Ch 2.51: Gold

“I’m sorry you had to go through that, Elaina,” Tira eventually said, breaking the silence. The four of them had been in her office for almost ten minutes, none of them making a sound.

“You know,” Elaina said, looking back up at the crystal monitor on the wall that displayed the dining hall as it was slowly clearing out, “I actually felt bad for him. For Waine.”

Tira sneered, shaking her head. “Not him, the new professor. She’s the one people were laughing at, even if his name was the one said.”

Elaina did feel bad for Koh, of course, felt more for her than she did Waine. But that was what she expected of herself, what anyone decent would expect. Waine was different, someone she’d never feel bad for. Not even during the attack when it seemed like he might’ve died did she feel bad about that, but for some reason this was different, the one time she could imagine feeling something other than contempt for the boy.

“Let’s get back to the time sensitive topic, shall we?” Flora asked.

“Yeah,” Elaina said, resolving to sort her feelings regarding Waine and Koh out later. “Brink said something about an entry fee, but not how much it is. I’ll need to know how much I need to bring.”

“I actually heard about the entry fee in the library,” Carly said. “It’s twenty a piece.”

“Twenty?” Elaina asked. That was way steeper than she’d been thinking, but she could afford it, barely. Unless she means… “Wait, do you mean bronze or silver?”

“Uhm, it’s gold, actually.”

“Oh.” It took her brain a moment to even process the information, that twenty gold was what it would cost, that twenty gold was something anything could cost. She remembered her mother telling her once that their family made about five gold a year, and that had been something to be proud of, even if they’d never actually owned an entire gold piece itself.

“Gods,” Tira said, leaning back into her chair and kicking her boots onto the desk. “Nobles and their fucking gold.”

“We can cover the entry fees for the four of us,” Flora said, gesturing to herself and Carly, who nodded in agreement.

“But that’s, that’s way to much money!” Elaina said, heart starting to beat as the reality of it set in. Twenty gold, each, eighty total.

“It’s nothing,” Flora said, “don’t worry. I mean, it’s not literally nothing, but it’s not that big a deal to us.” Elaina couldn’t even think of more words to protest, so she let that portion of the conversation drop even as it rolled her mind over inside her head.

“I wish we could have just one weekend where something System related wasn’t going on,” Elaina said.

“It’ll be fun though!” Flora said. “We’re going to Mirage! Drinks, games, all sorts of stuff.”

“That’s not what this is,” Tira said, face in her palm. “And you know it.”

“Yeah yeah, I’m just kidding,” Flora replied, with a side-eyed look to Elaina that indicated she very much did not seem to be kidding. “There is one thing to worry about though if Carly and are paying, and I think you can help with that Elaina.”

That at least seemed like an honest thought, but Elaina wasn’t sure how she could be of any use. “What am I gonna do?”

“Well, we’re all gonna need dresses of course!.”