Rueln Layheart

Every morning since Master Esra brought us to the city of Threa and to her home, Finnley and I have spent every morning sweating in her courtyard. She drilled us for hours until our muscles ached from the effort, then had us run to increase our stamina. In the weeks we spent training under her, I could already tell there was a difference. That difference didn’t mean it got any easier.

I still felt as if my limbs were going to fall off every night. After spending those days with Cyrus, I think I forgot what a tyrant Master Esra could be when she got a fire under her tail. When she was out of hearing-distance both me and Finnley would complain about it, but that stopped after she overheard us one too many times. The morning would turn from torturous labor to death by wooden sword. I don’t think I even made it to bed the first time she caught us mouthing her. I woke up on the floor by my bed, unsure if I had fallen out or if I just didn’t crawl in.

The hard ties were at an end, however, with the days of harvest over for the empire. The chill of winter had settled over the city, which meant that the school I was supposed to attend would begin. Master Esra spent the first week of our stay meeting with a few schools who helped children with recall. After Cyrus had scolded her on her ignorance, she had decided I would go, the choice no longer mine.

I wasn’t even sure what a school was, just that the kids looked miserable when they came back out of it. I didn’t know why she thought it was so important. Wouldn’t it be easier to just hire some mage to drop in a few times a week, teach me more about mana and magic, and that would be it? I suggested it to Master Esra and she wouldn’t have it. She insisted that the school was the best choice.

I didn’t believe her and Finnley was upset he couldn’t go with me. They wouldn’t allow kids without recall in, which I didn’t feel was fair. The nobles got their own schools. There was one here in the city too, but nothing like that for common blood. I guess I was like Vhal in that way. I didn’t like the unfairness of it all, but there was little I could do about it.

“Breakfast,” Master Esra called from inside her estate. My arms immediately dropped like lead weights and I tried to catch my breath, glancing over to see Finnley in much the same state. He nodded to me and we started back inside.

Master Esra’s estate had two stories in the main house, with large rooms that wrapped around to form an open courtyard in the back where we trained. She told us she had inherited it from her father after he retired from the merchant business and wanted something smaller. She had lived here with her husband and son before they passed away and had been alone since. Before she had taken us in, she said she had thought about selling the place, but had decided against it. The courtyard’s privacy worked too well for a training area, and it was in a nice district in the city.

I sure hadn’t ever lived in such a fancy place. I didn’t believe her at first when she told us we could have our own beds and even sleep in a separate room from her. My only experience was with my family. I didn’t know other people didn’t share the sleep room. It sounded kinda lonely, honestly, and too quiet. I liked the noise of everyone else while I slept. At least until Finnley laughed at me for it, and I wasn’t so sure about sharing a room with him anymore.

It annoyed me, so I had to inform him he didn’t have a house to begin with. What did he know? He corrected me and told me about where the Mori clan goes for winter, their Tent city. I didn’t have the heart to tell him he was the weird one, his entire clan wintering together somewhere in the mountains. It was a different place each year, and they packed it up with everything else each spring. A tent wasn’t a house.

When we stepped inside, Finnley and I immediately pulled our dusty shoes off our feet, setting them by the door. We learned quickly that Master Esra kept a clean house and preferred everyone removing their shoes before they came inside. Guests weren’t exempt from this proclamation, but it took a few days for me to get used to the idea.

I walked past Finnley into the kitchen to grab myself a plate when Master Esra called out to us from the dining room. “Everything is in here. Come to the table and mind your manners. We have guests this morning.”

Curious who would call upon Master Esra this early in the morning, I obeyed, stopping short in surprise at who I saw at the table.

“Aleah?! Eidke?!” I exclaimed, before bolting around and hugging them both.

“Rueln,” Aleah hummed, wrapping her arms around me as I forgot myself and all but crawled into her lap like a child. “I’ve missed you.”

“Missed you too,” I mumbled, smiling into her hair, my arms wrapped so tightly around her neck that I doubted anyone could pull me off if they tried.

Eidke chuckled and reached out toward me and rested his hand against my head. He missed the first time, but he found me without too much trouble. The love and warmth I felt from my brother and sister made me miss home all the more. Part of me wanted to go back with them when they left.

