Chapter 6
Hours crawl like maggots. I eat some bread, and even help prepare the stew before the assistant cook’s arrival.
It’s eleven now, and I’m sitting at the back of the kitchen, watching someone else do my job and my brother do his, while I’m here, idle and anxious, unsure if I’m about to leave, or if this restaurant will indeed be my tomb.
My bag is ready with some of my clothes, personal objects, and accessories. It’s going to be quite embarrassing if I have to unpack it, and even more embarrassing if I have to tell Laristella I’m not going anywhere after all. The potential for shame is enough to ripple my skin with a shiver.
And then I remember the eggs. Will I ever get to see them?
Twice I consider going to the academy myself and presenting my contract. I, Alayel Stormchaser, promise Mayara of the Earth a place at the Sky Academy. The words are straightforward, and he was an examiner during the trial, so he’s more than a simple recruit.
But then I decide to wait a little more.
Just a little. Surely Alayel wouldn’t let me down, would he?
Last night, he looked at me like he cared, like he truly wanted to see me again.
He was worried when I was hurt. I’m not imagining it.
None of that is enough to make me trust him, but I don’t think he means to deceive me.
If he told me to wait, I guess I’ll do that.
Even if it’s annoying. Worrisome. Nerve-wracking. Anxiety-inducing.
“Mayara!” Laristella’s scolding voice snaps me from my daze.
“Yes?”
“You’re hungry, grab some food. Fingernails won’t sustain you, dear.”
That’s unfair. I wasn’t eating my nails, just… sucking my fingers? I almost say that I’m about to leave and don’t need any lunch, but I don’t know if that’s true anymore.
I smile. “Thank you. That’s very kind.”
“Kind? Not letting you starve is kind now?” She chuckles, then fills a bowl with fresh gallonfish stew and places it in my hand.
Usually we eat whatever’s left from the day before, so this is surprising. The stew could use some more coriander, but it’s pretty good. At least I know the restaurant won’t go bankrupt once I’m gone.
I barely take a spoonful when someone knocks on the back door. The same door where Alayel left me last night. My heart speeds up with too many anxieties mingling in its core.
“Eat, eat,” Laristella says while rushing to the door.
The young man who steps in… is not Alayel, and my stomach sinks.
With sandy blond hair, hazel eyes, and some freckles, he has a friendly, pleasant face, but I can’t help but worry.
What if he’s here to take me to prison? What if he tells me that Alayel changed his mind, and, contract or not, I’m not going anywhere?
He bows and looks around until he finds me and smiles, before turning back to Laristella. “My name’s Flavio, and I’m here to take Lady Mayara to the Sky Academy.”
To. The. Sky. Academy.
Yes. Yes. One thousand times yes! I want to jump up and down, but I can’t because I have a bowl of soup on my lap, and because it would be ridiculous, so I get up slowly.
“Na-uh.” Laristella waves a finger in her best bossy mode. “She’s going to finish eating. You’ll wait ten minutes.”
I place the bowl on the counter. “No—”
She gives me that look, the one that says that either I obey her or she’ll crush me to smithereens, and I think she gives that young man the same look, as he stiffens and says, “Of course. I’ll wait.”
I take back my bowl, and she gives him a friendly smile. “Eat something, dear. Would you like some stew?”
Flavio hesitates at first, but then nods. Laristella passes him a bowl, and he sits beside me on the bench. When he takes the first spoonful, he lets out a loud moan. And then another.
Come on. The stew is not that good. Is the food in the academy that dreadful? I finish my stew, then wait for him to finish what must be some kind of heavenly nectar. When he gives his empty bowl to Laristella, he bows.
“Thank you. I had heard your stew was legendary, but I didn’t think… I suppose some legends are true.”
Laristella smirks. “Of course they are. Now take good care of my jewel.” I’m at first unsure what she means, but she’s pointing at me.
I must be sappy and silly. For some reason, the endearment gets to me, and tears threaten to wet my eyes.
I want to believe I’m precious, that someone cares for me that much.
But it’s just a word, thrown out there for who knows what reason.
I hold back the foolish tears until my brother comes to me, wiping his hands on his apron.
Now I give him the tight hug I’ve been wanting to give him since I survived that island.
He’s my life, my joy, everything I clung to when our family fell apart. And that’s when the tears fall.
I pat his head, even if he’s slightly taller than me. “I’ll come visit.”
He shrugs. “You’ll be close.”
Laristella watches me, a hand on her hip, her countenance grave.
A parting hug would be fitting, I suppose, except that I’ve held my distance for so long that it would be odd to break it now. Instead, I wave, which feels a little ridiculous from such a close distance. “Thanks. Thanks so much.”
