Chapter 21
1541 Words
21
The dining hall was buzzing and for the first time it didn’t fill me with dread. Passing through the Reaper territories was scary, especially after spotting Brianna hanging at one of the tables. We locked eyes and from her hostile expression I could tell she wanted to mess with me, but that was all she did. Glare.
I had Sim to thank for that.
On the other side, we passed the Dragon corner where I spotted the back of Ryoko and some of her friends. As if she could sense I had arrived, she turned around and gave me a little wave.
The boy, Kurai, shot me a murderous look, but despite that, he bowed ever so slightly.
Gods, it was such a weird culture. Their politeness was something completely else and if I hadn’t gotten to know a Dragon personally, I’d have never known about the deep reservoir of feelings they hid with their smiles and beautiful words.
“Who are you waving at?” Aellyn asked, bouncing up and down so she could see.
I tried to temper my smile, but it didn’t really work. “Nobody. Just my roommate.”
“Your Dragon roommate?”
“Yes.” We crossed into Valkyrie territory and I threw my jacket down on the outcast table.
“Hmmm…” Aellyn leaned in closer, her voice reduced to a whisper. “I think they’re weird.”
“They are,” I replied, not arguing with that. “But they’re not bad. Not bad at all.”
“You’re saying that like you’ve been hanging with them.” She studied me, her eyebrows wrinkling together into a frown. “Don’t tell me that’s where you’ve been.”
“It’s not.” I made my way to the buffet with a disbelieving Wood Elf in my tracks. I stopped at the tray station and loaded a handful of crackers my plate. “It’s not!”
“If you say so…” She reached for a bread roll. “What’s on the menu today?”
“Looks like a soup, some kind of fish, and…” I leaned across to stir the ladle resting in a brown goop. “Some kind of casserole.”
Aellyn pulled up her nose. “I had that yesterday, it’s not great. Also, if you’ve been hanging with the Shinigami students, you could tell me, you know?”
“There’s nothing to tell,” I deflected. I scooped a piece of salmon on my plate and added a good dolp of mashed potatoes. “Or is this your way of saying you want to hang out with the other Elves?”
“Ewww, no.” She swapped her plate for a bowl of soup and we walked back to our table. “I’m really not a fan of other Elves.”
“Don’t let them hear you say that,” I teased.
“Don’t worry, they know. Speaking of… Are those other Valkyrie students joining us again?”
“Flavia?”
Aellyn nodded. “Yes, her and her friends. They’re very…”
“...Very?” I prompted. “Very what? Do you not like Flavia?”
“No, it’s not that I don’t like her… It’s just…”
We weaved through the other students, swerving past Astrid, who made a point to stick her tongue out at me, and back to our seats. The empty table used to be daunting and a constant reminder of being an outcast, but I knew it would fill up quickly with Flavia’s squad. Or at least, if the Wood Elf didn’t mind.
“Just what?”
The crunch of my cracker drowned out part of Aellyn’s answer. “—don’t seem to like me very much.”
“Huh?”
“They don’t talk to me,” she said as she tore her bread roll open. “I don’t think they like me.”
Before I could reassure her, a shadow fell over the table. “Who doesn’t like you?”
“Flavia!” Aellyn squeaked, turning the same shade of pink as her hair. “You’re here. You’re all here.”
“Of course. It’s lunch time?” The blonde third-year frowned as she thudded her bag down next to me. “Oh, the salmon looks good.”
I waved my fork around. “It’s tasty.”
Dagmar leaned over my shoulder. “Yum.”
“I’ll have some of that. Be right back. Girls?”
Flavia strode away and all the others quickly dumped their bags and jackets so they could follow her. The sea of students opened as they marched through and filled up their plates, giving me just a brief moment with Aellyn.
I turned to the Wood Elf, lowering my voice. “Why don’t you like Flavia?”
“I don’t know, there’s just something off about her,” she whispered back. She pushed some of the vegetables cubes in her soup back and forth. “She gives me weird vibes. Does she always have to be so… Intense?”
“Intense?” That was an interesting word to describe Flavia, but I didn’t necessarily agree with it. “She’s determined, but she’s a good person.”
