18 – First Test

 

It was Lyra.

Though it didn’t look like it at first. She was wearing a long, yellow nightgown and had some kind of brown clay plastered all over her face.

“There you are,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest and tapping her feet on the ground. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

“Did you fall in the mud?” Arielle asked her.

“No. It’s a greymint mudmask. It’s good for stress relief and also for my pores.”

“I see.” Arielle didn’t see how it relieved stress to have that much clay spread across one’s face. If anything, it would make her even more stressed. And it didn’t seem to be working well either. Ari couldn’t read her expression, but with Lyra’s rigid stance, tension oozed off her in waves.

“You still look stressed to me,” Ari said. “I don’t think the mask’s working.”

“Oh, it’s working. If it wasn’t working, I would already be steaming my hair off right now.”

“There’s a spell for that?

“I don’t mean literally,” she huffed. Now she sounded just like Celie. “I mean that I’m annoyed with you.”

“Me why?”

“Because look what you did!” She gestured behind her towards the clothes strewn on the floor, spreading from Ari’s bed to the center of the room. “I’m no stickler, but I really can’t stand such mess.”

Neither could Ari usually, unless she got preoccupied, which had happened with the spells.

“Sorry,” she said. “I’ll clean it up quickly.”

She recalled the cleaning spell and almost moved her hand automatically, but then she remembered that she didn’t have a wand, and she was conserving essences.

So she just walked into the room and began picking the clothes up by hand.

After watching her for a few seconds, Lyra joined her.

She helped her fold the clothes, and while Ari typically liked to fold her own clothes, Lyra did it in the careful, precise way that she appreciated, so she let her.

They were quiet, and Ari searched for something to say. How could she befriend this total stranger?

What would Celie do?

Well, Celie would probably say something to make Lyra happy. But what?

A thought occurred to her.

Elric had mentioned that friends were there for flattering and doing favors for each other.

Lyra was doing a favor for her now. So, she should flatter her.

It didn’t matter if it was a lie, as long as it made the other person feel good.

“Lyra?”

“Yes?”

“You look really nice with mud on your face.”

Lyra paused, stared at her for a few seconds.

Then she shook her head, going back to folding.

After they were done, Lyra showed her where to put her clothes. The wardrobe was perfectly sectioned into two, and Lyra’s side was arranged and color-coordinated with bright hues from just about every shade of the rainbow.

Ari’s was mostly brown and black.

“You must really like bright colors,” Ari commented.

“Yes,” Lyra said as she helped Ari pack the clothes in. “Makes life less depressing.”

“Dark colors are often more practical. It hides dirt, helps to camouflage against predators, and doesn’t make you look garish in a crowd.”

Lyra paused. “Well, maybe I don’t always want to be practical. Maybe I don’t mind being garish.”

She put the folded shirt on top of the pile with a little more force than necessary and said, “You can finish the rest on your own.”

“Yes. Thanks for the help.”

Lyra walked away as Ari continued packing her clothes, unaware of the looks she was being thrown.

After she was done, she went to sit at her desk again. She brought out her messaging scroll and was about to pen her first message to Elric when she noticed there was already a message there waiting for her.

Are you settling in well?

Elation filled her.

He’d written to her first!

She hurried to write back.

Yes, I think so. I managed to learn an adequate number of spells for tomorrow; however, I leveled up in the process. I don’t know how it happened since I didn’t earn enough points.

The response came sooner than she expected it.

It’s because there were already points in your reserve from when you were evaluated. It wasn’t at zero. Whatever you added on top of that was then enough to push you into the next level. It’s fine, and it won’t happen again. So just track your points more carefully from now.

Okay. Additionally, I accidentally used up my allotted massa allowance.

What how?

I learned one hundred and fifty-seven spells.

Why on Earth would you do that?

Ari was frustrated that everyone kept asking her that question.

Because they told me to learn as many spells as I could!

Don’t take things so literally, Ari.

I can’t help it. People should just say precisely what they mean.

Humans don’t work like that. Did you go to Dean Octavius?

Yes. He gave me a refill.

Does he suspect anything?

Ari thought about it.

