Catching Up

  “The other second-year tacticians have already arrived,” announced the Headmistress with a thin-lipped smile on her face, just as forced as hers had been in the mirror.

  “Okay,” replied Ty emptily as she walked through the open gates, stopping a few steps in to wait for the Headmistress to say more. She didn’t look that different from when she had last seen her, which wasn’t all that long ago—the same bundled up gray hair, the same outfit, and the same knowing look in her eyes.

  The Headmistress reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of paper for her. “This is for you.”

  Ty nodded and put it into her breast pocket, where she noticed a new slip of paper was—she didn’t remember putting anything there. “Is there anything else I need to do?”

  “Reports won’t come in until tomorrow,” hummed the Headmistress, tapping on her cheek with her index finger. “The other tacticians are currently having dinner, if you’d like to join.”

  “No,” replied Ty before the choice could be rescinded.

  The Headmistress chuckled. “Nothing else but settling, then. You’ve received your updated robe, dress, and pin?”

  All had arrived in a package at their front door a week earlier, which had sent Joanie into a bad mood for the rest of the day. She dared to come up to our house to leave this package without saying anything, her mother had seethed upon handing the items to her. I’ve got to tune the barrier settings.

  “Yes, it’s all in order.” Admittedly, she hadn’t touched the black dress used for exams and outings, the very one she had seen herself wear in her nightmares, but the Headmistress didn’t need to know that. Her beloved robe, however, was newly lined with the second-year color: a rich, deep blue.

  As if disappointed by Ty not mentioning Joanie’s displeasure, the Headmistress sighed softly. “Good, good. Anything you need from me?”

  The note in her breast pocket could have burned a hole through her coat, and Ty still would have said nothing. “No.”

  “Good luck.”

  Ty swallowed the bitter taste in her mouth and walked away without another word.

  * * *

  Standing exactly where she had been a few months ago, Ty surveyed her class common room. The light streaming in from the window beside where Selene would often watch the sun rise for morning blessing illuminated the desk and bookshelves, the plush red couches and the stone fireplace with a singular utility tome sitting on top of it.

  On the other side of the room was their dining table, big enough to seat ten people and countless plates of food that any class would be hard-pressed to finish, and a kitchen neat enough for one to assume that it had never been used. Three well-worn stools were tucked neatly under the granite counter along with several supply boxes to prevent any mischievous students from ducking under to get to the other side.

  At the far end was the entryway to the rest of the dorms. Where she would almost always find her friends at the end of the night, where she felt safe and among family.

  Like always, Ty made sure the door was closed behind her, headed to the fireplace where she lit the hearth without moving her pursed lips, and then walked through the dark corridor to her room at the end of the hallway.

  She put her bag down first, and then could not help but stand in the center of the room, absorbing it all in. This was it. This was her second year of school. She had made it. With all that was going on, she wasn’t sure if a third year was going to happen, if she was ever going to get this feeling again—of standing in an empty room after returning from a long summer break—but this was it. She was here, and she was going to do her best to keep her promises. To not fall apart.

  She unfastened her coat and reached into its inner pocket, taking out two slips of paper: one that had been given to her by the Headmistress, full of black and ominous writing, and the second, the tiniest envelope she had ever seen, even smaller than the admin card she had received almost a year ago from Selene.

  Ty, it wrote on the front in similarly black ink, the paper rougher and thicker than the usual parchment her mother used for script-writing, her penmanship perfect like Faris’s.

  Gently opening the envelope, Ty pulled out a small slip of paper with three simple words. It hadn’t even been signed, and it contained only those three words, but the feelings from that morning immediately came flooding back as tears welled up in her eyes.

  “I’m not falling apart,” proclaimed Ty weakly to an empty room.

  * * *

  Drafting a preliminary report at the class, Ty sat at her favorite spot in the common room—the counter. There was a large portion of it that depended on tomorrow’s reports from the Academy—and she knew there was probably going to be more bad news than good news—but a lot had transpired over the summer.

  Stay on premises at all times when classes are in session. Stay away from newly contested regions, villages, and major townships, especially those near Ancient communities.

