Chapter 9

  Reianna - Sibling Search

  The boy was going to die. That was the only thought going through Reianna’s mind. She’d seen things like this often enough on the street while walking home. From Fawna’s reaction, Reianna knew she’d never seen a dead body before. Reianna desperately tried to think of how to get the innocent girl out of the nurse’s office before she did.

  But then, something happened. The teacher that Sophia promised her would protect them showed up. He asked about how long the boy had been convulsing, and Reianna told him. He ran out, then soon came back with a calm aura.

  Master Gerenet’s aura overpowered Fawna’s. It wasn’t bright and burning like how she normally saw people good for her. It was almost invisible. The aura enveloped her, and her panic disappeared. He smiled at them. A doctor was coming. A doctor. Reianna had never seen even a nurse before, but a doctor was coming to help the boy. She understood what Sophia meant. This man would protect them.

  Fawna wouldn’t calm down, though. She was still hysterical even after he came back into the room, even when Reianna held her. Reianna felt bad that she couldn’t calm Fawna, but Reianna was so overloaded that she was having a hard time functioning. Master Basque’s calming aura and the warmth from Fanwa made Reianna nearly giddy, so much so that she was having trouble thinking. When Master Gerenet told her the boy’s name, it barely registered on her.

  His name was Malcalm Leadbetter. He had a sister, a twin sister, Maecy. The aura around the boy exploded into existence. It was a cooling aura, and it gave Reianna goosebumps. It wasn’t an unpleasant feeling, it was just that it came on so suddenly. But soon Fawna’s warmth overrode it. It had been like jumping into a cold lake on a hot summer’s day, then getting back out. Reianna felt refreshed, and her mind worked again, but she couldn’t remember Malcalm’s last name.

  “Come on, Miss Fawna, let’s find Miss…blue hair.”

  “Maecy Leadbetter,” Fawna corrected her. Since Fawna was still in Reianna’s arms, Reianna felt Fawna calm.

  Smiling so that even Master Gerenet couldn’t see, Reianna once again said the wrong name, “Yes, Miss Maecy Leadbutter.”

  “Leadbetter,” Fawna corrected as they walked out the door. The blonde was finally walking on her own without being prompted by Reianna.

  Too scared that they might run into more nobles like Banca and her gaggle on the secluded and closed-off inner stairwell, Reianna guided them out to the main stairs in the Grand Entrance Hall. Once they exited out into the main area, Fawna separated herself from Reianna. Even though she was no longer locked in Reianna’s arms, Fawna still held her hand.

  A very pink teacher passed them going down as they walked up the grand staircase from the first to the second floor. “Girls don’t hold hands,” the teacher said.

  Reianna loosened her grip, but Fawna squeezed tighter.

  “I’m sorry, madam,” Fawna said. “I’ve not been feeling well, and my roommate is just helping me keep my balance as I ascend.”

  The pink teacher gave them a dubious look but didn’t say anything else. When she got to the bottom of the stairs, she stopped and stood there. Reianna put the teacher out of her mind.

  At the top, they continued holding hands as they took a left towards the dorm halls. When they could no longer see the pink teacher, Fawna stuck out her tongue in the teacher’s direction, then giggled. Reianna gave Fawna a look, which made Fawna giggle more.

  Once they reached the third floor balcony, they walked towards the open lounge and towards the entrance to their dorm room hall. A massive mountain of a man sat in front of their entrance, reading what, in his hands, looked to be the smallest book ever printed. Reianna paused, but Fawna pulled her on.

  When they approached, he looked up from his book. “Oh, Miss Fawna, how pleasant to see you once again today.”

  Fawna let go of Reianna’s hand and curtsied. Before leaving for the academy, Reianna’s mother had drilled into her that a proper curtsy could be the difference between life and death. Reianna followed suit and curtsied to the large man.

  “And who is this graceful little lady you’ve got with you now?”

  “Master Harnel, this is my roommate, Reianna Santi.”

  “It is my pleasure to meet you, Master Harnel,” Reianna said and curtsied again.

  Despite his size, Master Harnel’s aura was soft, like the chair Reianna had been reading her book in. He reminded her of the stuffed bear she’d had growing up, soft and cuddly.

  “Well, I think you two lucked out getting each other as roommates.”

  “Thank you, Master Harnel,” Fawna answered.

  “I suppose you young ladies would like to get into your dorm?”

  “If the Master wouldn’t mind.”

  He chuckled, and it reverberated in Reianna. “That’s what I’m here for.”

  “Why are you here?” Reianna asked, then belatedly added, “Master Harnel.”

  “Bahaha!” If his chuckle reverberated in her, his laugh shook her where she stood. “I like this one! She’s got spunk! Though you should watch it with the other teachers. Basky and I won’t mind, but a lot of the others will get really bent out of shape.”

  “Basky?”

  “Master Basque Gerenet-Shr. Oh! Crap, I forget, that’s like saying, ‘Master master.’”

  Reianna didn’t know what he was talking about, so she just nodded.

