26
The rest of Ruva's holidays flew by, and before she knew it, she was stepping back through the bubbledoor to Akarnae.
It was early evening when Ruva arrived, so she headed straight to the food court.
She blinked, noticing one table full of unfamiliar faces. It took a few moments for her to realise that they were the first years, and that she was now a second year.
Wow, she had been at Akarnae for a whole year.
Ruva walked over the second year table with a spring in her step. Arra, Leo and Harry weren't here yet, so she sat down, content listening to everyone else.
Eating her food, Ruva kept looking back at the doors, until Arra finally walked through them. She lit up at the sight of Ruva, rushing towards their table. She wrapped her arms around her quickly, before pulling up a chair and sitting beside Ruva.
"How was your holiday?" she asked, ordering a bowl of spaghetti.
"Relaxing," said Ruva, not wanting to discuss Leo's sleepover.
"Mine was jam-packed," said Arra while shovelling spaghetti in her mouth. "Mum's got me working full-time in the café, it was exhausting. I didn't have much time off, but you never called me or anything," she said, sounding hurt. "You never left any messages either."
Ruva just shrugged, it was hard for her to find the words she needed, making calling and messaging awkward. "I didn't have much to say."
When she stayed quiet, Arra said, "I understand. You and silence go hand-in-hand, you find it hard to get the right words."
Ruva looked at Arra, her small height and dark-amber eyes. She knew her so well. She nodded once, "Yeah."
Just then, Harry and Leo walked in, a suspicious stain on Harry's shirt.
They sat down across from them, Harry looked guilty, and refused to meet their eyes until he had ordered his meal.
When he finally looked up, Arra said, "What have you done this time, Harry?"
Harry rubbed the back of his neck, chuckling nervously. "Well, the short story is, it's baby vomit."
Ruva's eyes widened, she was not expecting that answer.
Arra wasn't either. "I'm sorry, what did you just say?"
Harry laughed again. "I guess you want the long story?" Arra gave him a look, so Harry started.
"You see, I was at Leo's house this afternoon and I was chasing his brother, Matt, around, when suddenly, Leo's mum came in…"
Ruva continued to listen to the story, a smile tugging her lips as Harry narrated. Ruva looked to Leo, and their eyes met.
His words from the beach echoed through her head once more.
I won't leave you, so keep moving forwards
She smiled again, unable to help herself. Ruva was drawn into his chocolate-brown eyes, then she noticed the conflicting emotions she saw there. He seemed so torn, but Ruva had no idea why.
She couldn't pull her eyes away from him, not until she heard Arra's clear laughter.
Ruva turned to Harry, tuning in just in time to hear the climax of his story.
"So I was still holding Milly as I rushed around trying to find my backpack – which was on my back the entire time – and then Milly starts crying. So I'm trying to soothe her while looking for my bag, when she vomits on me!
I take Milly and give her back to Mrs Wendyl, and she directs me to the kitchen so I can clean my shirt, but in the hallway I tripped over a toy and went smashing into the ground. I rolled over, groaning, then I realised I had my bag from the start!"
Everyone at the table laughed, and, right on cue, lollipops appeared in front of them. Harry put the lolly in his mouth before continuing his story.
"So then I wallow in self-pity for a while before getting up and heading to the kitchen, but then Leo tells me it's time to go, so I rush out the door and outside. I say I'm ready to go, so we step through the bubbledoor and end up here, when I realise something…"
Harry paused, looking all around the table. "I left my backpack in the kitchen."
The whole table started laughing – Arra most of all.
Harry pulled the lollipop stick out of his mouth, putting it in a bag. "And that's the long story about this stain on my shirt."
Arra snorted, putting her own lollipop in its bag. "You really can tell a story, Harry."
Ruva's lollipop was finished, but she had forgotten about it. She was still listening to the conversations around the table. It wasn't until Arra elbowed her that she realised there was a bag in front of her. Ruva's cheeks flushed red, and she quickly put her stick in the bag.
Not a moment after her bag disappeared, schedules appeared in front of everyone, and Ruva eagerly grabbed at hers. She scanned through her lessons, noting that she was still in Karana for ES. She thought her results were the same as last year, until she noticed something different. She was in Epsilon PE, not Delta, like last year.
Ruva gulped at the thought of being in not one, but two Epsilon classes when she was only a second year. Arra nudged her and asked something, but Ruva didn't hear her.
All she could think of was how unlikely – how impossible – it was that she was in Epsilon PE. Sure, she'd had years of experience in forests, and was fit and light on her feet, but her class would be filled with fifth years and apprentices. How could she be at the same level as them, when she was only fourteen?
Arra nudged her shoulder, bring Ruva back to awareness. "You okay, Angel? You look like you've seen a ghost."
Ruva didn't respond, not reacting even as Arra pulled the new schedule from her hands.
She watched Arra's eyes flicker as she read the schedule, unable to describe how she was feeling. While she would normally talk to Leo in these situations, the idea alone made Ruva nervous – especially after their disastrous sleepover.
"Hey," said Arra. "You're in Epsilon PE now, that's good!" Arra paused. "Right?" her voice was quieter now, more careful.
