Leah could barely believe her eyes.
She stood there, staring at the spire--the crystalite walls--everything, until Asriel coughed politely. Two Radiants grabbed her bags, and as she went to follow them, Asriel called her back.
"They'll take your bags," he said as she turned back to him. "But I thought you might like to meet the team you'll be working with? I have to return there myself and you won't be expected to do anything today, so it'll be a nice introduction."
He didn't have to ask Leah twice.
As it turned out, the main research lab wasn't far from the Spire they'd Displaced in on. After barely two minutes of walking, Asriel approached a secure-looking door with four guards posted outside.
The door itself wasn't much, but it was secure. All four of the guards and Asriel placed their hands on crystals embedded in various places in the walls. With a flash of Light, the crystals gleamed, and the door rose into the ceiling.
"Welcome to the research lab," said Asriel, gesturing wide with a hand, the other tucked behind his back as they stepped inside. "It's not as fancy as the rest of the League, but it gets the job done."
They stood in a foyer of sorts, but had a full view of the main room.
It appeared to be one, large space. The crystalite ceiling flooded everything in sunlight, causing glimmers and gleams from every angle of the room in a gorgeous display of Light. Between the benches and tables and shelves, a sea of soft pastel colours bobbed at various heights as the Radiants moved around, attending to their work. The walls, the furniture--everything was semi-transparent, grey crystalite.
The strangest thing was the way the room was almost completely devoid of shadows. Mirrors reflected the sun to every angle of the room, illuminating every crevice and crack.
As Leah craned her neck to see more, Asriel waved her over to where what looked like a rack of clothes and several changerooms were against the wall. She'd been wrong about her shadow observation--that only held true to the main room. This foyer still had solid walls.
"We have strict dress code requirements while working in the lab," said Asriel, handing her a suit that appeared to be her size. "To minimise shadows, we wear these. Very expensive, crystalite-integrated fabric. It'll reflect the light and cover what it needs to preserve modesty. If you would...?"
Leah accepted it and ducked into one of the change rooms.
It took her one painful minute to figure out how it went on. At first glance, it looked like a blanket with a hole for her head, but upon further investigation, had several clips that made it cling to her arms, chest, waist and legs. Surprisingly, it was comfortable and out of the way, but Leah had a feeling it wasn't going to win any awards for fashion any time soon. She felt like a giant fleck of sunlight.
She stepped out, gaining Asriel's nod of approval, and placed her other clothes in a box beside his before following him up the stairs and taking her first steps into the lab.
She'd never seen a more beautiful thing.
A Radiant with hair like soft seagrass drifted over to them--Leah couldn't call his movement 'walking'. It was too damned smooth.
She was really going to have to work on curbing her Teridian habits.
"Asriel!" called the Radiant. "I presume this is Leah?"
"Indeed it is," said Asriel. "Leah, this is Emrys, our lead researcher. Everything we do is passed by him."
Mechanically, Leah reached out her hand. "I'm--wow, I didn't expect that. I thought you'd have more important things to do than meet me."
Emrys laughed--a rich, deep sound that sent tingles down Leah's spine as he placed her palm to his. At least she'd remembered that much about Radiant culture. "On the contrary, I've been impatiently waiting your arrival. Asriel was the one who looked over your notebook, but I must say I glimpsed it and I was rather impressed. You have quite the eye for detail, something that will fit in well around here."
Pride swelled in Leah's chest. "Thank you, Emrys."
"You are very welcome, sun sister," said Emrys. He glanced to Asriel. "I'll be happy to give her the tour of the lab if you have work to attend to?" Asriel bid them goodbye before hurrying off, leaving Leah slightly stunned in front of Emrys. "Shall we begin?"
He swept her along with him, leading her through the benches with the skill of someone that didn't need their eyes to know where they were going. Leah caught glimpses of a Radiant's work--a female a little older than she was with pale orange hair--though she couldn't figure out what she was doing for the life of her.
"What has Asriel told you about our work so far?"
"Not a lot," said Leah, dragging her eyes away from the orange-haired Radiant. "In truth, I'm worried there might be gaps in my knowledge that could affect my usefulness."
