"... and finally, I'd like to remind you all to be careful when making excursions from the Guild. As I'm sure many of you have heard, there's a murderer in the city and whilst you're all magicians, you're still young and thus you are vulnerable to smart attacks."
Lord Balkan, pausing to allow himself a short intake of breath, let his gaze wonder over to where Sonea was sitting. Her chin rested on her palm as she stared out the window, eyes heavily lidded and her expression distant. His warning had, understandably, been aimed at her - as a previous slum dweller, she was most likely to drift into the poorer parts of the city - but she didn't even appear to be listening.
"So please, the Guild implores you to be conscientious of your surroundings; if possible, avoid longer trips until the culprit is caught. That is all for today."
Lord Balkan's gaze flickered to the prone form of Sonea once again. She didn't even appear to have noticed the lecture had ended.
Cursing softly to herself, Sonea ran her hand through her hair and sighed as she entered the Foodhall. She'd been distracted, distant, all of today; as an ex-dwell, she'd seen atrocities galore, so who'd have guessed she'd react to the Ichani's death in this way?
It was good that woman was dead. She'd been a killer, let loose on the innocents of Imardin like a demon.
But her startled expression as Sonea had killed her was imprinted onto the novice's eyes like a testimony of her wrongdoing.
Akkarin didn't walk around like some tortured insomniac (Sonea had seen the shadowy rings under her eyes that morning. It wasn't pretty). He stood tall, proud, justified; and here she was, moping around, earning herself a stern glare from Lord Balkan that morning as she drifted away for the entirety of his safety lecture.
Sighing heavily once again, she dropped herself into a seat with the rest of the novices in her class. Though they weren't exactly friends - the memories of their ignorance of her still played on her mind - she enjoyed talking with them, if only for distraction. Trassia, it turned out, had secretly admired Sonea from the start - something she'd confessed to the girl one Healing lesson. To have so many people target you, yet never cry in front of them, never break...
"Sonea," Hal greeted with a slight grin. Although aloof and stiff-faced at first, Hal was good at making people laugh. "Were you up all night? You certainly look like it."
Sonea laughed slightly, a little disconcerted - here they were, talking to her normally, and yet last night she'd killed someone. "Studying can do that to a girl."
"And a boy," Seno chipped in, somewhat gloomily. Despite Sonea's rejection - he'd asked her to the races a week or so ago - they still talked, if a little awkwardly. "I'm going to fail the mid-year tests, just you see. Especially Warrior Skills."
"Don't be silly," Sonea reprimanded, collecting a few twists of nalar, coated with tenn, with a ladle and bundling them onto her plate. "You're great at Warrior Skills, Seno, honestly."
She'd briefly forgotten his slight crush on her and mentally kicked herself as the Vindo's face flushed red. Idiot. To avoid further conversation - and further embarrassment - she quickly started eating the vegetables, her eyes downcast.
"Oh, Sonea," Trassia leaned across the table, smiling slightly. "I just remembered. Are you coming to buy a dress this Freeday?"
The question was so unexpected and abrupt that Sonea spluttered as she ate, coughing.
"Huh?" She asked, blinking with shock. "A dress? Why would I - what - I don't -?"
Her stutters sent a wave of laughter around the table. Apparently they were in on something she wasn't and Sonea irritably suppressed the ancient sting of rejection. This was different.
"The Blue Moon ball is coming up." Trassia smiled; a dimple appeared in her left cheek as she hid her giggles. "There's going to be a second full moon this month."
"And that merits a ball?" Sonea asked, a little disgustedly. Rich people. "The half-year tests are coming up! We should be studying." Of course, that wasn't what she'd been doing last night, but that hardly needed mentioning.
"It's a tradition," Trassia's smile dimmed slightly in light of Sonea's repulsion. "You will come, won't you? It'll be fun." Trassia's eyes widened pleadingly and her lips softened into a slight pout.
Sonea rolled her eyes. Trassia reminded her of an old slum friend, Donia - the girl had begged her to accompany her to parties, for protection; and although it was unlikely Trassia would be molested in anyway, Sonea couldn't quite bring herself to decline the offer.