I startled and leaned back, looking from Aleah and to Eidke. “Why are you here? Did you go through the portal?”

“Lady Esra invited us,” Aleah told me, and I looked over at Esra to confirm.

“Yes, I did. Now get down off your sister and conduct yourself properly. We are here to enjoy a meal together,” she reminded me, and I blushed before I slowly got to my feet, taking care not to mess Aleah’s dress. It was her nicest one, the one she wore to my Hall of Memory test, though she let the skirt out some along the hems.

“We came to see you on your first day of school,” Eidke added, holding his hand out for me to take. When I did, his fingers squeezed mine. There was a calm contentment on his face as he stared straight ahead and made it hard to guess what he could be thinking.

“Oh,” I said, dumbly. That was today.

“Sit down, Rueln,” Master Esra ordered me as Finnley came in and took his place, looking at my brother and sister in confusion. He hadn’t gone with me when I visited home for a few hours earlier in the week, so they were new to him.

Not wanting to leave my siblings, I dragged a chair over and sat between them, much to Master Esra’s chagrin. Aleah made Eidke’s plate while I helped myself to heaps of eggs, bacon, and biscuits that Master Esra had made, shoving more than a little into my mouth.

“Rueln,” Aleah hissed in my ear when she saw me. “You look like a hob pig. You are in a lady’s house.”

Finnley, who heard Aleah scold me and had just stuffed his own cheeks so full he could hardly chew, froze for a second before shrinking in his chair to hide the fact he was worse. I ended up snorting eggs out of my nose and had the entire table exclaim in disgust and had to excuse myself.

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“Wash yourself and change while you’re up there,” Master Esra called to me. “You stink from practice.”

I hurried to do as she asked me before coming back down to finish my breakfast and say goodbye to Aleah and Eidke. My brother wanted to walk with me to my school, but Aleah was against it, promising that they could come back another day to visit. It was sobering to have to tell them goodbye all over again and let them walk out of Master Esra’s door, but easier than the first time I left them. It was more real to me now. I would see them again and some goodbyes didn’t have to mean forever.

I gave them both a hug and told them to pass my love on to Papa and watched them head down the street toward the square where the portal waited for them. Eidke clung to my sister’s arm as she guided them, but I couldn’t help but be proud of my older brother. It took courage for him to leave familiar places, and it was something else to visit an entirely different city. I only wished Papa had felt well enough to come as well.

“Whaaat?!” Finnley exclaimed from the kitchen loud enough one neighbor tending their plants looked up out of curiosity.

I smiled and shut the door before they could come investigate and hurried back into the kitchen to see Master Esra standing over Finnley, her hand resting on a slate in front of him. “I’m not raising a hooligan for an apprentice,” Master Esra told him sternly. “You are to learn to read and write. That’s the end of it.”

“I’m learnin ta be a swordsman, not a pointy nose scholar!” Finnley protested, pushing the slate away in disgust.

“No,” Master Esra corrected. “You are my apprentice and as one, you will have an education. Our work isn’t just about swinging around a sword.” She grabbed the slate and firmly slid it back to Finnley, giving him a look in warning that he better not push it away again.

Finnley pointed at me, and I knew I was about to be dragged into it all, though I didn’t see a second slate for me. “What about him?! Rueln doesn’ have a slate. What about his lessons?!”

“Rueln must learn at school. He needs to learn how to use his recall properly and learning to read and write is part of his lessons. I’ve done my part for him. Now it’s your turn, you half wild blue eyed monster,” she said affectionately and handed him the slate pencil. “You’ll practice your name today.”

As Master Esra started her lessons with Finnley, I put away the food and prep the dishes to be washed, but before I could start them, Master Esra noticed the time. “Rueln, get your bag and hurry. You’ll be late.”

I nodded and ran to the bedroom I shared with Finnley for my bag, then back to the kitchen, choosing the back door over the front. Master Esra and Finnley offered a goodbye, though Finnley’s was far less enthusiastic. I grinned and waved at him. “See you later!” He stuck his tongue out at me, only for Master Esra to point his nose back down to his slate to get back to work. I ran out the door before she could scold me too for dallying.

