After Kol walked away, Calibri turned to Haochen.
"Thank you for that. I thought we'd end up having to participate in violent combat to settle our differences." He said with a grateful smile.
Haochen nodded. "He's actually not all bad, his ego just happens to be quite large. My apologies if he offended any of you."
The group bowed politely. "We aren't offended. Thank you for intervening." Kreia said, smiling at Haochen politely along with Calibri.
"Oh! He's the Prince I've told you about earlier." Calibri said, turning to his friends.
Haochen blinked at that.
"Him? He's quite handsome." Siegon said, "And he looks very much like his brother."
"Yes, very aesthetic features. And brave. I approve of this foreboding camaraderie." Rion said, nodding his head.
"You've made a good comrade, your majesty." Tea said.
Calibri flicked his hair in a comical manner. "It's because I'm ever so wonderful, isn't that right, Prince… Urm... I'm sorry, what was your name?" He asked, looking apologetically at Haochen.
Alexei snapped his head towards Calibri.
"You do not know his name?" He asked, incredulous.
Calibri's nose turned red out of embarrassment. "I was short on time; we didn't have the opportunity to introduce ourselves properly. I've said this already." Calibri said, fiddling with his teardrop earring wearing a sheepish look on his face.
Haochen smiled, amused at the expression on Calibri's face. "My name is Zhang Haochen."
Calibri blinked a few times.
"Zhang Haochen?"
Haochen nodded.
"Why is the name of your sect your first name?" He asked, tilting his head; his face was the epitome of confusion.
Haochen smiled and tilted his head too, finding Calibri's mannerisms endearing. "It's not my first name. My first name is Haochen, and my surname is Zhang."
"Why did you say your surname first?" Calibri asked.
"Usually, that's how the people of my sect introduce themselves."
"Your brother introduced himself by his first name." Rion said, stroking his chin.
"He tends to do that when he speaks to other sects." Haochen said.
"Oh, I see. Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Prince Haochen." Calibri said, smiling brightly. "This is Princess Kreia, this is Alexei, this is Rion, he is Siegon, this is Flora, and those are our twins, Korra, and Tea." Calibri said, gesturing to each person.
"And my name is Calibri." He said, reaching out his left hand to Haochen's hair. Haochen wasn't sure what Calibri was doing, so he stayed still. But the closer Calibri's beautiful fingers got to his face, the stranger the organ in his chest felt, making his face contort for a second.
Calibri who had always been in the habit of picking petals and bits of plants out of his companion's hair (Since they lived in a forest after all, and twigs falling into ones hair was not uncommon), had reached out to pick out the cherry blossom petal caught in Haochen's top-knot holder.
He paused upon hearing the strange heart palpitations again. Calibri stopped looking at the petal and stared dead into Haochen's eyes, concerned, causing Haochen's cheeks to slightly redden.
"I see what you mean now, your Majesty." Alexei said, discreetly glancing at Haochen's heart region.
Korra nodded. "That's particularly alarming." She said slowly.
Calibri exhaled and withdrew his hand, taking the petal with him, staring at Haochen with knitted brows.
"Have you gone to a healer lately?" Kreia asked, glancing at Calibri and then back to Haochen's face.
Haochen looked at her, not understanding.
"Oh, yes, Father told me they call healers 'Physicians' in the other sects. Have you been to a physician, your Majesty?" Calibri asked him.
Haochen looked at him curiously. "I haven't. I don't feel ill. Should I?"
"Yes, heart attacks can happen quite suddenly, so you should see a healer immediately." Flora said.
"Flora!" Rion and Tea warned quietly.
She looked at them confused and continued the inaudible conversation, her lips moving quickly and soundlessly.
"But it's true, isn't it?"
"Remember, he doesn't know we can hear inside his chest. Be careful." Alexei said.
"Heart attack?" Haochen asked.
"She meant indigestion. When your face contorted, she assumed it was acid reflux." Siegon said, trying to lie. He bit his lip. After a moment. "I'm lying." He said.
Kreia shot him and exasperated look. It had been three weeks since they'd accepted their offers, and during the three weeks, they'd been trained in the art of 'Necessary fibbing', in case the other sects tried to take advantage of them.
With their lips painted, the ends of their hair dyed violet and their forearms covered, the other sects wouldn't know if they were lying or not. Besides, the others didn't know which color meant they were lying anyway, but the point was that they were given intense fibbing lessons and Siegon still couldn't do it.
