Ch 2.13: Free

Elaina was pretty sure she had everything she needed for their practicum trip packed into her bag. Spare shirts, spare underwear, spare socks, spare Temmie. They were only supposed to be gone three days, and Tira was supposed to take care of food, so Elaina was pretty sure that was all she needed.

She did want to make sure they brought Temmie’s subcore with them, of course. Three days was a long time to be out of contact with her, and even longer to leave her alone where she could potentially be found by someone else. Elaina was pretty sure she was in Waine’s sights again after the previous day’s confrontation, and she wouldn’t put it past him to try and wreck her room.

“I think I’m ready,” she said out loud, not really to anyone in particular. Carline was still in class, so she’d be meeting them out front.

“Do I really have to be stuffed next to your underwear in your bag too?” Temmie asked.

“Underwear’s really the only thing I have to bring.” The spare jacket and skirt were too big to fit in Elaina’s small satchel, and she shouldn’t need them anyway. “I could wrap you up in one of my shirts, I guess.”

“No… I would rather not be wrapped up entirely.”

“Then this is what you get.” Elaina racked her brain for anything she might have been forgetting, and then remembered one final thing. She went over to her dresser and pulled out her carved star necklace, slipping it into her pocket. She hadn’t worn it much since arriving since it didn’t really work with her tie, but she was pretty sure she could get away with not wearing the tie in the woods, so she thought it’d be nice to have a chance to wear it again for once.

Elaina threw the bag over her shoulder and headed out. The common room was mostly empty, but once she made it out into the halls she could feel the change in energy. Students were talking louder, stepping with more haste as they made their way around the school. It was Fifthday after all, the last day of classes before their two day break. Elaina herself had special permission to leave early since she was done with class and had an assignment, but come the official end of day all the students would be free, including being allowed into the castle town.

The idea intrigued her, but Elaina didn’t really know what was so special about it. The small town she’d lived in wasn’t much to be excited about for sure, and she was overall much more comfortable in the school than back home. Maybe people just don’t like being cooped up.

It certainly seemed that way, as talk of going out over the weekend was what filled the air more than anything. One group of students was talking about going to some place to eat, another about shopping, but one conversation caused Elaina’s head to jerk as she heard it.

“You hear the Ferris-Fireguard marriage is officially off now?”

“No way! Does that mean Waine and Prisma…”

“I think so.”

Elaina stood frozen as she watched the two students continued down the hall, oblivious to her eavesdropping. “The Ferris-Fireguard marriage… is off.” She sighed, feeling like a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. But they had been engaged then? That explains… everything.

There was a lot she still didn’t understand, really. Chief among them being why no one had told her about the engagement. Prisma could have of course, but surely Carline would know, right? And she’d been talking to Flora about arranged marriages just earlier that week. She frowned at the thought, annoyed at having been misled for two weeks by seemingly everyone around her. Tira might not have known, but even that she wasn’t sure about.

Still, things were going to be okay now. She knew it didn’t magically make her and Prisma best friends, but having an understanding of things was comforting at least. And now there’s a chance we can start over, maybe.

Conflicting emotions rolled through her as she exited out into the garden, but she was going to try and stay positive. It would have been an awkward thing to bring up to her she knew, even if she would’ve preferred having been told.

“I’ll ask them about it after we’re back,” she muttered to herself. “No need to bring up something like that when we’re all supposed to be focused on work.”

“What was that, Elaina?” Temmie asked.

“Nothing,” Elaina said, shaking her head.

“Very well. But it is not wise to let things that must be said linger in the air. It often makes it difficult to breathe.”

“It’s nothing, I said.” It wasn’t really nothing, but it wasn’t worth making a huge deal out of. Flora and Carline wouldn’t have held back information without a reason, that much she was sure of.

Elaina squinted as she came up to the school gate. Shethought for a moment that she recognized Flora and Tira, but the two people standing outside of the gate couldn’t be them. One of them was wearing a bright yellow sundress, and the other a dark brown vest with matching pants.

Except it definitely was them. Flora in the dress, Tira in the shirt and pants. “Uhm, what are you two wearing?”

The two turned around, both having been facing out towards the road. “I’m wearing far too much clothes for my comfort,” Flora said with a smile, “but you’ve got me beat by far.”

“Elaina, you know you can wear street clothes on campus after class on Fifthday, right?” Tira said. “You can’t just hang out around school in them, but it’s fine if you’re heading out of the castle grounds.”

Elaina blinked at least a dozen times before she managed to understand. “I… No one told me that before...”

Flora giggled, covering her mouth with her hand. “Guess Carly’ll get to enjoy watching you change into your regular clothes later, huh?”

“I, uhm, I don’t have regular clothes…”

Tira took her dozen blinks. “Wait, you’re planning on wearing the uniform the entire time?”

“I thought we had to!”

“Uhm, hey everyone!” someone said from behind. Elaina turned to see Carline, still in her uniform, running towards them. She was panting as she stopped, staring at Elaina, a concerned look on her face. “Sorry I’m late, uhm, had an issue.”

“It’s fine,” Tira said. “Carriage isn’t here yet anyway. We were just talking about how Elaina apparently didn’t know street clothes are allowed.”

Elaina blushed, looking at Carline. “You too?”

“Oh, no, I uhm, have a change of clothes in my bag…” Carline looked down towards the ground, biting her lip. “Elaina, uhm, is everything alright?”

“Yeah, just a little embarrassed I’ll spend the weekend in my uniform, but I’ll live.” She sighed, once again falling victim to lack of knowledge that everyone else seemed to take for granted.

“Yeah,” Flora said. “You would’ve found out last week when you saw people walking around if we weren’t under curfew. At least you know for next time!”

Elaina smiled. It was hard to be upset when Flora was smiling and happy—or maybe it was just that Elaina could tell Flora wasn’t wearing a bra under that short, thin sundress. Regardless, she’d still get to spend the whole weekend with the three best friends she had at school, and they’d hopefully get some information about the missing subcore besides.

“Yeah,” Tira added, “she isn’t the type to let a little wardrobe mishap ruin a good time.” She smirked at her own comment, eyes directed at Elaina and filled with mischief. “Isn’t that right?”

Elaina laughed, waving Tira off. “Who knows, maybe I’ll manage to keep my clothes on for the whole trip.”

“Not if I have anything to say about it,” Flora said, causing Tira to do a double take.

Elaina was about to laugh again when she felt a hand on her shoulder. “Hey,” Carline said, “you’re really okay?”

“Uhm, yeah? It’s not that big a deal, really. Are you okay?”

Carline nodded, but her eyes still hung low. “I’m fine. Just worried about you.”

Elaina smiled, wrapping her arms around Carline and squeezing, careful not to hug too tightly with her increased strength. “I appreciate you, but I’ll be okay. Let’s focus on having a good trip.” Putting actions to words, she let Carline go and turned back around, stepping out of the gate, out of the school grounds for the first time in two weeks. “For a couple days at least, we’re free!”