"I'll make an appearance," Sonea replied grudgingly, and Trassia's face lit up with a grin. Sonea was struck again at how childish her fellow novices could be; they knew nothing of real life, just pretty clothes and balls and mothering from an early age.
Having finished their meal, they made their ways to evening classes; Sonea drifted her way through them in a heavy, dream-like state, occasionally breaking her reverie to scribble down what sounded like useful information or catch Trassia's eye (the girl seemed much more affectionate now she had someone to go shopping with).
As Sonea wondered back to the High Lord's residence, her head thick with weariness and distractions, she spotted Akkarin - accompanied by Lady Vinara, Lord Balkan and Lord Sarrin - talking outside, just on the steps to the residence. A spark of irritation flashed through her like lightning. He hadn't told her about the ball and now here she was, bone-tired and unprepared. Of course, finding a lover or something wasn't high on her list of priorities, but it would be nice not to have rings under her eyes at the ball, looking like some walking corpse.
But she could hardly strike up an argument with him in front of the Heads of Disciplines. A little miffed, she strode past him, her bow to the other High Magicians swift and hurried.
Takan greeted her with a low bow as she entered, but as he straightened he offered her a friendly grin. Obviously killing one of his foes and previous kidnappers earned some respect from the servant.
"Good evening, Lady Sonea," he smiled. "How has your day been?"
Sonea gave him a half-hearted shrug, not sure if she wanted to reveal her constant distraction and worry. "Not terrible, thank you. If the High Lord wishes to see me, tell him I am in my room, please."
Tripping over two steps on her way up, Sonea entered her room and collapsed in her desk chair, intent on studying. It wasn't even a minute before her head rested on the surface of the table, her eyes shut, a writing quill still clutched in her right palm.
"High Lord," Takan greeted with an overly affectionate smile. "How are you?"
Akkarin offered his servant a clipped smile in reply and refrained from answering. Balkan had informed him of Sonea's distance that morning and worry settled in. She probably hated him now; probably despised him for convincing her to kill. For some reason, the idea of her hating him caused an ache in his chest. Why? It hadn't bothered him before.
"Where is Sonea?"
"In her room. She told me that if you wish to speak with her, that is where she will be."
"Thank you, Takan."
Slowly scaling the staircase to his novice's room, Akkarin ran a hand through his long hair as he paused at her door.
"Sonea?" Rapping with his knuckles, he received no reply. Pausing, he pushed open the door, mouth open and ready to apologise for intruding: when he spotted her, curled in her desk chair. The side of her head rested on top of a worksheet, her dark hair - much longer than when she had first joined the guild, it now swept down to her collarbones - free, tumbling over the desk surface. In her hand she still clutched a pen.
She looked exhausted.
Akkarin's porcelain mask broke for a moment as he smiled down at the small, sleeping figure with affection. His heart clutched momentarily, at the memory of putting this tiny female in danger. She was like a miniature figurine, a china doll. Delicate. Breakable. Definitely not meant for fights or danger.
He moved silently to her, leaning to pluck the pen from her grasp. Taking hold of a couple of her fingers, he was about to unclench the fist she'd formed in her sleep when her hand, lightning fast, gripped onto his.
He paused, uncertain of where to proceed from here. If she woke, she'd be angry at the invasion of privacy: the whole idea of him creeping into her room while she was sleeping.
Not that I haven't done it before. Akkarin grimaced at his thoughts and quietly untangled their fingers. His pulse seemed to stutter, awakening his seemingly bruised heart, but the High Lord ignored it. She's a novice. A novice. Only a child.
Sighing to himself, he removed the top part of his robes, undoing the sash around his torso so that he could drape the black fabric over her shoulders. In her sleep, the girl moaned slightly, burrowing deeper into the overcoat. Sonea didn't notice as Akkarin slipped out, his face shadowed, his expression blank.
mostly fluffy fanfic c: AkkarinxSonea, not very serious, just meant for writing something cute c: