"Here you go." Kellie opened the door to her new room.
Adeleine dropped her luggage at the foot. The Mir dormitory was nothing short of spectacular, better than the dorm building. She stepped inside to take a good view.
A whole lot spacious than her previous room. She has her own study just around the corner, connected by a smaller open entrance. An unnecessarily large bed, but smaller than the queen-sized back in the mansion, pushed at the wall with a small side cabinet and a lamp. A wide window covered by thick gray curtains occupied the rest of the wall. By the left was another open entrance leading to a walk-in closet and by the end of it was a door to the bathroom.
No more sharing in that large public bathroom in the girl's dormitories, she thought in relief. She wouldn't have to feel the stares burning through her whole body as she minds her own business cleaning herself. She didn't have to sit uncomfortably with a towel hung by her chest while she scrubs--she could just freely be in her birthday suit yelling at the top of her lungs and no one would give her judgmental stares.
Compared to the room of having a singular bed pushed in the corner, a small cabinet, and enough room to twirl, this gigantic space of privacy all to herself would be the Celestial realm. Mir dormitory was like a royal sanctum. With this huge difference of treatment between ranks. Truly, a Mir is something to boast.
The academy had four ranks, with Mir being the highest and attained by a few. Currently, they only have six people occupying the rank. And all of them lived in this establishment hidden in the forest. It was in a secluded spot in contrast to the two dormitory buildings: the roofs did not reach past the canopy while the structure carved itself along the earth's terrain like a snake. Warm orange lamps divulged the pavement to the main entrance when they got there at night.
The living room had a few couches for the rankers to lounge. From there, they had a great view of an oversized root, probably the largest in the forest, displayed by wide glass walls. The living room branched two hallways in opposite directions. The corridor curved around the enormous tree that meets at the end, laying out numerous doors of Mir's sleeping quarters. The design offered a full view of it at every great angle, even by the door of her room.
The whole place was too luxurious for her, but she was not one to complain. Mir rankers are cream of the crop. Normally, she could not even get to set foot in here, but she's an exception.
Adeleine sank in the bed, feeling the comforts reeling her in and appeasing her tired bones. "Guess, I'll be stuck right here," she mumbled with a satisfied sigh and closed her eyes.
"Make yourself comfortable," Kellie said, but Adeleine was already way ahead of her. "Also, Adeleine..." Kellie knelt beside the bed to face her properly. "Welcome to Heloire Academy."
~~
She laid there, restless. Exhausted yet awake, she turned to her side and noticed the darkness swallowed her room like the shadows in the moon that slowly ate its own flesh. Her body still felt sore that she wanted to pass out and rest, but whatever was keeping her up awake at night was not letting her.
She turned to her other side, burying her head deep in the thick pillow, closing her eyes. After a few agonizing seconds, she opened them again. SHE. CANNOT. SLEEP.
Then she frustratedly turned over and laid supine. She flinched. "Ah! Dammit," she hissed. She forgot the large purplish bruise on her back still existed. It's a surprise that she didn't feel it as much during the duel, or it would have made it harder to bear the pain. "I mean it wouldn't really hurt they didn't apply pressure, right, Moon?"
She paused.
"Ah, right. You're still not talking to me?" she raised eyebrows. "I'm suffering here, you know. Cut me some slack. It's reallyโฆhard, alone." She uttered the last part, curling up.
Usually, she would find these rare moments to be bliss, but unsettling silence filled the room.
"Are you really not going to answer me? Orโฆ" A lump stuck in her throat. Her heart thrummed from apprehension. "You're not thereโฆ"
The silent atmosphere--it was suffocating. Cold whispers shrouded the room. Uneasiness crept under her blankets, lightly caressing her feet that made her shiver. Normally, she would be in the dream circle talking to Moon about the new things she learned outside while Moon would babble away, asking questions upon questions to satisfy her curiosity.
But Adeleine knew, she wouldn't see Moon there, not anyone.
A sigh escaped her lips before she got up. She hated this. This unexplainable feeling of dread, it's there, and it won't go away--like an annoying crow pecking her forehead. She never asked to feel this way, so why now out of all times? Could she wish it gone?
Her soles touched the cold tiled floor as she nimbly walked to her study room, pulling the warm blanket draped around her shoulder tighter. She dropped herself on the chair and turned the knob on the lamp attached to the wall, burning night light.
She stared at the empty desk.
"Where's the paper?" She rummaged through the cabinet, finding a pile of them in the third drawer.
She went back to her chair and grabbed the feather pen dipped in a parchment of ink at the corner. She took a deep breath.
"Today is the first day of the month Saoir with the twelfth Morning Star of the year."
๐๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ด๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ.
She stared at it, long and hardโnothing else came to mind. Minutes went by while ink spilled on the paper from the impatient feather.
๐๐ช๐น ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐'๐ท๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ค๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐บ. ๐๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐บ, ๐ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ช๐ต. ๐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ข. ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต. ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ. ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ค๐ถ๐ด! ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต'๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐บ ๐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ!
๐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐บ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข ๐ง๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ'๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ช๐ค๐ฌ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ. ๐'๐ฎ ๐จ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ช๐ณ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ'๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ, ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ'๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ, ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ.
She blinked. "What?" She took another scan of the sentence. "Why did Iโฆ" The tip of the feather hovered over the words but, she hesitated. Leaning back, she let out a sigh.
It caught her off-guard. She must be too focused or it could also be sleep deprivation.
Instead of erasing it, she let it be and moved on to the next paragraph.
๐๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ต ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต, ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ.
๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ,
๐๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ.
She put the feather down and re-read the whole letter. She did not tell her mother anything about Moon's existence, she realized. Well, she tried as a child, only for her mother to think she was playing pretend or stuck in fantasies like a typical child.
And that, she was able to sleep.