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 |  The Legend of the Eyebright was thought to be just a myth... |
| It was late afternoon, and the sun hung low against the horizon and warmed the back of Kasity’s neck as she stared down into the water. She hoisted herself up with her wiry arms so she could better see the waves and the deep depths that lay beneath them. “Hey, Kas,” said a voice behind her, and she swiveled around. Her best friend, Karynn, came forward and put an arm around her shoulder. “What are you looking at?” “Oh, nothing,” Kasity replied. She turned back around toward the deck. She stood on a large boat, grimy with barnacles and other relics from years of sea travel. Her bright green eyes peeked out under a mass of messy brown-blonde hair and watched the other students, all dressed in silver-blue uniforms, as they milled around, talking and laughing. “You aren’t talking to anyone,” Karynn observed, her dark eyes worried. “I know,” Kasity muttered, pushing her hair out of her eyes. “I’ve just got a lot on my mind right now.” Karynn opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by a loud boy on the other side of the boat. “Karynn! Kas! Whatcha guys talking about? Are you talking about us?” he yelled. “Shut up, Aidan!” Karynn called back, giggling. The dark-haired boy smiled and saluted, and turned back toward his friends. “You’d think they’d mature now that we’re upper steps.” Karynn nudged her friend. “Come on, it’s exciting! We’re fifth steps in the best Cloud in the entire Academy. We finally get to take specialized courses and you’ll probably make Calixte’s Aerial this year.” “Speaking of Calixte, where is she?” Kasity scanned the deck, looking for their Council Leader. “I haven’t seen her yet.” “Neither have I.” Karynn frowned. “You don’t think that there’s anything wrong, do you?” “Nah. Calixte can take care of herself.” Kasity stretched and turned back toward the water. She watched the steady waves slap against the side of the boat and listened to the cheerful prattle of all the others in her Cloud. As she gazed out into the ocean, her mind inexplicably drifted back to the home she left behind. She was glad to leave home for the Academy. She always felt uncomfortable at home. Her stepmother and father and stepbrother seemed like the perfect family. Whenever she was with them she felt left out, like a mismatched tagalong or an afterthought marring what could be a picture-perfect family. “Kas, talk to me.” Karynn tapped her on her shoulder, distracting her from her thoughts. “You’re never this quiet. What’s wrong with you?” “Nothing,” Kasity snapped. “I just wanted to think about some stuff for a while.” A hurt expression passed over Karynn’s face. “I’m sorry,” she said, offended. “I was just worried about you. You seem so preoccupied, especially for your first day here.” Kasity sighed. “I’m sorry, Karynn. You’re right. I am preoccupied. My stepmother wants to have me initiated into high society next winter break. She wants to make me into a lady. My parents are considering pulling me out of the Academy.” Karynn’s face registered nothing but shock. “What?” “I couldn’t stand it if I didn’t graduate from the Academy. I hate being home and I hate noble society. Why couldn’t I have parents that weren’t so finicky about this anyway? They’re the ones who sent me here in the first place.” Kasity buried her head into her arms. “Couldn’t they initiate you, then send you back into the Academy?” Kasity smiled, lifting her head up. Karynn was from Cynarris, and didn’t know much about the noble system. The Academy was traditionally an international school, and at one point in time, the ratio of students from all the countries in the world was equal. But in the past century or so, Irinifa had dominated the Academy. Karynn was one of two students in the entire school from Cynarris. “No. After I’m initiated, I’ll have to spend an entire year in royal court.” Karynn squealed in horror. “Your parents can’t do that! Not after all the time you’ve put into the Academy!” “They can,” Kasity said grimly. “They definitely can. I need some way to convince them otherwise. I don’t know, Karynn. What should I do?” Karynn looked at loss for words. Then she hugged Kasity. “It’ll all work out,” she said. “Things always work out in the end.” Kasity attempted a half-hearted smile. If only they always did. *** Eunae watched the looming island come nearer and nearer. Green water washed upon the rocky beach. From the beach, the land rose into a plateau. From her high vantage point, Eunae could see clusters of buildings on the plateau. The far side of the island was craggier, with high cliffs. They touched down on the beach, the wheels scraping loudly against rock. “The Palominos are driverless,” Calixte said, opening the carriage door. “They’ll find their way back to the stables.” Eunae got out, her legs wobbly on land after sitting for so long. As soon as Calixte shut the carriage door, the Palominos took off toward the far side of the island where Eunae assumed the stables were. “This way,” Calixte called, already heading out toward the center of the island. They followed a roughly hewn path in the rock up onto the plateau. More vegetation grew on the plateau than Eunae had guessed from the carriage. As they continued walking, she heard birds chirping and the leafy umbrage cast shadowy green patterns of light around her. Ten minutes later, the jungle cleared away, and the stone path gradually merged into a wide, paved road. They passed by buildings, now, some large and lopsided and others small and petite. “We’re passing by the Training Quad, now,” Calixte explained. “The Academy has four Quads. The Training Quad is this one right here, and this is where the training fields and the Weaponry classes take place. The Contest Quad has the amphitheater and other places of gathering. The Dwelling Quad is where most of the Cloud Dwellings are located. That’s where the majority of the students in the Academy live. Sylph, however, have a different dwelling." As they passed out of the Training Quad, Eunae caught her first glimpse of other Academy students. Two girls dressed in gold and black going the opposite way turned toward them as they passed. They both