Knock Knock Knock, she heard quick rapping on her door. Knock Knock Knock. Eos opened her eyes, the suns fully beyond the horizon, leaving the room shrouded in darkness. Knock Knock Knock.
“Yes?” Eos groggily rubbed her eyes.
“Oh good, you’re in there.” A female voice responded, “I’m coming in.” A small click emanated from the door, and it swung open. The girl behind the knocking was the same light-brown-haired girl she saw outside of her window before, wearing a plaid skirt and a uniform-like top.
Eos, her mind stopping for a moment, squealed and pulled up the sheets over her still-clothed body. “I thought I locked that! Whatareyoudoing?!”
The girl giggled and closed the door behind her. She went to the desk, producing a candle from her skirt, before reciting a small incantation, her hands causing flame-like lines to appear in the air. After a few seconds, the candle lit with a gentle glow, and the girl sat backward on the desk’s chair, facing Eos.
“My name’s Amulree, what's yours?” She said, her actions and presence intimidating Eos, not to mention the candlelight’s glow on her face.
“E-e-eos”, she barely managed to get out through a stutter.
“Eeeos is it?” She gently mocked, “Well, you're new here right? It’s the first time I’ve had someone living in the rooms below me. I wanted to apologize for almost taking your head off.”
“This is how you apologize?!” Eos retorted, incredulous.
Amulree chuckled for a moment, before beginning to cast another spell. Her hands weaved intricate patterns, fiery red lines following her fingers until a cobweb of lines formed after a few seconds, and suddenly they disappeared, small balls of light racing around the room into the corners. The room now had a soft glow of light all across it, and Amulree’s candle-lit glow disappeared with it. Swiftly she blew out the candle, and wisps of smoke rose from the embery wick. Eos wondered why she brought the candle in the first place.
Under this new light, Amulree looked much more comforting. The soft glow helped warm the room. Her amber eyes gently looked at Eos, softening as she looked Eos up and down. Her eyes moved to the floor, and the rags of clothing lying in a pile on the floor. Eos’s eyes followed Amulree’s until she saw the clothing. She leaped out of bed, “Don't look at that!” Eos yelled, picking up the clothing.
“Random choice?” Amulree asked.
“Huh?”
“Nevermind. You're a first-year right?” Amulree asked, “I think the fourth floor is this year’s first-years.”
“Yeah, why?”
“Figured. Who’s teaching you this year?”
“I’m not sure..” Eos replied meekly.
“Hmmm,” Amulree thought for a moment, “Do you know any magic?”
“No, most of the magic I’ve seen has come from you.”
“Alright!” Amulree announced, “Imma help you with magic!”
“Isn’t that whoever my teacher-is-going-to-be’s job?!”
“And it’ll be mine, starting now! On one condition though.” Amulree stated, confidently.
“I never asked you to do it?!” Eos responded incredulously.
“Just come to church with me on Sunday.” Amulree purred, leaning towards Eos, “I’m sure my sister would like to meet you.”
“Huh? That’s it?”
“Yeah, it’s not like you have anything else planned for Sundays anyways.”
“You don’t know that!”
“Well, it’s the only thing you have planned now.”
“Uh-uh” Eos replied, “I think I should be able to go?”
Eos swore the room became a bit brighter as Amulree’s face lit up. “Oh! Her name is Beira! She’s 9 years old and lives with ou-”
Amulree was cut short by Eos’s stomach growling.
Amulree continued on, her sentence suddenly changing, “Want to head to the cafeteria?”
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“Cafeteria?” Eos asked, “What’s and where’s that?”
Amulree laughed, “Food! It’s food, free food!”
“Oh, I hadn’t thought about that…”
“You haven’t eaten all day?!” Amulree practically shouted, standing up straight. Her face was covered in disbelief, “How have you not eaten all day?!”
“When was the last time I ate…” Eos wondered, “I think I had some bread a few days ago?”
Amulree nearly fainted at hearing this, and she jolted from out above the chair and grabbed the cuff of Eos’s outfit. “Normally I’d take the scenic route but this is an emergency!” She flew to the window, dragging Eos behind her, and threw it open. Eos saw the orange-yellow runes flow from Amulree’s open hand before a chunk of rock flew up to the level of the window. She dragged Eos onto the rock, despite Eos’s ineffectual resistance.
“Is the scenic route just the dorms?!” Eos asked, horrified by Amulree’s instant nodding. “How is that scenic?!” Eos’s desperation was slowly increasing, but she dared not to fight Amulree’s grip on her as the earth began to descend at an alarmingly fast rate. During the entire descent, Eos watched the lines flowing from Amulree’s hand and the concentration on her face; she could have sworn she heard some muttering from Amulree underneath her breath as well.
