CHAPTER 1 - THE CALM
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«“The formation of our planet is extremely interesting. In particular, it is made up mostly of the sea, which, according to scholars, covers at least 95% of the planet…”»
As usual, the lesson was boring, and the fact that the first subject of the day was earth studies made it even worse.
Normally, with these kinds of subjects, Natirra always had a hard time processing all the information—there was just too much of it—so she preferred to spend her time playing with her hair, making strange hairstyles that she could quickly reshape at will. After all, her hair was always wet for some unknown reason, which gave her greater control over it.
Her eyes were tired, weary, and utterly unmotivated, but she was sitting in the back of the auditorium, and given the size of the room and the large number of students, she could afford to ignore the lesson and mind her own business.
To think that just a few years ago, she couldn't have even imagined being stuck in a room for hours, forced to listen to endless streams of information.
The professor, unstoppable, kept talking passionately about the planet Aquarus, where they all lived.
«“The planet’s surface is full of tiny islands, spread out from one another. But the planet is incredibly vast, and we can't even imagine what lies beyond the borders of our great empire! But one thing we can be sure of is that narwhals like us are everywhere; maybe out there, there’s a totally different world…”»
«“What’s the point of listening to this lesson? I already know enough about my planet, pfft… Boring.”»
Meanwhile, as she watched the professor’s enthusiasm with annoyance, she kept playing with her long black hair, tying it into ropes and making bizarre shapes on her head.
«“A planet as vast as Aquarus must hide countless secrets! Our species will discover them all!”»
«“Please, shut up…”»
She turned to her right, resting her head on the desk in the auditorium, covering part of her face with her arms.
She slightly lifted her face toward her companion, moving her arms just a bit to see better. Then she whispered to her.
«“Psst… Riaca… Riaca!”» With that last exclamation, slightly louder but still within the bounds of a whisper, her companion turned around.
«“Let me take notes, Natirra.”»
«“Don’t tell me you’re actually listening.”»
«“Unlike you, some people actually care.”»
«“What’s there to care about? It’s our planet! I already know what’s happening.”»
Right after saying that, she got a light smack on the head.
Unfortunately for Natirra, she wasn’t blessed with height compared to the others, so to everyone else, it always seemed like they were scolding a little girl because of how short she was.
«“Don’t be silly!”» Riaca said with a proud smile.»“The world we live in is so full of things. Just think of all the secrets that might be hidden in the ocean of islands we live in, not to mention how vast the sea is—it’s super interesting. And imagine what’s beyond the empire.”»
«“Boring…”»
Those words sounded familiar to her.
Despite their different personalities, Riaca and Natirra had been friends since childhood. Shy Natirra and studious Riaca had gotten used to each other’s presence and, as a result, had started to become more comfortable, and with that, a little more playful. At first, this seemed strange to Natirra, who had always been gentle with everyone and continued to act that way with strangers or mere acquaintances.
But it burned her how much taller Riaca was compared to her, and…
«“Okay, I admit I’m not that interested in this stuff. But I’d rather get through the school year without any rocky starts. So you better pay attention. And stop messing up your hair…”»
Riaca quickly undid the knots Natirra had made with her hair.
The advantage of her hair being constantly wet was that it would stick together, forming hair tubes that were easy to tie.
...And it burned her how much more orderly Riaca was compared to her.
Her own long, messy black hair contrasted with Riaca’s beautiful blonde hair, neatly tied in a long, wavy ponytail. Even Riaca’s horn looked straighter and more elegant in comparison.
But despite everything, at least Natirra could boast of being more muscular than her, and of knowing how to use her caudal fin much better when swimming, for that matter.
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As the two kept talking, they were suddenly interrupted by the teacher, who had finally noticed their conversation.
«“I see you’re not interested in the vastness of our planet,”» he said, turning the attention of the whole class toward them.
Natirra felt like sinking into the ground.
«“A great shame. Even though you live on this planet, you show no interest in it.”» Then, turning to the rest of the class, he exclaimed, grabbing everyone’s attention.
«“If you aim to be responsible adults, you must learn. You’re almost adults now, and you’ll be running this island and maybe the empire. We need to maintain peace within it! Or we risk falling once again into the age of anarchy…”»
“Boring, boring, boring, boring…”
She kept watching intently, but in her mind, she couldn’t help but feel bored listening to that lecture, which had turned into a motivational speech. Natirra didn’t really care about those things—learning about the planet or anything else.
She turned toward the window in the room, where, in the distance, she could see the beach she loved so much—perhaps the only thing she truly cared about.
Meanwhile, Riaca regretted getting distracted and quickly returned to taking notes.
