Arielle stared at Krad, stunned. “That’s a shit blessing. Reluctant is right, why the hell would I want anything to do with that?”

“I’m guessing Lenore didn’t want someone eager for power undertaking this. It needed to be someone with strength but no malicious intent.”

Speechless, Arielle looked around and suddenly felt very claustrophobic. The room felt small, tiny even. She needed to get out of here immediately. Standing up she pulled on her shoes and made towards the door. When she turned the handle she was angered to find it locked. “I guess I didn’t have to try and escape for them to lock me in.”

Arielle took a step back and studied the door. The room was old, most things were hanging on by a thread and the door was no exception. Moving closer to the hinges she grinned and began twisting the screws that held the hinges to the wall. They came undone under her deft touch quickly. Catching the door as it rocked backwards, she shimmied it sideways, making an opening just large enough for her to slide through.

“That was remarkably easy,” commented Krad.

“They must not expect much of me as a mere human,” she said scornfully.

“I bet such a simple solution never even crossed their mind.”

Looking in the hall, Arielle could hear clearly now the sound of chattering children. That made her decision to walk in the opposite direction of that quite easily. The walls were bare in this quarter but  they slowly became more adorned once she turned the corner at the end of the long hall. Massive paintings, detailed tapestry and ghastly flower arrangements began to cover every inch of the space.

Once she found the stairs, she descended to the bottom floor and stared at the courtyard. Again, she walked in the opposite direction, intent on separating herself from this place for as long and as far as she could manage. From outside the building she could see that the campus was quite expansive.

Arielle realized the building her room was in must be the main lodging, and the buildings on either side were additional student accommodations. The more intricately designed buildings that made up the remaining of the academy were likely things like the classrooms and dining hall. A grand bell tower off a towering white building identified itself as a Church of The Saint. 

The building right across from the church was equally impressive with massive stained-glass windows and beautiful motifs carved in stone all along the side. In every way that the church was simple and modest, this building was grand and excessive. Arielle was beyond curious as to what it was. 

Large buildings dotted the horizon well past the boundary of the academy, and Arielle knew that must be the Capital. The Academy was said to be on the outskirts of it, but she didn’t expect it to be so close. Arielle had never seen anything larger than the city on the border of Maliorn's neighboring province, which while bigger than her village, could hardly be compared to the Capital.

Feeling better with the fresh air, Arielle tried to figure out what exactly she wanted to do. The grumbling of her stomach gave her the direction she needed. Arielle asked of both Evol and Krad, “You two wouldn’t happen to know where the dining hall is would you?”

They both shook their bodies in the negative.

Arielle let out a very deep and long sigh. “This is going to be a long day…or week…maybe even year.”

“Hey, human!”

At first, Arielle didn’t even acknowledge the outburst and only realized it was she who was being addressed when she was roughly grabbed by the shoulder and forcefully turned to face a tall elf. Light green hair, like the leaves of spring flowers, cascaded down the front of his shoulders and he had emerald eyes that glinted like the gems in the sunlight.

While the look of him was admittedly very soft on the eyes, his voice was anything but. “Did you not hear me calling you? I need you to run to my room, Elishi Hall, room 12 and grab my notebook. I’ll be in Gralis lecture hall.”

Arielle immediately swatted his hand away, “No thanks. Get it yourself.” Arielle couldn’t imagine sending anyone else to get something she was responsible for, what kind of character would that show.

“Excuse me?” the elf said, eyes wide in astonishment. They really were pretty eyes. “You think you can speak to me like that when it’s your job to do as I say?”

Arielle ran a hand through her own dark brown hair, wondering if her green eyes ever sparkled like this elf’s. “By The Saint, are all elves this self-important. First Aymon, now you.”

“You know Aymon? What would the likes of you have to do with one of the empire’s top elves from one of, if not the best, party to have existed in years?”

A laugh escaped her, “They’re one of the best? They’re just a bunch of bullies who used their magic instead of words to get what they wanted.” They would never be heroes in her eyes.

At that moment, this elf with green hair and green eyes, raised his hand to presumably slap Arielle but fell short by an inch or two. An invisible force preventing him from completing the action.

Unable to help herself, Arielle stuck out her tongue and sprinted away. “I think I’ll be taking advantage of this blessed can’t hurt the blessed thing a lot here.” She could hear Krad chuckling and Evol releasing a very exasperated sigh.