The sun hadn't even risen when Rime woke up, he sat in the corner of his bed trying to hold back the sounds of his crying as to not wake his sister. For the past few months since his mother's passing he had been waking up in fits and spending the next hour or so crying. He had been having a reoccurring nightmare of watching his sister deteriorate and die in the same manner his mother had. Leaving him by himself with no reason to live so he would bring his life to an end, after he buried her next to his mother.
He tried his best to calm down and then decided the best way was to repack his bag, which he found himself doing about three times before his sister woke up complaining she was hungry. He had looked out the window to see the sun had risen and decided it was time for them to get ready for the day. Rime got them into the bath before anyone else and then dressed Cyra in a black dress and then a red cloak that had a black butterfly clip that held it together. He pulled on her new boots, then gave her twin braids with some of her hair hanging down the front and sides of her face.
He moved over to dress in his all black three piece suit and then pulled on his tie; he clipped his pin to the pocket. Rime combed his hair in the same style at the day before just placing the clip so none fell into his face and pulled on his black boots. He took Cyra's hand leading her back to his room, passing the girl and boy on his way who both gave Cyra's curious stares. Rime wondered if he would need to explain their situation and dreaded the thought.
He set his things down and then grabbed his black leather haversack before locking in his room door and heading to the cafeteria. Once again they were the first ones there, it was a large building by itself made of a strange white brick, and the inside was covered in lacquered wood. The ceiling was taken over by candle chandeliers that had intricate designs. Rows upon rows of tables and benches made of dark lacquered wood lined the room and to the right was a counter that let you see into a large kitchen that stretched the same length of the building.
They walked through the door and straight down a pathway to a counter where the kitchen staff were already present creating many different breakfast options for the students and the school and the staff alike.
A short pudgy woman smiled at them when they approached. "Morning children and welcome, what would you like to have for breakfast today?" just as she finished speaking a list appeared in front of their faces listing their options.
Rime Look at Cyra who quickly chose chili chicken noodles, sweet buns and a glass of berry juice. The woman looked surprised at the tiny child and tried to make some suggestions for a lighter breakfast but got a pout in return so she looked at Rime with a twitching smile. Rime ordered beef noodles, four meat buns and a cup of hot tea, the woman placed the order and told him it was half a silver which would be fifteen bronze; he handed her a slip of paper and she nodded before yelling to the chef to hurry up.
By the time they got their breakfast and had sat to eat the other students began to pile into the room, some stopping to watch at them before going on their way. Rime smiled as he watched Cyra dive into her breakfast taking a bit of everything at once. The girl was a tiny human with a monster of a stomach that never got full. She slurped up her noodles while humming one of the songs the village drunkard was known for singing, Rime shook his head and eat his breakfast,
It didn't take them long to finish and he had to use a warm cloth to wipe down his sister's face and hands, luckily nothing got on her clothes even though a lock of her hair was dripping with soup. He wiped it off vigorously and then tucked the lock behind her ear, he didn't even notice when the girl from earlier sat from across him and began to eat her breakfast in silence. He did however notice the boy when he sat next to him and began eating with a rush.
Rime looked at him as the boy bit into syrup drenched pancakes; taking big bites causing Rime to think that maybe Cyra had been born into the wrong house hold. The boy gulped down his water and then closed off his breakfast with a large glass of sweet berry juice. He used the warm cloth to wipe his face and set it down on the tray before turning to Rime with a serious look on his face. "The name's Burne Rixton and that frigid bitch across the table is Idina Estarius, you must be Rime Tagon."
"Language." Was all the girl said receiving a scowl from the boy "there's a child sitting at this table and the rest of us are still trying to digest, not that you would know with that void you call a stomach."
Burne rolled his eyes at the girl and then turned back to Rime, his mouth dropping open as he watched the boy get up from the table pulling a tiny girl along with him. "Oh look, you scared him off you manner-less cow."
