If professor Lysander noticed her stumbling, he didn’t comment on it, much to Lienna’s relief. In fact, he was perfectly kind and courteous; so much so that Lienna might have suspected some ulterior motive if not for the fact that the man looked like one of those charitable types who lived and breathed for the service of others. The attitude struck an odd nostalgic chord in her, and Lienna wondered if he might have been better off in the clergy than the Academy. Of course, she supposed the two might not be so separate at Garreg Mach.
The room assignment was a bit more of a pain. Commoners on the ground floor and nobles on the second? Lienna had never even set foot in a building with two stories until meeting with Count Francis, but she still couldn’t help but feel a little slighted. She made this engagement—demanded tuition to this very school—to
escape the lot of “commoner”, but she had a sinking suspicion that they’d slap her on the ground floor all the same. Great. Maybe one of the nobles would be interested in trading; hells, the one over by the clump of angry professors making eyes at the blonde looked like he might appreciate a more direct route to drag girls back to his bedroom, and he couldn’t be the only one.
But that was beside the point; a pang in her stomach reminded her of the real goal here. As nice as Professor Lysander was, Lienna wasn’t interested in having him tag along on her heel only to chat her up outside her dormitory door.
“Oh, no, that’s kind of you but I’m sure I’ll be fine,” she insisted, offering him the best version of a smile she could muster at the moment. Though when she moved to take her leave in the direction he indicated, she barely got two steps before another professor-looking type—this time with green hair—stopped her in her tracks, telling her she looked pale.
Lienna nearly scoffed. She looked pale? She’d looked pale since the day she was born, what of it? But apparently this one was the Academy nurse, so maybe she meant she looked
ill. That was well enough, she supposed; Lienna had never seen a healer before, so she didn’t know how effective it would be, but she could certainly do without the stone in her stomach.
“Oh, alright,” she accepted the offer,
“how does that work?”Kaira beckoned for Lienna to follow her a few paces away from the other professors, and once she determined they had enough space, examined the student carefully. A small hum escaped her lips, but she remained otherwise unconcerned.
“I’ll be quick about it, I’m sure you’d prefer spending your time wisely,” She assured her.
Raising her hand in the air, a glyph made of light appeared before her, magic rushing forward towards Lienna. Visually, it was bright and flashy, albeit it was over as quickly as it came; what was more pressing than the light show was the relief washing over Lienna, much like the feeling of warming up next to a fire after coming in from a rainy day.
Glyph and light alike faded, leaving only Kaira in front of her.
“Have your symptoms lessened a little, at least?” She asked her.
Lienna flinched when a sudden rush of light came at her, but the impact she braced for never came; instead, she felt warm and comfortable, the knot in her stomach easing until it was gone.
“Uh, yeah,” she answered quietly, consciously relaxing her shoulders and straightening up. After a few deep breaths, she cleared her throat, doing her best to hide her embarrassment.
“Um, thank you.” Kaira beamed at Lienna, clasping her hands together.
“You’re very welcome!” She replied.
“If you’re ever in need, please don’t be afraid to seek me out.”Lienna simply nodded and moved back toward the edge of the courtyard, still a little shocked over her first experience with white magic. Magic as a whole was still fairly foreign—the one spell she knew was a bit of black magic that resulted from the time her grandmother tried to teach her how to light a fire, only for her to produce the opposite effect—and having it thrust on her without so much as a word of warning was jarring, to say the least. Still, she couldn't deny some relief that the pain in her stomach was gone, finally able to stand a little straighter.
Now that she felt better, though, she had a new problem she hadn’t bothered to predict; without her stomach ache, she had no good excuse not to acquaint herself with her new classmates. Ugh, how didn’t she think of that? Sure, she could pretend and slink off to her room anyway, but given that making connections was the whole reason she wanted to attend the Officers’ Academy in the first place, it wouldn’t do to shy away now.
But where to start? Skulk shamefully back into the classroom with that pompous House Leader after just having rushed out?
“Oh yes, sorry, I was sickened by your speech but I’ve since recovered, how do you do?” Yeah, excellent first impression. Lienna could have slapped herself for her own indecision. This was going to be a long year if she couldn’t even
pretend to know what she was doing around nobles.
