4.13 – Johanna

After the dueling competition, with Natalie’s head still spinning over the whole Sofia debacle, Liz pulled her to the side. She asked Natalie to head back with her to her dorm room, and since Natalie didn’t have anything else to do that night—besides Jordan—she accepted. The group split apart, with Sofia and Jordan heading for their shared dorm, and Natalie and Liz to Liz’s.

“So, what’s up?” Natalie asked as they plodded down the Tenet pathway. The sun was setting, though night hadn’t quite arrived.

“A few things,” Liz said. “And if there wasn’t, what, we can’t just hang out? I know we’ve got tight schedules, but that doesn’t mean we can’t relax. Good for team bonding. It’s actually bad to focus too hard on progress. Even my uncle says that—and he would know.”

“Uncle?”

“The King of Valhaur,” Liz said amusedly.

Natalie paused, having almost forgotten just who Liz was. The girl was so normal that her status as literal royalty, not even just ‘nobility’, slipped her mind sometimes. “Then yeah,” Natalie said. “He would know. But that wasn’t what I meant. Hanging out sounds fun—it just seemed like you had something you were worrying about.”

“Worrying? That’s not exactly the right word.” Liz rubbed her elbow, seeming hesitant, then shook her head, setting her short black hair—and its single lock of blue—bouncing. “Don’t rush me. We’ll get to that later.”

“Sure.” Though Natalie would admit some curiosity. What did Liz have to talk to her about? She could imagine several things, obviously—whether related to the team, Elida, the dungeon, or Natalie and her class.

“Oh, and just a warning,” Liz said. “I’m rooming with Johanna. She’ll probably be there.”

Johanna Valeria? The top fighter in their year? That was Liz’s roommate?

“Right,” Natalie said, slowly remembering. “You mentioned something about that, I think. Being friends with her.” House Beaumon, the royal family, and House Valeria, a house absolutely stuffing the upper ranks of the military, were famously interconnected. So it made sense Liz and Johanna were close.

“She can be a little intense,” Liz said. “I’ve got the feeling she’s gonna pull you aside to have a talk.”

“About?”

“Feel you out. She wasn’t super happy that I didn’t group with her.” Liz wrinkled her nose. “I feel kind of bad about that, still.”

Liz had originally joined up with them because she wanted to distance herself from the name Beaumon, in some part—to make her own legacy. Natalie hadn’t known Johanna, one of the top names of the year, had been one of her original planned teammates, though. Natalie and the rest of the team seriously had their work cut out for them if they wanted to surpass what Liz’s team could have been.

“But that’s not the point,” Liz said. “She’s protective. Like, a bit annoyingly so. She thinks she’s my older sister or something. And she is, in a way. Anyway, that’s why she’ll probably try to get a feel for you.”

“Sounds fun.” Honestly, she was a bit amused by the situation. Being scrutinized by the ‘older sister figure’ of Liz’s—as if the two of them were dating.

Though, after recent developments, Natalie wasn’t sure whether just friends was a perfectly accurate description. Especially with how things were shaping up in the future. Natalie had a suspicion that topic was one of the things Liz had pulled her aside for to talk about in the first place.

Arriving to Liz’s dorm complex—a different one than Natalie’s, more expensive looking—they climbed up to the second story then trekked down the hallways. Liz unlocked her dorm room, then ushered Natalie in.

“We’ve got a guest!” Liz called out.

The warning meant Johanna didn’t know in advance she had been coming, Natalie noted. And also that Liz hadn’t originally planned to bring her back to her dorm; it had been at least a somewhat spur of the moment invitation.

Walking into the dorm, she discovered that Liz and Johanna had chosen a much fancier room than her. The living room nearly doubled theirs in size, and was better decorated—and made of finer materials, with polished granite countertops and a nearly full-sized attached kitchen. Natalie wondered how many more credits Liz would be spending on the place each month. Natalie, Sofia, and Jordan had gone for one of the cheapest options, and had also split it three ways.

Her choice of room was another indicators of Liz’s status. She’d grown up as a member of the royal family, so her standards for ‘preferred living area’ was certainly far loftier than Natalie’s. Natalie wondered whether Liz even thought this extravagant two-bedroom was ‘enough’, so to say. Maybe even this didn’t meet her standards.

Natalie didn’t comment on it. She would admit that the amount of nobility crawling around Tenet did bother her at times, but Liz was obviously an exception.

Sitting on the long, L-shaped couch in the middle of the living room was a somewhat familiar face. Johanna Valeria had one arm draped over the edge, and blue eyes surveyed Natalie as she came in. Johanna had her hair up in her usual long blonde ponytail, and while being at home, relaxing in her casual clothes, softened her serious demeanor somewhat, her hard edges were still plain as day. This woman came from a prestigious line of military leaders, the most prominent in the country, and the way she carried herself made that clear.

Johanna stood, setting aside the textbook she’d been picking through, then—unsmiling, though not in an unfriendly way—she approached Natalie, her hand held out. Natalie shook it. Johanna had a firm, calloused grip.

“Natalie,” Johanna said. “Liz has told me about you.”

“Good things, I hope?”

“Liz only says good things. About anyone.” Johanna somehow managed to make the statement sound—not like an insult—but at least bordering on reproachful.

“That’s not true,” Liz protested. “Elida’s a jerk. See. Not everyone.”

“Insulting the devil doesn’t count,” Johanna said. The words were delivered without the smallest shift in her serious tone. That made it funnier. A dry sense of humor. This woman wasn’t entirely a stiff piece of metal, then. Just acted like one.

Casual introductions took place. Johanna asked after the dueling competition, and they discussed it. Amusingly, before Liz could drag Natalie to her room for privacy, her prediction came true: Johanna asked for a moment to talk to Natalie alone.

Natalie underwent several minutes of what could only be called polite scrutiny. She didn’t mind; she even appreciated Johanna’s protectiveness over Liz. From what Natalie had seen of the bubbly black-haired royal, she would even agree that Liz might be too nice to everyone—and that she needed people looking out for her. Another part of Natalie said that was naive, taking Liz’s superficial presentation of herself at face value. Someone who’d grown up as a Beaumon couldn’t be ‘too trusting’—that just wouldn’t make sense. She was a member of the royal family, and one training to be a delver. She simply couldn’t be naive.

Shortly, though, the scrutiny ended, with Natalie not entirely sure whether she’d gained Johanna’s approval or not. She at least didn’t act unfriendly towards her. Natalie didn’t think the woman cared that they’d stolen one of the best healers of the year from her team, but rather, that Johanna only cared about Liz herself. So, despite having a bit of a hidden rivalry with the dominant fighter, Natalie found her opinion of Johanna raised by several notches—and, oddly, her desire to climb past her in the rankings.

With that done, and a somewhat exasperated Liz having been waiting patiently, Natalie ended up in Liz’s room, the two of them alone.