Kalmia had just told Dedrik about her success in the magical and physical entrance tests of the Silver Island Academy. With both those tests passed, Kalmia wouldn't have to pass a single one of the written tests. At this point her attendance in those was just a formality.
Now they were on their way back to the inn. Kalmia, all the way until they reached the inn again, was drooling, looking at the cake all the time. Dedrik, not oblivious to the stare, decided to go straight back to the inn instead of doing some excursions around city. He didn't want to keep Kalmia waiting for what she has yearned for for the last hour or so. For Kalmia that walk back still felt like it took an infinite amount of time.
Once they arrived at the inn, both of them took a chair in Kalmia's room that was next to a small table and Dedrik put the Cake on the table. After that he went down to Julia and asked for a knife, two plates and two small forks. He also ordered a can of tea to the room. While waiting, even if only for a short time, Kalmia had to give it her all to hold back from eating that cake. The saliva was already drooling to the ground when he came back.
"You like cake that much?"
"YES!"
"Calm down, calm down."
Dedrik came to the table and put the plates and forks down. Right after that he unpacked the cake und began cutting it into fourteen slices. Then he put one large slice onto Kalmia's plate and one medium size onto his plate.
Before he even sat down Kalmia was already done with half the slice.
"If you want more, just take it. You can have the entire rest of the cake. I am full."
Kalmia, while having a mouth full of cake, just looked at Dedrik and nodded happily.
A short time after Kalmia was done with the slice that Dedrik put on her plate, the woman from down at the counter, Julia, knocked on the door and then came into the room and with a teapot in her hands.
"Hey, I got your tea."
"Nice. Just put it down on the table."
"Aye."
She put the pot down on the table and left again. Right after the door closed again, Dedrik took the pot and filled a cup that was in front of him and then a cup that was in front of Kalmia.
"It will be a bit nicer with some black tea."
Dedrik had also put rock sugar and milk on the table. Right after that Kalmia put three rock sugar into her tea and also far too much milk. The tea was not even brown anymore but it already looked beige. She continued to eat cake to wait until the tea had cooled down a bit. When she finished half of the cake the tea was cool enough to actually drink it. And Dedrik was right, it really was nice to drink some hot tea to cake.
"Did you know that in some regions of the world coming together at afternoon to drink tea and eat cake is a tradition?"
Kalmia had a mouth full of cake but still tried to answer.
"Nuhuh. Whad rebion awe u dalging aboud?"
"First of all, don't even try to talk while your mouth is this full. Keep up your elegance in public and don't speak while you have anything in your mouth. Also I was talking about Belonia. They all drink a lot of black tea. In the morning the first thing they do is drink tea. After Lunch? They drink tea. In the afternoon? Yes, also tea. Even in the evening they drink tea, even though it keeps them awake.
They are weirdly into tea."
After he told her that she should be elegant in public, Kalmia stopped listening and focused back on the cake. A short while later, she finished the cake.
A further while later she didn't feel all that good. She got a stomachache and felt weirdly nauseous.
Dedrik saw those symptoms and wanted to teach Kalmia a bit about it.
"You don't feel all that fine, do you?"
"... No."
"I guess you ate too much cake."
"... You didn't warn me that it could cause that?"
"There were no records that I read that said that dragons could get that from too much sugar."
"... Ah."
"Just so you know, us humans get that a lot sooner than you. If you eat too much sweet stuff at once you get nauseous and your stomach starts hurting."
"... Is there something I could do to feel better?"
"Just letting your stomach deal with it and not eating as much sweet stuff is the only thing that can help you."
"Fine... I guess I will lay down and wait it out."
"I'll get you some water and leave you alone after."
Dedrik opened the door, closed it behind him and a little while later came back with a large glass of water. He put it next to Kalmia on a small table and left again.
Kalmia took the glass and sat down on the bed while sipping a bit. Then she laid down and suffered through the day until the next day, she felt better again.
As Kalmia woke up relatively early in the day due to going to bed early the previous day, she sat down on the edge of the bed and put her dress on. She felt a lot better than the day before so she got up, grabbed her books and sat down on the small table in her room again.
She tried studying on her own with what was written down in those books but she couldn't really understand anything. In maths she would have had to use some weird formulas she never heard of, in menianese she was fine as far as she could tell and in literacy she would have to learn how to properly interpret the things she has read. For now she tried to learn the math formulas. They would probably be the hardest thing to improvise on.
A few hours later, someone knocked on the door. As she opened it, it turned out to be Dedrik.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
"Are you feeling better now?"
"Yeah. You still feeling fine?"
"Of course. How long have you been up already?"
