Ryuji closed the door to his room and sighed. After the craziness of the day he looked forward to having some time of peace and quiet in his own quarters. His bedchamber was like any of his siblings if not a little bit smaller. It had a rather grand bed and was done up in a very astute and luxurious way. Most of the room was fine wood and was filled with paintings he was sure were priceless. It had never felt homey or cozy, it felt like any elegant room in the anime he had seen, picturesque and unwelcoming. However, this part of the room was not where Ryuji typically stayed. Ryuji walked over to the wall where his bookshelf was and removed a red book that felt very out of place among the other brown-spined pieces of literature that adorned the shelf.
"I love this part," he said to himself. The bookcase began to slide across the ground, slowly opening an entrance into another room that laid on the other side. Ryuji walked into the dark doorway and pulled a lever that he couldn't see but from repeated action knew exactly where it was placed. As the bookcases closed, Ryuji found himself encompassed in darkness. A moment later a flicker of a lantern lit up, then another, then another, revealing a staircase that led deeper into the bowels of the estate. Ryuji headed down the steps.
As he came to the bottom of the staircase he sighed in relief and said out loud, "home sweet home." He was standing in a circular room that looked to have been a long forgotten armory of some kind, but Ryuji had made it his own. He had large couches, comfy pillows, different old sets of furniture that his family was going to throw out, even an old bed and some kitchenware. He had created an entire little apartment for himself underneath the estate. His base of operation, his true room. Ryuji disrobed and put on an adult size robe that he had cut in half to fit him. He put on some slippers he had crocheted himself and headed over to his kitchenette. He took a small red rock with the rune for fire embedded in it and rubbed it in his hands, within a few seconds a fire lit itself on the stone. Ryuji laid it under a metal box and placed a tea kettle he had stolen from the kitchen on top. While he waited for it to boil he fluffed his pillows and swept up a little bit, he wanted to make sure his home was tidy, even if only he would ever see it. He had decorated the room with pictures he had painted himself of the landscapes of Illverstand, memories of home, and some Lord of the Rings fanart. It wasn't much but it was more than enough for Ryuji.
"Now then!" Ryuji said, rubbing his hands together. He headed over to a small desk (another thing he had acquired) and plopped himself down in the chair. A journal laid open in the middle of the desk filled with scribbles from the night before, Ryuji held his pencil and began to write about the day. He had made it a habit to journal each day since he had been able to write. Although his fine motor functions were still spotty at best, he made do with what he could. The day was like a blur the more that he thought about it. Instead of trying to form meticulous thoughts he instead just wrote down everything he could. Being chased down the hall, his lessons with Elandra, the incident with the drake, his father…Lorraine. All the different moments swirled together in his head like a whirlpool, most days were menoutenous and ordinary, yet for some reason today seemed to be just one thing after another. Was it a coincidence? Ryuji wasn't sure. Maybe his brother's hand was at play but he had no way of knowing it since he hadn't contacted him since Ryuji got here.
Ryuji looked down at his hand, the magic circle was still there. He had learned that it was invisible to others early on when he could always see its red imprint but others seemed to not be alarmed by it. For the past 6 years it had adorned his hand as a connection of communication between him and his brother, but it was like the connection had been severed. Was Ryuji doing something wrong? He had his doubts about this. Could Eichi tell? Or was it on Eichi at all, was Ryuji supposed to figure out how to reach out to him? These questions had been prevalent in Ryuji's mind for a while but he still didn't have the answers. It was an ever growing enigma that he was tired of being a mystery.
Ryuji didn't even realize but he had been writing all his thoughts the whole time, he had filled up almost 3 pages of writing by the time he recognized that his hand was still creating words. He set his pencil down and sighed, staring aimlessly at the scribbles.
"I don't know if I can do this…" Ryuji said with a melancholy expression, "I'm only a kid…how am I…"
Suddenly, he heard a knock coming from upstairs. He stood up quickly with a start.
"Who could that be?" Ryuji said in confusion. He was prepared for this however. He went over to a dresser (another thing he had acquired) and pulled out some clothes, a set of Pajamas he had for this sort of occasion. He quickly took off his slippers and headed up the stairs, pulling the lever once again to open the bookcase to his room as well as extinguish all the lanterns. As he came back into his room, the person at the door continued to knock, though somewhat more quietly than before. It wasn't too late into the evening but it still was unusual for anything to be there at this hour. Ryuji shook himself to get back into his childlike character and went to open the door.
"I don't need anything I was just about to…" Ryuji said expecting one of the housekeepers or Reginald but to his surprise the person standing at his door was…Elandra.
"Umm ...good evening Ryuji," she said in a quiet voice.
"Elandra? What are you doing here?" Ryuji said, entirely confused.
"I'm terribly sorry to disturb you but would it be possible for us to have a conversation?" She asked.
"A conversation?" Ryuji couldn't make heads or tails of what was going on.
"Yeah just…umm" Elandra said. Ryuji could tell she felt anxious. Something seemed to be wrong. "This was a mistake, I'm sorry to bother you, I'll see you for your lesson tomorrow!" She said and tried to hurriedly walk away.
"Elandra!" Ryuji said quietly yelling, "do you need help with something?"
Elandra stopped in her tracks and turned around, "I just wanted to talk about earlier today…something you said has been stuck in my mind and…I don't know I thought I would ask you…a child…to elaborate," she said meekly. She slapped herself in the forehead and laughed a nervous laugh, "what am I doing. I'm so sorry Ryuji," she began to turn and leave.
Ryuji's eyes lit up! He didn't know for sure but he thought she might be talking about what he said during their lesson! This was exactly the boost he needed. Ryuji straightened up, he donned his old therapeutic demeanor.
"Elandra, would you like to come in?"Ryuji asked.