Calibri smiled at Haochen reassuringly and reached out to pat his arm, still looking into his eyes. "You must be tired and anxious. How have you been since the exam? Any strange chest pains? Palpitations? Cold sweats? Lack of energy? Dizzy spells? Loss of feeling on one side of your body? Foreboding feelings of death?" He asked, blinking innocently.
Haochen thought for a moment.
"No, I feel quite good actually. I'm not anxious. How have you been?" Haochen asked. The others looked at each other discreetly. If it wasn't psychologically related, then the palpitations were something to be concerned about.
"Me? Well, I've been living."
"Living?"
"Yes, isn't it good?" Calibri laughed. "It's very good to be living."
Haochen smiled at the peculiarity. "It is. By the way, I'm curious about something, if you're comfortable with answering." He spoke carefully. Being someone who found it difficult to converse with others, he found himself shocked at how much he was speaking.
Calibri perked a brow with a good-natured smile. "What are you curious about?"
"On the list of positions, I noticed all those from Verbatium had their names followed by 'Of Verbatium'. Is that your Surname?"
Calibri made a face. "You think we would have the word 'Of' in our surname?" Calibri began to laugh, it wasn't a mocking laugh but a humored one, and the group followed.
"To answer your question. We don't have surnames in our sect." Calibri said. "But wouldn't it be comical if 'Of Verbatium' was actually our surname?" He smiled.
Alexei smiled too at Haochen. "Since every person in Verbatium names themselves when they reach the conversing stage in adolescence, we choose names that we think are unique. Usually, our people do not have two people with the same name existing at the same time." He said.
Calibri nodded. "Our names are recorded, so should a child want a particular name, but a living person already owns the name, the child needs to choose another name. However, if the person holding that name passes on, they may change to it. With unique names, there's no need to have a surname."
Haochen tilted his head. "But then why don't you use Verbatium as your surname to signify where you're from? Like how the people within the other sects share the same surname. For example, everyone in our sect shares the surname Zhang. Similarly, everyone in Damascus shares the surname Damascus."
Calibri scrunched up his nose and gestured to himself discreetly. "I think our appearances do a well enough job of signifying where we're from."
Haochen thought about it. "That's true."
"Ah, you've met!"
The teenagers looked to their left and Felix, Kreian, Ning and Gaiya were approaching. It was Ning who spoke.
"Kreian, Felix, Gaiya, this is my younger brother; Haochen."
Haochen bowed and the older men smiled.
"I must say, he is quite a handsome fellow." Felix said, then went to readjust Calibri's head jewelry. "You've been good and out of trouble, right children?"
"No…" They all mumbled.
Gaiya and Kreian raised their brows and glanced at each other.
"Brother? Wasn't the meeting supposed to be an hour long?" Kreia asked Kreian, trying to change the subject. Kreian smiled. "Yes, but everyone was well versed in their responsibilities. However, it seems that the next week will be to familiarize the educators and demonstrators with the necessary teaching technique, outside of the theory we've read."
"What does that mean?" Haochen asked.
"It means everyone will be allocated roommates." A new voice said. It came from a man with long red hair tied into a look long ponytail, a matte black well-fitted armor and cape with eyeliner lining his green eyes. He was around Alexei's height, and had an aura of confidence to go with his easy-on-the-eye features.
He reached forward and picked up Calibri's hand to give it a kiss. Everyone stared at him with bulging eyes. "Hello beautiful, can I get her highness's name?"
Haochen pursed his lips. "His highness. *Prince Calibri. He's male" Haochen said, his tone coming off condescending.
The man lifted a brow, then looked back at Calibri with a grin.
"Even better. Did anyone ever tell you how beautiful you are-"
"Every day when we bathe together." Siegon said, eyeing the man distrustfully.
"Kinky. My name is Cloud. " The man said. Felix looked at the man up and down and yanked Calibri to himself. "Cloud? Could he evaporate?" He mumbled and some of the Verbatians let out well-disguised snorts.
"Pleasure to meet you." Calibri said, bowing slightly.
Cloud smiled mischievously. "I've been sneaking around, checking out the dorms, and I came across my room allocation. They have the sketches of those living in the dormitories framed on the doors. I guess everyone else who hasn't seen it will have to wait to find out who their roommate is once the assembly is held. But not us."
Alexei pursed his lips, not liking the loose and suggestive tone Cloud was making towards his friend.
Haochen had been staring at Cloud coldly for quite some time, his gaze stabbing icicles into the man especially when he said 'us' so cockily, but the man's next words unlocked a new level of annoyance.
He winked at Calibri. "Looks like we're roommates, gorgeous."
Calibri laughed nervously. "Wait. What?"