Once we were on the road, Lysa asked me to hide the fact that Rusty is her father. I would have asked why if I weren't still so shocked by that information myself.
We picked up four other students after leaving Vinyar. In a village so small it isn't found on any map, we picked up a girl named Aerith. Her blonde hair is cut very short, which I suspect is more functional since she works on her parent's farm. She's starting her second year, but her parents couldn't afford a room at the academy so she went home for the winter break.
About an hour after she got on, the twins Ronnie and Sophia joined us, who are starting their first year. They both have black hair and, funnily enough, are wearing the same exact outfit, blue jeans and a grey shirt. They are very nervous about starting at the academy so I tried comforting them but somehow I only made it worse.
Our first encounter with Jake, the last student we picked up, was a bit weirder than the rest. The place Rusty had been told he would find the last student was at the end of a cul-de-sac. When we arrived, the only house in the vicinity was abandoned and broken down, the roof collapsed and windows shattered. After waiting there for about ten minutes, wondering what we should do next, a white-haired student came walking out of the woods behind the house and asked Rusty if he was the one transporting students to the Beast Handler academy. He said his name was Jake Samael and Rusty confirmed that he was the last student we were supposed to pick up. The boy hasn't said a word since.
The closer we get to the capital, the better the roads are. In the beginning we couldn't even lay down without our heads slamming against the seats under them because of the poor state of the roads, but now you would barely notice the difference between moving and standing still.
It's been dark for a couple of hours and the others all fell asleep.
"Hey Eli, come over here and sit up front with me for a second." Rusty whispers.
I get up from my seat, climb over the edge of the cart and sit down next to him.
"What's up?"
"I have a favor to ask of you, can you please not tell any of the others that Lysa is my daughter?" He whispers, trying not to wake anyone else up.
"I'm worried the other students will treat her differently if they find out I'm her father. Being the Master of Arms, the one teacher that doesn't want them to use magic, doesn't exactly make me the most popular teacher."
"Okay, but what do I get if I do?" I say with a smile, knowing full well I already made the same promise to Lysa. If it's Rusty who's asking, I want to make him sweat for it a little bit.
He sighs.
"What do you want?"
"No idea, what can you offer me?"
"I'll owe you one."
"Hmmm, do you, Rusty, owe me one, or does 'Supreme teacher and master commander Russell' owe me one?" I wonder what I could get out of this.
"Fine. I, as a professor, will owe you one. You know you're just like your old man." He says while looking at the stars.
"How so?" I ask.
"He used to always get on my nerves whenever he got the chance, making me work for whatever tiny favor I asked of him. He had a tendency of pushing all my buttons, just to get me riled up."
"Thanks." I say with a big grin on my face.
"Yeah, that wasn't really a compliment."
Rusty looks annoyed. Mission complete.
About an hour later, we arrive at the capital. The big walls are quite intimidating to those of us who have never been here. They don't have a scratch on them, which seems weird to me. I ask Rusty about it and he says that after Crownfall day, the Royal family tore down the old walls around the capital, and rebuilt them. Not only that, but they went and dug a river along the walls, building drawbridges in strategic locations on the East side, the South side and, where we are now, the West side. Those drawbridges are now the only way to enter the city.
After confirming our identities as new students with the guards, we are allowed inside the capital. The academy itself and its dormitories are closed at night with no way in or out, so Rusty tells us that the school arranged two rooms in a local inn. After another five minute cart ride, we get to a place called 'The White Lady'. The entrance reminds me of an old-fashioned saloon. Two brown doors that swing both ways and only cover about a third of the doorway. There is some movement inside but I don't hear anything. We start walking in and the moment we step through the doorway, I feel what can only be described as a shiver run through my body. It starts at the tip of my left foot, moves up through my left leg and wraps itself around my waist and head. The weird feeling then moves through my right leg and ends at the bottom of my right foot.
Once inside, everything in the inn is now somehow less faint than when we stood outside. From the lady behind the counter shooting us a friendly smile, to the classical music playing on the radio behind her, which I never would have known was playing when I was outside. I look back and see Rusty about 3 feet away from me, talking to someone. His mouth is moving but I can't hear a word he's saying.
