Ch 1.5: Courage

The first thing Elaina did when she opened her eyes was look over to the empty, neatly made bed across the room. She’s gotta be the quietest person I’ve ever met, ever not met. Elaina wasn’t sure what time it was, but knew it was after breakfast at least, as she vaguely remembered ignoring the morning bell. There was only one bell for each meal at Endrin, with an additional bell at their designated midnight curfew, and she didn’t think she’d slept through the noon bell too, so she decided she could take her time getting up.

Elaina looked down at herself, seeing she’d pulled up all of her covers to her neck in an effort to stay warm. At least she’d managed to keep her modesty in the daylight. She struggled out of bed and over to her luggage, taking out each article of her casual wear and her spare uniform. She blushed as she took out the pajamas she’d packed, knowing full well that she should be wearing them right now. She glanced over at the door while she stored them away as well.

A quick unpacking left Elaina with only underwear left to put away, and to pick out for the day. It’s not like anyone’s going to see it, so it doesn’t really matter. Even as she thought that she picked out one of her nicer sets, a black lace set she’d actually made herself since there was no way her mother would have made it for her. It was still mostly modest, covering all of the important things in front, but the back was more of a sheer affair. Elaina wasn’t quite as endowed in the back as she was in her chest, but she thought she had a nice shape and liked the idea of showing it off a little, if she ever got around to getting that far with anyone.

Prisma. She had an ass to be proud of, Elaina had noticed, even through the quite chaste uniform skirt she’d seen her in. I wonder if I’ll ever talk to her again… She lingered on thoughts of Prisma’s smile for a moment more, then heard the lunch bell.

Going outside was almost the last thing she wanted to do right now, but going another minute without eating was the absolute last thing she wanted to do, so Elaina threw on the uniform skirt and jacket she’d worn the day prior over a new shirt. She had two sets of the jacket and skirt, but she wouldn’t be able to keep up with changing them every day. With a deep breath she exited her sanctuary and walked out into world.

The common room was empty as she made her way down, the students likely already heading towards the dining hall, and the halls were sparse as well. Elaina had braced for far more attention as she walked down the halls, but was surprised to find only a few of the students she walked with noticed her at all. Right, some of these aren’t first-years. She’d have at least a day or two before everyone knew about last night. Well, that was optimistic, but at least a day or two before they all found out exactly what she looked like, and by then she’d actually be Aspected. One more day.

The hall itself was almost completely different. The walls and floor were of course the same, and the faculty dining area was still there, not nearly as full as the night before, but the individual small group tables were gone, replaced by rows of long tables circling the room, closing in on the center where there was a serving station manned by what looked to be metal people— no, metal skeletons with eyes and no ribcage? She’d seen these same creatures last night too, but had been in too much of a stupor to pay them much attention, but now as she did she noticed how alien they really appeared with their not quite human proportions, being made of bluish-purple metal that she’d never seen before. Whatever they looked like, Elaina knew what they were: Endrin’s famous automatons, and like most other people she knew little more than that about them.

She grabbed a plate of food from the serving creatures and skittered over to an empty seat. She glanced around to see if she knew anyone, if any of the people she knew were nearby, but couldn’t find any, not even Headmaster Alonse, who was absent from his seat at the head of the staff table.

People recognized her though. While scanning the crowd, Elaina couldn’t help but notice the whispering and pointing coming at her from nearly every direction. She bowed her head down as she finished eating, doing her best to ignore the attention. She noticed that everyone else had just been leaving plates on the table, and that those same plates were shortly picked up by automatons to be taken off into a side exit. Elaina did the same and started off before someone grabbed her sleeve, “Excuse me?”

Elaina turned, and her heart froze. Prisma was standing there, alone, looking at Elaina with a flushed face. “Sorry, can we talk a moment?”

“Oh, sure,” Elaina stammered out, looking down at Prisma’s hand. Prisma pulled her off to the edge of the room and out the door, leading into a large antechamber just outside the dining room where a good number of other students were chatting.

“I, uhmm…” Prisma bit her lip and looked away, a display of cuteness that was matched only by the cutest of kittens Elaina had ever seen. “I wanted to apologize for yesterday. For, uhm, everything I guess.” Prisma turned to the ground, obviously in turmoil. “We, uh, Waine wants to apologize too.”

“No, I embarrassed all of you-”

“He just wants to apologize, okay?” Prisma nearly shouted the words, her composure breaking even further, Elaina taken aback as the crowd of students around them turned. Prisma noticed the crowd as well and lowered her voice again. “Look, I don’t even…” She took a deep breath, then continued, “There’s an event tonight called a test of courage, an initiation thing for the incoming class that the upperclassmen do. We walk out into the forest in groups, and they try to scare us and stuff.”

Prisma looked down again, glancing up at Elaina, but not quite making eye contact. “Waine wants you with us for it. He says he wants to apologize, that he didn’t mean to say that last night.”

Elaina stared at the girl as her words trailed off, Prisma’s gentle blue eyes welling up. “I guess I can go, if you really want me to?”

