The heat of the sun is beating down on us mercilessly as we practice, the only sounds the grunting of the student and the metallic clang of steel on steel. I push hard against the strikes of miss Graysmith, her competitive fighting style only fueling my own and I honestly can't remember when I've last fought this aggressively. Possibly never. I've been on the edge for a while now and it feels good, being able to vent out all the bottled up frustration.
Miss Graysmith sidesteps, and I follow, our swords clashing and glinting in the sunlight. She's on the defensive now, and I keep pushing, surging at her, following each strike with a new, faster one. My eyes are constantly scanning her movements for openings, my arms and feet never ceasing to move. I let my mind go blank, blocking out all the unpleasant thoughts and feelings that try to snake their way into my head and focus on the training. Parry, parry, thrust. Rough exercise in the harsh sunlight, I must be sweating through my shirt. I can see sweat on her brow as well, her auburn bangs sticking on her forehead and determination in her eyes.
She grits her teeth, barely managing to block my attack and then counters, thrusting at me with full force. I sidestep and block with my sword, redirecting her movement to the side and trip her as she passes. She topples down, but recovers with a roll and is quickly back to her feet. I attack again, getting real up close and personal, and she barely catches my blow. For a moment we're locked in a glaring match, but there's an opening and soon her sword flies out of her hand and she's falling down. I raise my sword and -
"Oz!"
I stop dead on my tracks and blink. To my right I can see Gil standing on the edge of our training ground, his expression telling me that he will not tolerate insubmission. For a moment we just stare at each other and nobody moves.
"Drop the sword," he says. I drop it. Miss Graysmith is panting under me. Slowly my surroundings become a reality again. Everyone else is staring at us, and it seems they have for quite a while now. Wait, how much time has passed? If Gil is here, that means the class should be over, but... when did it end? I don't....
I stagger backwards a few steps, suddenly struggling to stand up. My mouth feels dry and I lick my lips. It doesn't help. Miss Graysmith pushes herself up from the ground with a 'tsk' and dusts off her clothes. I swallow around a lump in my throat.
"Well then," she says. "Class dismissed! Good job everybody! Take your swords back to the wagon."
After a momentary pause everyone is moving again, whispering quietly amongst each other. Gil is standing next to me now, finally, and I grab a hold of his sleeve, just to make sure I don't fall down. He looks at me, concerned.
"Sorry, I..." I begin, but I have no explanation. "I went a bit too far there didn't I?"
"Yes," he says, simply, and I nod.
"Must be the stress," I say. His eyes are understanding, but also expectant. I turn to Miss Graysmith. "I'm sorry, miss, I was a bit too rough there, wasn't I?"
She looks at me, eyebrows raised. "Nonsense. I expect you to give your all during these lessons and judging by your fighting you did just that and then some. You must never go easy on your enemy, for that will always be your downfall."
"Oh, alright," I say, slightly surprised. Miss Graysmith is a woman with a remarkable ego and I have never seen her so calm about defeat before. In fact, I'm not sure I've ever seen her defeated at all. "I'll... see you on Wednesday then." She gives me a curt nod and then her attention is elsewhere and the conversation is clearly over. I look over at Gil and we leave quietly to our room.
~x~
We're almost at the dorms when I hear someone call my name. We stop and look back to find a nervous looking girl standing a few meters behind us.
"You're the possessed girl," I say. She bites her lip and then nods.
"My name is Amy. Amy Fingerhut," she says, playing with the edge of her shirt. "I was told you were the one that... got the pixie... out."
"Yes, that was me," I say. "I'm glad to see you're alright, the last I saw you you were still unconscious."
"Oh, yes, I woke up after a few hours and the medics said that I don't have any lasting side effects." She frowns, her gaze flicking to the floor. "It... was very scary, though."
"Do you," I pause and she looks up to me again. "Would you mind if I asked you a few questions? About what happened... before? It might help figure out... what exactly happened."
"Oh," she says, surprised, and considers it for a moment. Then she nods. "It's okay, I don't mind."
"Great," I say and give her a smile. The corner of her lip twitches too. "Could you come with us? It would be more comfortable to talk in our room." She hesitates for a moment but then nods again and follows us.