  Ty’s eyes read over the word “contested” a few times before remembering that other students would probably not know what it meant if they hadn’t kept themselves apprised of MATS news.

  Contested, she continued to write, is a new designation given to areas currently occupied by both MATS and enemy state soldiers on account of the risk posed to the Ancient population on Chloris. This is mainly due to the recent incidents involving the infiltration and burning down of the two Ancient communities, Hythe and Caspos.

  As she finished writing the two names, dropping her pencil so she could fold her slightly trembling hands on her lap, she swiveled her head toward the door.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  “Someone arrive?” she could hear the person on the other side saying as they stepped in.

  Ah, of course.

  Taking a deep breath, Ty ran through all the different ways the conversation could go when the lumbering Ancient finally met her eyes.

  “H-hi.”

  Darius seemed genuinely startled, letting the bag in his hand hit the floor with a dull thud. “Oh.”

  “Hmm?” spoke another voice.

  It was Ty’s turn to be surprised, her nervous jitters vanishing. That’s…

  “Well, well, well. If it isn’t Ty.”

  “Hello, Elias,” replied Ty, who was steeling herself for the worst, her last interaction with the lackadaisical noble still stark in her mind. “Have a nice summer break?” she tried to ask normally, eyes flipping from the duelist to her weaponsmith, who was now briskly crossing the threshold of the common room with bag in hand, suspiciously trying to avoid being questioned.

  Elias came through the door holding two more bags, grunting, “If it could be called a break.”

  “Oh?” Ty raised her eyebrows, slightly relieved to see the Ancient disappear through the dorm hallway before focusing back on the duelist.

  Using an elbow to shut the door behind him, Elias shot Ty an expectant look. “You’re smart—guess what I did all summer.”

  This next part, she could not help herself from saying. “Wishing you were here with Callie instead?”

  Instead of snapping back at her, Elias’s face lit up, and he bent over in laughter. “The break has made you much funnier, lead, I’ll give you that.”

  “I’m right, aren’t I?” Ty smiled, concealing nothing.

  Elias’s laugh dissolved into a chuckle as he stood upright and readjusted his bags. “I’m officially an old man now,” he sighed. “Parents’ll stop nagging me about finding a partner when I’m cold, dead, and buried in the ground. If I’m lucky enough to even be buried.”

  Ty’s smile, too, faded. “No, don’t say that,” she chided, recalling one of her many nightmares.

  But Elias offered no promises as he made his way across the common room with his head down. Perhaps it was the absent, lackadaisical look in his eyes, or his hair that had gotten lighter from months of summer sun, or something she couldn’t see altogether, but he looked…changed. “It’s okay,” she could hear him faintly chortle as he walked past. “That last part only matters if the Earth Mother is real. If she isn’t, I lose nothing; if she is, who’s to say I even wanna to be reincarnated, anyway?”

  She blinked, not sure how to reply.

  He shot her one last look before heading to his room, this time with slightly more intention in his gaze. “Callie’s over by the class bench, by the way.”

  When he didn’t move, it occurred to Ty what his intentions were. “I’ll go soon.”

  “Good,” she swore she heard him say as he left for real this time.

  And then the silence returned.

  Ty waited at her stool by the kitchen counter, wondering if anyone else was going to come in to interrupt her, to feed some life to her silence, but there was nothing.

  She picked back up her pencil, her hands steady. I don’t think I’ll ever understand him, she thought to herself as she finished the last of her notes. I wonder if I ever had.

  * * *

  When she made it outside, the sun had already dipped below the horizon, its lingering rays barely illuminating the cool stone buildings.

  Not many students had arrived yet, leaving the dorm courtyard empty and the grass pristine. First-year students and all tacticians were to arrive today—one week before everyone else—but most of the first-years were likely busy taking the tour of the Academy that Ty herself went through with her class a year ago.

  Getting to speak to Elias was a familiar and refreshing start to the year, but part of her wished she could have also spoken to Darius, even though she wasn’t sure what she would have said.

  I had a dream where you told me I was your half-sister, she practiced in her mind.