She nods. “May Foros bless you, darling.”
I nod back, even if I want to protest that I want Vigorlu, the god of strength, to bless me instead. I want to carve my own path, trace my own destiny. Finally, I’m about to start.
My heart’s light and my steps firm as we pass the Circle of Gods, at the center of Dracolius City, where piles of flowers lie by Foros’s and Cardiana’s statues. I look at Vigorlu and ask the god to protect me. I’ll be strong. I’ll succeed.
We’ve been walking in silence, and as much as I want to pepper my companion with questions, I don’t want to break any rule. All I can do is bask in the joy of finally heading to the academy.
For a moment, I’m a little girl again, holding my mother’s hand, watching the Sky Guard procession walk by, heads high, steps proud, women and men equally powerful, equally splendid. I wanted to be like that, mighty without any need to be pretty, with no need to perform to a mold of femininity.
And then I saw them flying, floating and gliding in the air. Who wouldn’t want that? Cowards, I suppose. I’m not a coward. And now it’s my turn to fly.
When we’re approaching the academy, Flavio turns to me. “Alayel asked me to apologize to you.”
The words surprise me, but I keep my tone casual. “He’s busy, I guess?”
He looks down. “Somewhat.”
I almost ask him if he’s Alayel’s friend, and what Alayel’s doing, but I don’t want to sound like a teenager with a crush on the gorgeous recruit, examiner, or who knows what else. Vigorlu help me. I hope I don’t have a crush on him.
“That’s fine,” I mutter.
Flavio nods. For some reason, he seems uncomfortable, but I pretend I don’t notice it.
We reach the academy and he takes me to a side door, then up some narrow and dingy sets of stone stairs. I think if they were going to put me in prison again, they’d send more guards, and that’s the only thing keeping me from asking where he’s taking me.
But my joy is deflating, giving way to a nagging feeling prickling like needles under my skin.
Something’s wrong.
He opens a door and leads me to a gloomy hallway with stone walls, lit by small windows at its end. This is a far cry from the prison, and yet it’s like what I always imagined the academy would look like.
Finally, I can’t take it. “Where—”
“A moment.” He stops and knocks on a large wooden door.
A middle-aged woman opens it, her blond hair tied in a fancy bun on top of her head. She glances at me and narrows her green eyes, turning to Flavio. “What’s this?”
My last drop of hope evaporates.
Flavio straightens. “She’s supposed to start today.”
The woman gazes at me as if I was a moldy piece of bread. “Today, you say? Tell me, girl, do I look like I need a clueless newbie?”
Every recruit is a novice, but I’m not sure what’s happening here, and my voice falters. “I… suppose—”
“Commander Mallor’s orders,” Flavio says.
The woman rolls her eyes and huffs. “Yeah, yeah, as if I was running some kind of nursery.” She then glares at him. “Until when?”
“She’s permanent.”
Permanent doing what? I bite back the question, not wanting to sound like an even bigger idiot than I already feel.
“Oh, look at that.” She scoffs. “I don’t even have a say in who I hire now.”
“Mallor’s orders,” Flavio repeats.
“Of course.” She gives him a teeth-only smile, then turns to me, still with that dismissive tone. “Come. What’s your name?”
She pulls me inside and starts to push the door.
“Mistress Rosalia!” Flavio protests. “I have to—”
The door shuts, leaving me with this woman who manages to be even more frightening than Laristella.
The room has a large wooden desk, a cork wall with many keys, and cabinets lining two walls, with small, round windows behind the desk. A subtle scent of eucalyptus permeates the place. Rosalia’s dress is well-fitted but simple, in beige linen. I don’t think she is an instructor or commander.
“Name,” she repeats.
I blink, then say, “Mayara of the Earth, daughter of—”
“Right. Do you have any experience?”
I wonder if it’s a trick question, and what exactly she means, but in truth, as a new recruit, I wouldn’t know much. “No.”
“None? At all?” Her face wrinkles in a grimace, and I fear I might be misunderstanding her.
At risk of igniting even more of her fury, I ask, “What do you mean by experience?”
She leans her face on her hand and lets out the loudest sigh I’ve ever heard. “What kind of experience do you think I’m asking about, Mayara of the Earth? What exactly do you imagine I need you to do?”
I give her a blank stare, unsure if she wants a reply, and she throws her hands up in the air. “By all gods. Why do they only send idiots to my cleaning crew?”
Cleaning?
My stomach drops to the deepest depths, an infinite chasm I’m falling into.