Author's note: A short chapter indeed. I just want any readers to know this is NOT dead, we're just still getting started up from the summer.
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Kalah didn't know it was possible to smirk and frown at the same time. She'd gotten Amber good this time, watching her being dragged painfully off to the baths by Miss. Scary. On the other hand, there was a new person here.
Another noble.
Her half frown then turned into a full fledged scowl. She didn't want to admit it, but similar thoughts had been running through her head as Ember told off the new girl. Memories of why she was in this miserable hut with the other thief in the first place came to mind.
Nobles were nothing but trouble. Giving Atlanta a silent glare, she turned and stalked off to her room down the hall. But not before saying one thing.
"I won't get in your hair if you don't get in mine."
Then she closed the wooden door firmly behind her.
x
"I have better things to do than grovel." … "I won't get in your hair if you won't get in mine." … Noble good-for-nothing, sitting among the silks while the rest of us work for a living… useful only to buy frivolities, fill the purses of merchants, whiling your lives away…
Not for the first time, Atlanta fa Charis wished that, just once, she could be liked for who she was instead of hated for her blood.
Blue blood, straight back through the generations, it was a curse upon an innocent girl. Once, in a fit of melodrama, she had convinced herself that the next time an ignorant fool taunted, she would take a knife and spill every drop of that gods-cursed blood from her veins.
Suicide would teach them tolerance, wouldn't it? To not close doors in her face at the merest hint of her lineage? But she never had, of course. After a long, woodsy ramble alone (always alone) and subsequent return to sanity, Alta realized the folly in this and put her mind to thinking more productive thoughts. But the bitter idea still slipped out, at times.
This was one of those times. Slam. Door to possibility closed. A careful observer, long acquainted with Atlanta, would have noticed a fracture in her noble's mask, a glint of something that could almost be tears. But there were none here, and a moment later, all traces were gone.
"Is it just the four of you at Discipline?" Alta asked Lark, more perfunctorily than anything else. She looked around the house again, wondered where the stocky
"With you here, we're almost up to our limit," the black-haired woman replied easily. A note of amusement entered her voice. "And with both Rosethorn and Ember under one roof, I think that we're at our limit. But another girl might be coming in a few days."
Alta nodded politely, opening her mouth to begin a sentence, but Lark beat her to it—and anticipated exactly what she was about to ask, eyes sparkling with laughter.
"After such an introduction to us all, you must be ready to settle in. Here, your room is…" The woman began to lead the way into the house, then paused. "Oh, Niko—Rosethorn wanted to talk to you about something. Go see her before she leaves for the bathhouses, please?"
Rosethorn, Atlanta repeated to herself, fixing the name in her mind. Graceful and calm, Lark; prickly and sarcastic, Rosethorn. It seemed to fit. Picking up her bag, she followed Lark to her room.
Sunlight streamed into Atlanta's room early the next morning; she must have forgotten to close her blinds. What had remained of the previous day had been spent unpacking, listening as Lark explained some of the customs of Discipline to her, and avoiding the other occupants of the cottage—successfully.
Wanting to continue in this vein, Alta woke immediately and dressed for the day, leaving her hair to fall around her shoulders. She really did have to get some plainer dresses soon. The silks and satins were a dead giveaway.
The rest of Discipline lay asleep. Well, most likely asleep. That Ember girl is probably already outside killing babies and kicking dogs, Alta thought bitterly, undoing the latch and stepping out. It was silent in the front garden of Discipline, the sun just rising, the path empty. —No, not empty. As she turned, Atlanta found Niko walking up the path, raising a hand in greeting; her brows shot up in surprise and her mouth curved in a smile.
Which disappeared immediately. Standing next to the mage was the girl who had informed all of Winding Circle that Atlanta was a fa Charis and ruined her chance at normalcy. Leah.
x
Leah jumped quickly out of the wagon that she had been riding in on the way to Discipline. She hurried around to the back before anyone could grab her baggage for her, but when she tried to hoist her one small sack over the edge, a hand came to bar her passage. "That will be done for you," Niko said quietly, "I'm going to give you a short tour of the grounds right now, as you will be staying here for the next while." Grudgingly, Leah followed, all the while green eyes fixed on the old man's back.
"Here is the cottage. As I told you, it is now at it's full capacity of four people with you here. Although we do have four rooms on the bottom two floors, the other teachers and I have decided to put you in the attic." When Leah looked at him like he was insane, he added, "We don't want any more accidents, now. Do we?" She felt her face flush horribly.
"As the only person here who has an affinity for threads, you will be studying with Lark. The other two instructors here are Rosethorn and Frostpine. I don't think you should have much to do with them unless you get into trouble."
Leah began to phase Niko out as he pointed out a few other places around Discipline that she might want to know about. It's nice here, the former servant thought. I think I might actually like it.And it's deffinately not as bad looking as it's name suggests. A small smile crept across her pale face.
Unfortunatley, her little blissful moment didn't last long. The pair turned into Discipline's front garden and she froze. There, standing in her fine garments looking as stuck up and regal as ever, was Atlanta fa Charis. Leah grimaced slightly and dropped a curtsy, spreading her plain brown skirts out wide. "Nice to see you again, Miss Charis." she said, a trifle sarcastically. "I wasn't expecting to see you again so soon." Or ever... Still crouched low, she saw another girl running towards them from around Discipline, short red hair somehow managing to fly out behind her. Niko, following her line of sight, saw the girl and smiled.
"That would be Ember." he said, chuckling slightly. " Probably running from a bath or Rosethorn. She's a trouble maker, that one."