Apparently I'm not the only one who felt weird entering the inn, because the only one who didn't stop walking is Aerith. She turns around and notices the five of us, standing still at the entrance and looking around the room.
"You guys have never passed through a sound-nullifying barrier before huh?" she asks.
"Is that what that feeling was?" Lysa asks
Aerith nods at her in response.
"Damn that was uncomfortable."
"Don't be a little baby." Aerith states coldheartedly. "Just be glad your first one was the barrier here, and not the one at the academy."
"What's wrong with the one at the academy?" I ask.
"You'll find out tomorrow." Aerith smiles as she walks toward the counter.
"Aerith! That's no way to talk to your friends, be nicer." The lady behind the counter says.
"Hey Grisel, how have you been?" she replies.
"We've been fine, business is going as good as usual. Fae missed you terribly."
A Light Fairy floats up from behind the counter and sits on Aerith's shoulder. She pets the Beast on its tiny little head and whispers something to it. They seem to like each other well.
"I missed you guys, too. I'll be sure to come back tomorrow after orientation.
Apparently the academy reserved two rooms for us?" Aerith asks.
"That's exactly right. One for the boys and another for the girls. Rooms 204 and 205. You know the way, don't you Aerith? How about you bring your new friends along tomorrow, show them the city?" Grisel tells Aerith, who doesn't respond. She turns to us and says "Don't worry about the barrier, that's just a spell I cast with Fae to offer our guests a little more privacy. Anything you say inside these walls can't be heard from outside."
The twins look scared from the moment we entered the inn, but Grisel's words offer them a little comfort. I don't think those two will ever not be panicky.
We head up the stairs to our rooms and after some debate, Ronnie and Sophia eventually agree to split up after seeing that the rooms are next to each other and have a door that connects the two. The beds here are simple, yet very comfortable. After the long journey, we're all tired and everyone falls asleep pretty fast, leaving only me awake to think about what this year will be like, before I fall asleep too.
I'm the first one to wake up in the morning and Rusty is sitting on the windowsill at the foot of my bed, watching the sun rise above the capital's rooftops.
"Good morning. How did you sleep?" he asks. "There's water and bread on the table over there." He points to a table that is so small, two people could barely sit at it at the same time.
"Thanks. Have you been up long?"
"A while. I've prepared the cart downstairs so as soon as everybody's up, we can leave."
"What will happen when we get there?"
"Everything will be made clear during the Headmaster's introduction speech, don't worry."
Finally I'll get to see the Beast Handler academy in all its glory. My nerves have been building up all day yesterday and today is definitely no different. I can't wait to see where I'm going to be living and to get my own Beast.
After everybody has a chance to wash up and get some breakfast, we head towards the academy. We start wading through the streets of the capital. Lysa, the twins and me keep looking around, marveling at everything we see, from the market to the blacksmiths, the beautiful flower gardens and herbalists and so much more, there isn't enough time to take it all in. Guess I'll have to come back later and stroll around.
Aerith tries to act like she's not impressed with it all but I can tell she still isn't used to how full of life everything is. Jake doesn't seem that impressed by everything around us. Then again, he hasn't seemed impressed by much, except for the sound-nullifying barrier we walked through yesterday.
After riding North about twenty minutes, we get to a tall golden gate. The fence on each side of the gate stretches as far is the eye can see in both directions and behind it there is nothing but unused, open land. At the top of the gate is a withered old sign with some letters missing.
'BEA-T HAN-LE-S AC-DEM-'
No way. How can this be the academy, there's nothing here.
"Prepare yourself everyone." Rusty says.
The cart passes below the sign and the moment it does, a pit forms in my stomach, followed by the most intense headache I have ever had. It feels like my internal organs are about to explode out of my body, moving around to find a place where they can all fit. My eyes feel like they're going to burst out of their sockets and my mouth tastes like metal. Using what little focus I have left from not trying to scream my lungs out, I look to the others in the cart. Ronnie and Sophia are passed out behind me. Lysa and Jake are in the same bent over position I am, not knowing whether screaming or throwing up will make me feel better. The only one who seems like she's managing the pain, is Aerith. I'm absolutely sure she still feels the same thing we do though, because of the huge frown that lines her forehead in anguish.
