Chapter 2 #2
Otherwise, we would’ve been forced to drag our heavy trunks and boxes up the three flights of worn stairs to our new home.
Luckily, Mama still remembered her way around the academy from her own years here.
We followed her through several interconnected quad courtyards, all of them surrounded by two colonnaded buildings built from the same cream-colored stone as the Administrative Quad.
“Each quad on campus is used by a different student year,” Mama explained as we walked. Her brisk stride never slowed. “This one is for first-year students. You’ll have most of your classes and labs here.”
How do the students find their way around this place without getting lost?
Each of the quads looked almost identical, differing only in the kinds of flowers and statues in their open central courtyards. I craned my head, trying to memorize features while avoiding tripping over my own feet and skirt hems.
In the center of campus stood two large buildings in a large open space with trees and several fountains. They both looked like the temples in the city. One was topped by a graceful white bell tower that rose from the tiled roof in a series of delicate arches. The other boasted an enormous dome.
Here, I caught my first glimpse of my fellow students, all of them dressed in the strange fashions I’d glimpsed earlier among the crowds at the ferry docks.
Mama pointed at the building with the bell tower. “That’s the dining hall. When the bell sounds to announce mealtimes, you’ll have an hour to get your meals. Don’t be late, or you’ll go hungry.”
“What’s the other building?” asked Juno.
“The Central Library,” Mama answered without breaking stride. “You’ll be spending a lot of time in there.”
“And those buildings?” I asked, pointing at neat rows of two-story marble buildings in the distance beyond the library.
Mama’s lips pressed into a disapproving line. “The student housing apartments… for the nobly-born students.”
We walked on until Mama halted in front of a four-story brick building. “Here we are,” she announced. “The Western Tower.”
I saw three other identical brick buildings standing nearby, forming the other corners of an open-sided square.
These were presumably the North, South, and East Towers.
Beyond this cluster of buildings, the academy grounds opened up into rolling lawns and hedges, with only scattered outbuildings. I spotted the distinctive oval of a large amphitheater in the distance.
I followed Mama inside the Western Tower, and found myself in a tiled hallway. A large room crowded with desks, worn armchairs, and equally worn sofas opened up next to a wide staircase.
“The common room,” Mama said, as she walked toward a wide staircase at the end of the entrance hall.
Suite 314 turned out to be a shabby set of rooms, with low ceilings and narrow windows that admitted fresh air and shafts of afternoon sunlight.
Two bedrooms opened on either side of a central sitting room.
Each bedroom was furnished with a washstand, a pair of narrow beds, and two plain wooden armoires standing side by side against the wall.
The furniture in the sitting room—three simple wooden desks, a sofa with worn and stained upholstery, and four rickety chairs placed around a battered wooden table—had clearly seen decades of use.
The plain whitewashed stone walls were marked by scrapes, black smudges, and—ew, what are those stains?
I devoutly hoped they were just spilled food or drinks.
Mama came to a halt in the middle of the sitting room. I caught a brief flash of appalled disbelief before she controlled her expression.
“Well, it’s very… cozy,” she offered in a fake-cheerful tone. “And I’m sure you can buy some rugs and a nice tablecloth when you go into the city on your day off. And maybe a sheet to cover that sofa. As for the shared bathrooms at the end of the hall—well, it will allow you meet your neighbors.”
Mira and Juno exchanged a dubious glance before following their floating trunks into the bedroom they would share. I watched them, their heads bent together, whispering.
Despite everything that had happened since our arrival here, excitement still raced through my veins. After our long journey, we were finally here at the Imperial Academy—the most prestigious magical institution in the Human Dominion.
“I know it’s not what you were expecting, but I’m sure you’ll be comfortable enough once you settle in,” Mama said, sliding an arm around my waist. “And you probably won’t spend much time in these rooms, anyway.
You’ll be too busy learning and having fun.
I enjoyed my years of study here, and I hope you will, too. ”
I nodded, forcing a smile. “Mage-Instructor Mundise seems very nice,” I offered.
∞∞∞
All too soon, the moment I’d been dreading arrived. Mama’s ship would sail from Felicitas Victoria the day after tomorrow. To complete her business in the city before departing, she needed to spend tonight in the city.
She helped us unpack our trunks. Then we walked back across campus to the dock.
The four of us stood there, clinging to each other in a tangle of arms, as the city-bound ferry pulled in and tied up.
“I’m so proud of all of you,” Mama whispered fiercely. “You’ll excel here. I know it.”
“We’ll work hard and do our best,” I promised, my throat tight.
“We promise,” the twins chorused.
“Promise you’ll write me and tell me about your adventures here.” Mama kissed each of us on the forehead. “I can’t wait until spring when your letters arrive.”
My heart sank at the reminder of how there’d be no letters, no familiar faces, and no connection to home until shipping resumed after the winter gales ended.
“Take care of each other,” Mama said, her hazel eyes boring into mine. “Talisa, I’m counting on you.”
I straightened my spine. “I won’t let you down, Mama. Good luck getting the rest of the money.”
She chuckled. “I’m hoping all the years I spent haggling over imported herbs at the Imber Harvest Fair will pay off at the jeweler’s shop. And that I’ll only have to sell one of my necklaces.”
One last round of kisses and embraces, and then she was walking across the gangplank, her luggage floating behind her.
I put my arms around my sisters and did my best to stand strong as they blew their noses and wiped away tears.
My last sight of Mama was her standing at the ferry’s railing, her back straight and chin high, tears glittering on her cheeks as she waved and blew us kisses.
We waved back until the ferry was just a speck on the river, moving downstream to the distant spires of the capital.
∞∞∞
I didn’t let my own tears fall until we were back in our new suite and I was alone in my ugly student bedroom.
The weight of my new responsibilities pressed down on me like a weighted cloak. Alone in this strange place, so far from home, I felt woefully unprepared to care for myself, much less my sisters.
For the first time in my life, my parents wouldn’t be there to consult when tough decisions arose. There were no village elders here to offer advice.
I pressed my face into the thin pillow and allowed myself five minutes to miss my friends in Bernswick, the scent of the drying herbs hanging from our rafters, and the sound of Papa’s humming as he prepared a cough remedy or a potion for aching joints.
Then a bell sounded outside, the deep tone echoing off the buildings surrounding the main courtyard. It was time for our first meal in the dining hall.
I sat up, washed my face in cold water I poured from the chipped pitcher into the basin on my washstand, brushed out and re-braided my hair, and tried vainly to smooth out the wrinkles in my traveling gown.
We were about to meet our fellow students at the Dominion’s most prestigious academy, and I wanted to make a good first impression.