When the rock collided with the earth, nestling into the same spot it originated from, Amulree finally answered Eos’s question: “I rarely take it- I forget to wake up a lot.” She brought up her closed fist to her forehead, tilted her head, and stuck her tongue a little out of the side of her mouth. Eos realized two things in this moment: Amulree was trying really hard, and the hand brought up to Amulree’s head was previously holding Eos to her- although Eos realized she couldn't attempt to escape and get very far regardless.
“Follow me!” Amulree announced, before stiffening up and beginning to march as if she was in the army. Eos thought about sneaking away, but as soon as she edged an inch away, she saw one of Amulree’s ears flick toward her. This can only go so wrong, Eos thought, let's find out how wrong that is.
After a surprisingly short trip, they arrived at a building Eos hadn’t noticed in her exploration- or rather, hadn’t attempted to enter. However, now warm light radiated out of the building like many others, and as soon as Amulree opened the door, Eos could smell a variety of foods. Fresh bread, inviting soups, roasted meats, earthen vegetables were the scents she picked out. Ushered in by Amulree, what Eos saw astounded her.
A large hall, easily able to fit several thousand people in it, was completely empty, with more than a dozen large tables evenly spaced out, spanning down the length of the entire hall. Paper lanterns with candles inside floated around the hall, and tiling on the walls showed the dancing of the flames. Additionally, floating balls of light were suspended a few feet above the tables at regular intervals, far too many for Eos to count. At one end, the end they were near, was the origin of the smells. She saw, behind a counter, a full industrial-scale kitchen, yet there were only three people manning it. As she and Amulree approached the counter, she was handed a plate by Amulree, as Amulree picked one up herself.
The options, despite the few workers, were better than anything Eos had seen before. She loaded her plate with cuts of beef and bread, heavily buttered, and got a bowl of soup on the side. Amulree, on the other hand, had an overflowing bowl of rice and seemingly summoned a chocolate dessert from nowhere. Eos greedily looked around at everything offered, but couldn’t see where Amulree’s dessert came from. Amulree guided her to the ends of one of the tables. Fortunately, the hall, despite its size, was nearly empty- the tables outnumbered the people two-to-one.
As Eos took her first bite of the bread, she felt something inside her melt. She looked up at Amulree, who smugly looked down at her before beginning to wolf down the rice. Eos followed suit, and both of them cleaned their plates quickly. However, about halfway through Amulree’s dish, Eos noticed that it wasn’t just an obscenely large pile of rice, but it was mixed with various portions of meat inside it. However, by the time Eos finished slurping down her soup, she felt content, and Amulree’s face shared the same meaning behind it.
“How did you not know where this was?” Amulree asked; Eos could have sworn that Amulree’s face curled like a cat’s. “Did they not show it on the tour?”
“Tour?” Eos asked, confused.
“Yeah, your home professor is supposed to round up the new kids every morning during move-in and give them a tour.”
“Huh, no.” Eos replied simply, before a memory shot into her head, “Do you know where the library is?” She asked, silently gritting her teeth.
“Library? I think we have one…” Amulree thought for a moment, “hm… Maybe it’s…. Or could it be… yep!” She exclaimed proudly.
“Oh? Where is it?” Eos asked excitedly, jumping from her seat to look up at Amulree.
“I forgot!” Amulree replied with a smug look on her face, “I haven’t been there in a decade!”
“Why do you look so proud!” Eos deflated back into her chair.
“Hueheueue,” Amulree smirked, “I haven’t needed to study at the library, I’m passing regardless.” She looked at Eos’s defeated face for a moment before standing straight up again. “It’s late! If I don’t go to sleep, I’ll be late for class!”
“You’d be late anyways!”
“I’ve only known you for a day and yet you attack me like that…” Amulree looked dejectedly away.
“You're the one who said so yourself!” Eos couldn’t bear to look at her, regardless of if she was acting or not- but also, Eos equally wasn’t willing to apologize. “Lead the way.” Eos motioned Amulree towards the door.
Amulree stopped being dejected, before happily leading Eos back into the dorm building, taking the “scenic route” through the foyer- where Tarvie was conspicuously awake- and Amulree dropped Eos off at her door, before a courtesy and walking away.
Eos was significantly confused by this entire interaction. “What… Who does that person think she is?!” Eos said aloud, “What was she even doing?!”
Confused, feeling stimied but not sure for what, Eos decided to go to bed. Amulree’s candle still sat on her desk, radiating light no longer. She locked the door behind her- making sure it was locked because of Amulree- and hung all of her used clothes. She slipped into bed and had a very restless sleep.