Instead of waking up to the picture of dawn, like she did all these years, Venos, for the first time, woke up to someone's yelling.

"What are you doing in that restroom? It doesn't take ages to get yourself emptied!" It was Felicius, yelling, and knocking. Venos slowly got up from her bed and heard the restroom door's loud opening as Felicius screamed. "Finally!"

Karlo packed his things for that day and left for breakfast. Soon after, Felicius got out and did the same thing while wondering, loudly. "Man, what did he eat last night?" Venos quickly copied their actions, including leaving for breakfast.

She was too tired to think about anything, she could barely look, in fact.

What a night. Will she ever recover from all that? She wondered. She noticed her roommates, awkwardly sitting next to each other, which is why she decided to find Bard and Tobias.

"Greetings!" She yelled as she threw her hands in the air. "Oy, if it's not Venos." "It IS me." "I know, that's just how you say it," Tobias explains. A little blush escaped Venos' face. "Oh, right." Bard broke the silence, quickly. "So, how's it going? Must be hard having those weirdos as your roommates. I mean, at least Karlo is a nice weirdo, but that other guy, man where did he come from?"

"I don't think his background has anything to do with his actions." Venos started but realized that that doesn't make much sense. "You think so?" Questioned Bard. "Not really." She felt a bit disappointed because actions are usually the product of background, where else would he get that unusual manner? On his own? Highly unlikely.

"I can't wait for our land navigation lessons." Laughed Tobias. Venos felt the need to ask. "Why?" This word left both Tobias and Bard in tears, of laughter. "So, we made a bet. I'll sketch a map of the Love country, that was rumored to exist, back where I'm from. If Faramond..." Tobias broke in laughter, so Bard continued. "If Faramond recognizes it, I'll give Tobias 5 coins, if not, he'll give me the same."

Looking at them drowning in laughter, Venos couldn't help but laugh herself. These guys, sure are playing with their marks, but without them, there won't be any fun. The Love country, huh? She never heard of it.

"Tobias, what makes you sure he'll recognize the famous Love country map?" Wondered Venos, loudly. "Well his surname is Faramond and that is a common surname, where I come from."

"I see, and where do you come from?" Venos mentally slapped herself. Isn't it better if they all don't know that? Soon, he'll be curious to know where did she come from and how'll she have the guts to say Zanna village?

"I come from the small town called Espan and in it, there are like thousands of rumors that those Urtiagas made a so-called Love country, where basically everyone who is an Urtiaga is equal and others are like less? Equal? I don't know something like that."

Venos froze for a moment. Urtiaga? That surname actually sounds familiar. She'll make sure she gets a book about it. "Which class is it now?" Tobias and Bard exchanged smirks and answered happily. "Land navigation!" They left their breakfast as soon as they could and so did Venos.

She wanted to be with Tobias and Bard, so badly, but those weren't the rules. She has to spend this lesson with her roommates, so she'll put an effort into socializing. Karlo seems to be in a good mood, unlike Felicius.

"Hi, guys." Venos waved her hand. "Are you ready for today?" "I hope." Karlo gazed through the window. "After all, I was with this person, all night. She and I would make a great couple."

"So, you're saying that you're still not a couple." Venos stared at Karlo, her eyes full of confusion. She saw them spending a night together. In the Zanna village it's considered common knowledge that when a boy and a girl spend a night together, doing anything, they become a couple. Sleeping together is usually off-limits because they have to be married in order for that to be appropriate.

Even though Venos was sleeping with her roommates, she was only doing it in the same room, not on the same bed. She can't be in love with any of her roommates, anyways. That would be too informal.

"Hey, I'm taking it slowly! Besides, what fun would there be if we became a couple after only a week of knowing each other?" Venos was even more confused by this. Isn't that the whole point of a couple? To find someone you like, but don't know, in order to keep finding things about them and then eventually, get married.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt you in your little love talk, but can you please keep it down a bit, some of us are trying to concentrate." Venos and Karlo have shut themselves up after their roommates' plea. The students waited patiently in the hall as their professor appeared.

"Good morning, class!" "Good morning, professor." "I believe you already know why we're here." If any student knew, they didn't answer. "I see, in that case, let me tell you that I don't know either. We should be outside." After that, he unlocked the academy and left the building accompanied by the class.

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"Now!" Faramond waited to see if he got the whole class's attention and continued. "Today's objects are..." He explained while the students mentally prepared themselves for the task. After finishing the instructions Faramond gave them the papers, just like yesterday, and waited for them to finish.

Venos' focus was easily lost for many reasons. First off, she was subconsciously tracking the hybrid from yesterday. Second off, that damn voice is nowhere to be found. Third off, she started having memories and weird scenarios flashing through her head.

