After everyone settled down, and the mystery of the stranger in Solomon's bed was resolved, things progressed rather normally, for a time.

Everyone now referred to the stranger by his former name, Solomon, which made the situation a little more tenable.

A good portion of the morning was spent dressing, showering, and chatting about their previous lives and speculating about the unknowable future.

Meredith got ready quickly, and sat on her bed, listening to the others. It was sort of nice. She enjoyed being in such close proximity of friendly conversation, as long as it skipped over her, and she did not have to answer questions, or give her opinion on anything.

Thankfully, Julius had enough to say for all of them.

Finally, it was time to leave the dormitory.

Julius strode up to the door leading out of the dormitory. When he tried the door, it wouldn't budge.

“Hey,” he cried in a shrill voice, “Hey let us out! Let us out!” He went from trying to open the door to banging on it like mad.

Mistress easily pushed him aside. She put her hands on the door, and gazed intently at it. Suddenly, a torn page appeared in her hand1. She unraveled it and they all bunched around it to read the contents.

Meredith, a full foot shorter than the rest, could barely catch a glimpse. She thought she made out something about an ivory tower and some princesses, before one of the boys, the mousy, indistinct Solomon, piped up.

“It’s a riddle!” He said.

Tess nodded. Her eyes scanned the page quickly. After several moments, she pointed a finger at one of the names.

“Are you sure?” Asked Julius, more frightened now, then condescending. The locked door, the reality and inescapability of his situation must have rattled the proud boy.

Mistress nodded.

“I agree with her. It has to be Princess Violet.” Solomon added. As he said the Princess’s name, they all heard an audible click.

Mistress was the only one brave enough to reach for the handle. It gave easily, and they were all out of the dormitory.

“We really should have given that to you, Meredith.” Edward said, as they filed out of the single door, referring to Meredith’s buff, which would have given her double EXP.

“Oh that’s alright really, no problem.” Meredith quickly muttered.

“Just the same, we should work together, I think. Let’s make sure Meredith gets the next one, right everyone?” Edward said to the group, and got a round of aye’s.

Meredith nodded, but inside she cringed. She was sure that she could not solve the riddles as easily as Tess or Solomon. It would be so awkward, having the others wait on her, as she tried her best, but ultimately failed at solving a puzzle.

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The first room they discovered was a kitchen. A very rustic and primitive kitchen, but one with meager food supplies and a working sink nonetheless. That was fantastic, since all the Apprentices agreed they were quite hungry. There was just one problem.

“Does anyone actually know how to cook?” Julius asked the room. “I certainly don't, so don't even look at me.”

Mistress’s eyes immediately fixed on Meredith, but no one noticed this yet.

“Never learned it on the road, I’m afraid,” Edward confessed.

“I didn't even know my own name this morning, so no, I don’t know how to cook,” said Solomon, cheerfully.

Mistress shook her head when four pairs of eyes fixed on her, and then pointed a finger at Meredith. Julius looked over, and then remembered something that made his face light up with understanding

“Café girl!” He exclaimed, “You said you worked at your mother’s café! Incidentally, help her out with cooking any?”

“Erm, well, sort of, but…” Meredith sputtered.

“I’m sure you’ll do better than all of us,” Solomon smiled at her in encouragement.

Edward joined the conversation. “We’ll eat whatever you make, even if it’s burnt or raw. I’m so hungry, I don’t care what I eat.”

On boneless legs, Meredith proceeded into the kitchen. Aware of all eyes on her, she started fumbling through the cabinet with nerveless fingers. What if there wasn’t any food? How could she cook, if there wasn’t any-

She found some potatoes, and a head of cabbage. And carrots. No meat, (of course, she thought, it would spoil here), a few bouquets of herbs, several bundles of garlic, and dried beans and grains. She thought there might be more food if she scoured the entire kitchen, but she wanted to say something to the inquisitive faces which were following her every step.

“Um, well, there’s not much here… Maybe, it would take a long time, but I think the best I could do is make a stew? Or something like that? But it would be awhile before it was ready and-”

“A stew it is!” Julius exclaimed. “A fine match for the lavish accommodations of our freezing and tiny dormitory, and our single toilet to share among five people. If we are to live like peasants, then of course, we will break our fast on stew!”

Meredith shrank in on herself, noting the sarcasm in the boy's voice, thinking that her answer had displeased Julius.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Oh, I could make something else! Maybe, I could make baked potatoes, but there’s no butter, I didn’t find any, and I don't see an oven. There’s got to be something else I can make-” She tried to explain herself hurriedly,

“No, no, a stew is fine.” Edward said, shooting Julius a look. “Make us a stew, Meredith.”

It was settled, and Meredith got busy, noting with relief that the Apprentices’ attention was no longer fixed on her.

There was one problem, she noted, as she started washing the vegetables under the rusty tap. There isn’t a fire. She was used to stoves, but all they had was a fireplace. She decided she did not want undue attention at this moment, and kept the problem to herself, while the others chatted.

“Leytown is a bit of a hole, isn’t it?” Julius drawled behind Meredith’s back as she struggled peeling a potato with the dull knife that she found , “I told my man, Harrison, let’s stay in Celine City. We’ll travel to the Academy day of, but no, the old coot insisted we stay just down the road.”

