“You and your friend must really enjoy my company because you all have been in this clinic every day this week,” Dr. Loo stated in her soft-pitched voice.

Bruises, cuts, and blood painted the faces of Rom and Suke who were sitting in the office of the doctor.

“I can't tell if you two won or lost.”

“Well every fight has been us against the many, so I think even if we lost some, we can count them as wins,” Suke conveyed.

“Nope. We definitely lost some and should only count them as losses,” Rom replied.

Dr. Loo gave Rom and Suke each a soaked cloth to wipe their faces.

“This school doesn't have a zero-tolerance policy but there is a three-strike rule in which students are allowed three infractions before being kicked out. Luckily for you two, the four fights you all were involved in have been considered self-defense due to the sheer number of people on the opposing side. However, it seems there is no shortage of people who want to cause you two harm and because of that, there hasn't been a repeat violator towards in-school fighting, meaning the other students only have one strike against them.”

While Dr. Loo placed her hand on Suke and started to take away her pain, she looked towards Rom. “I am guessing you still don't want me to work on you?”

Rom started to scrummage her mind for the right words to say. How could she explain that keeping a busted lip, swollen eye, and most likely bruised ribs were beneficial to her? Or maybe there was another reason.

“If you keep taking away every cut, bruise, and wound then how would my body grow from them? If I have the time and opportunity to heal on my own accord then I will choose to do that.”

Both Suke and Dr. Loo stared at Rom with the latter being a look of intrigue while the other was a look of absurdness.

“Umm…good for you wanting to go all natural with your healing process but as for me I would still appreciate a mender’s treatment,” Suke said spotting a blue little head sticking out of the doctor’s coat pocket. “Does your quill get tired from using its ability so much?”

A laugh came from the doctor. “What is my friend Hash teaching you? Quills don’t get tired. Shoot they don’t even feel pain. They are only here because of us.”

Rom and Suke looked at each other confused with the following unison “They are here because of us?”

”Ok you are all done Suke and I will give you Rom some aid supplies so you can patch yourself up like the other days and I can eat my cucumber sandwich.”

The girls started to be pushed out of the clinic by Dr. Loo so she could eat her lunch.

“Wait, wait. What did you mean by quills are here because of us?” Rom asked before the door to the clinic was closed in both her and Suke’s faces.

A sigh was let out by the doctor. “I guess my sandwich will have to wait. What has Professor Hash taught you two about quills so far?”

Rom and Suke started to chat a little amongst themselves before they both said “Quills are of the physical and spiritual realm.”

“Oh, then what I am about to tell you two is something he will probably teach next. A quill is originally within the spiritual realm but when they connect with a person via a Feathery Oak, they gain access to the physical realm. Humans are links within the physical realm that quills bond to. Once bonded, a quill gains a physical form and blooms from its bulb. Without us, quills wouldn’t be able to stay in our world.”

The doctor watched as Rom and Suke pondered what was said and guessed a question they may ask. “If a bond dies then the quill will lose its link within the physical realm.”

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“Oh, so they return back to the spiritual realm?” Suke asked.

“Unfortunately no. When a bond dies, so does their quill,” Dr. Loo answered.

The girls became saddened.

”Oh I didn't mean to sour you all’s moods. But when Professor Hash discusses what I just told you all, please look surprised. He really likes to see students learning even if he doesn’t look like it at all. Ok bye.”

The door to the clinic shut with Rom and Suke heading off with so many unanswered questions about quills but it would have to wait until Professor Hash’s next class.

“Damn! I forgot to grab a lollipop from the clinic’s front desk,” Suke cursed while walking next to Rom who pulled one out of her back pocket. “Is that for me?”

Rom grunted her face with a “No but that one is,” pointing to Shade fluttering on the side of Suke while holding a lollipop.

A huge smile came to Suke’s face. “Thank you, Shade. I hope when my quill awakens that it's as sweet as you.”

“Why don't you tell her it was you who had me get the lollipop for her?” Shade asked.

