his words over and over again.
I gently massaged Remekiah's back through the cloth of my dress. "Thank you, Remekiah," I said. "And I'm sorry for ignoring you. I was just...frustrated and...stressed, I guess."
"No worries," was his reply. "Now hurry up if you don't want your instructor to reprimand you for being late."
So I rushed down the flights of stairs, arms crossed under my chest to keep them from flailing. Dashing around the castle without Kosh felt very unusual. It was a little dark inside the castle, and running on my own made me feel lost. Finally, I found my way to the second floor where most of the stairs could be found. After a few seconds of staring at the stairways and trying to remember which way was the right one, I hurried up the flight of stairs my gut said was the right one, my feet aching as I reached my destination.
When my eyes landed on the classroom's door, I walked a little slower than before. Knock! Knock! Knock! The three knocks on the door received a 'You may come in.' in reply. Hearing Madame Tana's reply, I slowly opened the door and greeted everyone before making a beeline for my seat, the one near the windows. Everyone looked the same way they did yesterday. Madame Tana, who still had her hair up in a tight bun, was wearing another beautiful dress that made her look respectable. However, when I looked at our seats, Kosh wasn't there.
"Oh, Safia," Madame Tana called, making me turn around and look at her as she continued speaking. "I moved your seats over there." She gestured to a direction away from my original seat.
My eyes followed the direction Madame Tana gestured to and saw Kosh sitting quietly in her new seat, giving me a small smile. "Thank you, madame," I said before heading towards my new seat.
As I took my seat and tried to listen to Madame Tana's lecture about how to act properly in front of people who are older than you, I couldn't help but look at the window where I saw Dante for the first time. Even if yesterday was the most hectic day I had ever had, it was still the best day of my life. It was the day I found someone who could make me feel this kind of feeling, a brilliant mixture of happiness, trust, hope, security, and love. But there was something else I felt for him that was different and very new to me. I was feeling this desire for him. The moment I saw him, it felt like a burning flame of passion arose in my heart.
I kept myself from looking at the window, seeing this was distracting me, keeping me from listening to Madame Tana, and I turned my gaze to my instructor. But when I did, the image of Dante gripping on the window bars came to my mind, followed by an image of him standing in front of me, smiling.
If only he could come back here and stay with me, I thought to myself dreamily. If only he could come here and take me with him, I'd gladly go. But why couldn't he? Was he afraid of the magisters? They, particularly Elfreda, seemed so angered when they found out about what happened yesterday, especially when they heard who I was about to kiss. Kiss... I wonder how kissing him would feel like. Simply trying to imagine how it would happen made me giggle. Maybe the real thing would send me flying high in the sky.
"Safia," someone, whose voice I recognized as Kosh's, softly called.
I wanted to see him again. I wanted to feel his warm embrace. I wanted to just stare and admire his blonde hair again. I wanted to be lost in those blue eyes of his once more. I wanted to be with him, but why wasn't he coming back? Why could he show up yesterday morning and not show up again? What was holding him back?
This time, as the voice called me, it was accompanied by some patting on my shoulders and cheeks. "Safia, snap out of it."
I started blinking a few times then saw that the whole room was now empty. It was only us two that was still inside the room. "Wh-Where is everybody?"
"My goodness, Safia," she huffed. "You spaced out the whole period and it's already time for our next class." She fixed her things and slowly pushed the chair backwards before standing up. "Come on. Quickly!" she urged. "Let's move before the students for the next class arrive."
"Which class again?" I asked as I was pushing my chair backwards to stand up.
"Alchemy," was all that she said.
Together, we headed straight to the laboratory, where our next class would be. There were no more snakes wandering on my table. There were no more shouts and yells inside the class. And there were no more reasons to make me not enjoy this class. To make it simple, I enjoyed this class. Alchemy was something special, something that had a certain pull, and learning how to become a good alchemist sounded better and more exciting than learning how to become a proper lady.
"Hurry up, Safia! We don't have all day!" Kosh said while we were running down the stairs and making our way to the library.
"Yes, yes," I replied. "It's just that my legs aren't used to running down lots of flights of stairs, Kosh. Can't you give me a break?" I thought she was starting to understand me yesterday night, but I thought wrong.
She didn't stop running. She didn't stop dragging me down the stairs by running quickly with my hand in hers. "Our class schedule can't give us a break, Safia," she said. "And so do I."
Instead of desperately trying to make her run slowly, I just focused on keeping up with her, my eyes fixed on the hard, rocky treads. Constantly telling myself that this was what I had to endure if I didn't want to end up wandering in this big castle, I finally accepted that I just had to get used to this. Besides, I wouldn't even know which way to go if I was walking down the stairs alone.
"Sit down here, I'll just--"
"Yeah, yeah. I know, Kosh. You don't have to tell me everything. I'm not a baby," I muttered, rolling my eyes.
She came back with a different book. As usual, she read everything for me while I was just sitting there, thinking of something to do so I wouldn't get bored. I changed sitting positions and tried stretching my arms and legs, but what she was telling me was really boring me to tears.
"Safia, are you even listening to me?"
"Yeah," I replied. "Of course, I am."
She softly cleared her throat. "As I was saying," she began. "after Mordred, Alasdair's son, died, the four magisters were not yet strong enough to lead Aethelgard on their own, so they decided to make one of Mordred's best and strongest friends teach the four magisters how they would be able to keep Aethelgard safe. His name was Xarthan, known for being a great firestarter and a reliable friend."
This was seriously boring me out. But, of course, I had to hide that fact.
"However, before Xarthan could finish teaching them how to become a great leader of Aethelgard, he died in battle. He died protecting Aethelgard from another monster that tried to destroy the castle."
"What monster?" I asked, trying to keep myself from getting sleepy.
She looked at the book and scanned the whole piece of paper. "The book doesn't say. It's not important, anyway. The monster didn't come back after what happened. That's what's important."
"Anyway, the magisters started training harder when Xarthan died. They did it for him. Together, they learned how to defend Aethelgard and keep it safe. Magister Elfreda was a firestarter. Magister Radella was a waterbearer. Magister Xamira was a lightning-bender, and Magister Mitena, an earthshaker." she said. "Magister Elfreda was Magister Radella's elder sister--"
"--What?" I asked, shocked. Radella and Elfreda were sisters? So that was why Elfreda had some control over Radella. They were sisters, and Elfreda was older.
She crossed her arms. "You heard me."
"Okay, so what happened next?" I asked. "What happened to the magisters?"
"Someone's suddenly interested," she muttered, lifting another piece of paper and reading the next one.
"I heard you!"
"Silence, Miss Kaminski!" the woman said from her desk. She was the one who told me not to shout yesterday.
I nodded. "Sorry, madame." I apologized. Then I glared at Kosh, mouthing, "This is your fault."
She saw what I mouthed but continued reading, shaking her head with a smile. "Hey, Safia," she called.
"Listen to this part. The magisters somehow act like their elements, just like us."
Hearing what she said made me chuckle. Now I know why Elfreda was such a hot-tempered woman. She belonged to the fire element, and she was simply representing fire. I wonder, what could my element be?
"Safia?" a voice called from behind me.
Who was calling me? My eyes automatically ran to Kosh, seeking for an answer. Her eyes widened, and her mouth was still a little opened. Thud! She unconciously dropped the book, eyes fixed on the woman behind me. Curious, I turned around, then I gasped. My hand flew to my mouth and my eyes widened, even wider than Kosh's wide-opened eyes, if that was possible.
It was Xamira.
"Koshka, what are you reading?" she asked, her hands on her sides, relaxed. "Are you telling Safia about the magisters?"