appeared to be about Eunae’s age. “Hey, look who it is,” said one, a tall, thin girl with dark hair. “Hello, Sariel,” Calixte replied pleasantly. “I would stop to ask how your summer was, but I’m a bit late to my Dwelling.” The girl, apparently named Sariel, snorted. “Why are you straggling behind, Calixte?” asked the other girl, who had long, black hair and an imperious manner. “Congratulations on the Council Leadership position, Malloren,” Calixte said, ignoring the question. “I would like to introduce you to Eunae Sun. She’s a transfer student from Serentan. Eunae, this is Malloren Mé, Council Leader of Wyvern Cloud.” Malloren laughed. “A transfer student? This late into the game? Explain, Calixte, how this girl will be able to enter any of the tracks and graduate before this year is over.” Eunae frowned. Lady Xé had mentioned the difficulty of graduating, but Malloren made the idea sound downright preposterous. She glanced toward Calixte, and was surprised to see Calixte smiling, too. “I am sure Eunae can handle it. Already I can tell she will be a great asset to our Cloud.” Malloren snorted. “I’ve already heard the news. They traded a Unit Leader out to Dryad, didn’t they? You don’t have to bother me with your usual euphemisms, Calixte. Every student counts at this level. This year, the top rankings are ours.” A laughing light danced in Calixte’s eyes. “Your confidence is admirable. And I look forward to the Contests, too. Hopefully, the results this year will be a bit more evenly matched. Wyvern’s defeat last year came much too quickly and easily for my liking.” Malloren’s eyes narrowed. “Come, Sariel,” she said, and the two stalked back toward the beach. “I thought you said the Dwelling Quad was the other way,” Eunae said after a reasonable distance had passed. “Wyvern Cloud’s Dwelling is right on the beach,” Calixte explained. “I should have you know that Wyvern is our rival Cloud. Sylph and Wyvern are notoriously the best Clouds in the Academy, and you don’t really have a chance in the Aé track unless you’re in either of the two Clouds.” “Aé track?” “We have different tracks here at the Academy. All students are assigned a track at the end of their fourth step year depending on how well they do on certain examinations. Tracks are like…specializations. Aé is all-encompassing track. It covers every subject area and discipline – not that the other tracks are bad, of course. They’re just much more specific. We have all sorts of tracks: Healing, Academics, Magical Research, Flying… do you have any idea what you might want to do?” Calixte hadn’t mentioned Sensory, so Eunae just shook her head. “No matter. You’ll find out soon enough.” They turned a corner and long, green lawns emerged, encircled by the majestic white buildings that probably held their school classrooms. All the buildings had interesting names on them, like Primeval Academic Building or Conservatory of Semi-classical Clairvoyant Musical Energy. More students were here; many of them called out to Calixte, and she waved back. “Here’s the Centre Quad,” Calixte said. “It’s where most of the general classrooms are.” They passed through the lawns, and soon, the organized structure of white buildings blended into a whispering plain of grass. They passed a large mound of dirt; several students milled on top of it. They were all dressed alike in pale green uniforms (“Eloko Cloud,” Calixte whispered. “Their Dwelling is underground.”) Eunae looked up at the cliffs as they neared them, wishing they would block out the sun that was beating down on her neck. As she squinted a bit more closely at them, she saw the dark outline of a building, and then, to her amazement, a dozen tiny figures leaping from the precipice and disappearing into the looming shadow of the cliffs. “Ah…we’re nearing home,” Calixte said, motioning toward the building on top of the Cliff. “There’s the Sylph Dwelling, and if I’m not mistaken, our reception party…” Sure enough, those tiny figures came closer and closer and landed a safe distance away. Eunae knew that in magical communities, landing too close to another was considered rude. “Hey, Calixte! Who’s that you’ve gotten with you?” called a handsome, dark-haired youth. “That’s Aidan,” Calixte whispered, waving back. “He’s a fifth step." Eunae could not remember the last time she was around young people like herself. All the other kids in the Widows’ Section had been surly and disgruntled, uneager to learn or to do anything, in that matter. “The two boys with Aidan are Shant and Macom, also fifth steps. The two girls walking together are Kasity and Korrine. They’re best friends and usually inseparable. The others are the five Council members. They’re all in either our step or the step below ours.” Eunae nodded, trying to process all the names and faces as they approached them. She could feel her heart beat so fast that she was afraid that it might tear out of her throat. Would they like her? Would they be as kind as Calixte? Calixte introduced her. “This is Eunae Sun. She’s a transfer student from Serentan and she’s in my step.” A heavy silence reigned over the group. “A transfer student?” asked one boy whose name Eunae did not know. “In our step? I didn’t know we even had room.” “Well, we had to make a trade,” Calixte conceded. “Brentan is not longer in our Cloud. He’s in Dryad.” Eunae saw the unhappy looks on the other students’ faces and felt a sinking resignation. They wouldn’t like her. There was no way would fit in. Calixte must have seen the others’ expressions, too. “Eunae is well-trained and will make wonderful contributions to our Cloud. In fact, I already have her slated in a Sensory Contest against Sariel.” A surprised murmur over swept the group. Eunae registered total shock for the first time in years. How had Calixte known she specialized in Sensory? Calixte nudged Eunae. “Come on. Flying up to the Dwelling is the best part about returning to the Academy.” As a group, the Sylphs took off, their backs toward the setting sun. Eunae hovered toward the back of the group, feeling a bit out of place. It had been a long time since she had flown. It seemed like there was a lot that she needed to get used to. |
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