Elowen stood at the gate of the academy as other students passed by in their fitted uniforms, she rocked back and forth on her heels. Eventually when the large body of students made their way into the academy, Elowen followed. They were going through orientation where they would be briefed on the rules of the academy and what was expected from them as students. It would also serve as an opportunity to point out all the poor people in the room, apparently as Elowen and the other nineteen students were called onto the stage to be introduced. They were introduced by name and class course with Elowen being in the middle, "This is Elowen Everglass, she will be attending the diplomat course." Elowen watched as a few teachers tensed.
They clearly weren't part of the diplomat course, the teachers were dressed in military like uniforms and standing at attention like her father had shown her. Her knees threatened to give out on her when one of them made eye contact with her, her already wet palms became soaked and it took all of her strength not to wipe the sweat on her new uniform skirt in front of the entire student body. They all sized her up, recognizing the skinny body, small hands and long hair. She wasn't like her sister, she was far from it. The only way she resembled her sister was through hair and eye color alone.
But her eyes sparkled with determination, even under a thin layer of intolerable anxiety. So as the orientation dragged on, the rules really caught her attention. As a public school student, she had dealt with a fair share of orientations and assemblies, but Dorian was different in a subtle way at first then it smacked her upside her face.
"When you send letters home, they will be checked to make sure they are appropriate before being sent off. Anyone who is caught writing inappropriate letters will be punished." The Headmaster said, eyes flickering to the group of lower class students Elowen sat with. An involuntary shiver went up her spine as she listened and tried to make herself smaller to avoid his dark, cold gaze.
After the orientation, an old woman walked up to the group. Her eyes glinted with something that Elowen couldn't pinpoint. "I'm Esther, I will be your female dorm leader, you will be in Dorm 349. Don't worry, the dorms can fit all ten of you." She said, gesturing for them to follow her. As they walked through the campus, Elowen realized just how large and gated it was. It was almost the size of the entire downtown of Glory and as a port city, it had a large downtown section filled with docks and crappy apartments.
Esther stopped at an older building, ivy climbed up its walls and the door hinges squeaked as they entered the building. "You will be staying in this room," Esther said, pushing aside another squeaky door to reveal a large dorm, five bunk beds separated by desks between each bunk with an extra desk beside each corner bunk. The room smelled musty, Elowen knew that would be a change from her home that smelt of incense and port water. "You will be expected to be awake at 5:15 in the morning, you can tell the time with the clock above the door. Anyone who fails to be ready by 5:45 will be punished, I will be there to greet you and let you know of any extra activities you will be attending after regular classes." Esther said before handing each of them their schedule sheets. "Classes start in two days to let you get the lay of the land, any tardies will not be excused and will be dealt with accordingly by either me or your teacher."
With that, Esther left, heels clicking down the tiled hallway. They all shared looks between each other that ranged from confusion, fear and apathy. Elowen looked at her schedule and almost wanted to sob. Even if she knew nothing about the layout of Dorian Academy, it was clear that she would do a lot of running if she wanted to make it to class on time. Elowen chose the corner lower bunk before unpacking her items. She hadn't brought anything more than she needed. The twenty of them began to talk amongst themselves, mostly about the absolute hell that they had gotten themselves into. Notably, one student had already accepted their fate, stating with a monotone voice, "I don't expect to graduate, from what they talked about in expectations, I'm doomed." and when she got questioning looks she finished with, "I barely got the points needed to attend here, I'm almost certain I won't be able to keep up with the torture here." The girl laughed out the last part, as if it was a joke.
Elowen suspected it wasn't one, the way the word 'punishment' was thrown around so loosely, Elowen was almost certain that torture wasn't off the table here. And would it be? Especially to lower class students? Even at her public school, the poorest of the poor was punished harder than the others. The day carried on until the scheduled lunch was going to start in thirty minutes. Elowen left early, determined to not be starved out by her richer classmates. She stopped by a bathroom, wandering through the building she suspected had the cafeteria. She stared at herself in the mirror, deciding a braid would do her good for the time she was attending.
Leaning over the sink, she glanced up and noticed a gap with something poking out from between the brick and mirror. Curiosity spurred her on to grab the corner of the paper and pull it out. Unfolding it, she felt tears well up in her eyes and a lump swell up in the back of her throat.
"Elowen, if you found this then you need to know that I hid something in dorm 349 that will guide your way through Dorian. - N."
Wiping away her tears and splashing some water on her face to keep the redness from getting worse, she walked out of the bathroom. She still wanted lunch and nothing was going to get in the way of her and good rich people's food. Elowen had once attended a birthday party of a friend who a social class above her own and the food was amazing. Elowen was sure that her parents had saved for the catering but she had never eaten such rich food. Her mother was a great cook, working with what they had and could afford but nothing beat that cinnamon roll she had at the party.
So with the determination of a girl who was desperate for good food, she walked her way between buildings until she found the right one with five minutes to spare. There was still a line, but nothing close to the one that developed not even two minutes later. Elowen stood with a plate in hand, ready to have anything that was being dished up. After getting her food, which was really just mac and cheese with cinnamon rolls left over from breakfast, she found an empty table and sat down.
Midway through her second cinnamon roll, someone sat next to her. Glancing up, she was taken aback to see a clearly rich girl sitting next to her. "Can I help you?" Elowen asked, shyness creeping its way up to constrict her words. The girl glanced her way, emerald eyes shining with curiosity.
"Yes, actually!" She piped up, excitement evident, "You're Elowen Everglass right?" She asked.
Elowen immediately determined she was asking a rhetorical question, "Yes, thats me." She confirmed, heat creeping up her neck.
The girl smiled, "Thats good, your sister was Nuri right?" She asked, placing a napkin on her lap which made Elowen feel out of place. Who puts a napkin on their lap? Is it a rich person thing? Am I just a slob? And why did she use past tense?
"Yes, she's my sister." Elowen confirmed again, suspecting that this might be the pattern of the conversation.
"I'm in the diplomat course but my brother was enrolled in the soldier course with your sister back in the day." The girl explained, "Oh, I'm Delphi by the way." she added on naturally.
"Ok, should I know anything about your brother?" Elowen asked, wanting to slap a hand over her mouth the moment the words left. Gods, did she have to sound so rude?
"Maybe, did Nuri ever talk about him? Did she write?" Delphi asked, "Well, I never expected for Nuri to have a sister, let alone one with the mental prowess to enter Dorian with flying colors."
Elowens already strained smile faltered, "She did write, she rarely mentioned anyone by name however." She said, choosing to ignore the last statement. Her mothers golden rule echoed in her mind, to not say anything if you have nothing nice to say. A rule, Elowen decided right then, should be law among all classes.
"Well, your sister was an absolute monster in the ring, she apparently rarely lost and only got better after each loss." Delphi went on, bragging about Nuri as if she knew her. Elowen clenched her fists, hidden underneath the desk.
"Did your brother tell you all about her?" Elowen asked, unsure on why she continued to try with this conversation. She might be less inclined to be angry when trying to converse with a brick wall.
"Oh yeah, between you and me, it sounded like he had a crush on her." Delphi giggled, whispering the last part as if it was some kind of secret. "I can understand why, if you look like her." She smiled.
Elowens cheeks flared up with heat, unprepared for the compliment. "O-oh, um, no. I mean, she looks like me but has a short build." Elowen stumbled over her words, throat once again constricting with sudden shyness.
Delphi laughed at Elowens stuttering, "I'll see you in class, okay Elowen?" She asked but walked off before she could get another word out. Elowen struggled to find her breath for a moment before glancing down at her plate and starting to eat. After placing a napkin on her lap for good measure.