This must have been what she meant earlier in the inn.
After about thirty seconds that feel like thirty minutes, the gnawing feeling and extreme headache start to fade away enough for me to look around.
I raise my head and immediately realize how much bigger the academy is than I expected. There are three huge buildings, one to the left of the courtyard, one to its right and a third at the far end of it. At the front of each building are large stone pillars, the kind you usually only see in really old structures. Not that I've ever actually seen anything like them before, unless you count the faded drawings in the history books my mom made me study when I was a kid. The buildings are all made out of the same type of white, greyish stone and have long vertical windows. The pillars in front of the farthest building from us each have a different color banner hanging in the air in front of them, representing the different affinities and their place in relation to each other. From left to right we have the whitest banner I have ever seen, representing the Light affinity, followed by a lush, green banner representing Air affinity, then a clear blue for Water, an ominous black for Dark, followed by a deep brown color for Earth affinity and finally, the one I've been around all my life, a flaming red representing Fire affinity. In the middle of the building are some older people talking, who I assume must be the academy's professors.
At the center of the courtyard filled with students, stands a huge fountain, exactly the same as the one in Lysa's village, Vinyar. Lysa seems a bit surprised when she sees it, but I decide not to ask her about it, there'll be enough time for that later.
The cart stops at the end of the road leading up to the courtyard.
"Alright guys, we're finally here. Go ahead and join the other students in the courtyard. The headmaster will probably give his start-of-year speech in a few minutes."
"What are you going to do now?" I ask Rusty, and wake up Sophia and Ronnie, who are still passed out from passing through whatever type of barrier that was before.
"I have to go bring the cart to the stables. You didn't think I would just leave it here in the middle of the courtyard, did you Eli? After that I have to join the other teachers in front of the dormitories. Duty calls, you know. See you guys later, and good luck. I'm sure you'll do great."
Before Rusty leaves he winks at me and looks at Lysa, which is probably his way of reminding me of the promise I made. Still confused about what happened, the twins immediately stick to Lysa's side. With Rusty gone, she must be the only other student they are somewhat comfortable around.
Aerith looks around the crowd until she spots someone. "I'll see you later." She says and leaves to join her friends from the second year.
Guess it's just Lysa, the twins, me and Jake now. I look to my right where Jake should be and see that he's already gone off somewhere. He really is a strange guy.
"You nervous?" Lysa asks me.
"A little bit, yeah. Do you have any idea where we're supposed to go now?"
"Not a clue dude, guess we'll just have to wait until after the headmaster's speech." The twins still hide behind Lysa and me. I turn around and try to comfort them.
"Hey Sophia, Ronnie, don't be scared okay. The Beast Handlers academy is about the safest place there is. If anything happens, which it won't, the teachers will be here to protect you, and if you're ever worried or scared, you can always come ask Lysa and me for help or advice, okay?"
"Thank you Eli." Sophia and Ronnie say at the same time.
"Look at that, she calls you by your favorite name." Lysa laughs, grinning from ear to ear.
Sophia looks confused at Lysa's reaction.
"Oh no, did we get your name wrong?" Sophia looks scared.
"Don't listen to Lysa. My name is Elliott, but you and your brother can call me Eli if you want. I don't mind." I lie. I don't have the heart to tell these kids, who probably have enough stress and worry already, that I don't like the nickname Rusty gave me. They seem a little more at ease now and I bump my elbow against Lysa's, trying to get her attention, but she doesn't respond. Her eyes are fixated on the building with the banners. More specifically, on the people in the middle, at the top of the stairs.
One of the professors, a woman with curled black hair down to her shoulders, steps forward. She begins speaking and her voice is loud, reaching even us at the other end of the courtyard.
"Welcome everyone, to Beast Handler Academy."