JUNE ZEILRAN knows one thing: he is destined to live a quiet life in the servant's quarters as a half-blood in a territory of fairies. When the Imperial High Queen offers him a job he cannot refuse, he is thrown into a world of secrets and murder t...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
2407, Xavem 02, Reshpe
An elbow bumped against his arm, jarring him awake in the early morning lecture Scholar Juro was holding. His eyes snapped open, resting on Skalis's annoyed expression not a full minute after. The girl jerked her chin at the yapping scholar and rolled her eyes. She'd have a word with him after today's class.
June shrugged and rested his chin on his arms folded atop the desk of his seat. The domed auditorium ceiling loomed over them like an umbrella he had seen once being held over nobles' heads in Carcalet. His nose got a whiff of his dark sleeves, reminding him that he was back in the Academy and not on the streets of Thenaserine. It wasn't the time to follow people into dubious taverns. It wasn't certainly the time to maim people in their own homes and steal important documents that might backfire on him later on.
The said document now sat in one of his overcoat's many pockets. It still rang absurdly in his mind every time he remembered the pockets. During his Insentura days, he kept complaining about the lack of them in his uniform and now that he's in Sedentura, he just had an abundance of them. Were pockets some sort of noble privilege he hadn't caught wind of?
Skalis's elbow jammed into his side this time, causing him to flinch and get the attention of several of his lecture mates a few rows northwest. June turned to his friend and gave her a questioning look. The girl frowned and cupped the side of her mouth. Her voice was a soft whisper. "Scholar Juro's been looking at you since earlier," she said. "You should pay attention."
June resisted the urge to roll his eyes again. Skalis was only looking out for him. She shouldn't be caring about him, though. He couldn't bring himself to even care about his remarks. Still, it would be rude to ignore Skalis when she showed kindness, so June straightened in his seat and crossed his arms to his chest.
The air around the auditorium was cold, reminiscent of the storm breezes that filtered through the shut windows in his shanty back in Edgerift. It didn't ruffle his hair nor throw small debris in his face but it was...nice. Whatever magic worked in here to regulate the temperature, it sure was genius. Was it another achievement of one of the students here? Maybe. Everything seemed to be done by their alumni anyway.
Not even a few minutes later, June felt his eyelids getting heavy. There was a certain grip in his muscles that didn't let go since he arrived at the Academy after stopping for a few hours in the Servant's District. It didn't hurt that much but it tensed his shoulders and made it harder to stay upright and walk. Oh, his head had also started throbbing and closing his eyes and letting his consciousness float elsewhere seemed to help drive it away.
He flinched the third time when the bells outside the campus tolled, signaling the midday break. His gaze shot to Skalis who merely gave a short sigh as she packed her notepad and writing materials in her satchel. When did she even start bringing those to lectures? Usually, she just stops in her room in between classes to get her things for the next one. There was no need for satchels for the longest time June had been with her and Relius.
