SYN

Today was the best day for Syn since the day before Callo’s disappearance. For the weeks since he went missing, she had to worry about when she would enter and leave the shared women's dorm space and who would see her.

If Bren, Flair, or Alyviah saw her alone, their eyes always had such hatred. She tried to coordinate when Marin and Aellaria left their rooms, but it wasn’t a perfect system, and she had been confronted by the trio twice. Syn’s temper wouldn’t hold out much longer.

This day was so good because Behngi—like the saint he is—offered to share his dorm room with her. Behngi had a fear of being alone, and Syn was a lesbian who wanted to be as far from the class bullies as possible. It took weeks, but Rietta approved the request to change rooms, and Syn hastily moved into her new room in the men's dorms.

Behngi gave the good news to Syn that morning during breakfast service at the cafeteria. She knew right away because he grinned when he slid into the last spot of their cafeteria booth. Syn, Aellaria, and Marin had already started on their breakfasts. “I have it!” Behngi said excitedly.

Syn lets out a happy gasp, “Really?! I can’t believe it!”

Behngi held something out to Syn. It was a flat piece of stone with a number–an enchanted key to access their shared room. The room number was on one side of the flat stone; on the other, it indicated her enrollment date and gender. “Professor Rietta enchanted it and gave it to me herself.”

“It’s so beautiful,” Syn said, even though she was holding a second almost identical stone with a different number and dorm carved into it.

Marin smiled, feeling excitement for her friend. “That's amazing. It still makes you a traitor, though.”

Syn kicked her friend under the table, “If it was feasible to triple up inside your dorm room, I would do that. Boys are going to be perverts, but Bre-”

Bren stepped into position, blocking Behngi and Syn from escaping the booth. She moved like a waiter trying too hard for a tip. Standing in formation behind Bren were Flair and Alyviah. Bren waved a hand, and her curly brown hair flicked outward with magic. “My ears must have been burning. I could have sworn the orc was just about to say my name.”

Syn smirked at the women blocking her and Behngi in their side of the booth. “You can say whatever you want, Bren, but you ain’t goin’ ta ruin my day. I finally get to be free of listenin’ to your ridiculous laugh every day. Also, I always hear moans comin’ from your dorm room. It will be nice not to hear a donkey comin’ when I just want to get some rest.”

Flair smiled, “So the orc is going to live with the boys? I guess what passes for a boy in Arcane, at least.” Flair said, mocking Behngi’s elven features.

Aellaria finished the bite of waffle she was nibbling on. “It’s really quite embarrassing that you sit at your table and use long ears to spy on other students, Bren. Shouldn’t one of the top-ranked students of our class have something better to do?” Aellaria took another bite with a satisfied look on her face.

“Fuck you, homeschool. You’re just some nobody from Frostholm. If you were a serious mage, you would have gone to Elemental Promise,” Bren retorted. “You probably got Callo drunk because you felt threatened by him.”

“Is that what your long ears spell tells you when you spy on us? Or do you just hear people being sad about losing their friend?” Aellaria accused. “You can grieve in your way, but if you keep listening in on my life. I will put you where you belong.”

“Wait, you have been spying on us?” Marin asked.

Flair stepped forward, standing over Marin. “You can return to your porridge EAMP. The adults are talking.”

Behngi intervened. “You two have no respect. I am not afraid of either of you. You can back down, or I will challenge you, Bren, and you will have another loss on your record.”

Bren pushed her chest out, trying to look more intimidating as she stood over the lower-ranked students at the table. “All of you can challenge me at any time. Honestly, it gets a little lonely at the top.”

“You are ranked seventh. If you think you are at the top, you’re delusional. Terra could kill you in her sleep.” Syn responded. “You dopey donkey.” Syn then made a braying sound, loud enough to get the attention of other students eating in the area. ‘HEEEE HAAAAWWW!’

Bren prepared to throw a punch, but Alyviah caught her elbow before she could commit. “Bren… you might be removed from Spire. Don’t let her get to you.”

Bren shook off the rage that overcame her. “You’re right, babe.” She threw up an accusatory finger and pointed at the students sitting at the table.” You four are going to get what's coming to you, and I promise it will be worse than a broken leg.” She threatened.