…
All the students, motivated, quickly left the auditorium.
Finally, the lesson was over, and everyone could go home and do their own thing.
Riaca and Natirra, who had hurriedly packed their things the moment they heard the class end, were getting ready to leave.
Riaca kept her head down, slightly embarrassed by the scene she had caused earlier, which was still replaying in her mind.
With her need to always be a good student, it felt like a mark that could ruin her academic career.
On the other hand, Natirra didn’t care much, but even she kept her head down, maybe out of respect or perhaps out of a bit of shame.
After all, she didn’t care about the lesson, but she didn’t want to get nasty looks from the professor either.
The two were the last to approach the door, but a call from the professor made them turn back.
Both turned around at the same time, with the same expression of deep terror.
Then, they slowly walked toward him.
«“I’ve noticed that you don’t have a particular interest in the school subjects we’re covering, and it pains me greatly. For this reason, I’m forced to assign you extra work to ensure that you put in the same effort as your classmates.”»
Upon hearing this, both girls had an intensely negative reaction on the inside.
Riaca felt annoyingly cheated—she had taken notes for all those lessons, and everything seemed wasted at that moment; she felt very betrayed.
Natirra, on the other hand, was mainly worrying about how much work she would have to do.
But as she looked into the professor’s eyes, she couldn’t help but feel an acute sense of terror.
That’s why she avoided looking him in the eyes.
The professor continued assigning their work.
«“I expect you to be able to give me a decent research paper on our species by the next lesson.”»
«“What?”» Both girls couldn’t help but blurt out at the same time.
«“You’re not very interested in the planet we live on, but I expect you at least care about the species we are, don’t you? I expect you to do a report on us humanoid narwhals, and I expect it to be respectable. I’ll grade it based on quality, and I’ll give you an oral exam afterward.”»
Neither of them had the slightest power to rebel against this, so they both accepted that they would have to do this exhausting work, which wasn’t that exhausting, but by Natirra’s standards, it was.
With that, the professor ordered the two narwhal girls to leave the classroom, which they did, slowly but inevitably.
…
Both of them left the building that made up the school, with faces that looked like they had just come from a battlefield.
In an uncharacteristic gesture, Riaca undid her ponytail, letting her blonde hair blow in the wind.
Natirra turned around. «“What… happened?”»
«“I need my hair to breathe. I'm irritated.”»
Feeling guilty, Natirra stared at the ground in front of her. Riaca noticed, and, reaching out her arm, gave her a few typical taps on the head. «“Come on, come on. I'm not mad at you.”»
«“Sorry, I didn’t mean to distract you…”» With that, Riaca grabbed her by the horn and forcefully pulled her towards her, proceeding to mess up her hair with her arms, causing her a bit of pain.
Riaca had never been too aggressive. But behind her serious and studious appearance hid a girl full of energy.
«“Stop acting like a loser. I'm not mad.”» After that, she let go of her horn. Natirra took a moment to recover, caressing her attached horn. Hers wasn’t as sturdy as Riaca’s.
«“Okay, okay, I got the message, but you could’ve been nicer…”»
«“You wouldn’t have understood. And I needed to vent.”»
«“So you are mad…”» The two continued walking through the small forest outside the school. A thin layer of trees surrounded the island and was just past the beach. It acted like a sort of natural wall for the village, located at the center of the beach, of course, next to the volcano that characterized it.
That’s how it was, Amelis Island was one of the few volcanic islands in the narwhal empire, and this made it quite unique, but maybe it would have been more recognized by the empire itself for its importance if not for the simple distance from the empire's center. It was, after all, one of the northernmost border islands, but with recent conquests and additions of other islands, maybe that could change.
«“Maybe I am mad,”» said Riaca with a grin. «“That’s exactly why I demand that you help me a lot with the research!”»
«“What?! You don’t actually plan on doing that assignment…”»
«“You heard him, right? It’s graded.”»
«“But…”»
«“Hey, you’re the one who…”»
«“Yeah, yeah… Fine.”» Natirra gave in immediately. After all, it was true; it was her fault. She might as well take responsibility. And anyway, she’d get a grade, too.
«“We only have a day, so let’s meet in a few hours. We’ve got all day, all forty-eight hours!”»
«“Got it, got it.”»
The conversation quieted as they both finally reached a split in thought. One path led to the beach, the other to the village. And it was often at this point that Natirra and Riaca would part ways.
The two narwhal girls said quick goodbyes, promising to meet an hour later, and walked their separate paths.
Natirra, lifting her face toward the sky, still covered by the last traces of the forest that faded to make way for the sand, made her way toward the beach.