The waiting chair suddenly felt harder under her butt, hurting more with each girl that gets called into the interview parlor. The line was endless, though, and she felt the high house expected this by setting such a large hall for them as the waiting room.
"Nervous?" she suddenly heard a voice from beside her whisper.
And – it was to her.
She had been lost in thought that she was not even able to comprehend such an easy word. "Huh?" she arched a brow, unsure if it was okay for them to talk while waiting to get summoned into the interview room.
"You winced," the girl who had her midnight black hair packed in an upper bun above her head asked.
The same style the rest of them who were applying for the post of a scholar in the high house had on. It was one of the requirements of the vacancy.
Even though she hadn't noticed, she did wince. "Uhmm, not really," she said then chuckled shortly. "Maybe just a little bit though," she confessed.
The girl was nodding vigorously. "I guess we all are, but some of us are nervous a big bunch. Not a little," the girl whispered again before Afina could give a reply. "Why are your hair blue and your eyes?" the curious girl was circling her fingers over her eyes to signify she was referring to Afina's unusual blue eyes.
You see, Afina's sclera had no white layer. The anatomy of her eyes is blue-colored. No other single color was present at all.
The only difference was that it was different shades of blue. Her sclera had a cornflower blue color while her iris was midnight blue and her pupil was a baby blue color.
Afina knew she would be bound to multiple inquiries about her eyes and perhaps hair too here in the high house as she was in the town – and probably everywhere else she had ever been.
"There is no reason why. It's how I came as a package. A blue fairy delivered into my mother's belly," she tried to joke, to send away the awkwardness that was sure to ensue after.
She was already used to it and could decode the thoughts that would be going on in the minds of the persons who were wondering why she was blue in eyes and hair color and she didn't want that, not here too.
She needed a change and Mama Xylia tossed her one.
The girl was finding it hard to be smug about the whole thing, unlike Afina. "You look so… so.." she was looking for the right words to describe her opinion without sounding rude.
Afina helped her out. "Different," she smiled, she had to show her she picked no offense.
"Right, different," said the girl with an approving nod.
"Number one hundred and twenty-five!" the young female secretary who had been the one summoning the next in the line to the interview parlor called, her brunette head straining from the partly opened space of the big door.
A tall girl sprawled up immediately. Afina was 5'7 ft, but this one was taller than her, maybe by two inches.
She marched from her seat and into the door of the interview parlor, her heels making musical sounds on the marble floor.
This one was a confident one unlike most of the others that had been summoned in, Afina noted. She prayed to have as much confidence when it was her turn.
That didn't matter now. What mattered was that she was number one hundred and thirty-one and it would soon be her turn.
They all had the visiting tag hung on their necks which displayed the numbers they were given according to how they arrived at the high house.
"I guess you are going in before me," the girl beside her enunciated.
Oh, she would and she wanted to spend the remaining minutes composing her mind and body for the interview; she wished she could tell it out to the girl who seemed too interested in chattering than being worried about the outcome of the interview.
"I am," she forced a smile.
Maybe the girl had someone of high status in the high house who would secure her getting employed, but she had none like that. Mama Xylia's sacrifice was about the best help she would get at most.
"A little tip," she heard the girl whisper again. "Having a high qi will help you more in getting the post. What is the color of your qi?" she finished.
She knew this game too well. This was just a girl of a high social class in town wanting to know if the person next to her was of the same class.
Well, her family were of the flameline and had absconded to the sandline for some reasons she had no idea of which automatically makes them one of the lower class since they were not inhabiting their own line so, she had no idea what her qi was. "I don't know," she shrugged.
She saw the very much expected look of belittling and distance in the eyes of the girl as she asked now, not bothering to whisper. "You mean you have never been to cultivation centers and have your qi tested or even cultivate to increase in level?" she sounded bewildered.
"Yes, can't afford it," Afina shrugged, maybe this would make the girl allow her some moments of peace.
"How did you get on the list if you are of such a lower social class that you cannot even afford to get a qi test?"
"I guess having the best mother beats having money at times," Afina had to smile now, remembering her parent's love and her Mama Xylia's sacrifice.
Next time, if she did not want to be disturbed by prying girls, she would remember to mention how poor they were back at home. The girl spoke no single word to her after.
She even shifted in her seat, shifted away from Afina as though she was an infested dirt.
Afina was used to such belittling from divine persons of the higher class so, it did not get to her. Not a single bit.
She only allowed herself to replay over and over in her head, the composed speech she had prepared for the interview as every girl gets summoned in until it was her turn.
"Number one hundred and thirty-one!" came the musical voice of the brunette that sounded bitter in Afina's ears now and she stood up almost immediately.
All eyes settled upon her, she breathed in hard and tried very hard to not trip in the heels she was made to wear. It was something she was not used to.
The door of the interview parlor shut behind her as she stepped in. All of the composure she had mustered disappeared into thin air as she faced two of one of the most famous members of the high house known across the line.
The matron and the butler.
The interviewed girls were seating in concert chairs behind the two interviewers. To hell with who called this room an interview parlor, Afina thought.
It was more of an audition stage and she was the next naive auditionee.
"Place your hand on the qi tester over there," the voice of the strong Matron resounded in the mic.
Damn, the girl was right. Before commencing the interview at all, they wanted to know the type of qi she had.
She could as well take off the damn heels now and go home. All her life, she cultivated only on holy grounds and that was no booster compared to the advanced cultivation chips sold in stores.
At the same time, she chastised herself to try before giving up. Hence, she moved closer to the tester, unsure of the right palm to place on it.
Hell - this was no place for her. No place for a lower-class girl.