Realm of the Sun

Chapter 3

Roza was exhausted.

She was glad to crash onto her bed, dark curls obscuring her face as she buried it into a pillow. Only then had a new order arrived, directly from the king- she had to teach lessons on history, etiquette, and all the nonsense that had made her want to set the sky ablaze when she was younger. Unfortunately, she was incredibly good at it, which meant when somebody needed tutoring, Roza was the one they turned to.

Roza was only twenty-one; barely six years since her Sun Trial. Yet still, they had instilled so much knowledge upon her tiny brain, that she actually had caused a hurricane to sweep over the eastern islands. Nobody was hurt, thankfully, but it made her teachers twice as careful when they saw her in a mood.

Two continuous raps at her bedroom doors. She dragged herself up, glancing at her reflection in the mirror and smoothing over her dress before answering the door.

"General Ng." She greeted. Gwendolyn Ng was the same age as her, yet she had already risen to the rank of General in the Elite Youth Army.

"No formalities, darling. I've only come to drop off the new uniforms for the guards."

"Alright, Gwen. Or should I call you sunshine, since you've got that sparkling personality?"

"Absolutely not." She raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you supposed to be in the library, teaching the new girl? Why are you dressed like that?"

Roza looked down- she was still wearing the scandalous dress she had worn to the sun trial, the one with the deep V and sparkling sapphires. "I came back from the Sun Trial, and took a detour to my father's estate. Dreaded and quite drafty. How fortunate I am to have his room in the palace."

The general sighed. "I still have drills to run through. I'll see you later?"

"Of course." she nodded, before grabbing a shawl off of her desk chair. "Only conservative wear in the library." She shrugged when Gwen gave her a strange look.

She sauntered down the maze of corridors, navigating through the maze of poorly planned halls until she finally arrived at the entrance to the library.

It was an extremely large section of the palace, being a converted training facility and all. There were shelves upon shelves, filled to the brim with everything from historical texts, archival documents, and fictional novels, read mostly by the younger Elites.

She spotted the only table filled by two people. She rolled her eyes- a force of habit, really, while approaching them. She recognized one of the people at the table. Sylas Lai, the oldest child of House Lai, a decent fighter but more suited to scholarly activities and academia. She was more familiar with his sister, Ashlee Lai, essentially the more chaotic version of Sylas. She and Ashlee got along fairly well, as long as the little girl wasn't bothering or nagging her too much.

"Roza?"

Roza sighed. She wouldn't be able to avoid Sylas and the new girl forever. She wasn't even from a house she recognized- perhaps she had spent too much time in the barracks instead of with the younger Elites. "Good afternoon, Sylas." She pulled out a chair.

"What's up with the shawl?"

"You don't want to see what I'm wearing underneath. So-" she gestured to the girl sitting next to him. "Are you going to introduce me?"

The girl scoffed.

"Excuse me? You literally approached me at the Sun Trial to tell me I was worthless." She spat angrily.

Roza couldn't exactly recall when that was, but if it was at the Sun Trial, that meant she was probably far past one too many drinks.

Sylas definitely could tell that this wasn't going to be an easy introduction. "Alright... so, Roza, if you were at the trial I believe that means you were most definitely more than tipsy, but let's not let that put a divide between you two so quickly, okay?"