Ch 1.10: Redo

Elaina made it back to her dorm wing without incident, but paused at the entrance as she heard noise from the common room. On a school night the curfew meant complete lights out, but on the weekend like today, it simply meant students had to be in the dorms, common area included. She took a deep breath, pulling Tira’s jacket over her as much as she could before darting in.

It took a second for someone to notice her state of dress, but once they did Elaina heard a sharp whistle, followed by shouting aimed at her. “Whoo! Get some, girl!” Elaina continued her path to the stairs, face burning as she ignored the hollering. At least they don’t know what really happened. Not yet, anyway. There was still the portrait situation, but Elaina couldn’t worry about that now. Five people had pictures of her, they would show them to others, and that was that. She made her way up to her room and opened the door.

This time her roommate had beaten her to the room, but she was already asleep. Elaina walked over to her dresser and opened it, squinting in the darkness. Her other clothes were still there, of course. Waine and the others had wanted to send a message that wouldn’t be noticed by school faculty, so taking every bit of her wardrobe wasn’t an option. She pulled off Tira’s jacket, put it on top, and glanced back over at her roommate. Still asleep, back to Elaina’s side of the room. Confident she wouldn’t be seen, Elaina took off her underwear set and went to place it in the dresser, noticing the star necklace that Char had carved for her on their carriage ride here.

Luckily I didn’t wear this today. She had wanted to save it for her actual Awakening, but she supposed she messed that up too, having done that already. Elaina put her underwear in, then took out the necklace and put it on, something to keep her company in the night. She looked at the nightgowns she’d packed, deciding if she wanted to wear one. She never wore them at home, but she knew she should now that she had a roommate. Her eyes flicked to the top of the dresser though, and she grabbed Tira’s jacket back instead before closing the drawer.

The jacket would be nice, tonight at least. She’d noticed its smell on the walk back, like evergreen trees growing in a field of lavender. She put it on in reverse, the back of the jacket now cradling her like Tira had, before climbing in her bed. The rough fabric of the uniform wasn’t as soft as her bedsheets, but it was somehow more comforting. Why does this jacket feel so nice?

She thought over everything that had happened the last few hours, wondering why she’d bothered wearing anything to bed at all. Normally she’d already be pounding herself, halfway to an orgasm after something like this. She liked to think it was because she had a roommate to worry about, but the night before had proven that Elaina didn’t care about that. She’d already gotten herself off twice, to be fair, and that was probably part of it too, but two times in as many hours was certainly not her limit. Neither of those were it.

Elaina definitely could get herself going, but for some reason she didn’t feel the need to, despite all that had happened. She clutched the jacket to her chest, drinking in the smell of Tira’s perfume as she faded to sleep.

***

Elaina shot up at the first bell, looking over to the other bed in her room. “Damnit!” It was neatly made, empty, again. “I only half believe that girl exists.” Elaina had hoped to meet her this morning, try and prod out how much she’d seen and heard on their first night. The thought of that conversation looming over her head wasn’t even embarrassing, just anxiety inducing.

Elaina threw on new underwear and her spare uniform— her only uniform, she supposed— and set out about her day. She attended her first breakfast, which was thankfully uneventful, and in between meals returned back to her dorm, hoping to catch her roommate. Unsuccessful again, she resolved to try again after lunch. Lunch was almost as uneventful, but Elaina thought she was getting more stares than earlier. I can’t tell if it’s because of the Awakening, or the portraits.

She repeated her trip back to her room after eating, finding it empty once again and tossed herself onto her mattress with a sigh, resolving to try and wait out her roommate again. Elaina would’ve gone out and looked for her in the common area, but the only thing she’d ever seen of the girl was the back of her head in the dead of night, and there could be any number of girls with short dark hair.

She could try to go out and make more friends, of course, but that hadn’t gone well so far. No, it was better to get the basic pleasantries out of the way with the person she would have to spend time with— if they ever met— and then keep low during her time at the academy. It would be lonely, but she could manage.

Elaina entertained herself on her bed by conjuring and manipulating lengths of rope and chains. She couldn’t do any real practice outside, since as far anyone else knew she was still unawakened, but it passed the time well enough.

The dinner bell rang after hours of fruitless waiting and contemplation, so Elaina finally got up and started the trek back to the dining hall for the last time of the day. She made her way there with the flow of students, the vast crowd all making their way to the same destination, and Elaina realized for the first time that she would be the only one having her Awakening in front of the entire school, not just her fellow first-years. Two days prior there would have been a separate meal for the upperclassmen, but it wouldn’t make sense to arrange that just for Elaina.

She was fortunately one of the first to arrive, and there was plentiful seating near the faculty table, which she was grateful for. That had been the place to be on the full Awakening night, but the desirable tables for general eating seemed to be the ones closest to the serving station, naturally. The station itself was currently closed, automatons standing at it next to empty trays. Right, they waited to serve food after the Awakening then too.

Elaina sat alone for a while, but eventually the room started to reach capacity, and people had to move to the outer tables and fill in around her. There was definitely attention on her this time: staring, pointing, whispers, but none so loud she could make out the words over the general volume of the room, which was already louder than usual.