“No need. She got her lollipop and I don't need to hear her complain about not getting one,” Rom replied.

As the two continued walking with their sugarless treats, a young man with deep russet brown skin wearing gray glasses blocked their path in a small tunnel under a bridge.

“You are one of the people who attacked us earlier this week in the dining hall,” Rom said, clenching her fists while looking closer into the boy’s face. “Wait. You also walked into the pole that evening of the freshmen event.”

Suke took a step forward, getting a better look and saying “You're right. He also had two left feet during that fight. Each time I laid eyes on him, he was tripping into the others making them all fall.”

He stepped forward into a better view showing a regretful face. “I am so sorry. I didn't know we were going to attack you both. My roommate told me that he needed my help doing something while I was eating and that Yale Tool would share what he would learn from winning one of the library’s admission challenges. Then before I knew it, we were surrounding you two.”

Rom gave a sideway glance at the boy while Shade remarked, “He was the one who had the orange spectrum that day.”

“Should we ask for your name or will it be just like the bull shit story you just told?”

The boy lowered his head. “It’s not bull shit but I understand why you don't believe me.”

A nudge from Suke came to the side of Rom. “Don’t be like that. I think he is telling the truth.”

“What!? How could you believe that nonsense? If he didn't want to fight us then why didn’t he just leave that day?”

“I don’t know but I don’t think he hit me or even tried to during that fight.”

Rom started to recall details of the dining hall brawl and confirmed what Suke said was true and that he didn't lay a hand on either of them.

“Shade. Scope the area making sure we aren’t being surrounded again.”

“On it.”

Seeing Rom’s quill fly out of the tunnel brought the glum comment “You don’t need to send your quill out to make sure this isn’t a trap,” from the young man.

“Can you blame me?” Rom retorted with a glare.

“You really have trust issues,” Suke whispered to Rom who quickly replied “And you are trusting towards people who showed you they shouldn’t be trusted.”

“James,” the boy uttered.

”What?” Both Rom and Suke responded.

“My name is James. James Backson.”

Rom gave him a puzzled look. “No one asked for your name but since you like revealing information, how about you tell me why learning things from some library challenge would be enough for people to attack others?

Reading books and learning new things always brought joy to Rom but it being a reward to persuade violent actions towards others was new for her.

“Winning one of the library admission challenges gives one hour access to one of the three Seraphic sections. These sections hold sacred books and texts that aren’t found anywhere else and learning just a bit of what’s in those sections can skyrocket a person to the top of their class.”

James’s explanation piqued a huge interest in Rom.

“I also heard that each of the sections is decorated with original works of art such as statues, paintings, and maps that would cost some people a year of their salary.”

An eerie grin came to Rom’s face just for a second that was seen out of the corner of Suke’s eye which startled her. However, the lack of light in the tunnel made the roommate unsure of what she saw and chalked it up to her mind playing tricks.

“Can anyone do one of these library admission challenges?” Rom eagerly asked.

James walked closer to the girls thinking they no longer see him as someone hostile but was quickly stopped by a hand gesture from Rom. “I can hear you fine from there.”

“I was going to show you the rules to the challenges,” James said holding up his phone for the girls to see.

“Just text the info to me,” Suke said while proceeding to tell her phone number to James, causing Rom to shoot a look towards her. “What? You didn’t want him to get closer so how else were we going to read it?”

Rom rolled her eyes before huddling with Suke to read the info sent to her phone.

“A liability waiver must be signed?” Rom uttered.

“Yes, due to the rekbanes being kept deep within the library that participants would be facing for the challenge,” James stated.

Perplexed. Suke asked “The school is keeping rekbanes in the library? That can’t be. What if they get out and attack someone or worse?”

Whether growing up in the Nile or the Exalted Sky, Kill first and ask questions later is a saying citizens go by when encountering a person taken over by a rekbane. Those six words graffitied many walls and benches of cities below the gloomy clouds, not allowing anyone to forget the danger that can lurk behind a friendly face.