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Behngi stood up, looking Bren eye-to-eye and making her step back to give him room, “We are almost the same rank, Bren, and yet I know with certainty you are on shaky ground. Your talent is immense, but you think you're already among the best. That's the difference between us. You think you are the best. While I know I must improve, everyone at this table knows they must improve. If we fight you right now we might lose, but we aren’t judged by our starting points. We are judged by who we are at the end of each year. So while you will be the same person you were when you first entered the Heroes Gallery, we will have made ourselves better mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. I sincerely hope when you are cut, or when you drop out this year, or the next, that you self-reflect on my words today and try to become a kinder person. You have shamed yourself, but the sun will always rise again.”

Bren scowled. Hatred burned in her eyes before she turned and stormed away.

“Hell yeah, Behngi!” Syn said excitedly in a hushed tone before offering the elf a high five. Marin and Syn laughed genuinely. Behngi had only ever been a perfect gentleman, and the comment surprised them.

***

Syn felt weird about the new dynamic in her new bed that night. The gender difference between her and Behngi was not the cause but the distant memory of Callo. It was just a month ago, and Syn and Behngi only knew Callo for that first week at Spire. This bed had spent more time empty than belonging to Callo. Syn tossed and turned on her mattress.

Behngi was the first to bring words to their feelings. “Are you okay, Syn? Is it too weird for us to sleep in the same room?”

“Naw… that's not it. It’s just weird this bed used to belong to Callo. It kinda makes it feel too big for me. Like… somethin’ is off.” Syn said as she adjusted again. This time, she felt something poke her, like a loose spring. Syn unzipped the protector of the mattress and pulled out a book. It was a leather-bound journal that looked almost brand new.

“Is that a journal? Callo’s?” Behngi asked. Syn didn’t even bother trying to hide from the other student. She knew his elven eyes could see in the dark as well as she could see during the day.

“Yeah… it looks like it's new,” Syn said, cracking it open briefly. “There are only five entries.”

“Don’t read it. We should give it to Professor Rietta,” Behngi said.

Syn sat up and activated the light enchantment on her bedside table. Her nightgown shimmered in the low light of the room. “You ain’t the slightest bit curious about his final recorded thoughts?” Syn asked.

“It feels wrong,” Behngi said before mirroring Syn on his side of the room. He wore comfortable-looking silk robes.

“I’ll let Father Phoenix and Professor Rietta judge me,” Syn said as she opened the journal to the first page. “On the first day, he was excited. He was happy to have you as his roommate and excited to have Niall as his teacher. He definitely writes like a boy.”

Behngi closed his eyes and listened to Syn summarize his dead friend’s perception of his last week alive.

“On the second day. He was especially excited to see Flair get knocked down by Aellaria. The pyro was a disruptive force in his last year at their old school, so he sees her losin’ her fight as well earned. He’s also impressed by how you fight, Behngi. You really made him feel lucky to have you as a roommate. He says he wanted to surround himself with strong people.”

Syn looked at Behngi and saw him smile contentedly. “On the third day, he talked about meetin’ me and Marin. How astoundingly scarce it is that someone has as many talents as Marin. How strongly I was built, and–he talks a little about my body. I’ll just uh…I’m gonna take it as a compliment. He says how excited he is to spend time with all of us the upcomin’ weekend. He’s nervous about being around Aellaria, but he wants to be close to Aellaria ‘cause he knows she is a strong fighter.”

“On the fourth day, he just made a drawing. He drew us all graduatin’ with our respective masteries: Marin and I, paladins of Phoenix; you, as a master Electromancer; himself, as a master spell sword. He even drew Aellaria. Huh, Callo even did her flower.” Syn thought it weird that Callo would draw Aellaria. At this point, he hadn’t even met her.

“Finally, he wrote about my fight with Bren and Marin’s fight with Alyviah on the fifth day. Callo is a little bit of a pervert, but honestly, it’s not that bad. He is happy that we all made it through Hell Week and looks forward to meetin’ Aellaria properly at the falls.” Syn finished, closing the journal. It had enough pages to fill an entire year with entries, but only two pages had even been written on. The empty journal is another reminder of Callos' promise and potential never being lived up to. This last observation is what made Syn angry. Angry at herself for taking everyone to a dangerous place and making everyone drink. Angry at Callo for jumping off a cliff. Angry at Behngi just for being nearby. Syn closed her eyes and forced distance between herself and her anger.

“That's… not an amazingly comforting read. Thanks Syn.” Behngi said. He laid back down in his bed, dismissing the light enchantment on his side.

“Yeah… maybe it’ll help Professor Rietta. At the very least, it should be returned to his family.” Syn said. Syn set the journal down on the bedside table and dismissed the light enchantment.