"Ilise! Are you okay?" Bianca rushed to Ilise's side. Making sure that her little sister hadn't been scalded by the tea, she pulled out a seat next to her and sat down. "Do you need to see the nurse? Or do you want something to eat? If the exams are too tough..." Bianca appeared to hesitate at what she was about to say next "I could pull some strings for you. I know how much you want this, but look at the state you're in. Are you absolutely sure you can compete in the next round?"
Ilise relaxed at Bianca's touch. This was exactly what she'd wanted - for Bianca to just go back to fawning over her, like she had when she stood up for Ilise in front of the entire school. Still, she had to get used to this.
Bianca had a life. She'd been alive for sixteen years. And while Ilise's body was physically fifteen, as a person, Ilise had come into existence three months ago. To be possessive of Bianca was unfair of her - Ilise knew as much, but she couldn't help but want to keep the people who'd helped her close.
Like Siegfried - she'd gone as far as to punch someone for him, even though they'd barely just met and Ilise had no formal combat experience.
"I-I'll be fine. I can still take the exam. I could go for something to eat, though." Ilise said, looking down at her hands. The forked pattern that ran across her forearms were reminders of a distant past. A missing piece in her life that Bianca had filled. She lay back in her seat, inhaling the rosewater-y scent of the council room. Ilise recognised it as the same one Bianca used to perfume their home.
Ilise was dozing off from sheer exhaustion when Bianca snapped her fingers.
"Rita! Mind fetching something for Ilise to eat?"
"Of course, Bianca. I'll be back in a bit."
She disappeared through a small door, leaving Bianca and Ilise to their own devices. Bianca took Ilise's hands in her, and stared her dead in the eye.
"Ilise. I want you to be honest with me. I can tell when you're lying. There's something bothering you, and as your sister I'm worried about you. We need to trust each other."
Ilise's mind raced to find something - anything - that would provide a plausible cover. She couldn't have Bianca knowing about how she truly felt. She cycled through her memories of the past few hours, eventually settling on Rei's cryptic words. How he appeared to be more connected to Yggdrasil than he let on, and Arc City.
"It's j-just that while I was down in those vents, my teammate Rei brought something up. He's got a connection to Yggdrasil and it's been bugging me since. At first, I thought his parents worked for Yggdrasil or something, but after I saw what happened to his sister I think it goes way deeper than what he told me."
Bianca raised an eyebrow. "Elaborate. Who's his sister?"
"Rozaliya. I don't know their last names, but they don't actually look like siblings-"
Realisation struck Ilise like a lightning bolt. That was what Siegfried had said. 'You don't look an awful lot like siblings.' The blatant discrepancy in their names and appearances. Rozaliya's name was native to Jotunheim, just like Ilise's old last name. Rei sounded like a Vanaheim name.
Fraternal twins or not, the difference in their height, eyes and hair was too far apart. Rei was tall and lanky, with shaggy electric-blue hair and narrowed blue eyes. Remi was short, even shorter than Ilise. Her cotton-candy pink hair stopped at the middle of her back, and her eyes were wide.
"Ilise? Earth to Ilise." Bianca waved a hand in front of Ilise's face.
"R-right! Sorry, I got distracted. What do you know about Arc City?"
Bianca paused.
"Arc City? Alpheim was built over its ruins. It was destroyed sometime in the past because of a Kaiser's awakening. Some people still live in its ruins. It's kind of like a slum. Yggdrasil's covered it up because it, uh," Bianca laughed nervously, "Doesn't really go with the image father wants Alpheim to portray. He says people who are unfit to live in Alpheim stay there because they've got nowhere to go. Yggdrasil provides them with supplies and a few guards in case there's any trouble, but otherwise it's pretty hands-off about it. I guess that's why you haven't heard of it yet. Why do you ask?"
"Rei brought it up. He seemed to think Yggdrasil has something to do with it."
"Really? Tell me more. About this Rei. And his sister." Bianca said. She was interested now. Ilise couldn't fathom why Bianca would be interested in two other first-year applicants that she probably would've never heard of unless one of them made the student council. Rei did look like he was primed to be the next Alphaeus, now that Ilise thought about it.
"Well, Rei's really nice. And he's smart, too. Roza's a bit weirder about things. She's one of those people that discriminate by power rankings, but if you prove yourself to her she's just like Rei. Also, she's got this weird thing where she collapses after using too much magic. Rei said it messes up her brain sometimes and-"
Ilise was interrupted by Rita entering the room with a precariously balanced tea tray on her arms. A perfect afternoon tea, accompanied by a cup of tea to replace the one Ilise had spilled. Ham sandwiches, scones and a few exquisitely-styled cakes that Ilise couldn't make out.
A worried look had settled over Bianca's face.
"We'll continue our conversation later, Ilise."
--
1557 HOURS
ALPHEIM
THE STUDENT COUNCIL ROOM.
THREE MINUTES BEFORE THE CONCLUSION OF THE SECOND EXAMINATION.
The door was thrown wide open just as Ilise stood up. Alphaeus and a periwinkle-haired boy rushed into the council room, each of them balancing a large stack of ring binders in their arms.
"Bianca. Rita. Make something of yourselves and parse through these results. Marten just got back to us. And why, pray tell," The boy glanced at Ilise's half-finished meal, "Have you been eating in the council room?"
"Ilise was hungry." Was all Bianca said. She examined her fingernails, not deigning to look at the stack of files Ivan had just slammed in front of her. "You should loosen up a bit, Ivan. It helps with the blood flow. You are terribly uptight, after all."
"I. Am. Not. Uptight." Ivan said, fists clenched and a vein bulging in his forehead. "As acting president of the student council, I demand that you get through these files immediately."
"As heiress to the Yggdrasil Corporation, I demand that you remove the stick lodged up your rear end and talk to me nicely."
Ivan relented.
"Fine. Bianca, Rita, would you please go through these results?" Then, as an afterthought, he added, "Who's Ilise?"
Ilise had been halfway to the side door when she heard her name being called. She froze in her steps, hand reaching for the doorknob. Bianca answered for her.
"She's my sister. Ilise, why don't you come on over and introduce yourself?"
She bowed to Ivan, refusing to meet his gaze. Ilise looked like she found the floor of the council room to be particularly interesting. She was distinctly aware of the fact that Ivan was staring at her with contempt. She could just hear the gears whirring in his head, churning out the same ugly words people had said to her in the auditorium. Funnily enough, she had no idea of what he looked like. She could feel it, though. He definitely sounded like the sort of person to do something like that.
Bracing herself for the inevitable barrage of insults and legitimacy-related questions, Ilise did the only thing she knew how to do. She wrung her hands over and over again.
"I-Ilise?" Ivan's voice was surprisingly soft.
"No. Way." Bianca shattered the awkward silence between the both of them. "Ilise, look at Ivan. Now look at yourself." She passed Ilise the compact she kept with her at all times. Ilise raised her head up hesitantly.
She nearly fell over in shock. Rita had to rush over and prop Ilise up.
Ivan was the spitting image of her. He was exactly what Ilise would've looked like, if she was a male and taller than Siegfried. Moments ago, she'd been thinking about how Rei and Roza looked nothing like each other, but here she was, staring at the student council's president. Said president was as similar to Ilise as Rei and Rozaliya were different. The periwinkle hair, violet eyes and pale Jotunheim skin - it couldn't be a coincidence.
He marched up to her and punched her.