Alonse Stormshine stood, and the room silenced. “Now,” he said, his thunderous voice echoing throughout the hall, “I must make an apology on behalf of the faculty. We mistakenly offered enrollment to a certain student when they technically weren’t of age, and that caused some strife the other night.

“But today is her twentieth birthday, and rather than send her back home, we’re going to have a special Awakening for her tonight and enroll her this year anyway. I appreciate your hospitality and understanding to her as we delay this evening’s dinner, but please recognize again that it is ultimately the academy’s error that caused this, not hers.” He waved his hand, the Awakening crystal appearing once more in front of him, mist floating inside. He looked at Elaina, smiling and beckoning her to him.

Elaina stood and began the long walk up to him. Had it always been this far to the faculty table? She’d sat as close as possible, but this distance seemed to stretch and stretch, right up until she reached that damned red rug, sprawled across the floor, leading up the stairs she needed to walk up to reach the crystal.

What if I dreamed it? I could have hit my head falling down that hole, imagined the whole thing. I mean really, a crystal orb that talks and gave me a class? I really might still be a dud.

She swallowed, then pressed forward, ignoring both the rug on the floor and her own thoughts. When she reached the top of the stairs she braced herself for the worst and reached out a finger, tapping the top of the crystal once more, her final chance. At first, there was nothing. Nothing continued, giving way to—

Nothing.

“No,” she whispered. “Not again…”

The stormy mist inside the crystal raged, surging inside the confines like it was trying to escape, needed to escape. It continued on for only seconds, but still far longer than it had for the Awakenings Elaina had seen prior, finally calming and settling to its previous pattern of gentle swirling. The faculty, the only people Elaina could see, all stared with dumbfounded expressions, some at the crystal, some at Elaina herself, and some even at the headmaster.

For his part, Alonse Stormshine also stared at the crystal, brow furrowed in confusion. Elaina couldn’t see the students behind her, but she could imagine their stares too, cutting through the silence of the room. “Ah,” Alonse eventually said, using his regular speaking volume. “Apologies.” He cleared his throat and then continued on in his booming voice, addressing the entire school as much as Elaina. “Your aspect, Restraint! Its usefulness is apparent to anyone who knows anything about aspects, and combined with the immense blessing the stars have bestowed upon you, I can only imagine you are destined for great things. And with that, let us eat!”

A roll of applause started behind Elaina, likely as much for the prospect of food as it was for her, as the headmaster waved the crystal away and leaned in to whisper to her. “I mean that. Don’t let anyone tell you that you don’t belong here, understand?”

“Y- yes sir.” She bowed her head and turned back, walking to her prior seat.

The rest of the dinner was a catastrophe. Students got up and crowded the serving station, blocking the automatons from bringing in more food. The system was definitely designed for a gradual influx of diners over time, not a mad rush all at once. Elaina knew it would be a while for her to get a chance at being served, so she decided to wait, as did some of the people sitting around her who realized the same. As the students were able to get food began eating, conversation slowed, all except at the far edge of the room where she and a few others continued to seethe in hunger.

“She’s the girl they have pictures of, right?” Elaina heard a student whisper.

“Ya, I hear they have her naked!”

“Nah, it’s not naked, just underwear. Ferris is supposed to be selling prints of them later this week, five gold a pic.” Elaina locked gazes with the group of boys that were talking, her eyes wide in shock. They stared at each other for a moment before the boys got up and shuffled towards the serving station.

Elaina still was getting her mind around crystal technology, but if a print was anything like printing a pattern on fabric, she knew she was in trouble. Five gold. She’d never had that much money at one time in her life, and Waine Ferris was going to selling pictures of her for that much each. Even beyond the humiliation aspect, that pissed her off, that he was going to make money off of her body. She could deal with the embarrassment, but she wouldn’t stand for the exploitation.

There was a little time to try and stop it. She could beg, plead? She wasn’t a dud anymore— was never a dud— and could maybe get back in their good graces. She could try and go through her. Elaina sighed. No, that won’t work. She got her dinner once everyone else had, scarfing it down and returning to her dorm room.

When she went to try her key, she realized the door was unlocked. Did I forget to lock it? Or is my roommate finally here? She knocked and then opened the door slowly, seeing that the room was still empty, but not quite the way she’d left it.

Her uniform, tattered and ripped to shreds, was scattered across her bed. In a moment of panic she thought her spare had been ripped up too, before she remembered she was wearing that. She crept in, closing the door behind her.

No, the uniform that was ripped up and strewn across her living space was the one from the night before, the one Prisma had tore off of her, and on it was a note. “I washed this for you as best I could so no one could tell it was thrown in the dirt. Tell a teacher you found it in your room cut up like this, and they should replace it for you.” No signature.

Having the pieces of her uniform back was objectively a good thing, but Elaina couldn’t help but be confused. Worried, scared? All three, probably. “Fuck me,” Elaina said, throwing her face into her pillow. Any kid in the nation dreamed of going to Endrin their entire life, and this was not the way she had imagined it going. The mysteries were piling up: the pictures, her uniform, her class, and not to mention her actual classes started tomorrow. She grabbed the note one more time, examining the handwriting. She was almost certain it was a girl’s, but no matter what she was going to find out who wrote this letter.