Necromancy In D Minor ✔️

Daylight Etude (Encore)

Silence was something that Octavia treasured. Some of her best ideas came when she was enveloped in the soothing calm of quiet, with just herself and her thoughts. But the silence in Hedalda had no soothing quality to it. It filled her head, quieting even her inner thoughts, crowding her mind, squeezing her psyche like an oppressive fist.

No birds glided overhead, no animals scampered down below. Even her footfalls as she walked away from the Cathedral seemed muffled, like the atmosphere stifled the sound to maintain the status quo.

A few hours had passed since she'd left the schoolhouse, yet the streets remained empty. As she made her way back, the things she'd learned from the high Priest swirled through her mind in a maelstrom of confusion.

Scourged for a generation, it didn't make sense. With the amount of netherborne on this island this village should've been flattened, even with the Divine City's presence. The scourge here seemed slow and deliberate, hammering away at both the people and their home like a wave eroding a shoreline. Whereas in other places she'd visited, the scourge was like a raging storm, rolling in with wanton abandon, destroying everything in its path and leaving the stragglers to flee for safety.

Tonight, Octavia decided. She would venture out into the frozen wood and see what lied beyond the barrier. If the netherborne were still out there, hiding, she'd rethink her plan of attack. This minor setback would not deter her from her purpose, or dampen her resolve.

Juggling these thoughts made her walk feel shorter than it was. It wasn't until the second bell sounded at the Cathedral that she looked up and found herself in the schoolhouse's yard. She hurried across the cracked stone terrace, into the warm interior of the building. In her haste, Octavia didn't notice the person standing behind the front desk.

"Hello," the woman said.

Octavia glanced over as she divested herself of her jacket and scarf. "Sorry, I didn't see you there. I'm Octavia, the music teacher." 

"Pilar." A white and gold jacket hung from the back of her chair and a sword sat on her hip in a gilded sheath. Another Priest. "I watch over the schoolhouse during teaching hours."

"It's a pleasure. I wish I could talk but..." She tilted her head towards the classroom.

"Of course. Don't let me keep you."

She rushed to the door with flute case and lesson plan in hand and met it ajar, with the sounds of productivity drifting into the hall.

"Right on time," Winslet said when Octavia stepped inside. She stashed a stack of papers into a well-worn leather bag, before hoisting it on her shoulder.

Some kids were clearing off the desks, packing away whatever work they'd been doing into the shelves at the back of the room, while others picked stray pieces of litter from the floor. The daywalkers still milled about, following the boy they'd been standing behind earlier.

"This side of the chalkboard is yours." Winslet rapped her knuckles on the left half of the board. "Whatever you leave here, I won't erase. The children all have their own flutes, and books for notes. I'll see you tomorrow."

Octavia blinked at her. "You're not staying?"

"No. Bye." She waved and breezed out the door.

Meanwhile, the children settled behind their desks, looking up at Octavia with bright eyes. Then there were those damn daywalkers she had to ignore. It was like pretending not to see a bloody corpse in the room. She put her empty flute case and notes on the desk before addressing them.

"Before we begin our lesson, do any of you have any questions for me?"

Several hands shot up, eager fingers wiggling, accompanied by a chorus of "me, me, me."