"Then I shall explain everything."
Emrys stopped before another Radiant who had several vials of blood with various colours of crystalite around them. Certain colours made the blood gleam, others made it darken, and each result was recorded in the log book never far from their hand.
"In essence, we're attempting to isolate this parasite," said Emrys. "As you might know, we believe the parasite to be significantly inhibited by sunlight, thus why shadows are minimised within the lab, to reduce the risk. You'll be introduced to the techniques later and trained in a niche area that takes your fancy, whether it be samples, the crystal-tech the humans have designed for the purpose of our study or one of the other many roles we have to offer."
Leah's eyes were back on the blood on the table. "Are those infected samples? Where do you get them from?"
"This way," said Emrys, leading her towards the back of the room where another, foyer-like room sat.
This room wasn't like the first. For starters, it was several times larger and divided into small, closed cubes with narrow corridors linking them together.
Leah's breath caught as she saw what was in them: Radiants.
Emrys was beside her, his face grim.
"The containment section is a necessary reality of what we do," he said. "I understand this might be hard to see at first, most of our new recruits often raise their concerns about it, but I assure you that what we are doing isn't inhumane. Though they still appear to be Radiant, they are no longer."
"They're Lightless?" whispered Leah.
"Yes," said Emrys. "Radiants who have succumbed to the parasite. They have lost their Light and often their minds to the parasite, and we now sustain them for research purposes." He paused, placing a hand on her shoulder as her hands pressed against the glass. "They are no longer people, and you must understand that if you're to be of any help towards the cure. Whenever you need motivation, look to them, and see what you are trying to prevent."
Leah swallowed down her pity. What had she expected them to be doing? It was like Emrys said, it was necessary, but seeing the reality was a hard contrast to her imagination. These had all been Radiants, and the parasite had taken that from them.
"All the stories I've heard show the Lightless as monsters," said Leah. "But these just look like people. They aren't as... active as I imagined them."
"Ah, I believe you're speaking of the Shattered," said Emrys. "The more Radiant blood an individual has, the greater the effect of the parasite if it manages to take hold. The ones you see here are mixed-blood Radiants without enough Radiant blood for the parasite to take complete control of their features. However the purebloods who fall victim to the parasite are known as Shattered, and I believe they resemble the monsters you speak of."
"Can I see them?"
"I admire your curiosity, but no," said Emrys. "The Shattered are extremely dangerous, and it's only under very specific circumstances that we take samples from them." His voice quietened. "I must warn you, too. Several of the Shattered we have in captivity are Radiants that once worked in this very lab. This work is not without its risks, and contamination does happen. If you are to work here, you must understand that."
Leah chewed on her lip, her imagination running away with images of the Shattered. "I guess it's a good thing I have some Teridian in me, then."
She swore she saw Emrys stiffen as he looked at her. "You are not a pureblood?"
"Not entirely," said Leah, worried she'd screwed herself over. "My father's father was a Teridian. I only have six crystal patterns, but everything else is Radiant, even if my father says I sleep like a Teridian. Cold, wind, storm, doesn't matter, I can sleep through it!"
She was rambling, but she couldn't stop herself. Part of her wanted to keep talking forever just so she wouldn't hear the words she dreaded from Emrys.
"Ah, I see," said Emrys. "That must be a useful trait to have. I'll have to speak with Asriel later, but I'll be sure to send someone over for you tomorrow."
Leah breathed. That didn't sound too bad. "I'm excited to start, honestly."
Emrys smiled, but there was something lacking. She just couldn't figure out what it was. "We're excited to have you too, Leah." He glanced at the ceiling, the sunlight fading above them. "It appears our time for today is almost over. It has been a pleasure meeting you."
"Not as much as it has meeting you!" said Leah, placing her palm to his once more before taking her leave.
Getting out of the weird dress thing was harder than getting into it had been, so by the time Leah was back in her previous clothes, there was a Radiant with mauve hair waiting for her by the door.