“I don’t know...” Aellyn hesitated. She dropped her spoon and slurped the rest of her soup down in a quick motion. Despite having half a bread roll left, she stuffed it her mouth. “I’ll see you in class, alright?”
“You’re leaving?”
“Mmm-mmm.” With her jacket in hand, she climbed out of her seat. “Bye.”
Before the others could return, she hurried away. She really didn’t like the other Valkyrie girls then. I wondered why?
“Hey, where’s your Elf friend?” Dagmar’s voice sounded as she reappeared behind me.
“Aellyn?” I turned around so I could face the girls. “Oh, she had something she had to do.”
“I hope she didn’t leave because of us,” Flavia said. “Is she coming back?”
I shook my head. “I didn’t think so.”
“Hmmm… Should we move over to our usual table then?” my friend proposed, stepping aside so I could look at the Valkyrie head table. It had been empty for the past couple of
The wind whirled in my veins, but I steadied my voice to contain the excitement. “Sure.”
“Okay.” While balancing the tray on one hand, Flavia grabbed her stuff and walked back to her usual seat, this time with an invitation for me to join.
I definitely wasn’t going to say no to that.
With as much grace as I could muster, I scrambled after the girls and left the dreaded outcast table far behind me. It was good to belong and I wouldn’t let anyone else tell me otherwise.
I hesitated before taking a place at the head table. All the girls had their designated seats, including Flavia. They all knew where to sit down, but I didn’t. My position in the group was undefined and it would be rude to assume a position before I was appointed one.
“Sit,” Flavia commanded. She gestured to my previous seat, like it was nothing.
Without a second to waste, I sat down and that was that. It was like I’d never left, like nothing happened. Except for the empty seat on Flavia’s right side.
Oda’s seat.
None of the other girls were sitting there either, so they were clearly reserving it out of respect. Just seeing the big hole in the group made some latent guilt bubble back up. Even if Flavia reassured me it wasn’t my fault, it somehow still felt like that.
If it hadn’t been for me… Maybe she’d still be here.
I shovelled some crackers down, hoping the crunch would stop my brain from mulling over something I couldn’t change. Whether it was my fault or not, I couldn’t bring Oda back or take Flavia’s grief away. What happened couldn’t be undone.
“Hungry?” Dagmar noted, her brown braids dancing on her shoulders as she stirred her casserole. She cringed from the sloppy sound and enviously eyed the piece of Salmon on the plate from the girl next to her.
What was her name again? Ava? No, that wasn’t right…
“Alva, can I have a piece of your salmon?” the girl asked.
Ah, Alva. That was it.
Flavia, Dagmar, Alva… The other girl had a name with a K or something, but I could never remember.
I should try harder.
I stared at the four girls, memorising everything I could about them. After all, if everything kept going well… maybe I could call them my friends.
A warm, fuzzy feeling stretched through me from just the thought. That was all I wanted from my school experience. Make friends, find love, graduate a Valkyrie.
“So, Ylva…” Flavia took a bite from her fish. “Did I hear correctly that you’re already getting key-making?”
I nodded. “We’re familiarising ourselves with metals.”
“Really?” Dagmar sounded surprised. “Key-making is usually a year two subject.”
“They brought it forward,” Flavia replied. “Hmmm, this salmon is good.”
“The salmon is excellent.” I pricked the last piece on my fork and used it to mop up some mash. “There are rumours that they changed the curriculum because there was a human war going on.”
Alva, the girl across me, scoffed. “I can’t see how a war would change something. Battle has been intimately intertwined with Valkyries and Valhalla since the beginning of time.”
Maybe… I’d have thought the same thing if I hadn’t seen Var’s war or the dire circumstances Zen lived in. After all that, it was hard to believe in the beauty of battle.
“What do you think, Ylva?” Flavia asked.
“Me?” I froze with four sets of eyes on me. Nobody ever asked my opinion. “Ummm… Maybe they just decided all the theoretical classes weren’t preparing us for the real thing?”
“Sounds reasonable,” Flavia responded.
All the other girls nodded and returned to their lunch, not disputing what I said.
Unusual… Nobody ever agreed with me like that.
Not sure what to do with myself, I just waited for everyone to finish their plate and Flavia to direct our next move. That was her role as the group’s leader and I had no problem relying on her. After what we’d been through, I’d follow her into battle.
- Writer
