NOVEL NEXT Ch 2.43: Gate
Dud. Just the word brought panic to Elaina, transported her back to her first night at Endrin. She was frozen again, barely even aware of her surroundings. She could hear the polite platitudes being exchanged, but she couldn’t process them.
“Elaina?” Tira said.
“Huh?” She wasn’t sure how long it had been, but everyone was looking at her, everyone except Koh, who was already gone. “Where’d she go?”
“Up to her room,” Flora said. “She needed to pack.”
“Right, pack…”
“We should get going too. I have a report to make,” Tira said, lightly grabbing Elaina’s hand. “Come on.”
They made their way to the edge of town, not far from their inn, and to a depot of carriages. Elaina’s mind was still glazed over as Tira arranged their transportation back to the school, only lucid enough to follow along. On carriage ride back to school she saw about as little of the town as she did when Flora and Tira had distracted her on their way in, but this time she just wasn’t paying attention, not until they finally reached the school gates again.
It was only the second time she’d seen them from the outside, the second time she had to go through the barrier. She remembered the tingling she felt the first time she walked through, the fear she’d felt before going through it, the fear that she would be a dud and be denied.
But she wasn’t. She knew that, and she walked forward.
“Everything’s fine,” she muttered, that same strange sensation washing over her body as she made her way through the barrier. Once she’d felt it, once she was inside again, knew she wasn’t going to be locked out, her mind returned to her.
The other three were staring, of course. Probably had been staring most of the ride back. “Uhm, I’m sorry,” she said, trying to decide how to move through the awkwardness. “Gods, I froze up right in front of her…”
“It’s fine,” Flora said, eyes filling with life again. “She basically just said ‘bye’ and excused herself.”
“I didn’t know that about her,” Tira said, biting her lip. “Don’t really know too much about noble gossip.”
“How old is she?” Elaina asked.
“Twenty one,” Flora said. “She’d have been in our year, if she were accepted.”
“Huh,” Elaina said. She’d just assumed Koh was old enough to have graduated, as that was the only reason she wouldn’t be at school that made sense, at least the only reason that she had considered.
“We should go unpack,” Carline said, turning back to the school. “We could probably all use a break.”
“Really quickly,” Tira said, looking side to side and dropping her voice to a whisper. “We need to get our story straight. We can’t talk about about Elaina talking to the golem, but we need to let them know we saw one. I’ll tell Alonse we ran from it. After that, the full truth should be fine.”
“We’re telling them about the hostage?” Elaina asked.
“Absolutely. They need to know these people are willing to kill students.”
“I don’t know,” Flora said. “I only even knew she was there cause of my class. If they start asking too many questions about how she got away to try and figure out whatever aspect they were using, then we might be in trouble…”
“No, Tira’s right.” Carline looked resolute, standing straighter and taller than usual. “If they send someone else out there without knowing about what happened and someone gets killed, then we killed that person just as much as the poachers did.”
Flora looked shocked, like a parent whose child had just spoken back to them for the first time. “Well…” She eventually looked over to Elaina, pleading eyes asking to be rescued in the debate.
Elaina looked back towards her bag, towards Temmie. Any extra information they gave the school was an extra step towards them discovering the System itself. “Carline’s still right. We tell them as much as we can.”
Tira responded with a nod, and Carline with a sigh of relief, her posture deflating again as Flora pursed her lips, but the girl didn’t protest anymore.
“And that’s our first practicum mission done,” Tira said, visibly relaxing herself. “We did good, all things considered…”
Elaina still had a burning question, one that was even more pressing after their recent decision on what to report back. “Am… am I going to be in trouble for letting the girl go?”
“No,” Tira said. “We weren’t assigned to take hostages, certainly not aspected ones. And she would’ve been dead if you hadn’t let her go, right?”
“Just make sure to mention Elaina tore the poor girl’s clothes off,” Flora said, “so they’ll know she was doing her best.”
“Please don’t actually say that,” Elaina said, blushing. “I don’t need people thinking I’m more of a pervert than I am…”
“Sorry, no can do,” Tira said as she finally started off back towards the school. “It’s very possible the guards will end up picking her up, so knowing to keep a lookout for the half-naked poacher will actually be very important.”
Elaina felt a chill at those words, imagining herself trying to make it back home wearing nothing but underwear. If she was wearing underwear, that is. Getting caught by guards as she tried to sneak past…
“Can’t she turn invisible though?” Carline said.
“Sure, but we don’t know for how long,” Tira said with a slight chuckle.
“Hey,” Elaina said, snapping out of her daydream. “Are you just messing with me?”
“Why, how could talking about someone trying to sneak back home in her underwear and trying not to get caught by guards mess with you?”
Elaina puffed her cheeks out as Carline and Flora looked back at her, feeling them burn red as she exhaled. “Fine, tell them. I don’t care; I was just trying to complete the mission…”
“Seriously though, I am trying not to lie too much. It’s easiest to keep things consistent that way. I will of course, not mention anything about any shows put on for a certain carriage driving couple, since I was unconscious anyway…”
Flora laughed at that as Elaina blushed an even deeper red, but it was the end of the jests at their expense. As their conversation naturally trailed off, Elaina’s mind started to wander, again to Prisma, to Koh, to Waine. Her blush fell away, and she felt her face began to frown. The hollowness from earlier in the morning was still there, and even with the finality it brought, the closure, she still couldn’t help but frown. There really was never a chance.
“Elaina?” Carline’s voice was even meeker than usual, like a mouse asking for permission to speak.
“Yeah?”
“Do you want to go for a walk once we put our stuff down?”
Elaina could see the concern in her eyes. One anyone but Carline, it might look like pity, but Elaina knew better than that. Carline never wanted anyone to be upset, but she didn’t pity them. “That’d be nice.”
Carline smiled at that, giving an energetic nod back. “Thanks.” Elaina could see a weight come off Carline’s shoulders, and she felt a pang in her heart as she realized it. She really wasn’t mad at Carline, not after realizing how complicated everything had been, and she wanted Carline to know that too.
“Don’t mention it,” Elaina said, slipping her fingers in between Carline’s. “Where did you want to walk?”