The Bane of Light

Drivers

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The day of my overnight trip, I had woken in a particularly cranky mood. I had hardly slept all night, using my insomnia to practice my magic. Rowena had placed me on a ban for the next lessons, so I had taken matters into my own hand. Though the punishment was suspiciously light, I still had no patience to sit and wait for the magic to come to me. I would take it myself, if that must be case.

So after a long night of extorting myself, attempting to rip my spirit from my body, I was in no particular mood to be jovial. When I spotted the twins bolting at me from the other side of the dining hall, I had lost all my appetite. They knew something good, for them to be in such a mood. And there was only one person that they knew would interest me at the moment. I placed down my spoon, pushing aside my oatmeal. 

Cesarie flounced over to me, her skirt swishing along with her upbeat stride. She gave me her signature fiendish smile, her eyes glinting with mischievousness. They had an impish look to them, reminding me of the first time I had saw them. Neither of the twins had grown out of that look yet. It seemed to be a permanent feature affiliated with their characters.

I stared up at Cera, my eyes straining. The twins' golden eyes were hard to maintain eye contact with. You could not stare into them for long periods of time, like one might shy away from looking directly at the sun, with it's great, searing intensity. They were wild and fiery, mischievous and amicably hungry. Everything that depicted unrest and riotous energy could be found not-nearly contained in those eyes.

As a child, I trained myself to stare into them, to glare at them shamelessly. I refused to be ushered into the herd of sheep known as my fellow students, who all shied away from direct eye contact out of fear. It was the thing that had sparked our friendship in the first place: my nerve to stare the twins down with my glare.

I had piqued their flitting interest by being the only student- who knew better of the drakaeri workings- to openly glower at them. They seemed to have taken a liking to that. For the first time in my life, I had found companions who did not shy away from my unpleasant energy, but instead be attracted to it. I can only assume that was the basis upon which they chose me as a friend.

"Guess what I learned" Cera called to me in a singsong voice. Already, I had lost my appetite, my stomach churning. They never brought good news.

"Enlighten me" I replied curtly, not in the mood to encourage her games. She dropped down into the seat next to me, Clairmont in the other. They were on both of my sides, cornering me between them.

"A little birdie told us that golden-boy Arobynn is planning to take you on a weekend trip!" Cera clapped her hands together excitedly. She straightened down my hair, finger coming it, before reaching for the scarf at my neck. I pushed her hand away, using my shadow to hold down her arm on the wooden table. She had no need to groom me, as if this were a date.

"Somebody's in a bad mood today" Clairmont commented from behind me.

"And somebody needs to shut their mouth" I snapped back at him. I didn't like that they situated themselves on opposite sides of me. If I turned to talk to one, the other one would be in my blind spot. And I especially didn't like the fact that it was Clairmont behind me.

"What weekend trip?" I asked Cera. She beamed in pride at having information that I didn't. I could tell it had been eating away at her for some time now.

"A little birdie told me-" She began, but I cut her off.

"Oh stop with the little birdie nonsense. You ate the little birdie. Just tell me what's going on" I said to her, though my tone was vexed, there was still a hint of humor in it.