Rime shook his head as he walked out of the cafeteria, there was no way he was going to talk to those two after seeing their personality. As far as he was concerned Burne was just like the woman in gold and the girl was too prissy. He had no interest in being friends with people like them; in fact he had no interest in having friends. Having friends never did anything good for him and he was smart enough to learn from his mistakes.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
It took him a while to find the first year building, he looked around and was completely lost, there was no sign on the doors stating the names of the classrooms and from what he was told he had to go in a class labeled Dragon. It took him a bit of time before he gave up and decided to just sit and wait on the rest of the students and teachers. Maybe a half an hour passed before the rest of students started to wander in and looked just as lost as he did eventually coming to the same conclusion as him.
Eventually a woman dressed in all black with dark locks and light grey eyes came into the building pushing the children aside, she moved to the front of the building and stood tall. "Good morning hatch lings, I am Godiva Vido, the supervising Professor for you first year students and once again I'd like to welcome you to the Academy and wish you pleasant studying. Now that's that over with I'll be calling out a list of names starting with the first class and when you hear your name you will step forward."
Rime stood up picking up Cyra as he did and waited for his name to be called, it actually didn't take that long because his name was called second. He moved to the front and the woman stopped him and then looked at his sister with a motherly smile. "Tell me your name little bird."
"Cyra Tagon." Cyra spoke quietly as her grip tightened on his arm.
Godiva nodded and smiled at the girl once again. "You must be the little guest I was told about, you're free to go ahead but remember to be a good girl and don't disturb the other students, okay?" Cyra nodded and the Godiva gave her a pat on her arm before sending them off.
Rime quickly made his way over to where Idina was standing just as Burne's name was called and then seven students later they were lead to blood red wooden double doors by their new teacher. Professor Harlan Love was a tall man with hair the color of the wooden doors that was pulled into a high pony tail that hung at the middle of his back; his dark brown eyes scanned over all of them, his pointed ears twitching. Rime thought that maybe the man was an elf that really would explain his height that dwarfed the other teachers.
The man spoke with a deep burly voice that didn't match his lithe figure. "As you enter state your names, Rime set the child down and have her enter after you stating her name." With that the elf turned and walked into the room "Harlan Love."
The students followed suit Rime doing as he was told before picking Cyra up once again when they were done. "Okay, now your names are registered to the class and no one else but us can enter without my permission, or they'll meet a swift death and I'm not joking about that. So make sure whatever friends you have in the other classes have permission to enter or better yet you go to them."
The man waved them over. "Your names are usually aligned with the desk you have, like in most cases Ms Estarius would find herself sitting in the corner desk of the front row, but since we have to accommodate a young child that has recently lost her mother, my condolences." Harlan said looking at them for a brief moment before turning back to the desk. "We'll have Mr. Tagon and his sister sit at the corner desk, as you all know it's made to seat two people instead of one like the other desk. Miss Estarius will sit in the second, Rixton in the third so on and so forth, so take your seats."
Everyone did as they were told, Rime placing Cyra to sit down first and then sitting next to her, he pulled out a small story book he had bought for her and placed it on the desk. She smiled and begun reading silently, he pulled out a note book, a small jar of ink and a pen. "Okay so normally the head would give out schedules for the classes but for this class, you learn as fast as you can work. So today we're going to have a quick quiz for me to test your knowledge, when I know how far a long you've gotten I'll work out your first course and after that we're going to the alchemy building to test your magic affinity."
Professor Harlan began writing the questions on the board as he spoke. "No need to write the questions down, just number your page and place your answers deciding the class’s collective knowledge is how we'll move forward. Even someone who is months ahead of the rest of the class would still have to restudy some things, so don't get ahead of yourselves and be considerate to your peers. By the end of the semester I hope you give me a better outlook on humans." He finished writing the twenty something questions down and then left the class without saying anything else.
Rime took his time answering each question going as in debt as he possibly could, by the time the teacher returned he had rechecked his answers five times. Professor Love moved around the class collecting the note books when he reached the front of the class he sat down and looked at all of them. "Now I wonder how many of you noticed that two of the questions had multiple answers and because of a particular word I stated meant you had to list both of them?" He said arching a brow at them earning some whispers.
The class sat in silence as the teacher took his time going through each not book and taking notes in his journal. He could be seen shaking his head, nodding or muttering something with the change of each book when he was done he clapped his hands and stood up. "Okay, let’s go, you'll get your books back after lunch when we begin your official studies, now we're off to see how many potential mages I have in my class of Dragons."