  “If you would, please, Master Harnel, as Miss Reianna asked, why are you out here?”

  Glancing at Fawna, Reianna made a mental note to make her own sentences unnecessarily long-winded when she talked to other teachers.

  “Only letting Class E students in here for now. Keeping all the riff-raff at bay.”

  “I don’t think the noble children would approve of you calling them ‘riff-raff’.”

  “Then what should I call them?”

  “Yani-fuckers,” Reianna said in a flat tone.

  Fawna flushed. She didn’t let go of Fawna’s hand, but Fawna waved herself with her free hand.

  Master Harnel looked at Reianna, then gave the loudest laugh yet. “BAHAHAHA! She looks so sweet and innocent, but what a mouth! Bahahaha!”

  His laugh was so powerful it shook Reianna’s innards.

  “Did I say something wrong?” Reianna asked.

  “No! Not at all!” Harnel replied.

  “Terribly wrong!” Fawna said.

  Reianna looked from one to the other, then stopped at Fawna. “But they called us ‘Yani-lovers’.”

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  “Yes, ‘lovers’, not…the f-word.”

  “Is it that bad? Where I’m from, most people use it every other word.”

  “Bahaha!” Harnel laughed. “Sounds like my old hometown. I’ve not heard a good ‘Yani-fuck’ since I graduated from here.”

  “Master Harnel!” Fawna said and stomped her foot. “I shall tell Avali’s father and my father about your profanity! You shall be eating soap on your next visit!”

  Reianna’s eyes went wide. “You guys eat soap?!”

  Harnel looked at her. “No, not really. It’s just an expression, you know, ‘clean your dirty mouth’.”

  “Oh,” Reianna said.

  “Anyway, you guys headed back in?”

  “Yes, sir,” Fawna said.

  Harnel opened the door to the dorm hallway and stepped aside for them to get in. “I suggest not leaving the dorms if possible. Well, not until you’ve picked up enough skills to protect yourselves anyway.”

  “How will I see Avali then?”

  “Don’t worry your head none, Miss Fawna. I’ll let Miss Avali in if she comes.”

  “Thank you, Master Harnel,” Fawna said and curtsied.

  The large man patted the blonde on her head. “You two take care.” He looked at Reianna once more, then chuckled and shook his head.

  Once the girls entered the hallway, Harnel closed the door behind them. “Do you know that man?”

  Fawna nodded. “I’ve known him since I was a baby. He, Avali’s dad, and my dad are all good friends.”

  That explained a lot. Fawna had grown up almost as if she were a noble herself. Reianna couldn’t help but feel a twinge of jealousy. It soon passed. Fawna could no more help the situation she was born into than Reianna could help her own. All that mattered was that Fawna had grown up to be who she was.

  Nobody was left in the hallway. Even the blood on the wall from where Malcalm’s head had hit it was gone.

  Fawna looked down the hallway. “Gerenet-Shr didn’t tell us what room she’s in.”

  “What did you call him?”

  “Gerenet-Shr?”

  Reianna nodded. “Yes.”

  “It’s how he’s addressed in his country. He said we should call him that.”

  “I see,” Reianna said. “Gerenet-Shr.”

  “Oh wow! You said that great! It took me a bit to not say ‘sure’. Anyway, how do you think we should find Miss Maecy?”

  “I guess we just go around knocking?” Doing as she suggested, Reianna knocked on the first door next to her.

  “I don’t think that’s her room.”

  “Why not?”

  Fawna pointed to the numbering on the door. “I think this might be Gerenet-Shr’s room.”

  Reianna looked at the plaque. “How can you tell?”

  “The plaque. It says ‘RA’.”

  “So it does. I guess I didn’t see it.”

  Turning around, they knocked on 302. “Jar is sect,” came the answer from the other side.

  “What?” Fawna asked.

  Reianna looked at her. “Didn’t you understand that?”

  She shook her head.

  “He said, ‘Just a second.’”

  Fawna’s eyes went wide. “That sounded like a completely different language!”

  Reianna smiled. She liked that Fawna didn’t understand street lingo. It added to her angelic aura.

  The door opened and a short boy with lime-green hair stood behind it. “Who roo?”

  “Hello!” Fawna beamed.

  Reianna laughed through her nose. “He didn’t say, ‘hello,’ he said, ‘Who are you?’” She turned her attention to the boy. “Reianna Santi. Fawna Arstep.”

  “Arion Robshaw. Dish on cans be street?”

  Reianna shook her head. "No, she doesn't understand street."

  “Sorry, then,” the boy said, though his accent was thick. “Like I said, I’m Arion Robshaw.”

  “Hi, Mister Arion. We’re looking for a girl with dark blue hair. Have you seen her?”

  He shook his head. “No, I saw them knobbles—nobles,” he corrected himself, “coming up this way, so I ducked into my room and locked the door. Let me ask Krye right quick.

  “Oi! Krye Dunnah seed a glass width,” he turned back to the girls. “What color did you say it was?”

  “Dark blue.”

  “Drownin’ water hear?”

  “No!” came a shout from further in the room.