"Saw you leave, thought you might want a guide," said the girl, pushing off the wall. She raised her palm to Leah's hurried return gesture. "My name's Illiya, and I remember how confusing it was during my first week, so please allow me to show you around!"
*+*+*+*
Leah was thankful for Illiya, even if initially she'd been a little stunned.
Observe now, sink in later, she told herself, despite being unable to follow the motto.
The League was huge, to say the least. At every turn and corridor, Leah couldn't help but be amazed as she was shown the training hall, the study, the library--all of the rooms she'd only ever dreamed of back in Teridia. Even her own room, though being the same size, appeared to have twice the storage and workspace.
As they walked, Illiya explained away the history of the League, claiming it to have been an ancient stronghold of the Radiants, and that even if most of its interiors might have been destroyed by flames or floods or mortal hands at various points in history, the structure itself had persisted throughout the centuries without a single crack.
Leah ran her fingers over the roughened crystalite walls, more than a little awed.
Radiants--her people--they'd made this, and now she was a part of it.
"Shall we visit the dining hall next?" asked Illiya, smile lighting up her face more than the crystal patterns across her skin ever could.
Leah grinned back. Now that it'd been mentioned, her stomach was demanding a much higher priority than she'd been giving it. "Food sounds amazing!" She cast her eyes to the ceiling, not wanting to miss a thing. Familiar patterns edged the spot just below the roof, and Leah decided to point it out. "What do they say? I can't see it from up here."
"Say?" said Illiya, slightly confused. "They don't say anything, Leah. They're just patterns."
Leah quickly retracted her hand. "Oh. Right, sorry! I think I'm a little brain-dead after today."
Illiya's smile returned. "That's completely understandable, if you ask me."
The dining hall was just as spectacular as everything else. Every line ended in an elegant curve, every space not just a square-cut gap the Teridians favoured but a refined archway that spiralled across the wall, tiny shards of crystalite nestled among the literally gleaming grandeur.
Leah stopped at the entrance and placed a hand over her heart. "Just give me a minute to take it in."
Illiya glanced around, eyes moving like she was really seeing it for the first time. "I think I always took it for granted. I grew up in the Radiant's part of Hulari, the human's capital? This League doesn't look much different in comparison. C'mon, before all the good stuff goes."
Leah allowed herself to be led to the tables, still managing to lag behind, her gaze wandering over every piece of the crystalite architecture. How much Light had it taken to build this League? How deep did it go? Then, another thought--were there secrets here that were yet to be uncovered? Could she be the one to--
She shook her head, telling herself to cut it out. If there were secrets here, they'd have been long discovered by now.
Several other Radiants--both pure and mixed bloods--separated Leah from Illiya in the queue for food. Slightly terrified that she was going to make an idiot of herself within her first three hours of being here, Leah took great care to copy the exact actions of the person in front of her when she realised who it was.
Kieran.
The Kieran--the one from the Teridian's stories, talking with another mixed-blood ahead of him in the queue. There was no way she could mistake that brown hair with the pastel blue tips and the single crystal pattern that ran down the side of his face. She'd studied the two pictures she'd managed to get ahold of from the Teridians to no end, imagining what kind of person he was, what he'd think of her, their conversations. The same guy who'd taken on a group of Lightless solo and come out without a scratch on him was standing before her.
Leah couldn't stop staring, and it didn't take long for him to notice.
To say Kieran's smile froze in place as the noticing happened was an understatement. "Something interesting?"
"Uh--" Words. She knew words. "Um, sorry, I just--"
He gave her the once-over. "You're new here, aren't you?"
Leah couldn't nod fast enough. "Asriel brought me in earlier today and I've heard about you and, um, you seem pretty great."
You seem pretty great. When she finally met one of her childhood heroes, after all those hours of imagining their conversations and thinking up witty responses, you seem pretty great was what she'd come up with.
Ten points to Leah.
Her self-imposed humiliation was slightly less crippling when she realised it wouldn't have mattered what she said, that he'd still have been looking at her with this same, annoyed expression if she'd offered him a shedded Teridian skin or the cure itself.
"...I'm sure you'll do great things too."
