Dorm Sensation appeared empty. Danique was away on her adventure up north. Petal was staying with friends in Portangel and Pinky was at a party with the possible intention of going to another one right afterwards.

Soo Toglak sat upon her bed. She had showered and changed into casual evening wear suitable for the late meal. Spring Break lasted a week but the routines of the school outside of lessons were retained and many activities were placed on notice boards in the foyer to keep the girls busy, those who had not made prior plans.

In a fit of annoyance Soo had gone to those notice boards and tore down all mention of the Congress of Dolls she found there. She clutched the fragments to herself as she sat and waited for the absent Lyra Bellicosa to appear. The sound of the door opening made her look up and her eyes met those of the Meditia girl.

"Oh," came a quiet apologetic sound from the mouth of the guilty girl as she made her way in, carrying a rucksack and several bags of shopping.

"You look like you've been busy," Soo said grimly.

"Bargains," Lyra replied with a nervous little laugh. "Reduced in price, enhanced in worth," and she bundled whatever she had been purchasing into her locker, making a pointed effort to lock it immediately afterwards.

"Your father owns four hundred bookstores, seventy two restaurants and eighteen theatres. He's a millionaire. You're a millionaire's daughter. What do you care about cut priced items in thrift stores?"

"Goodness," Lyra said. "Miss Plazenby's is famous for not setting her girls homework, but you've done plenty on me it seems. My scattered self is collated by numbers." There was a hardening of her voice as she said this, perhaps resenting a little this intrusive examination of her background.

"Dolls," Soo said, holding up crumpled pieces of paper. "Do their little souls teach you to neglect your friends?"

At this accusation Lyra's tone softened into regret. She knelt before her friend and there was an imploring look in her eyes as she took the girl's hands, letting the fragments of coloured paper fall to the carpet.

"How can I make you understand?" she said, searching for answers in the reflected gaze of the angry Mangoria girl. "There are things greater than our individual selves that hold invisible sway over all our deeds. Sometimes a little voice sounds like thunder in the dark and we clutch those nearest us for safety. Sometimes we hear the thunder and go to those most in need of our assurance." She looked down and picked up a sheet upon the floor. Pictured on it was a simple smiling face framed by dark curly hair, the face of an innocent creature. With careful touches she smoothed out the premature wrinkles of worry imposed upon that little face by the crumpling of the paper and she gazed at it a moment in thought.

Soo Toglak was having none of it. She stood up, almost knocking over the whimsical girl kneeling before her.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

"All around us on the Great Batorian Waste there are forces unseen," she said, going to the window and catching sight of stars in the clear evening sky above the pine trees. "Dust devils that dance in the grasses, winds that toss this way and that with roars of evil intent. Stormy rains lash upon the land, flooding an entire wilderness and drowning countless souls. All that nature throws at us we endure. Yet no matter the danger, no matter the cost, we never betray our friends, those sworn to us, those tied to us by a need." She turned on Lyra then, fiercely, and caught a look of deep sadness in the usually jovial countenance of the lyrical girl that made her pause.

"We both have deep feelings," Lyra said, standing slowly. "Our worlds are very different. Perhaps too different for us to understand each other properly. I hoped, perhaps," and she choked on what she was going to say.

"Perhaps what?" Soo replied, wary of this strange conversation and where it was leading them.

"Perhaps we should end this?"

"The swimming lessons?" There was a sense of disappointment, followed by a sudden surge of regret.

"All of it." Lyra bent down and picked up all the remaining pieces of the doll notices as if they were sacred scriptures profaned by careless hands. She pocketed them and without looking at the other girl, walked quietly out of the room and down to the evening meal.

"All of it?" Soo said to the empty room. She noticed one of the pieces of paper had been left behind, tucked almost unseen under her bed. She retrieved it and stared long and hard at the mysterious thing, trying to fathom the power it seemed to hold over the other girl. There was nothing significant there on the pale pink sheet. Just names and addresses of dealers, dealers in dolls, traders in the little folk Lyra seemed so obsessed with. She placed the sheet in her own pocket and went down to the meal also.

The tables were half empty of course and Soo found Lyra sitting alone in a corner eating mechanically, not looking around her and certainly not speaking to anyone. Tying up her bronze braids, Soo sat herself at some distance from the brooding figure, so different from the fluffy-haired poetess of old and her breezy sayings, and watched her as she too partook of the meal. Chatter around the room flew past this strangely silent pair of girls and Lyra was the first of the two requesting to be excused.

Inevitably when Soo went back up to her dorm she found Lyra in bed, apparently asleep, for all the lights were off. Respecting this she quietly prepared to go to bed as well, shushing the noisy Pinky when she clattered in moments later full of after party fun.

"I think Lyra is unwell," she said by way of explanation, indicating the sleeping figure.

"Shall I get nurse?" Pinky offered.

"No need," came a thick voice from the dark bed. "Just tired, so tired, is all. Tomorrow brings a fresh hope."

"Yep, sounds like she's okay to me," Pinky dismissed the matter.

When Soo Toglak woke the next morning she immediately glanced over to Lyra's bed. It was empty, tidily made up, and there was a note upon the counterpane addressed to her.

To the sound of Pinky's soft snores, the Mangoria girl sat upon the bed and read the words inscribed upon the paper with a trembling hand.

"Soo, you have felt that inner yearning after something, that intangible force that pulls you this way and that. Your pride insists you improve yourself so that others would admire rather than condemn you. Coming to me with a need I could fulfil was an act of great courage, for it was an admission of weakness. May I therefore make a similar confession? I am weak. I am unworthy of your friendship. Unlike you I have no courage and do not deserve to be known to you. From this day forth we are strangers. Please forgive me. Lyra."

Signed with tears that smudged the words.

"Lyra Bellicosa. What have you gotten yourself into?" Soo said grimly.