  Shaking her head, breathing in sharply, Ty chased away the thought at how wrong it sounded and made a right by the end of the buildings to get to the main courtyard, where she could see the main lecture building, the Great Hall, and the infirmary. There were a few other buildings at the end that belonged to different disciplines and classes, and then the library and dining hall. All the buildings formed a U-shape around the grass, which was where most school events and Theo’s loathed Fieldwork took place.

  The bench was on the edge of the courtyard, the same one they had sat at during their first-year dueling ceremony, the one that Ty sometimes frequented when she had nothing else better to do. At times she caught some other students sitting by the bench and tree nearby, like Cyril, Kor, or Alex. Callie, as far as she knew, was more likely to be caught studying at the library or working in the village.

  Today, however, she could make out Callie’s shapely figure sitting on the bench—her full bosom, her straight, long dark hair, and her red, long-sleeved shirt that hid her secrets.

  “Hi, Callie,” she called as she approached.

  Callie’s head turned before she could even finish her sentence. “Hi, Ty,” she replied softly with a smile, standing up to greet her. “How are you?”

  She also looked different. Her eyes were softer; the anxiety that she had always seen in them was no longer there, and the panic that Ty’s intimidating presence produced no longer registered in her gaze. She looked fuller. At peace.

  What wonders it does, when the fear leaves you.

  “I’m doing fine,” was Ty’s automatic response, still enamored at how different she seemed from the first-year Calliope who was caught working without having filled out a slip. “You look different.”

  Blushing, Callie brought a bashful hand up to her cheek. “Do I?” Her voice was like confectionery, soft and sweet.

  Ty nodded, averting her eyes so she could remain cool-headed. “You seem happy. I’ve never seen you like this before.”

  That only made her blush even more, bringing back some of the signature panic to her expression. “I…no, I’m fine. I’m alright. My summer was alright.” She brushed her hair aside and looked away as well. “I worked and studied. Helped Darius sometimes in the workshop when he needed an extra hand. Um…” Her hands stopped moving, her eyes relaxing as if recalling a memory. “Some of the other students, um, they visited once or twice. Campus always being open and all.”

  Theo, she knew, had visited. Darius returned after a brief sojourn, likely to another Ancient community. Alex must have visited, being so closely knit with her, and Elias…she had a suspicion, but perhaps mentioning his name would give her a better idea.

  “Was it nice not to be lonely all the time?” she asked instead.

  Callie’s eyes met hers, her bashfulness replaced with a knowing look. “Yeah. It was.”

  “I’m glad.” Ty smiled and nodded, her chest tightening as she took a deep breath. I should probably tell her I’ve got to go to the workshop to get what I left there after the Headmi—

  “You look different, too.”

  She blinked. “Oh?” At first it sounded teasing, but then she could see that Callie still had that serious look. The same one from when they were in the infirmary, before they all left. When she had told her about that night.

  “You seem sad.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “That’s another lie, isn’t it?”

  What wonders it does, when the fear leaves you.

  “Over the summer, they redid part of the infirmary,” Callie continued, eyes staring straight at the truth in Ty’s fearful eyes. “Two of the mosaics of the Graces broke. Hythe and Caspos. They’ve covered them with cloths, so it’s darker in there now.” She paused, eyes searching. “Hythe…you remember, right? Our Ancient village, the one that burned down.”

  When you’re the one in control.

  “A sunless infirmary…I wonder how that’d look like. A Graceless, godless world.”

  Images of burning red flashed in her mind. In the heat of summer. Running, running, running. Make sure not to get caught. Make sure to act normal. Lie, lie, lie. She can’t Spell Cleanse you anymore; you’re not a child. She knows nothing. Keep it together. Silence. Pure silence. Bright white. Soft, white sand under her feet. Her voice. Revenge. Regret, all over again. His pain. Fire. Burning, burning, burning.

  Don’t fall apart.

  Her spiraling memories ceased when Callie put her arms around her in a hug. It was warm. It was human. It was real.

  “Whatever you need, I’m yours.”

  “Calli—”

  “I don’t owe my happiness to a god who’s done nothing but watch me suffer,” she whispered, tightening her arms around Ty. “I owe it to the people who saved me.”

  And what if the people you care about are the ones in the wrong?

  If only there were an easy answer.