Not far from Lienna, Kellen Fraldarius was working up the will to unstick himself from the comforting embrace of a stone wall. While he had been standing there, he could hear Auberon and another student speaking, and while he knew better than to eavesdrop, he was sure he had heard the other student say that they were in the same unit. If Kellen remembered correctly, there was one other member from their house who would form part of the cross-nation unit. And some little piece of him was convinced that the pale girl who had just been treated by the school’s nurse was the Lienna Orhneaht whose name was scrawled on the board. Best of all, based on her name—and the brusque way she had earlier exited the classroom—it appeared as though she was a commoner! The thought that at least one student in his house didn’t recognize or care about his name made him breathe a sigh of relief, and that sigh proved to be enough to take a step away from the wall. Her earlier decisiveness in exiting the class appeared to have dissipated. Pushing up his sleeves, he walked over to her.
“Sorry, are you Lienna? I realized when I introduced myself that you had already departed, and I think we’ll be working together quite a bit. If you’re Lienna, of course. If you’re not, please pretend this never happened.” Kellen paused for half a second, looking away. Then, his back straightened.
“I’m Kellen, either way.” He nodded, more to himself than to her.
Lienna whipped around a bit too fast at the sound of a voice, hearing her name having torn her a little suddenly out of her frustrated reverie. Luckily, the figure behind her wasn’t the prim, proper, and doubtless unimpressed noble classmate she expected, but someone decidedly less… put together. It was a short boy—well, still taller than her, but that wasn’t much of an accomplishment—with dark hair and an ill-fitting uniform, looking about as uncomfortable as she was. She wasn’t sure how he guessed her name—was she really
that obvious when she shot out of the room?—but didn’t dwell on it, making haste to uncross her arms and look at least a
little approachable.
“I am Lienna, in fact. Pleased to meet you,” she gave him that much, eyeing him up and down. Kellen, Kellen… she knew she’d seen that name briefly on the board, but his surname escaped her just as quickly. Given the state of his uniform, she doubted he was a noble… maybe he was that B-name she’d glossed over? Ballad or something?
Either way, she would admit it was a bit of a relief not to have to worry about botching her noble pleasantries with the first person she met—even if she did have to think about learning the noble ropes sooner rather than later if she wanted any hope of forging connections worth a damn. If nothing else, Kellen would be a good start; he seemed harmless enough.
“I am sorry for leaving so quickly. I’m not used to traveling, so I was feeling a little… weary,” she decided to try her hand at small talk, not noticing until she began that she hadn’t done much of any kind of talking in… oh, she could barely remember how long. Probably since Oma got sick. Really, it was a wonder her voice wasn’t hoarse and rusty.
“I came all the way from the northern edge of Gautier territory, after all. Yourself?”“Oh thank the Goddess.” A bit of colour came back to Kellen’s face as his gambit paid off. His left hand curled into a ball absent-mindedly as she introduced herself. After several months on the campaign, the mere use of phrases like “pleased to meet you” felt foreign.
“It’s quite the journey if you’re not used to it. Even if you are, it’s taxing.” He recalled the trip to Garreg Mach with Anton. A hint of a frown played across his features, but it disappeared quickly at mention of Gautier territory.
“North end of Gautier territory? It gets awfully cold up there.” He glanced at his attire, rolling his shoulders back to readjust the loose jacket.
“Uniforms like these wouldn’t do us much good up there. Not that they’re doing much good now, either.” The girl’s question of his home made him realize that, perhaps subconsciously, he had failed to offer his last name. Now secure in his knowledge that the girl was indeed a commoner, he felt comfortable sharing it.
“I’m from the Duchy of Fraldarius. And, erm. I’m also named after said Duchy. Well, named after my father, whose father’s father’s father’s—” The repeated instances grew quieter until he stopped himself.