The school Master Esra chose for me to attend was a one of three in the city specifically for reincarnated children. It wasn’t the most prestigious one, that was reserved for nobles and other wealthy individuals who could cover the costs of attendance and all the fees that went with it. Although Master Esra told me she could have come up with the coin, she chose the most recommended of the three, West Point Academy.

West Point Academy was better known for their practical points of education and focusing on student development rather than reincarnation bias and notoriety. It wasn’t even a requirement to give the name of your past life, much to my relief. I had been afraid I would have to lie in order to attend. The uniform Master Esra forced me into was uncomfortable. When I caught a look at what the pompous kids who went to Solus Master Academy, I thought I had the better deal.

They looked ridiculous. They had to wear pointy hats and capes and everything. How embarrassing.

I ran the entire way to West Point carrying my book bag clutched to my chest rather than feel off balanced with it hitting my back with each stride. Thankfully, I remembered the route Master Esra had shown me and made it to the gates as flocks of other students arrived. It took me a second to wonder if all the kids attending were five years old, realizing that the fall recall testing had ensured many five-year-olds would need to attend academy.

Horror had time to settle in that I would be the oldest kid here with recall before someone called out, “Hey you!”

I looked up automatically to see a boy about Finnley’s age waving at me with wild black hair. “Why are you coming in the little’s gate? This way!”

Dodging a group of girls, my nose curling at how small they were, I hurried over to the boy. “I didn’t know there were different gates,” I admitted, coming to a stop beside him and his friends. One was a pretty girl with short black hair that framed her face, who frowned at me like I wasn’t welcome.

“Late recaller?” The boy asked.

I hesitated, but nodded. “A bout a month.”

“It happens. Kead is one too. He got recall this summer,” the boy said, gesturing to another boy with brown hair and glass bobbles on his face that made his eyes look funny. Kead raised his hand to me and I nodded toward him as I pulled my bag into place on my back. “I’m Ghus and this is my cousin Tris.” He pointed to the one girl who didn’t seem to like me much. I offered her a smile anyway, then watched as she turned her back and walked off toward the larger of the buildings without a word.

“It takes a bit for anyone to warm up to Tris,” a blonde boy said, the last of the group to introduce himself. “I’m Tagen. It’s nice to meet you.”

“I’m Rueln,” I said, looking between them, still unsure how comfortable they seemed to be around me already. Besides Finn, I rarely made friends this easily.

They seemed nice enough, so I stayed close to them until we got inside. This turned out to be the right choice because I learned that before classes began for the year, we had to spend the first hour in assembly as the teachers introduced themselves and welcomed everyone. I would have just gone to a classroom and wondered where everyone was before taking it as an excuse to go home early.

“Over here, Rueln,” Tagen said, offering me a seat, which I took.

“I didn’t expect so many kids,” I said, looking around as the assembly hall filled with kids from five to fourteen. I thought I spotted someone older than even that, but I couldn’t be sure if it wasn’t just a teacher’s assistant.

“It’s regional,” Ghus explained. “Big cities like Threa host kids from different regional districts. It’s why you don’t find schools like this in smaller villages. The Emperor even sets aside an hour each morning during the week just for students to use the portals. My dad says he hears nothing but complaints from the merchant guilds since he ordered it.”

Thinking back, I thought there was one kid that left my home village each morning through the portal, but I had never bothered asking what she was doing. “How long do you have to go to school for recall?” I asked, eyeing one of the older kids. I sure didn’t want to still be in this place when I was that old and it would interfere with my training with Master Esra.

“Two years is the minimum,” Tagen said. “Though usually most stay for the full four. It really depends on your parents and what they want you to do.”

My expression soured. “If it depends on Master Esra, I’ll be here for ages,” I complained, which had the other boys laughing.

“Master, huh? Wow, what are you apprenticing for?” Kead asked, interest growing in his green eyes.

“Master Esra is a mercenary.”

All three boys exclaimed in excitement and started hounding me with questions. I didn’t realize that mercenary work sounded so grand until the three’s response to it. It honestly wasn’t that exciting so far. I thought magic with Cyrus had been more interesting than getting hit with sticks. They were still asking questions when the hall grew quiet, an older man in the heavy robes of the temple walking out onto the stage.

It was only then that I realized that my first day at the academy had begun. A small smile spread over my lips and I settled in to listen with my new friends, my nerves turning toward something closer to excitement. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.