Ruva shook her head, no longer frozen in place. Her hand rose to her Myrox necklace, squeezing the horse charm as if it would give her comfort.
"Are you worried it will be too hard for you?" she tried, even though they both knew that the aptitude test was foolproof.
When Ruva didn't answer, Arra tried a different approach. "Are you worried about not being with any of your friends?"
That was something Ruva hadn't thought of, but she couldn't say she wouldn't be relieved to spend less time around Leo.
Arra was silent as she tried to work out what was upsetting Ruva, but she placed her arm around Ruva all the same, offering physical comfort.
"Is it… Are you worried about being in Epsilon when the other second years are in Gamma and Beta?"
Ruva nodded, her gaze dropping to her food.
"Hey, don't be like that," she whispered, squeezing Ruva's hand. "You'll do awesome, you'll see."
Although the words were simple, they seemed to thrum with energy. She held her head a little higher, giving Arra a nod.
Arra smiled, recognising the look on Ruva's face.
"Good job, Ruva," she said, "Good job."
And then, Ruva's nerves disappeared.
…
The following day, Ruva arrived at the field for her first Epsilon PE lesson.
Although she had been confident last night, it was another thing to walk out to her lesson on her own, especially knowing she would be the only second year.
She had been right in thinking she would be the youngest in her class, with all of her classmates staying polite but distant. The only people in the class she knew were Kaiden and Declan, but she only saw them around the palace, never really talking to them.
Finn had grunted when he saw her amongst the group, but he hadn't commented, just ordered them all to start running. The pace was much faster than she was used to, Ruva had to put all her energy into keeping up with everyone else.
As the lesson continued, Ruva found herself more and more exhausted. But at the same time, it was invigorating. She felt incredible throughout the lesson, getting a rush of endorphins as she pushed herself harder. By the end of the session she was drenched in sweat and breathing heavily, but she had a smile on her face.
…
And so the days passed in the same manner as last year, with Ruva struggling with her theoretical lessons and excelling in the practical ones. As it was, Ruva shared barely any of her potential classes with her friends, only Harry in Archery and Arra in Chemistry.
The most interesting change was in her additional ES lessons, where Tayla introduced her to a new category of tricks.
In the very first lesson of the year, Tayla made Ruva saddle up Dancer, showing her a variety of rescue manoeuvres. Ruva was immediately fascinated, she had never thought of using her riding skills like this.
Each week Tayla was going to show her a new trick, giving her the rest of the week to master it.
Ruva spent the first lesson learning how to grab an item from the ground while at a canter, then a gallop.
They used an apple for this exercise, and by the end of the lesson, Ruva was getting a firm grip on the apple three quarters of the time, managing to get back in the saddle about half the time.
The main problem was she kept getting tangled in the reins and stirrups, still used to riding bareback. Tayla eventually let her take off Dancer's gear, but warned her that she would struggle much more without reins to hold onto.
But as soon as Ruva tried, she found out that Tayla was right. Without reins to hold onto or stirrups to loop her foot through, it was near impossible to get back up, and she fell off more times than she cared to count.
She eventually relented, saddling Dancer up once more and trying again. She had a far higher rate of success that way, even if she did get tangled more than once.
Ruva no longer had any potential-based lessons with Leo, something she was very relieved in. It was hard enough sharing age-based classes, especially because every time he looked at Ruva, her feelings went all over the place.
Ruva still didn't know what to think of her sleepover with Leo, and often opted not to think of it at all.
Ruva kept moving forwards, trying to ignore the past and stay calm.
That is, until her calmness was shattered.
It was the third week of the semester, and Ruva walked out to the field, ready for her PE lesson. It was good that the Epsilon class was the first lesson of the day, it was much cooler than having afternoon lessons, like last year.
Ruva was still tired from the previous night, tired enough that she didn't realise she was dressed differently to all the other students. Only when Finn arrived did Ruva recognise that everybody else was dressed in swimwear, while Ruva was in her normal clothing.
"Springden!" barked Finn. "Are you planning on swimming in your clothes? Get your act together!"
Ruva froze.
Swimming?
No, she could not go in the water.
The only thing she managed to do was shake her head, the action so small that nobody noticed. She tried to speak, tried to tell Finn that she couldn't, but the words just couldn't form. It was like there was a hand around her neck, squeezing out any chance she had on speaking.
When words failed her, Ruva ran.
She ran past the group, dodging their attempts to stop her.
She ran past the lake, the dark water hiding many things.
She ran into the trees, their cool shadows feeling like home.
Ruva climbed up a tree, panting for breath.
Her thoughts kept turning back to what had just happened, she needed a distraction. So, Ruva activated her second gift.
She let go of all the normal restraints, the ones she reflexively used. The ribbons started to pull at her, wanting her to absorb their information. She didn't try to stop them, and let herself become fully immersed in the first ribbon that reached her, the one between her and Dancer. Ruva gripped the ribbon, watching every meaningful interaction between them.
After she had witnessed everything her ribbon had to offer, Ruva grabbed at the next ribbon, trying to forget what just happened to her.
As far as Ruva was concerned, going back wasn't an option.