The Matron was waiting for her in the foyer of the orphanage, alone with a single light on above. Upset, but that wasn’t some crazy observation— from the way she was tapping her foot against the ground, from the ever so slight frown, almost blank look on her face, even a blind man could see that she was in a particularly bad mood. “Lily Ward, as I live and breathe. I hadn’t thought I’d see you again.” Oh immortals above, she was using sarcasm. That meant it was really bad. “I thought you promised me that you wouldn’t be out late again, but I must have misheard—”
“I—”
“Don’t want to hear any excuses.” The matron sighed, a bit of sternness slipping away from her. “What am I supposed to do with you? The curfew exists for a reason. Much as you like to think otherwise, until you graduate, you’re still a ward of the sect under my care. I can’t have you just running off like this, Lily. What do you have to say for yourself?”
“I was—” she gulped, stuttering— there was something about the Matron, who’d been her highest authority since she’d first come to the Home, that so bitterly ironic name, that always managed to make her lose her nerve when nothing else could. “I got caught up in something.”
“Studying?”
She hung her head. “Yes. The new librarian helped me out with my current study, and…” tentatively, she held out the papers she’d been allowed to take home— not the blindingly bright rune, but the lesser one, sparkling softly as it moved. “He was teaching me runework.”
For a long second, the Matron was silent, staring at the rune painted onto the paper. That so meaningful, tiny little thing. “I see.” Her voice was… soft. Quiet, in a way that Lily very much did not like. “It’s a good skill to learn. If you can make a good showing when you go to the University, then there’ll be plenty of companies who’ll beg for you to work for them. LiangTech especially will probably give you a good offer.”
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She frowned. “I’m going to join the sect.”
That soft voice, momentary mote of out of character behavior vanished, replaced with the Matron’s typical flat look. “I wish you the best in that endeavor.” She didn’t. Lily could hear it, in her voice, the condescending echo of all the other times the woman had told her to be realistic. “Either way, you stayed out too late after you promised to come back before sunset. That means I’m revoking your library privileges for the next week.”
“What!” Her eyes widened— “but— I just—”
“Acted irresponsibly, and foolishly, and now you have to suffer the consequences.” Lily just slumped. She knew far too well that when the Matron said something, she never backed down. “You made me stay up late, which means tomorrow I’m going to be tired, which means the younger wards are going to be that much more difficult to take care of. You’ll help out with that, won’t you?”
Lily just nodded, biting back the scowl that threatened to spill onto her face. That would only just get her in more trouble. “Of course, Matron.”
“Good. Remember in the future that the world doesn’t revolve around you. You are not the daughter of heaven. An immortal won’t descend out of the sky to gift you with some heaven-defying divine treasure.” Yeah, she knew. That was why she worked so hard. “Go to bed. I’ll see you in the morning.” She stalked off, only pausing for a second— just before she started her climb up the rickety stairs. The matron gave her a slight smile, motherly. “Goodnight, Lily.”
“Goodnight, Matron.”
It wasn’t a good night.
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