Once we're in the room I motion towards the plush reading chair in the corner of the room. "Please, have a seat, I need to go freshen up a bit. Had a rather exhausting sword practice just before we ran into you. Won't take long though. In the meantime, Gil, why don't you offer our guest some biscuits or something?" Gil nods, and he goes to the desk to pull out our stash of sweets from the bottom drawer while Amy goes to sit down on the chair. I grab a clean shirt from my bed and go into the bathroom for a quick wash-up.
"Now then," I say as I come out. Gil is sitting on his bed, and I pull out the chair in front of the desk closer to the girl. "Sorry for the wait."
"Not at all," she says, and gives me a quick, nervous smile. I study her for a moment, trying to establish the most appropriate course of questioning.
"How much do you remember from before the possession?" I ask. She fiddles her thumbs, avoiding eye contact.
"I, uh, I remember walking down the corridor with Annie," she says finally. "She's my classmate, and we were kinda late for class and when I dropped my books I told her to go on ahead. I went to pick it up and then I... I lost my consciousness, I think... When I came to, the pixie was already inside my head..."
"Wait, you were going to class? Which class? What time?" I ask. She looks at me, surprised, and blinks.
"Uh, literature," she says. "The class begins at 11."
"That's weird, it was almost noon when you were found."
"That means..?" she says, a hand on her mouth.
"You're missing almost an hour right before the incident."
She bites her lip and twists the hem of her shirt. I exchange a look with Gil. He's making notes in his small black notebook and looks mighty serious.
"And you don't remember anything?" I ask. "Anything between picking up your book and waking up at the hospital wing?"
"Oh no," she says, her voice quieter than it was. "I remember everything. I mean, not from before, but... during."
Gil's gasps slightly. Amy swallows and hugs herself.
"I remember what it was like with the pixie inside me," she continues. "I didn't think one could be aware while being possessed, but I was. I could see everything and feel everything and hear everything, but it was... dampened. Fuzzy and not really real. And I couldn't control myself, you know. I could feel my hands scratching at Annie but I couldn't do anything about it. And I.. I don't even know what it wanted! Why it wanted to be inside me, what it needed me for! It just... didn't make any sense to me..."
A silence falls over the room.
"I am so sorry," I finally say, my voice as soft as I can make it. "No one should have to live through that."
"Thank you," she says and sniffs. "But I want to help make sure no one else ever has to, so... If there's something else you need to know..? To help understand why it happened..?" I nod. She is brave, incredibly brave for someone so young that has gone through so much. I smile at her and she smiles back, perhaps not as tired anymore.
"Was there anyone else in the corridor when it happened?" I ask. "Do you think it's possible someone else saw what happened? Or maybe... caused it?"
"Caused it?" she says, her eyes widening. "No, I don't think so? Although I guess there might have been someone in the corridor, but... I don't quite remember who it was..."
"Do you remember anything about them? Man, woman? Young, old, hair color, height?" She thinks for a long time, but then shakes her head with a sigh.
"I'm sorry, I don't know. I don't really remember anything about them, they were so... unnoticeable, I guess. But I am pretty sure it must've been another student. Not a teacher at least."
"Alright, thank you," I say. "That's a start anyway. And please, if you remember something more, come tell me. Even if it feels irrelevant."
"Of course," she says. "Please, just make sure this never happens to anyone else."
"Of course," I say. She gives me a small smile and then she stands up. I walk her to the door. "Thank you again. Have a nice day." She nods and leaves. I turn to Gil, who is rubbing his face with the palms of his hands. "That was interesting."
"Poor girl," he says. "Being conscious while being possessed? That sounds horrible..."
"Yeah..." We're silent for a while. I check the clock on the wall. "Come on, let's go have lunch. Alica is waiting for us in the dining hall."
~x~
I spot Tauria during lunch. She's sitting together with another girl, who I am fairly certain is Laelia but I don't know for sure. Tauria looks up as I walk towards her with my lunch tray, Gil and Alica at my heel.
"Oh, it's you," she says, happy. It's good to know she doesn't forget new things.
"Hello again, miss Tauria," I say with a smile. "Mind if we sit here?"
