With her father's memory failing and her mother gone, Soraya Thenayu enrolls in distant Darkwood Academy and immediately becomes enemies with the richest kid at school. Between hiding her father's gift of illegally harvested magic, befriending socia...
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The second Jacquelle placed her slender, pale elbows onto the table and folded her hands under her chin, several students pushing carts full of various food platters entered through a pair of swinging doors. They were dressed in red and white gowns, similar to the school uniforms, but were designed to resemble waiter and waitress outfits.
"Oh, Soraya, you wouldn't know this since you just arrived here this evening, but all the students cook meals for each other," purred Jacquelle with a hint of pride. "Our school values the importance of passing on Azakuin traditions, and recipes are no exception to that."
Usually, the thought of cooking and baking excited Soraya, but she kept her focus on the blond, who was inspecting her over with dark, mysterious blue eyes. Although Soraya knew something was afoot, she decided to be polite and hear the girl out.
They were interrupted when students from the Red House placed huge plates full of delicious looking meals and empty white bowls and silverware in front of each student. Dumplings, flour based wraps filled with various cooked meats and vegetables, sliced fruit and vegetables alongside various dips, pasta noodles, sauces, and so much more filled the tables, that Soraya could hardly decide what she wanted to have. Yabo, on the other hand, eyed the bacon and chirped, so Soraya grabbed two slices and gave them to him.
"So, where are you from? Jacquelle asked while filling her bowl with cooked noodles and drizzling a white cheese sauce over it.
"I'm from the Averlore Mountains," Soraya replied, purposefully keeping her answer vague.
Jacquelle's eyes narrowed in displeasure, but in the blink of an eye her expression was blank, like a white porcelain mask.
"How about you?" Soraya added, hoping to steer the conversation away from revealing more details about herself.
"I was born and raised here in Matumi," Jacquelle sounded bored. "Nothing of interest ever happens in this city..." She lazily spun her fork into the spaghetti noodles and watched the individual strands curl around her silverware.
Yabo, who had inhaled his meal, was distracted by the delicious smell of meat and cheese wafting through the air. His black beady eyes grew huge as he scrunched up his body, readying himself to pounce upon a platter full of fried wings.
"You have to share with everyone, silly," Soraya chided Yabo, scooping him up into her arms before he could leap. Her pandacoon meowed in protest and struggled to break free.
"Here you are, sweetie," Moiya giggled, plucking a wing off the plate and handing it to Yabo's tiny outstretched paws. Her emerald eyes switched between looking at the pandacoon with adoration and warily at Jacquelle.
"Mew!" Yabo cried before tucking into his meal.
Jacquelle observed Soraya and her pet before speaking up. "You're lucky you could bring that thing, you know. It's only because your mother died when you were young that he even counts as a support animal."