“Well, anyway. I’m one of the Duke’s sons. I’m the youngest though, and my sister seems to have everything sorted so the lineage hardly matters.” The stone that Kaira had so extravagantly teased out of Lienna’s stomach moments before came crashing back with a vengeance at the name
Fraldarius. This kid was a Fraldarius? Lienna raised an eyebrow at him, wondering if he was trying to pull something on her. No, no way this kid in a too-large uniform tripping over his own words was a
Fraldarius. Younger sibling or not, Lienna found it hard to picture any noble carrying on so… so… ugh, the word escaped her, but Kellen definitely wasn’t acting like a noble. Not that she’d met any—aside from Count Francis for about forty-five minutes—but surely the family lauded as “The King’s Shield” carried themselves with their noses a bit higher in the air than Kellen did.
But fine, if he wanted to be that way, Lienna could fire back.
“Oh, of course. I didn’t realize a Fraldarius was attending this year,” she replied, an air of haughty indifference in her voice. It was how she’d always imagined nobles talking—and the Galatea preaching to the Blue Lions class had so far proven her right—so if she was going to marry into nobility, she might as well start acting like it.
“What a coincidence. I’m Lienna Orhneaht, betrothed to Count Francis Gautier. He sponsored me to attend the Officers’ Academy this year.”Lienna had no idea whether the wife of a Count outranked the child of a Duke, but she wasn’t about to show it.
“The Gautiers intermarry with the Fraldarius’ sometimes, right? Are you by any chance related?” Kellen reeled at the sudden change in tenor of the conversation. It was a horrible sensation to see in real-time how the mention of his name could flip things, but he chose to push it aside in favour of the far less distressing matter.
“You’re engaged to Uncle Francis!? But he’s…” Old. Kellen wanted to say old, but in a rare instance of good judgement, his brain had stopped him before he did so. It wasn’t as if Kellen wasn’t aware of precedents, or that Francis was in bad shape. But it was rare indeed to see a young woman who had entered into such a situation continue with her independent endeavours, let alone attending the Officer’s Academy.
Kellen titled his head slightly, realizing the scope of the minefield he was stepping into.
“I haven’t seen him in quite some time. Is he well?” Kellen mentally patted himself on the back for the seamless pivot.
“My mother was a Gautier, originally. Grandpa had a… reputation, so Mother has plenty of siblings—I used to have a book—but luckily Francis is one of the ones I remember!” But how much
did he remember? Kellen tried to rack his brains for memories with the man, but found that he could recall precious little. Rhiannon, as she often did, had handled most of the conversations while Kellen and his cousins fought and played around the keep. He was sure, however, that at the time they had last seen each other, he did not have Lienna in tow.
“How’d you two meet?” Ah, crap. This kid really
was a Fraldarius, wasn’t he? Lienna couldn’t claim to know the family trees of families Gautier and Fraldarius, but if Kellen
was putting on an act, it’d be awfully strange to memorize all the names and none of the noble decorum. For lack of a better option, she’d have to assume he was telling the truth, and that this unkempt, uncomfortable classmate of hers was somehow her future nephew. Ugh, all this complicated noble family business was already starting to give her a headache.
“He seemed fine when I met with him last,” Lienna answered simply, crossing her arms in front of her. Her usual icy demeanour—much more familiar to her than all this friendly first impression nonsense—settled back over her at his next question. How’d they meet? Couldn’t he guess? Counts and commoners weren’t in the habit of cavorting—unless you counted some Gautiers from off-colour stories Oma never wanted her to hear—and if someone like her from a remote place like Hima could hear that Count Francis was Crestless and desperately in need of an heir, then surely his own nephew could have gotten the hint.
“Well, you know how people talk,” she shrugged, deciding to indulge him. She had nothing to hide; she wasn’t ashamed of her arrangement.
“I bear the Minor Crest of Gautier, and Count Francis needs an heir. An engagement was an elegant solution to both our problems.” Apparently the news that Kellen was, in fact, related to Lienna’s betrothed was less welcome than he had expected. In the span of two minutes, the pleasantries had disappeared and Kellen was left facing a wall of cold. Of course, he wasn’t sure how he felt about the fact that a relative-to-be would be observing him during this year. It seemed she also bore some concerns, though Kellen had difficulty pinpointing exactly what they were.
Still, he pressed on.
“Oh! Of course, I didn’t mean anything by it. I’m glad he’s alright.” The mention of a Crest lined things up quickly for Kellen. Here was yet another person whose Crest had set their life in a new direction, though Kellen supposed for Lienna it was a marked improvement. However, he did not want to engage on the subject and deflect the questions that might follow.