"No, go ahead," she says. We put down our trays and sit across from them. She gestures at her companion. "This is Laelia, she's, uh..."
"A good friend," supplies Laelia, a glint of possessiveness in her eyes. Interesting. "Who're you?"
"I'm Oz," I say, offering her my hand and my most charming smile. She takes the hand but seems to be unfazed by the smile. "These are my friends, Gil and Alica."
"We actually met, briefly," Gil says to Tauria. Her mouth makes a soft 'o'. "Before the, uh... thing, I mean."
"Well, it's a pleasure to get reacquainted," she says. Her friend doesn't seem as pleased though, eying the three of us with rather a lot of suspicion. She squints at me when she notices I'm looking at her and I smile innocently.
"So are you continuing with your studies again?" asks Alica. You can always count on her to provide polite chit chat. "You don't keep forgetting stuff, right?"
"Not more than I used to," Tauria says with an easy smile. "All the memories I've made after the incident seem to be permanent, so the medics said that there is no reason I would need to postpone my studying any longer. So it's back on the school bench for me, come Monday morning."
"Ugh, Monday mornings are just the worst, don't you think?" Alica says. "Our first class is herbology, which would be interesting if it weren't at the crack of dawn and the teacher wouldn't be such a drone. It's like, whose idea was is to hire this 100 year old granny, you know?"
"Personally I like Madame Chaire's lessons very much," says Laelia, pretending to be nonchalant. "Herbology has always been one of my favourite subjects."
"Ah, but that means you're partial to the subject and not the teacher," counters Alica. Laelia grits her teeth. "You could have the crappiest teacher ever, but if it's your absolute favorite topic, you'd still enjoy it."
"Not necessarily," Tauria chimes in. "My favorite subject is animalogy, but when I was in grade school, for two whole years I got nothing but crappy grades and terrible memories because my teacher was such an up...tight - "
She stops mid-sentence, eyes wide. We all stop.
"Do you... remember your old teacher?" I ask slowly. Tauria is staring blankly ahead, mouth agape. She works it open and closed a few times before licking her lips.
"I... I don't know," she says. She looks very confused, her eyes still unfocused. "But I do remember the, the feeling. I remember how I felt about her, but I... I don't quite... remember... her..." She frowns deeply and buries her fingers into her hair. Laelia's hands are on her shoulders in a heartbeat.
"We should go," she says and it is clear she won't take 'no' for an answer.
"Alright," I say. "Maybe we'll see you around, miss Tauria. And it was nice to meet you, Laelia."
She eyes me once more before helping Tauria up. Gil and Alica say goodbye as well and then the two girls are leaving the room. The silence isn't long lived.
"Holy shit what just happened?" Gil says.
"I think there might yet be hope for uncovering all her old memories," I say. "Though... I don't yet know how."
~x~
We go sit in the courtyard after lunch to enjoy the warm day. We're sitting by the great sycamore, resting against its trunk and listening to the soft rustle of its leaves in the light breeze. I'm sitting with my back against it, Alica using my lap as a pillow for her after-lunch nap and Gil's head on my shoulder. There's been a lot going on for the past week so it's nice to finally take some time off and just enjoy the good weather in the shadow of the big tree.
I am leafing through one of Percy's special books he doesn't know I borrowed, but I'm not really paying attention, too content to focus. It's a perfect, perfect day and I don't want to think about anything unpleasant.
"Good afternoon, master Woodsham," says someone and I look up to see professor Eclaise standing there. "Enjoying the sunshine, are we?"
"Yes sir," I say with a carefree smile. Gil rouses, lifting his head off my shoulder and blinking blearily before following my line of sight to the professor. Alica doesn't wake up, but that's hardly surprising. "It's such a perfect weather, and we don't have any classes, so what better way to spend the afternoon."
"Quite right you are," Eclaise says and looks at the sky. "I, myself, came out here with quite the same purpose, but I notice that my favourite spot has already been claimed!" He laughs. "That's quite alright though, you young'uns can stay there, you were here first, after all. I'll find someplace else to relax before I need to get back to grading your papers."
