Nuri had long ago accepted her fate, doomed to work for a country against her will. No, accepted was not the right word. If she had accepted it, why would she had gone through the trouble of leaving behind notes, advice and instructions to her little sister who hadn't even seen her since Nuri was 13? Who's only form of communication was through letters carefully written so nothing seemed off. No, acceptance was something she hadn't done. She refused her fate, she was waiting for her chance. For a singular opportunity to arise to make her escape. She passed in the halls of the barracks, other soldiers running around to get their chores done before the top people showed up. Nuri had never let her area get that bad, it barely looked lived in on most days. Everyone else was in a panic but Nuri had a skip in her step, her sister had been accepted to Dorian Academy. Unlike herself, Elowen had been accepted into one of the civil servant paths. Nuri knew nothing about those paths and what it held for Elowen but at least she wouldn't be put into a fighting ring with other students and told to beat the crap out of each other.
Elowen was smart, that was proven by the test scores Nuri had stolen. Nuri had a gift for tactics and was physically strong but Elowen was a whole different beast. Someone you wouldn't fight on a battlefield or in a fighting ring, she was the one by a nobleman's side, instructing him on what best to do. What to expect from the enemy's group of diplomats and advisors. It would help offset Nuri's hotheaded nature, impulsiveness and general lack of care for her own well being. Being in the military had helped cull those traits a little but her rage from Dorian flamed inside her. She hoped that Elowen had found the last note she left months before graduation, that Elowen already knew that this wasn't going to be easy.
And while Elowen fought her battles inside Dorian, Nuri would continue her work here. She would continue to find others who were like her, angry at what this country did to them. Angry that they were taken from their family, angry that they were resigned to a death by another hands. During these five years of serving, Nuri had met plenty of people like herself. It was almost impossible that the Academy would have stamped out everyone's fight. Something that strikes fear in her is that others talk about different Academy's they attended. Dorian was just one of twelve, why the idea never struck Nuri before, she didn't know.
But if every academy was bringing in 20 students each year, that brought up a very unsettling idea. After all, only seven students on average would make it to graduation and Nuri had been able to track down all who graduated but the ones who didn't truly disappeared. She had known one of them, Elara, who didn't graduate. Two weeks before graduation, she had messed up one last time. Instead of seeing her in the halls two classes later, Nuri never saw her again. Her desk was cleaned out, her sheets changed, not even the smell of her perfume was left in the room. Even with Nuri's connections with the other graduates over the years, she couldn't find a trace of what happened to Elara. The only proof about her existence was her family's memories, which will become faulty over the years and then the only one who will remember her is Nuri. Someone who had already disappeared with the other lower class graduates.
Nuri slipped out of her own thoughts to focus on the doors she passed. Counting each one as she went by until she landed on the one she was looking for. Glancing around the empty hallway, she slipped into the supply closet. She looked around at the others gathered around her, each with nervous expressions. "Nuri, where have you been?" Aalyiah asked, wrapping her arms around Nuri. Nuri pushed Aalyiah back a little, a small smile on her lips.
"Elowen has entered Dorian." Nuri said, "I had to wait for my informant to give me the information." She dismissed their fears, "So what's with all the long faces?" She asked, attempting to lighten the mood.
"It's inspection day Nuri," Alice said, "It's always nerve wracking. Not everyone can make their area look uninhabited." They continued. Alice was a strong woman, one of the first people Nuri had found. Both of them had a little sister and family they were ripped from when accepted into Dorian. With thick black hair that curled and brown skin with white spots dotting her body, Alice called herself a honey badger. Something Nuri didn't find amusing but found it fitting.
Nuri smirked and flipped her non-existent long hair past her shoulder, "Guess I'm just that good." Aalyiah lightly pushed her, a smirk playing her own lips. Aalyiah had been the first, for a lot of things, but most importantly, the first Nuri found. Or rather, Aalyiah found her. Aalyiah had graduated from a different academy but hadn't lost her spirit in the process and only got more determined to end this cycle with each new group that entered. Aalyiah said that Nuri was clearly unhappy with her current situation, which made it clear that she hadn't been broken.
"Stop flirting." A deeper voice demanded, making everyone look over to him. Williams was the true leader, the first, the one who found Aalyiah who found the others and the group had only grown larger over time. "We all know its inspection day and outside of those of us who has an uncanny ability, its nerve wracking. But we've made it through every single one and this time will be no different." He said, focusing his attention back onto Nuri. "Elowen got in?"
Nuri nodded, "Yes, civil servant path, plans of her becoming either a diplomat or advisor." She confirmed, giving the information she had received only minutes earlier.
"Good, she'll have more freedom then the other paths then." Williams nodded. Nuri swallowed the anxiety crawling up her throat. That path was one of two that allowed you to go outside academy premises and when Elowen finds her instructions hidden in her old journal, she'll know what to do. She prayed that Elowen would know what to do, or else all of this was for nothing and they would have to go with plan b.