Little Sister

  Knock, knock.

  No answer.

  Knock, knock.

  Ty hummed to herself, about to reach into her coat pocket for her notebook when she heard another noise.

  Creaaak.

  “She’s working late today,” yawned the covert individual poking his head out of his room to the left. “Don’t think she’ll be back until after dinner.”

  The tactician checked her timepiece and watched the seconds pass as she tried to figure out her next best course of action. Time was short, and she needed to get the situation with the curse sorted out. She definitely did not want Theo to do the Spell Cleanse on her—he was sleeping, anyhow—so the only other option was to seek out her support herself.

  “Hey—” Raising her head from her timepiece, she stopped short after realizing that she was now talking to a door.

  She sighed, a faint smile on her face as she pulled her notebook out.

  Callie never used to work late on Grace’s Day, right before class. It wasn’t anywhere near peak season for the village, either. That was typically during the summer and winter, when class was less busy.

  Continuing to brood over her notebook as she made her way over to the common room, she finally stopped to scribble something down right as she stepped into the brightly lit common room.

  It wasn’t a particularly long note, and she could tell right away that she wasn’t alone in the room, but she made sure to pen it down much more meticulously than before. That lesson she had learned once she realized that almost all her notes needed to be rewritten to be legible to anyone else.

  After a few seconds, she closed her notebook and slipped it into her pocket, looking up only to see Alex eating dinner at the kitchen counter, book in hand and spoon in the other.

  “Hey, Alex,” she called from across the room without moving from her spot.

  The duelist looked up from her book with surprise written all over her face, setting down the spoonful of food that she was just about to eat. “Graces, Ty, I’m so sorry I didn’t see you. Were you waiting long?”

  “No, not at all,” Ty replied with a smile, walking closer to see what Alex was up to. “You usually eat in the dining hall. Did something happen?”

  Alex tried to be upbeat, laughing dryly as she averted her eyes and used her spoon to poke at her meal, which looked like a mixture of oats, fish, egg, and green peas. “It’s loud in there. Besides, I figured I’d catch up on some studying. Class exams are in a few weeks, and I’ve got to make sure my marks are good. Because, well, you were there…”

  “You’re really going, aren’t you?” she tried to ask kindly.

  Alex met Ty’s intent gaze this time, face full of guilt despite the polite smile she tried to maintain. “Yeah, I am. I actually…ran into the Archivist—Araminta, was it?—on Friday, when I was checking out a book. I talked to her, and she said they’d definitely take me if I ended the semester with adequate marks.”

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  Ty nodded. There was no doubt in her mind that they were more than sufficient.

  “Anyway,” continued Alex, pushing her food to the side and propping up her head on the counter with the palms of her hands. The guilt-ridden look on her face did not go away. “I…I thought a lot about it. I talked to Callie, I talked to Theo. I…” She paused, looked down, and then back up at Ty. “I talked to Selene about it, too. I was kinda stunned myself—she knocked on my door yesterday morning! I was even still in my nightclothes!”

  The expression on Alex’s face finally looked more familiar as she let out a lighthearted laugh. Her smile felt genuine and pure, as crystal clear as her intentions. “Bless her soul, she burst into tears trying to get an apology out. I couldn’t help but give her a hug and tell her that it was okay, that I understood and forgave her. I know what Selene said wasn’t the greatest, and I should probably feel more upset…but she knows what she did was wrong, and she really seemed apologetic—shouldn’t I believe her? I also can’t help it that she reminds me of my little sisters. I’ve got to take care of ‘em, just like Selene. Just like you.”

  Ty blinked, and her eyes widened. “M-me?” she stammered.

  Alex seemed embarrassed about Ty’s bashful reaction, averting her eyes with a sheepish grin. “Well—y’know, like, in a cute way. Like you’re someone people can take care of, like—oh!—Faris with you at dinner. You totally zone out way too much! Maybe he takes care of you because he thinks of you as a sister too! He’s kinda hard to get through to, but there’s something there—I just know it. I can see it when he looks at you.” Her eyes glittered in the candlelight. “Oh! And that time you were in the courtyard. Our first year, remember? You were standing there, and I had to snap you out of it.” For once catching herself in the middle of a tirade, Alex quickly straightened her back while waving her hands frantically. “Of course, like, not ‘little sister’ in a condescending way, ‘cause you know a lot, and you’re super smart, and you’re still our class lead, but y’know, we gotta take care of you!” Pause. “And you’re tiny compared to us! There’s that!” she concluded with an enormous smile.

  Despite her best efforts to stay leader-like and calm, and not at all little-sister-like, Ty laughed whole-heartedly before replying. “Yes, I understand.”

  Relaxing, Alex’s expression turned determined. Her eyes brightened, eager to convey her feelings. “Everyone in the class feels like family. I love everyone so, so much. I know it may seem like I don’t appreciate you all because of this, but it’s just that I…I have my family to consider. We live in the south, near the MATS office there, so tensions have been high for a long time, but like you said in our first year…war is coming—and who knows? Maybe everyone’s just waiting for something big to push us all over the edge. I still remember what you told us that day when we were outside the practice halls. I trust you, and I trust what you said. So that’s why I have to consider my family. I don’t want to regret not being there for them, especially when I’m able and willing. I want to be there to protect them.”

  She paused, looking to her tactician for approval. Ty nodded encouragingly.

  “I owe my family so much. And trust me, I didn’t think that I…would end my journey here so soon with everyone…but!” She stood up from her seat with balled-up fists raised in determination. “It’s not like I’ll never be able to see everyone again. I’ll try to come visit if I have the time. Though like, for real, what are Darius and Callie going to do without me speaking up for them? Callie’s gotten better, but Darius? Come on!”

  Listening to Alex’s ramblings with a crestfallen smile on her face, Ty realized she couldn’t do it after all. She couldn’t say goodbye to Alex. She couldn’t close the book on their story, tell her that she would never see her again after this semester, that she was going to go off and fulfill the destiny she believed was hers. With her own intentions as clear as mud, she didn’t have the heart to tell her the truth, mar her purity and resolve.

  Is that fair? Probably not.

  Nothing in this world is fair.

  Not when you’re a pawn.

  “Oh my goodness, I completely forgot to ask!”

  Ty refocused her eyes.

  “Did you have dinner yet? The dining hall should still be open. Let’s get you something to eat! You look like you haven’t eaten a full meal in days—I mean, if you have time.”

  Ty sighed and chuckled, forgetting everything else she was supposed to do that night, giving in to the melancholy, the nostalgia she could already feel even when the end was still far away. This last, crystal-clear moment with Alex, where the threat of silence was simply fantasy. The closest thing to a goodbye that she could endure.

  “All the time in the world.”