Chapter 2: Encounter

The medical assistant was true to her word. It didn’t even take until next bell for Aoife to sign out of the clinic. The clerk behind the admin counter skimmed over her log. He was a Hyur too.

When the clerk reached her signature, his eyes widened slightly. “You have beautiful penmanship, little miss. Do you do much writing at all?”

“I do, in fact.” Aoife beamed politely. “I keep a journal with me whenever I can.”

She patted an outside pocket of the knapsack she had slung over her shoulder, silently thanking the Fury that Eoin and Zane hadn’t left it out in the snow when they found her. A small bout of self-consciousness came over her at being asked about it, however.

“I find it…” She hesitated slightly, then attempted to pass off her momentary uncertainty with a nonchalant shrug. “…therapeutic, I suppose.”

The clerk just offered another smile. “Well, I hope you keep at it. Most of us only learned how to read and write once we were assigned here to Dragonhead. What you have is an enviable gift to us commoners.” Then his smile turned a bit cheeky. “Well. Until we learn it for ourselves here.”

Aoife giggled. “I think Coerthas would be better off if we all knew how to read and write. You’ll catch no complaints from me.”

Most Hyurs weren’t born into nobility like the Elezen who resided in Ishgard; many grew up in the highlands, learning how to fend for themselves. Only after the war did the livelihoods of the surrounding hamlets start to improve—especially with the establishment of Dragonhead Academy.

Bidding the clerk good day, Aoife turned and began to walk away.

“You’re here to become a knight, right?” the clerk said.

Stopped in her tracks, Aoife whirled back around with a momentarily disoriented look. “Ah—Um… Yes, why?”

The clerk pointed a thumb towards another door that wasn’t the exit. “If you’d like, you can take that door over there to get to the registration office. It leads to an underground pass that connects a few of the buildings on campus.”

“Underground pass?”

“Aye. Apparently, it was built during the war in case the knights had to move about during a raid. Dragons might have ruled the skies, but they can’t fit in the subterranean shafts.” He shrugged. “Reckoned it might be easier for you, since the blizzard hasn’t calmed down yet. Bloody skywatcher… She said it would clear up this afternoon.”

Aoife mirrored his shrug in sympathy. “That’s just the weather, after all. One minute it’s a heresy of snow; the next, it’s fair skies. There’s still room for her to be right.”

“I hope so. I wouldn’t want to return to my quarters in that. In any case, if you take the tunnels, go straight through until you reach the first fork. The one on the left should take you straight to the registration office.”

Now that she knew she was safely in Dragonhead, Aoife didn’t mind having to trek through the unfavorable snow conditions. After all, Coerthas had been cursed to a permanent winter for a decade now—maybe more. But it was the clerk’s suggestion, and she thought it might be rude to refuse.

She shifted her direction and walked towards the door to the underground pathways. “I’ll take your advice. Fury guide you.”

“And you, miss.”

=-=-=

Aoife descended into the subterranean tunnels. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she found that torches lined the wall in quick succession. Some torches weren’t in their holsters. It seemed these pathways were still actively used, despite the end of the war. Well, as the clerk mentioned before, it was a convenient way to stay out of a blizzard.

She took one of the spare torches and began to amble along. The tunnels were fairly deep below the surface; she couldn’t hear anything other than the crackle of firelight. Torches still lined the walls as she made her way, but they were farther in between and left plenty of shadowy gaps.

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“Down and to the left…” she said to herself, reciting directions from the clerk.

As she walked further, Aoife began to feel… nervous. She didn’t much care for dark, cramped spaces. Wasn’t there someone on campus who maintained these tunnels?

Well. It wasn’t as if there was any kind of threat lurking about underneath one of the most fortified outposts of Coerthas—

She heard footsteps. They were approaching quickly from further down the tunnelway. And then, they stopped. And then started again before stopping again. Were they actually footsteps? Perhaps it was just the sound of loose rubble.

Aoife let out a quavering little laugh. “S-Silly me… I’m hearing things just because of the m-mood this place gives off.” She was starting to regret not just soldiering through the blizzard instead.

Still, she continued on her way. It wasn’t much longer until she reached the fork that the clerk had mentioned. Good. All she needed to do now was take the left path and—

Two, glowing red bug eyes appeared from the right fork. All at once the adrenaline kicked in, and suddenly Aoife’s heart was pounding against her chest. Her eyes widened in fear.