Prisma stood there for a moment before nodding. “I have to go, and I have plans for dinner, prior commitments… So, meet us out front at eleven?”

“That’s not too late?” Eleven was pushing up on the midnight curfew.

Prisma shook her head. “No, this is a semi-official event, and there’s always a little leeway since the bell rings at midnight anyway. We just have to start heading back when we hear the bell.”

“Okay.” The word caught in Elaina’s mouth. Had she really salvaged this relationship, relationships? No, if anyone had, it was Prisma, and Elaina could tell it was hard on her. She fought so hard for me yesterday too.

“Good,” Prisma said, recomposing herself. Her eyes were determined now as she nodded along to her own words. “I’ll see you then.” She turned around and began to walk away before stopping and turning back for a moment. “I really am sorry.”

***

Elaina stepped out front into the grounds after she’d eaten, taking in the expanse in front of her. It was the first time she’d been back outside since arriving the day prior, and without the giant crowd of people in front of the entrance like the day before it was also the best look she’d had at the sprawling garden in front of her, darkness or not. Flanked on either side of the large walkway was a vast array of flowers with pathways leading into a hedge maze that extended off to each side of the castle, all lit by faint blue crystal light.

There were a few groups walking the same path, some going out and some going in, and at the edge of the garden stood the group of five that Elaina had met earlier, waiting at a fork that led to the forest to the east of the school. Prisma stared off towards the forest as the other four chatted together. “Hey, there she is,” Waine said as she approached. Elaina hesitated as he walked up and extended his hand for her to take. “Hey, sorry about last night. I was being a prick, but Prisma set me straight.”

Elaina stared up at him for a moment before shaking his hand. His eyes were… Different. There was a calmness in them now, not as warm as Prisma’s, but a far cry from the intensity and rage she’d seen in them before. “No, I understand,” she said. “I kind of ruined everything for you all…”

Everyone except Waine and Prisma chuckled at the comment, averting her gaze. “Don’t worry about it. We have ways of showing everyone we’re still the top of the school. Now come on, the others already started.” The group started walking off, leaving Elaina to trail behind. She’d hoped to be able to walk along with Prisma, but Prisma stayed at the front with Waine, leaving the other three to make up the middle as Elaina brought up the rear. Elaina could bear this for now, though. She’d been let back in, and the day before the group makeup had been similar, with Prisma bouncing around it as they walked to the hall. It would take time for Elaina to get to know all of them, especially after what had happened, but she could be patient.

The truth in Waine’s comment about others having started the test of courage became quickly apparent as screams emanated from the woods, getting louder with each step forward. They weren’t screams of genuine terror, Elaina could tell. There was actually a similar tradition in the town she’d grown up in that took place in the fields during harvest season, and the screams she heard now were the same types of screams she’d heard when she’d taken part in that.

She didn’t like to think about that time. She’d only gone to that once, the autumn she turned eighteen, and that had been unpleasant. This time was different. She had a group of people with her this time, where at least one of them seemed to genuinely like her, and a second seemed to be warming up to her. Though, she was curious about how fast Waine had changed his attitude about her.

“We’re gonna go in this way,” Waine said, turning slightly to the right and heading towards the forest.

“It sounds like the rest of the people are straight ahead,” Elaina said.

“We don’t need to follow them. There’ll be plenty of action this way.”

The group did only veer off a little, so Elaina followed, their group’s formation not changing, but the conversation dying down as they entered. They were surrounded by trees far taller than any she’d ever seen, having been born in a farming town with more plains than forest, but the canopy wasn’t thick enough to shut out all light, so the full moon still shone through a little, giving them enough light to navigate.

“So, what should we expect?” Elaina asked.

Ivis was the one to answer, “There were a bunch of upperclassmen hiding behind trees and stuff, using their aspects to come out and scare us freshers,” he said.

“Wait, have you already been in?” Elaina asked.

“Nah,” Waine said, turning back and glaring at Ivis. “We heard students talking about it as they came back.”

“How long has it been going on?”

“Since sunset,” Prisma said, the first words she’d spoken since Elaina arrived. “We’re one of the last groups to go in.”

“Oh,” Elaina said, thinking back to their conversation earlier. “Is there like, prestige in going later?”

“Something like that,” Waine said.

As they made their trek, they heard more and more screams. Eventually the sounds grew to a head, but as Elaina continued on with the group they became less frequent again, the volume dying out as the moved forward.

They eventually came to a small clearing in the woods, a place where their entire group could stand in undisturbed moonlight. “This is far enough, right?” Prisma said, stopping.

Waine looked around the clearing and then back towards the sounds of the other students, almost inaudible at this point. “Ya, it is.”

“But we haven’t even seen anyone else yet,” Elaina said.

Waine smiled. Not the warm smile from earlier today, the wicked, vicious smile she’d seen on him when they’d first met. “No need to worry. Prisma here is going to give you the initiation you deserve.”