I don’t think so.

That’s good. What about your roommate? Are you getting along with her?

Ari glanced behind her at Lyra, who was also at her desk, apparently studying. Her mouth soundlessly formed the words on the tome in front of her.

I’m not sure. She seems nice, but I don’t know if she likes me or hates me.

She likely hasn’t made up her mind yet. Give her time.

That was immediately followed by:

You haven’t said anything to offend her, have you?

I don’t think so. I tried to ask her to be my gopher, but she turned me down. However, she helped me with Faulkey, so I don’t know what she wants. She might be confused.

You asked her to be what?

A gopher. Someone who follows you around all the time and laughs at your jokes even when they’re not funny, and does whatever you want and never defies you.

I know what it is. Why would you ask her that?

She’s the one who asked technically. I told her that I wanted to make her powerful so we could be friends. She asked if I wanted her to be my gopher, and it sounded lovely, so I said yes.

Oh Ari…that’s not how you go about that.

It’s not?

No. It sounds like you were judging her for being weak and inferior to you. Even if you think it’s true, friends are supposed to reserve judgment on things like that.

I wasn’t judging her. I was simply stating facts. She’d already told me that she was weak. I was affirming her assessment and offering my help. I thought that’s how you make friends.

Elric didn’t write anything for a good while.

Elric?

Yes, I’m here. I’m going to send you a book by raven tomorrow that will help you. I probably should have sent it earlier, but I didn’t know the problem was quite this bad.

What problem?

Your social skills.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Yes, it’s fairly terrible.

Worse than terrible.

She frowned.

I thought friends were supposed to reserve judgment.

I wasn’t judging. I was simply stating facts.

I see. When will the book arrive?

By morning time. I’ll express it.

Thank you.

You’re welcome. Now, tell me, what on earth is a Faulkey?

They chatted for a few more minutes, during which he’d told her that he’d sent her family the messaging scroll and they should get it by the end of day tomorrow. That made Ari relieved. She wanted to talk to her family and ask Celie especially, about what to do about Lyra. Lyra and Celie felt like very similar people, and Celie would know what to say.

Ari missed them badly. But she didn’t dwell on it.

Right before they ceased communication, Elric assured Arielle that he would help her with her allotting the points tomorrow. Luckily the system had stopped alerting her so she didn’t need to bother about that tonight.

Instead, she opened her spell book, focused on memorizing as many spell forms as she could. As she did, she pulled the raw essences in the room with her wand, manually forming the shapes of the spell script so she could commit it to mind.

She was going to ask Elric for permission to do it, but decided not to bother him. It wasn’t like anyone could see her anyway, and if they did, they would simply assume she was using her processed mana.

Raw external mana was harder to move around, and it did not have the distinct glow of the charged particles. They didn’t bond with each other, of course, but she put them in the rough shape of the spell anyway, just to help her remember.

She studied tirelessly into the night, even as Lyra’s side of the room went dark. She kept going, reading spell after spell, until her lantern was the sole glow in the window for the entire building.

***

By morning, Arielle knew exactly six hundred and thirty spell forms. That was all she’d managed until she’d dropped off to sleep at her desk. She hadn’t even woken by the morning bell, and Lyra had to shake her awake and tell her, “Come on, we’re going to be late.”

Ari washed up groggily and got dragged to the cafeteria.

It was in one of the atriums of the main building, a large room with arched ceilings, tall stone-bound windows that overlooked the manicured grass and the sea beyond.

The breakfast itself was a refined affair. There was a stuffed duck, pillowy buns glazed with sugar and marzipan, an assortment of meats that had been soaked in cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and saffron, and even a lamprey pie.

Ari didn’t know what to make of this foreign selection. She had never had food like this before.

She approached a member of staff, a moustached man, who was overseeing the meal.

“Excuse me, do you by any chance have any bean porridge, eggs, rye, or quail?”

He shook his head.

She sighed as she glanced back at the luxurious meal on the serving table.

She supposed she would just have to get used to it.

After she filled her plate, she was faced with another dilemma.

Where to sit.

At the schoolyard, she’d sat alone during mealtimes.