“I rather thought it was charming.” Edward replied, “Simple, in a provincial way. I must have stayed in the same inn, the one down the road…”

The two boys discussed their previous night, noting how closely they had shared quarters without bumping into each other. Julius continued his refrain that Leytown was more of a dump than the pleasant hamlet which Edward found it to be.

“And the animals, by god, you’d think the townsfolk would do something about it.” Julius sniffed.

“The animals?” Edward asked.

“Don’t tell me you didn’t see it. The mangiest dog that’s ever walked the earth. I thought it was dead, lying next to the entrance of the inn, but the rotten thing got up and shambled off when I got close. Monstrous thing it was, its jaw hanging loose, the fur all ripped up?”

The other boy said he had not seen such a dog, but Meredith was struck by Julius’s recollection. She had stayed in a cheap country hotel with her mother that was on the outskirts of Leytown. Unable to sleep the night prior to Initiation, she had snuck outside to gaze dreamily at the moon. As she sat on the creaky steps leading to the dilapidated hotel, she had spooked a raccoon that crept away from her (crept, not sprinted, as the night-time bandits are wont to do when surprised by the stray human).

The raccoon made for the bushes, and by its way, crept through a patch of bright moonlight, unobstructed by the hotel and surrounding trees. Meredith thought that she was seeing one of her shadow monstrosities, which no one else ever noticed. Half the raccoon’s side was missing, as thought a large animal had taken a giant chomp of the poor bandit. Surely, in such a state, the raccoon could not have been alive.

Meredith didn’t pay it much mind, until she had heard Julius’s story. But she decided that it was simply a coincidence, and refocused herself on her work.

She had washed and peeled the vegetables, and was moving on to chopping them with the sorry knife.

The repetitive task had calmed her. Soon enough, sure that the other apprentices were not talking to her, she was daydreaming, like she often did working alongside her mother, in their tiny backroom where they did the cooking and kept a stock room.

It was one of her favorite pastimes, letting the strength of her imagination carry her through mundane chores. She would pretend she was sweeping the flagged stone of a mighty castle, waiting for her knight in shining armor to return (although, of course, she was only sweeping the porch that led to The Sinking Swan).

Or, Meredith would imagine she was boiling up a powerful potion when she was only shopping up ingredients for dinner. She would sometimes catch herself muttering aloud, going along with her fantasies, and reciting the make-believe ingredients.

Maybe, she thought, turning around to catch a glimpse of the other teenagers, it wouldn’t be such a good idea to lose herself in her imagination right now.

But her imagination had long been trained to respond to repetitive tasks. Whether Meredith wanted or not, her daydreams came, and this time, perhaps spurred by the recent stresses of the initiation, they were much more life-like. She could almost hear the screech of the owl, which had been a frequent companion in her dreams, occasionally offering her sage advice on whatever problem Meredith faced. She could see the enchanted forest around her, and it was hard to make out the voices of the other Apprentices. They sounded so far away.

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Meredith came back to reality with her head on Edward's shoulder. She recoiled instantly, her breath coming in rapid short spurts. What happened? What had she done?

All the Apprentices were looking at her with a quizzical expression.

She remembered the daydream now. A handsome prince found her as she boiled her potion in the gloom of a forest hollow.

But it wasn’t real! She hadn’t actually thought Edward Haoulle was the prince in her imagination?

With horror, trying to recall how she ended up in the boy’s arms, she understood that was exactly what happened. She had let herself get completely blown away on a whim of a fancy, and had grabbed the unsuspecting boy to try to dance him through the kitchen which only moments ago had been full of old, thick trees, their bark gnarled and covered with soft lichen.

The game was up, they knew she was a weirdo, Meredith realized looking at the other Apprentices.

It had been going so well.

She was used to being ostracized but she had thought here, everything might be different. They were being nice to her.

Not anymore, a snide voice in Meredith's head informed her, now they all know.

Meredith choked out a sob, and rather than face the jeers she knew were coming, she ran out of the room.

She barely caught sight of it, but her curse revealed itself:

Curse of Waking Dreams: Occasionally lose control of a wild and overwhelming imagination.

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Meredith hid herself in the bathroom and sobbed quiet tears into her sleeves.

Things had been going so well. How could she have messed up so badly? How could she have let herself grab poor Edward and try to dance with him? It was completely inappropriate.

And, this had never happened to her! Her daydreams were always innocuous, disappearing like the morning fog when Meredih needed to face reality. She was frightened that something was seriously wrong with her head

The door creaked open, and Meredith flinched. Tess walked into the tiny bathroom.

Meredith didn’t know what she expected the other girl to do, but she braced herself for whatever it was.

Tess just sat next to her, their shoulder touching

The effect of Tess's silence was miraculous. Meredith had never shared any of her fears, any of her sadness with her classmates (how could she?). But the other girl just wasn’t saying anything, and the silence, which thundered in Meredith’s head, made not speaking unbearable.

“I’m so sorry I acted like that.” Meredith choked out.

She felt a light, friendly bump on her shoulder.

She looked over at Tess and the other girl waved her hand. What did it mean? Don’t worry about it? Bygones are bygones? Maybe, it meant leave, and don’t bother us, we’re too good for you?

Then Tess smiled, and Meredith knew she wasn’t trying to make her leave.

“I think my curse acted up,” Meredith said, underplaying the extent of her fear, “I’ll try not to let it happen again.”

Tess shrugged, as though to say that it probably will, and stood up.

She offered Meredith a hand, and the smaller girl took it.

♡♥❤❣