Chapter 18

Marelda's POV

I was actually mildly surprised Luca showed up, meeting me in front of the girls' dorm. Granted, he was several minutes late, but he said he'd been working on something and lost track of time. He wouldn't elaborate on what, brushing it off as unimportant, but did apologize, surprisingly, for being late.

"Why am I going again?" he asked, following me as I made my way to the classroom someone had gained permission to use.

"Because Maeghan is making me, and I refuse to go by myself. I won't know most of the students. You, on the other hand, seem to know everyone."

"Know of everyone, bella. Doesn't mean I know them all personally. There are very few people I know personally, actually."

"Whining won't change it. Maybe you'll have fun."

"You're quoting Maeghan, aren't you?"

"Deadshot center," I replied, reaching the door. "Here goes nothing." I opened it, and behind were about twenty or so students, all of varying ages. Impressive turnout, since only about thirty or so students were staying over break.

They were playing various games, card games or marbles and such, or standing around talking. There was a table covered in food, some of it obviously student made, some of it appearing to have been purchased in town. Music was coming from somewhere, probably an older student's spell.

Maeghan spotted Luca and I, then smiled and excused herself from a conversation with an older, dark-haired girl, skipping over to us. "I'm glad you guys made it!"

I shook my head, but I was smiling. "If I hadn't, you would have been sulking every time I was in the same room for at least the rest of break."

She giggled. "That is true. Still, I'm glad you actually came, and brought your buddy, too! There's games being played on that half of the room, and the other half is just casual stuff. Try the food, too. I recommend the Chocolate Cherry Muffins. Isa made them."

"Yes, well, it was Selene's excellent recipe, so I can't take all the credit." The girl who Maeghan had been talking to came up behind her. She was a pretty, cream skinned girl with waist length hair. Perhaps about eighteen, maybe nineteen. "I'm Isa Ravenswood."

"Marelda Krammer." I shook her outstretched hand. "This is Luca."

"I know." She smiled. "I'm surprised she managed to get you here, you usually avoid these sorts of things."

My buddy shrugged, palms up. "Bella told me I had to, and I can't be disappointing her, now can I?" he said, winking at me. I rolled my eyes. He'd replaced his playful slacker persona when we walked in the room. If I didn't know him as well as I did at this point, I wouldn't have been able to tell how uncomfortable he was.

Ravenswood laughed. "Of course."

"How's Alex?"

"He's over in the corner, beating everyone at slips." Slips was a complicated sort of card game I'd never bothered to learn the rules to. It was incredibly popular, but I never much cared for it.

Luca nodded. "I might just go give him some real competition."

"Please do. He'll be insufferable for at least a few days if he isn't beaten at least once."

Luca turned to me. "You up for a round?"

I shook my head. "Naw, don't know how to play, don't care much to learn."

He gasped, pressing a hand to his chest. "This just won't do! We have to correct this grievous injustice!"

It was nice that at least Maeghan joined me in giving him a deadpan look. Isa just laughed.

"If I didn't know better, I'd accuse you of spending too much time with Alex, with the flowers you're spitting up."

"I'm entirely offended." His smirk said otherwise. "But come on, bella, we must get you acquainted with slips."

Eventually Luca gave up on trying to explain how slips worked to me, sighing dramatically about how my talents are clearly more for a different battlefield. I flicked his ear for that, causing him to dramatically clap his hand over his ear and howl. It got quite a few laughs.

At the moment, I'd gotten up to get a drink, but then was pulled into a conversation with Isa. As it turned out, she was only a level up in classes. She was also, upon questioning, Selene's co-sister-in-law—or, rather, the sister of Selene's sister-in-law. Isa was also very curious about my training program.

"So you've got training nearly every day, right? With weapons and such?"

I nodded. "Sundays are my days off from everything, but I only have a light morning practice on saturdays. I've got more intensive practices in the week, every morning but Wednesday, where it's a lighter practice. Most of my classes are in the afternoons because of that, at least they were this quarter."

"That's a lot of work," she said. "I don't think I'd be cut out for that."

Judging by the fact that she looked like she'd never had to do much hard labor in her life, I could say that I agreed with that. Well, not out loud. That would be rude. "Few are, honestly. Sometimes I even question if I know what I'm getting into, and I've been working towards it my whole life." Look at me, being all socially savvy. Elma would be proud. She's always on my to improve my social skills. Apparently they're needed as a warrior, which makes no sense to me.

"But from what I've heard, you're pretty amazing. What, might I ask, is your favorite weapon?"

"Hmm, that's a tough one. I prefer closer ranged weapons, like my knives, than I do the bow or spear. My sword is probably my favorite, not necessarily to use, but it's my highest quality weapon." Copprus was a gift from Barin, from when I first started. It was a beautiful weapon, perfectly made with magical help to keep it in the best of shape even with heavy use.

The conversation dissolved into a debate of the effectiveness of ranged weapons versus melee weapons.

Luca's POV

The biggest surprise of related to the fact that I actually attended a student gathering was that I actually enjoyed myself. It was odd. I generally avoided these things in favor of another, more secluded activity. But this time, when I left, I was actually glad I came. Even better, Marelda seemed to have fun. That was enough reason for me to go. I owed her quite a bit, if I'm being honest. I couldn't really ask for a better friend.

And, it turned out she was crap at slips, which I found greatly amusing. Her face was literally an open book. This girl is a terrible gambler, even when the only thing being gambled was beads. I do hope she can be better at lying than what she showed here, because honestly it was pathetic. I mean, her honesty is one of my favorite things about her, but she's so bad at this that I feel the need to teach her how to get better. She's most certainly not cut out for spy-work.

I was currently waiting for her in the archives. It was a little past nine, and we agreed to meet here so we could do some research on the Tower. The two of us agreed that we would do all the research we could before, if we decided the risks were worth it, we went to the Tower. I knew it contained a chimera, which would be the biggest obstacle at the Tower, from what I'd overheard. But before we began that research, we'd have to figure out the protections around it.

The fog was the biggest one, but I also knew that there were various creatures that we could possibly encounter. Fenrir, amphisbaena, and a manticore were rumored to be in the depths of the east forest. While the Tower of Sorrow was the most well-known thing hidden in the east forest, I'd found vague references to other things hidden. I had a suspicion that the east forest blurred with fae lands. Which would make them a lot bigger on the inside than they are appearing on the inside. It would also mean that within its borders are any number of magical creatures and fae, and there would be plenty of space for other places to be. Lost treasures and hidden buildings.

None of that interested me. Maybe eventually I'd want to explore that forest more in depth, but for now, I'd be content knowing if the Tower contained my past. I don't blame Marelda for her anger at my being selfish, but she also has a family who loves her. It's not that I'm trying to "find a family among the dead," but I just want some sort of closure. My early life is one big blank, and that more than anything upsets me. I just want to know where I came from. Then, I feel, it would let me move on. Give me some sort of foundation to build off of, ya know?