“Then that’s how you’re here. Hopefully by your choice?” Of course it was by her choice. The sort of money it cost to attend the academy was not a paltry sum, and it was unlikely Francis had volunteered to send her off before they were married.
“Yes, of course,” Lienna replied, maybe a little more sharply than was necessary. Maybe the new clothes changed her a bit, but she was pretty sure she didn’t look like some shrinking violet here against her will. She better not, anyway; though standing around aimlessly probably hadn’t helped. But she would concede that her arrangement was probably an uncommon one, so maybe Kellen was right to be surprised. She perched a hand on her hip, trying to think of a good way to describe it.
“I suppose you could say my Crest was my dowry, and my attendance here is… change.” That probably wasn’t right, but she wouldn’t dwell on it.
“In any case, I suppose it’s lucky we’re both here. Future family and all that,” she added quickly. Even she had to admit that getting to know one of her future nephews was probably wise; it’d be good to have some solid foundations in the family should she ever need a favour. Besides, Kellen seemed harmless enough, he probably didn’t deserve the attitude she’d been giving him. And if she wanted his help—someone had to teach her the names of her future relatives if she didn’t want to make a fool of herself—then it was probably prudent to get on his good side.
Mustering up a bashful smile, she shook her head.
“I’m sorry, it’s just all rather overwhelming,” she admitted, mostly truthful.
“It is good to meet you, and I look forward to sharing a class with you. This is all very new to me, and it seems I’ll need all the help I can get.”The metaphor of a dowry seemed fitting to Kellen. He wondered what sort of perks his Crest might be worth, though he supposed his status offered him plenty on its own. Lucky was a word for the situation, though Kellen felt a sense of anxiety that this woman now had a reason to keep an eye on him. He hadn’t spent any lengthy amount of time with family beyond his uncle for the past year, and the prospect of having to speak for his relatives was alarming. Nor was he particularly excited at the prospect of a new member of the family trying to find further inroads to his immediate family through him.
Those concerns paled in comparison to the greater issue—his Crest. His father had made him swear that he would tell no one of the Crest, and while the promise hadn’t been mentioned in the letter he had received, he was quite sure it still stood. He had no intention of divulging it, but the way her eyes sized him up left him certain that she would notice if he was behaving oddly. And if she was corresponding with any of the Gautiers, it wouldn’t take long for rumours to spread, be corroborated, and make their way to his father.
Despite these logical concerns, there was a simultaneous sense of relief as Lienna’s walls came down, even slightly. “Future family and all that.” That’s what she had said. He would be lying if he said that the prospect of a year locked up in his room was something he had been looking forward to, or that some part of him wasn’t relieved to see a new member of the family who had yet to form opinions of him in the context of his siblings.
“Please don’t apologise.” He waved his hand dismissively.
“It’s a long way here, and it wouldn’t be the truth if I said that this first day hasn’t been… a lot.” He looked around the courtyard for a moment, taking a deep breath.
“I know that I’m likely not what you had in mind when you pictured the sorts of people who would be at this school. Or my family. I’m not like my father, and definitely not like our House Leader, and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing.” He straightened his back, and for half a moment the youngest Fraldarius looked half the part of a lord, staring straight at Lienna.
“But I’m still sure I can be helpful, so if you need something, please ask. I might not have a solution, but I’ll help you find one.” Woah, she gave an inch and this kid really took a mile, didn’t he? Or, he went the extra mile, or whatever that inane expression was—Lienna had never been good at remembering flowery garbage like that. Regardless, she was taken aback by Kellen’s sudden dedication; they’d known each other for approximately five minutes and he was already spilling his guts and pledging his support like a squire from a fairy tale. It was sweet, in a way, but also naive, speaking to something of a sheltered upbringing where the consequences of giving too much had never been fully realized. She supposed that worked out well for her if she needed something from him, but she couldn’t help but hope the poor kid would smarten up sooner rather than later.
Still, she wasn’t one to deny such a tempting offer.
“That’s sweet, thank you,” she’d give him that much, offering him a small smile.
“I’ll be sure to take you up on that.”
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