  Arion turned to the girls. “No,” he said and shrugged.

  “Thank you,” Reianna said. “Destroyin’ peas, a pair o’ geez.”

  “None takin’!” the boy said and closed the door.

  Fawna stood there blinking. “What…”

  “‘Destroyin’ peas’ means to ‘Destroy the peace’ or to bother someone.”

  “Oh!”

  “And ‘a pair o’ geez’ is ‘apologies’.”

  “Wow!”

  “Where I’m from, we’ll say ‘two-g’ instead.”

  “Why?”

  “A pair of gees, so a pair is two. Two-g.”

  Fawna shook her head. “I feel like I’m missing out.”

  Reianna knocked on 303. “You’re not. We aren’t on the streets anymore. I wish I could speak as beautifully as you can.”

  The door jerked open. A frumpy girl with curly, hazel hair opened the door. A slender girl with bright turquoise hair longer than Fawna’s stood behind her.

  “Reianna Santi. Fawna Arstep. 307.”

  “Miya Carver. Dmi Stringer. 303.”

  “Have you seen a girl with dark blue hair?” Reianna asked.

  “Narble?” Miya asked.

  “One a dozen. But, we’re in a noble school. When we graduate, we will be nobles. It’s best to speak in noble.”

  Miya snorted. “Fine, whatever. No, I’ve not seen a girl like that. Dmi?”

  Dmi shook her head. “This have something to do with the drown’ water boy licking the wall red?”

  Reianna nodded. “Same womb, I mean, yes. They’re twins.”

  Miya snorted again. “More like were twins, right? I saw the bleed.”

  “Rye bread, he rose,” Dmi said behind her.

  Reianna smiled. “No daisies, but we should speak noble here. Master Gerenet has protected us. The boy lives.”

  The girls in the door looked at each other, and then Miya turned back to Reianna. “I’ll believe it when I see it.” She shut the door.

  “That was pretty rude,” Fawna said.

  Reianna shrugged.

  “What did ‘rye bread, he rose’ and ‘no daisies’ mean?”

  “She said, ‘Right dead, he goes.’ So, I told them that he’s not dead. ‘No daisies.’”

  “You mean all the people who saw it think that Malcalm is already dead?”

  Reianna looked at her roommate. “Fawna, where I’m from, he wouldn’t have been picked up until the collectors came.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Reianna regretted it.

  “What do you mean? What’s a collector?”

  “Forget it.” Reianna tried to go to the next door.

  Fawna pulled on her hand, stopping her. “No, I’m not forgetting it. What do you mean?”

  Reianna sighed. “A body collector.”

  Fawna gasped. “What…what about—”

  “I’m from a lordless barony, Fawna. There is nothing else. Like those girls said, if he was anywhere but here, he would have been dead for sure.”

  Fawna didn’t move. In a whisper, she said, “I thought…”

  Reianna grabbed both of her hands. “Fawna. You grew up in a special place. It’s made you who you are and I dream of that for my children. That’s why I’m here. That’s why all of us are here. You have a noble friend, and I’ve never met a noble before today. We are who we are.”

  Fawna squeezed Reianna’s hands.

  “If I had a choice, I want you to be who you are, Fawna. I don’t want you to know the things that I’ve seen.”

  Fawna shook her head. “No, I need to know. Do…do you think the commoners in Avali’s barony feel the same way? Have the same experience.”

  Reianna shrugged. “I’ve never been there. You would know better.”

  “Avali’s dad is a good person. I have to believe it’s not the same.”

  Reianna squeezed her roommate’s hands and then let them go. “Let’s keep looking.”

  They knocked on more doors and soon figured out that boys were in even-numbered rooms and girls were in odd-numbered rooms. Even knowing that, they continued to knock on every door, figuring they might as well introduce themselves to their classmates. No one had seen a girl with dark blue hair, and Reianna was beginning to worry.

  After bidding farewell to the girls in 309, Fawna asked, “A while back, you told Miss Miya ‘one a dozen’. What does that mean?”

  “It’s street for ‘commoners’. She asked if I was a noble because of how I was speaking, but she was unsure because of the way I’m dressed.”

  “I love your dress, though! It’s so beautiful on you!”

  “Well, it’s not that it’s not nice on me, it’s just…you remember what those girls in the stairwell said?”

  Fawna’s face clouded over and she didn’t reply. Instead, she knocked on the door to 311. There was no answer. She knocked again. It was the first room since knocking on Gerenet-Shr’s door where no one answered. A couple of rooms only had one person in them, but there had been someone.

  “Maybe this is Malcalm’s room and his roommate is out?” Reianna asked.

  “Possibly. Let’s try the next.”

  They turned to the room across the hall and knocked on 311. Once again, no one answered. Fawna knocked again. At last, a girl with maroon hair tied in a ponytail answered. “Yes?”

  “Fawna Arstep. Reianna Santi. 307.”

  “Braelyne Avington.”

  “We’re looking for a girl with dark blue hair. Have you seen her?”

  Braelyne nodded. “Maecy, some girls are looking for you.”