That was all he said before he turned away, his back to Leah once more.
She wasn't sure what she preferred--his stare or his back, because they both kind of hurt more than she cared to admit. Her cheeks were stinging as she picked up the plate, selecting her food at random because everything had gone a little blurry as she grabbed her cutlery and managed to make it back to where Illiya had secured them a table against the wall.
"Oooh, good choice on the--Leah, what's wrong?"
Leah rubbed her face, brushing out a slight tangle from the violet strands hanging over her shoulder. "Nothing. I'm good."
Illiya reached across the table, her eyes scanning the crowd as if she expected to see someone. "What happe--you talked to Kieran, didn't you?"
Leah's cheeks were stinging all over again as she nodded.
Illiya's grip tightened on her fingers. "Oh, psht. Leah, he's a jerk, don't listen to anything he says."
"He didn't say anything. I just made an idiot of myself."
She got a slap on the wrist for that one. "No, you didn't! Kieran's one of the mixed-bloods who have a thing against us purebloods for whatever reason, and the League can't do anything about it because he's one of their best Lightless killers and they send him on the top priority expeditions. Unless he's annoyed Asriel or Emrys or any of their prodigies anyway, which is more common than you'd think."
Leah managed to retrieve her hand to poke at her food. "I just... I don't know. Being in Teridia was a little bit isolated. The Teridians didn't care much for news about the League unless it was what they considered an achievement, so Kieran came up a lot." She sighed. "I just thought it'd be different when we met."
"Who else did you hear about?"
Leah finished her mouthful, the urge to sink into the ground and never come out slowly fading as she kept breathing and life went on. "Lira and Dilimra came up a few times. Are they any nicer than Kieran?"
Illiya made a face that told Leah everything she needed to know. "I--Leah, it's okay! They're just, I don't know, Dilimra's okay but Lira doesn't really talk to anyone unless you're a pro with your Light. It's okay though, you won't be working with them much at all, you're going on the cure team, right?"
"I hope so."
Illiya beamed. "Then the only time you'll even glimpse Kieran again is at dinner a few times a week. He never eats breakfast with the rest of the Radiants that rise with the sun. If I'm honest, that's the first sign that he's a shadow in these halls."
"Shadow?" asked Leah, wary. "You don't mean like--"
"Oh, no! I'm not saying he's Lightless!" said Illiya, throwing her hands up. "Calling someone a shadow here is just like saying that..." She shrugged. "Well, it's kind of mean. It's saying they don't have enough Radiant blood to be in the League at all."
"Oh."
Illiya grinned. "You really do have a lot to learn, Leah."
Leah managed to smile back at that one. "It's a good thing I learn fast then, isn't it?"
After dinner, feeling slightly less out of place than she had before dinner, Leah returned to her rooms. Her things were still in their bags, the shelves and desks in her room still completely bare. She told herself that this room would feel more like home after she'd unpacked, but there was a niggling doubt in the back of her head that said otherwise.
"It doesn't matter, Leah," she told herself, pulling back the blankets on her freshly made bed. They weren't scratchy like the ones the Teridians had given them. Instead, the soft, silken texture reminded her of her mother's old blanket, the one that always hung over the back of her fathers chair that she often caught him running his fingers over. That made the bare room a little colder, despite how warm the blankets were.
Leah lay on her back, staring up through the transparent crystalite ceiling above her head and into the stars above her. Her father hadn't had the skill to craft crystalite, so their ceilings had been solid. Another thing that was different.
She tossed and turned, but at some point, sleep crept up on her and steadied her breathing.
*+*+*+*
A/N - Getting back into the writing now, crap week is crap, but I'm back and I have an outline, even if these first 3 chapters might feel a little off. Sorry if they do, but I don't really wanna go back and rewrite them again because WE HAVE NANO THINGS TO DO.
Also my inner awkward is shining through with Leah, and oh god it's painful because I've done these things so many times T_T'
I can has votes and comments? =>
Wordcount: 10,855 (note, this includes a ~2.5k outline I wrote up because dammit, it counts. xD)