Radiance - The Alight Archives Book #1

7. Roommates

Her room wasn't anything monumental, but it would suffice. It was larger than her bedroom back in Page, for starters. In fact, Elaine was somewhat baffled at how average it all seemed. For a lowborn like her, it was more than enough. However, this was a school that openly welcomed itself to nobility. Would this meet their expectations? 

Eh, why pester herself with meaningless questions? She had her own problems to obsess over.

There were two beds—one fixed on either side of the space—and also a comfy-looking couch complete with a side table, empty bookshelves to use at their discretion, two separate study tables, empty portrait frames hung up on the wall, and the floors were matted. There was even a narvali—an amethyst glass orb fixed on a pedestal. She could use one of those to contact someone else across long distances. Unfortunately, they were extremely expensive. Neither of her parents owned one.

Just like Raze had told her, student uniforms were already hanged in the closet at her bed's footboard. There was still enough room to fit the rest of her clothing though—it wouldn't take long as she didn't own much.

"I was a bit worried I'd have to spend my first semester alone," Fearne said. "They told me one of the students canceled their enrollment."

"Is that so?" Elaine replied, opening her suitcase, shifting through her belongings.

"I don't mean to intrude, but I've got to ask. What's your story?" Fearne was sitting on her bed, kicking purple socks over the side. The red mark that had smeared on her face from the fall she'd taken had vanished, thank Aeris.

"What do you mean, my story?"

"They told me you were scouted by one of the Glyph staff," Fearne elaborated. "It's always interesting to hear how it happened, you know? For me, I was helping my parents out in their gardens. It was rainy that day, so we were rushing to pick all of the berries as quickly as possible, you see?"

"Gardens?" Elaine asked. "Let me guess, you're from the countryside, aren't you?"

Fearne fought back, and failed, to hide a self-conscious blush. "Am I really that obvious?" she laughed, stroking her ponytail. 

Elaine had suspected as much. She carried a hint of an accent, one that stretched the vowels of every other word. She camouflaged it well.

"Anyways, I was just finishing up my patch when one gentleman in a gray cloak appeared suddenly on our grounds. I thought it was a robber, or maybe a rogue mage. We tend to have a lot of them out there. But he was quick to explain that he worked for Glyph Academy," she exclaimed, almost as if she didn't believe her own story. "My folks were skeptical of him at first, as was myself. But when he showed us documentation, as well as an official Glyph-administered wand, we knew he had to be telling the truth."

"I can imagine you had the shock of your life," Elaine chuckled.

"I thought it was a dream..." Fearne curled her knees against her chest, lacing fingers around them. "People in my town always complimented me for my magic. They said my Essence was strong enough to pass for a Professional Sorcerer. Of course, I never took them seriously. I just thought they were being nice. But...to think I'd actually have the opportunity to study at Glyph Academy of all places, why, it's like I've been blessed by Aeris herself."

Nodding at the arrangement of her belongings—neatly fixed dresses and skirts dangling off of hangars over her footwear and suitcase—Elaine shut the closet doors. A solid snap! crunched in her ears, causing the girl to shudder. She spent a reluctant stare at the deadly plant sitting snugly in its pot on the opposite end of the room. A veladora snaptrapper. 

That species wasn't native to Incante. How did Fearne ever manage to procure one? She'd spotted the girl feeding it a rat earlier on. She pretended not to notice, lest Fearne caught wind of her alarmed wince.