"Are we getting them back next lesson?" I ask. I don't really care, but I know Gil has been stressing about his paper forever.
"Perhaps you will, it depends on..." he pauses. Curious... "Well, it depends on what's to come."
"Ooookaay...?" I say. That was oddly... vague. And somewhat menacing. Does he know something? Do the teachers know something?
We're quiet for a while, Eclaise gazing up at the tree with a smile while I'm puzzling over his weird phrasing. Then he gasps.
"Oh, there's a bat roost in the tree!" he exclaims.
"I'm sorry, a what?" I ask.
"A nest, Oz," says Gil, who's taken to settling down against my side again. His eyes are closed and he has a smile on his lips. "A bat nest. They're called roosts."
"That's pretty cool," I say. Eclaise has produced a small pair of binoculars from somewhere in his robe and is looking up the tree. "Can you see what kind of bat?"
"A welcorrian fruit bat, if I'm not mistaken," he says with a smile. "Very rare, especially around here. Their population has been declining somewhat in the past few years, bloody poachers, but it's good to find a healthy looking roost here." He turns his attention to me again. "Remarkably interesting creatures, they are. Did you know that instead of hibernating, they migrate before the winter? Such curious behaviour for a bat! They live in small families, usually consisting of a mating pair and their offspring of two or sometimes three generations, and they always take care of their young until they've reached maturity. Also, it is said that - "
"Jacob!" comes a woman's voice from the direction of the school. Miss Graysmith. She walks over to us and gives us a curt nod.
"Good afternoon, Jane," says Eclaise. "Do you need me for something?"
"The principal does. In his office. Asap."
"Alright... Did he say what it was about?" he asks, putting the binoculars back to his pocket. Miss Graysmith shakes her head.
"Though it's probably about the," she glances down at us, "translating you did for him yesterday. But can't know for sure until you ask him yourself."
"Very well, I shall go see him now," he says and gives me a last smile. "Enjoy the rest of your day, master Woodsham."
"See you in class, professor," I say and nod at Miss Graysmith who nods back and the two of them leave together towards the school. I frown, staring after them.
"What's wrong?" Gil asks. I sigh and drop my head against the tree trunk.
"I don't know, I just got the feeling something weird just happened," I say.
"You think the teachers are up to something?" he asks, twisting so that he's resting his chin against my shoulder. I half-shrug.
"Not necessarily anything to be worried about, but something. Probably something to do with our new friend, mister psycho snake, if 'translating' and 'yesterday' are anything to go by...." I bite the nail on my thumb. Gil hums in agreement. "We better keep an eye on the teachers as well... Who knows what they'll get up to."
"You could say the same about us," Gil points out. I huff out a laugh.
"Yeah, but I'm one of us, so I don't have to worry about me doing anything that would be a bad idea."
"Right, cause all your ideas are just great. Never has a single bad idea come out of your head," Gil says, settling back down against me.
"Oh, shut up you," I say with a fond smile and kiss the top of his messy head. He snorts out a laugh, and we go back to enjoying the sun, although with one more thing to worry about.
________________________________________________________________
Super late again, but ehh. Had some trouble finding a good spot for the bats, but did anyway, huzzah. Also, apparently a bat's nest is called a roost. Good thing I googled 'where do bats live' before writing that bit (although I googled it bc I wanted to make sure they do live in trees, not to find out what their nest were called but hey). You always learn something new, eh?
On a different note, I made a little floor plan of the boys' dorm room, because I kept kinda confusing myself, lol. So here you are.
They have both have their own bed, but they kinda sleep wherever every night, like you may have noticed. It's cool, the beds are big enough for two if you sleep close together. Also, the reading chair is super comfy, but no one ever uses it, because Oz always sits at the desk and Gil always sits in his bed. Also also, I don't know if they have windows because I don't yet know where in the campus the dorms are situated. But if they do, they are on the back wall, on the wall with the beds. And how is the room lighted? Who knows! I don't! (They have some king of "main light" but idk if it's a lantern or what also where the frick is it?(it's probably on top of the mirror))
Anyway, that's all from me for now. See ya.
Pie out.
P.S. Next topic is "Coach". (Word with several meanings, that is...)
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