"Venos! Why in a hurry? It's easier to keep up if we all take it slow." Venos slowed down her pace and turned to her roommates to confirm the plan. The plan was the same as the last one, but this time they did much better. Probably because the work was the only thing they concentrated on.

They didn't talk much, only if they had to, in order to finish their task. This bothered Venos. Isn't teamwork the thing they're supposed to improve? She doesn't want their relationship to stay formal for the rest of the year. Her life's so boring that way.

Not that it wasn't boring before. She had that voice all these years and for some reason, it's nowhere to be found today. She always thought it'll be great without it but now, she's not so sure. It's like it wanted to tell her something last night. She doesn't quite remember what.

"Could it be that this is the Flower alley?" Karlo asked, staring at a street near the biggest flower garden he has ever seen. "Karlo, that's not an alley." Was all Felicius managed to say before Venos stopped the hybrid from her last night. "You!" She spoke in a threatening tone, without that being her intent.

Is the voice coming back? She could feel that familiar urge to do something very random. She liked to think of that urge as the voice's urge because it usually happened only when she had a conflict with it. This, however, was a new thing. An urge without internal conflict.

The hybrid, called Anthrax, didn't run away, he just froze. That made Venos feel special; but little to her knowledge, Anthrax froze every time he felt in danger, which was a lot.

"Venos, I believe we have a job to do." Felicius gritted through his teeth. Venos felt a pang of pain from the internal tension. Should she continue searching with her roommates or should she, perhaps, seek the hybrid whose name she once again forgot.

Venos moved her body towards her roommates as if it was made out of heavy metal. She kept staring at Anthrax, while her expression switched from threatening to confused.

She couldn't bring herself up to move on, so she forced herself with the words and movements. For once she straightened her back, perfectly. "Alright, guys, sorry for the wait I'll make it up to you." She smiled, without actually feeling like it and slowly ran along with her roommates.

She took one more glance at Anthrax who smirked at her and turned around to leave with his hair dancing with the turn and his goat-like ears decorating the scene.

Venos put a lot of effort into finding the Flower alley now because for once, she really felt like she owed it to her roommates. She took their time unnecessarily, for what? A weird scene with a hybrid. She would've felt embarrassed if the circumstances allowed her to.

"What was that?" She could hear Felicius' irritated voice. Venos didn't know how to respond, so she decided to play dumb and see how it turns out. "What was what?" This annoyed Felicius further. "Seriously?" "Listen, I'm not sure either so let's just forget about it, alright?"

Felicius glared at her. "Suspicious." Venos thought about her night, focusing hard to find the alley, that wouldn't just redeem her at this point, but would also change the subject, instantly. "Look! There it is. The Flower alley."

Felicius noticed that but decided to let it go this time. "Good job guys, we were pretty fast this time." Karlo, apparently, took his role as a team's glue seriously.

"Let's just head back now and finish this." Karlo exclaimed excitedly. "Agreed," said Felicius, and Venos nodded. On their way back to the academy, Venos thought about the hybrid. What did he possess that made her want to know more about him?

Was it the way he grinned at her? His looks? His charming moves? Or maybe, it was something about her that made her so curious about him? The fact that he reminded her of Leon and his unfortunate situation? The voice? All of these reasons? None of these reasons?

Suddenly, she was stopped in her walk. It was Karlo's hand stopping her. "Alright guys, we can do this." He said it more for his own self than for the others and exhaled loudly, before entering the academy building followed by his roommates.

There was a much smaller amount of students inside than it was the last time in this class. Which meant a point for them. Subconsciously, they smiled at each other. They turned in their papers and waited in silence.

"Nice job, you three." They nodded understandingly and joined the other students in the academy hall. Not long after, the hall started to fill with students. Last came Tobias, Bard, and their third roommate, who was still unknown to Venos.

After turning in their papers, they showed Faramond another paper. That seemed to occupy almost every student in the hall. They patiently waited for Faramond's reaction.

"You see professor, on our way here, in front of our very own eyes, appeared this magical country, the Love country." Faramond took the paper and stared at it for a moment.

"Seems familiar." Tobias turned to Bard happily. "Pay up!" Students started laughing at the scene in front of them. "Why would they call it the Love country though?" "Oh, I don't know professor. Those are Urtiagas for you."

This comment filled the academy hall with laughter. Venos didn't quite understand it, so she just smiled as a reaction to this funny atmosphere, but she soon noticed her roommate Felicius, staring at the floor, his pose stiff. Karlo smiled like Venos and shrugged his shoulders.

Professor Faramond didn't laugh at his student's remark. He just waited for the hall to calm down, so that he can continue. "I'm pretty sure you got the wrong name. Perhaps, I should give you homework about Urtiagas, seeing that you talk about them quite a lot."

"No need professor. Besides, no one cares about them anyway." "Bold of you to assume that, really. Stay after class. I'll give you the best homework, yet."