"A few hours at least. Been trying to prepare for the tests during that time."
"Ah that's nice. Do you need any help?"
"Uhm... sure. I've been struggling at a formula for a while. Here come here. I show you which one I mean."
"Calm down, calm down. If you stress yourself now nothing I will explain to you will stick in your head."
"But it won't be long until the test and we don't even know what they will ask in that test."
"Calm down now. Even if you fail these tests you will be accepted to the school. Why worry?"
"Because I... you're right... I may have overreacted there."
"That's more like it! Anyways, what is your problem there now?"
Kalmia took her book and showed Dedrik where she had her problems. Dedrik wasn't a teacher so with these a bit more advanced subjects he had trouble explaining it to Kalmia or even understanding it himself. In the end, after Dedrik had tried to explain it for hours, he gave up and went to go and eat down in the large inn room together with Kalmia.
The next few days until the day of the entrance test arrived, Kalmia continued to try to learn by herself, however now with a lot less stress as she would get into the school anyways. Sometimes Dedrik came into her room bringing her some sweets or something to drink. When the day of the written entrance tests has come, she was completely burned out.
On their way to the city hall, where the test was held Kalmia wanted to go through everything she learned before but failed to remember most of it, whether it was due to stress or due to being burnt out, Kalmia however was getting more stressed because of that. It wasn't important to pass these tests, however she really had this feeling of competetiveness boiling up from deep inside her.
During her entire way to the city hall she was so distracted by not remembering anything she had studied, that she couldn't remember anything they passed on their way. It didn't take long for her and some other people to get called into the city hall by the exact same examiner as Kalmia had during the magical and physical tests.
Once she entered the hall she saw about twenty desks with chairs in that room. On each desk was a small paper that had names written down on them.
"Sit down on the desk you are assigned to."
Everybody hectically looked for the desk that had their name written on a paper that laid on it.
After a few minutes everyone found their desk and sat down.
Next the examiner went around and laid down a piece of paper and a pen on every desk. Once he returned to where he stood before, he turned around and continued talking.
"Turn you papers over. If you talk or try to look onto another person's paper you are disqualified."
In unison everyone turned over the paper in front of them. It was the menianese test. But to Kalmia's shock it was not a lot of reading or writing but rather a grammar test. Grammar was Kalmia's big weakpoint and she ended up just guessing whatever. The people around her were all still writing and she was just looking around as if she didn't know what to do. In the end after some people were done she just did the same as them and turned her paper upside down and layed it at the top right corner of her desk.
As soon as everyone was done the examiner walked around and collected the papers while handing out new ones. Once again after getting back to where he stood originally, he told them to turn the paper over. This time it was maths. That one was quite easy in Kalmia's opinion as all the formulas that the test demanded were ones that Kalmia had previously learned. With a few questions she had problems but in the end she had a pretty good feeling about it. She wasn't the first one to finish that test but also not the last one. Her timing seemed to be somewhat in the midfield.
Once again the examiner walked around and collected the papers as he handed out new ones. It was the last one left, literature. Literature really wasn't a thing that Kalmia liked. Dedrik already told her that a lot of literature is in the eye of the beholder however often examiners or teachers will try to teach you only their view on it. As soon as the examiner told them to turn the paper over and start working on it she was instantly hit by a poem.
I cry for what I yearn
Up above a blue sky
Wish I could rise up
for freedom is there
But forever will I be
Just a man with a dream
Kalmia didn't really know what to do with it. The question essentially just told her to interpret the writers opinion and what his situation could have been.
Kalmia could only think that he was some kind of slave or was limited in some weird form... maybe escape reality even? but what could he have meant with that? Did he feel like he had nowhere to go? Or did he just want to have a better life and it was him just weirdly phrasing to wish for a higher life?
Kalmia wrote a condensed version of her thoughts with some parts elongated onto the paper and hoped that whoever checks the tests would let her slide through with it.
This time around she was one of the last to be finished.
Once everyone was done, the examiner once again went around and collected the tests, however this time without handing out new papers.
Once again he started talking when he arrived back at his spot.
"With this we conclude the entrance tests. You will get a message per mail once we have taken a look at all the tests. We wish you good luck."
On her way out of the hall, Kalmia saw Maria. Maria however seemed to be deep in thoughts so Kalmia didn't want to disturb her.
Once she got outside, Dedrik was already waiting there and Kalmia told him how the tests went. Both the good and the bad... and the poem interpretation. Dedrik seemed to think a bit before he said anything but in the end he said, that it would be fine, no matter if she was right or not.
**CHAPTER 10: END*
how bad was my improvised poem?