She didn’t stick around to find out what would happen next. Screaming, she broke into a full sprint down the left fork and didn’t look back.

Once the terrified girl was out of sight, with only her screams echoing in her wake, the bug-eyed monster walked out into the torchlight. She removed her eyes—which were red goggles—and placed her hands on her hips.

“Was that a newbie just now? Huh. Hope I didn’t give her too big a fright. Now, how do I get out of here without being seen…?”

=-=-=

The administrative officer finished going over Eoin and Zane’s paperwork and put it aside. “And that’s all. Your knight-mentor will be Ser Adaria. Report to her classroom at sixteenth bell.”

“Really? That’s it?” Eoin looked at his friend, as if to get a second confirmation.

Zane grinned. “That was easy. I rather expected it to be a fair bit more tedious and time-consuming.”

Before he could say anything else, something caught their attention. The echoing sound of frantic footsteps rapidly approached the door off to their side. A moment later, there was loud thump! as the source of the footsteps must’ve collided straight into the solid piece of oak. Then the latch unhitched, and the door slowly swung open. The guard stationed near the door reflexively pointed his spear at the one who emerged.

When it was open enough, Aoife collapsed to the floor, a breathless mess half in tears. She half-writhed, half-clawed her way along the ground, trying to get as far away as possible from the passageway she had just appeared out of.

The guard put away his spear and crouched down next to her. “What happened?”

“I think… saw… demon… voidsent… something…” Aoife managed in between shallow breaths. “I don’t… Its eyes…”

“Voidsent?! Are you sure?”

“I… I-It might have been…”

Immediately, two more soldiers within earshot assembled at the door. The guard rose and turned to them.

“Go investigate. It may have been a trick of the light for this poor lass, but we can’t be too careful.”

The assembled soldiers nodded and swiftly descended into the underground pass. As they did, they mumbled eerie suspicions to each other.

“Could it be her?”

“I would not be surprised…”

Aoife sat upright and watched as the door closed behind them. Her breathing was gradually starting to even out as the adrenaline rush started to transition into a slight dizzy spell. She straightened out her glasses and held her head as she looked up at the guard.

“W-Will they be all right?”

“No need to fret, miss. Incidents like this can happen even on campus, but rest assured it’s nothing we can’t handle. You need not concern yourself with whatever you saw down there any longer.”

Aoife took one last deep breath and let it out slowly and steadily. When she made to rise to her feet, a chivalrous hand interrupted her attention. She blinked and looked up.

“You recovered pretty quick from being bedridden in the medical wing,” Zane said with a grin. “It seems like you’ve got beauty and fortitude. I may be smitten with you already.”

Aoife’s cheeks bloomed slightly as she took Zane’s hand. Standing in front of him, she still only barely reached his shoulders. “I-I’m not so sure about beauty, but… fortitude is something I hope to gain by coming here.”

“Are you enrolling as a squire too?” Eoin stood next to his tall friend and raised an eyebrow at Aoife curiously. But the small smile on his face hinted he already knew the answer.

“Hold! Is that true?!” Zane was taken aback by the thought.

Aoife nodded. “That’s right. I know they only accept new squires if there’s an available knight-mentor, but I thought it wouldn’t hurt to try my luck.”

The two boys beamed and cast their glances back over their shoulders. “I think you just might be.”

Over by the registration desk, the admin officer waved a hand to get Aoife’s attention. “Is that another recruit I hear? Come over and get your paperwork done! It will barely take two minutes!”

True to her word, the officer had Aoife’s registration processed before she even had time to give it too much thought. Not that she needed to, of course; she knew exactly what she was signing up for.

She turned around to face the two young men whom fate seemed to have connected her with, offering a little shrug to brush off how simple it was to enroll. “I guess we’re all squires now. I can’t thank you enough for saving me earlier.” She held out a hand in greeting. “I’m Aoife.”

“And I’m Zane,” Zane replied, grasping her hand in his and offering a noble bow. “I’m sure it goes without saying, it’s my utmost honor to meet you, m’lady.”

“P-Please, there’s no need for the formality, Zane.” Aoife’s cheeks couldn’t keep down another blush as she shyly withdrew her hand; it’s really a good thing Zane was so handsome.

“Eoin,” Eoin said simply, taking his turn after and giving her hand a gentle shake. “Shall we all get going then?”

“Ha!” Zane said, throwing a celebratory fist in the air. “Our road to knighthood starts now!”