Disclaimer: I do not own anything in the story apart from 'Heppy'.
Lyra Belacqua;
Lyra
carefully balanced herself, as she walked across a joint pole from
one roof to another, of Jordan College.
Something
she hadn't done since leaving Jordan College to go to the North to
rescue all the children from the General Oblation Board. She had
stayed in the North with her father, Lord Asriel, to find out more
about 'Dust'.
When
she left with the Gyptions she was just twelve years old. Now she's
returned and looking forward to her eighteenth birthday. Over the
years, her dæmon, Pantalaimon has settled in the form of a snow
leopard. Reason for this being, she's spent most of her teenage
years in the North. She doesn't mind though. Pantalaimon is the
most beautiful daemon she has ever seen. "Whoa…whoa…" Lyra
said, as she very nearly lost her balance. "Lyra, be careful."
Pan told her. When she had reached the other side, she sat down to
rest.
"That
was a close one." She said
"Yeah,
too close." Pan layer down next to her, and Lyra wrapped her arms
around him.
"I
don't know what I would do without you Pan."
"Probably
curl up and cry." He said, as he licked her face.
"I
can't believe I have to go to lessons here. I bet the scholars are
even more boring, as they were when I left."
"Maybe
not. The master said someone is going to be starting here. They're
only for a little while though. They might not be boring."
"I
wonder who it could be." Lyra said, as she looked up into the
sky.
"We
should get going Lyra. We don't want to be late for dinner. Maybe
later we can go for a walk before bed."
"Good
idea Pan. Come on. We'll take the new route I worked up. So it's
easy for you. Shame you can't change anymore."
"That's
part of life Lyra." Pan said, as he jumped from one roof to
another. Lyra following him.
After
Lyra, has made her way off the roofs of the college, she climbed
through her bedroom window, and into the bathroom, to run herself a
nice hot bath.
"How
much bubble bath do you need?" Pan asked Lyra.
"A
lot. I like the smell of this one."
"It
smells like strawberries. You haven't had strawberries, since we
went to the north. Maybe we could have them for dessert."
"Maybe."
Lyra said, as she began to massage the shampoo into her curly blonde
hair. "You could do with a bath. You haven't had one for three
days."
"Fine.
I'll take one. But I don't want to smell of strawberry's… Ok…
maybe a little bit." Pan said, as he curled up into a ball, under
the sink. Lyra laughed at his remark.
She
then, rinsed her hair, and covered it with conditioner. She then left
it to do its job, and picked up a book, one of the scholars had given
her, half an hour after she had arrived.
Ten
minutes had passed, and Lyra's fingers were starting to look like
prunes. She washed the conditioner out, and decided to get out of the
bath. She had to wake a sleeping Pantalaimon up. She walked back to
her room, where she got dressed and dried her hair. Before making her
way down to dinner.
"You
can have your bath tomorrow now Pan. I stayed in there for longer
than I wanted too. If we want to go for our walk; we'll have to go
straight after we've finished eating. Or it'll be too
late."
"Agreed."
Pan said, a little relieved.
"Lyra.
It's good to have you back here at Jordon College."
"Thank
you Master. It feels good to be back. To have a nice hot bath. I
missed that the most."
"The
master chuckled. "It's good to see that Pantalaimon has settled
into a snow leopard. I understand why."
Lyra
smiled. "He's the best dæmon in all of Oxford."
"How
was your time in the North with Lord Asriel?"
"Great,
thank you. Pan and I learned a lot." She replied, as she ate a
piece of broccoli. "Uhmm. Master. Who is this person that is coming
to teach here at Jordon College? I'm just curious." She quickly
asked.
"His
name Lyra, is Mr. Zac Efron."
"Well…
what has he come to teach?"
"We
haven't decided just yet. But he's a very good teacher. Well…
he won't exactly be your teacher. You'll be learning things from
him yes. You'll be telling him what you know about dust. If you
would like to anyway."
"Hmmm."
Lyra sat and ate the rest of her dinner in silence. Wondering what
this 'Zac Efron' man looked like.
"Lyra.
I know what you're thinking." Pan said.
After
dinner, Lyra and pan had gone for their walk as planned. It was a
beautiful quiet night. Half moon. Cool warm breeze. The trees
whistling. The water trickling from under the bridge. Lyra had missed
all this. For all there is in the north, is snow, snow and more
snow.
"Those
strawberry's sure were nice Pan. Aren't you happy I saved you a
couple?"
"Very
happy. Thanks Lyra." Pan said, still licking his sticky paws."
"They taste better than they smell." He added. Recalling the
smell, of Lyra's shampoo, earlier that night.
"Excuse
me! Excuse me!" Lyra heard a voice shout. She was a little
startled. She thought it was just her and Pan outside this late at
night.
"Yeah."
"I
was wondering if you could help me. I can't seem to remember where
exactly my room is."
"Which
side are you on? East or West?"
"West."
"I'll
take you there. Pan and I were heading that way anyway."
"We
were?" Pan asked quietly and a little confused. Lyra just nudged
him away.
"My
name is Zac by the way." Zac added, just as he turned around to
walk with Lyra. His dæmon, Heppy, following.
"I'm
Lyra. Lyra Belacqua. And this is Pantalaimon. Pan for short."
"Nice
to meet you Lyra. You too Pan. I'm Zac Efron. This is
Heppy."
"Hello
Heppy. Nice to meet you."
"Nice
to meet you too Lyra."
"It
was a shock when Heppy settled as a hare. I wanted her to be
something cool, like a hawk. Or a leopard. But I don't mind. She's
a beautiful hare."
"Pan
is only a snow leopard because we were in the North with my father,
since I was twelve years old."
"That's
cool."
"He
really wanted to be a flea. But I have no idea why. It doesn't
matter though. He protects me from all kinds of danger. Don't you
Pan."
"I
try. But sometimes you get in the way." He replied
Zac
just laughed.
"How
old are you Lyra?"
"I'm
seventeen. Eighteen in six weeks. How old are you?"
"I'm
twenty-one years old."
"Cool.
What do you do?"
"I'm
an actor. I've come to learn something new though. Taking a break
from all that."
"Ok.
You live in Hollywood don't you?" Lyra asked with a smile on her
face.
"Not
exactly. I live outside of Hollywood. But I'm a well-known
Hollywood actor."
"Hollywood
is so glamorous. I wish I could go to Hollywood."
"Maybe
you could come and visit me some day. My zeppelin could bring you
there."
"You
have your own zeppelin!" Lyra said excited.
"Yes.
Hope you're ok with long journey's though."
"That's
ok." Lyra said as she stopped outside a door. "Well, here we are.
You know what room is yours' don't you?"
"Haha!
Yes I do. Well thank you for showing me Lyra. And also Pan. Thank you
for keeping Heppy company. She feels alone sometimes."
"That's
ok Zac. Well... goodnight."
"Goodnight
Lyra." Zac smiled as he walked inside.
