Chapter 6 – Understanding

Camea Thystel

Camea felt the table she was studying at shift as Majorella jumped up and sat on it, sending a small pile of book tumbling all over the place. She gave a small sigh and started to fix the pile while Majorella muttered her apology. It had only been two weeks since lessons had begun and the teachers had already given out so much homework that she had spent a majority of her time in the library.

"So what you working on?" Majorella asked as she pulled one of the books closer to read the title.

"Dust homework." Camea replied shortly as she finished fixing the pile. "Do you want to do it together?"

"No thanks, Nick already helped me with mine," she answered. "I just came to see if you want anything to eat? Dinner is about to end."

"Oh," Camea noted the slight hint of worry in Majorella's voice. "No thank you, I really want to finish this up."

"Cams, you've been in here all day," she pushed. "Have you even eaten since breakfast."

Now that Camea thought about it, she hadn't. The monstrous amount of homework had been all she had focused on.

"I will eat once I'm done with this." Camea sighed. "Wait, how did you get Nick to help you? When I asked him he said no because I annoy him."

"I dunno, but don't change the subject," Majorella replied forcefully. "Now I am getting you something so you may as well choose."

"Fine," she conceded. "I'll just have a salad or something."

"Chicken and pasta salad, got it," Majorella said happily and hopped off the table. "I'll bring it to the dorm."

"Wait, I only said salad," Camea started to argue as the girl walked away. She ignored her and was soon out of site.

With a sigh she turned back to her work. The essay only took another twenty minutes to finish but she felt the pangs of hunger cause her stomach to lurch in pain while she wrote the final few lines. With all of her homework done, she packed away her things and set off towards the dorm, where the promise of food awaited her.

She took the elevator to her dorm room on the third floor and heard shouting the moment she stepped out. She didn't need to guess what room it was coming from.

"...With Destroy?" were the first words she could make out as she approached the door. She opened to be greeted by the sight of Nadea pointing both of her guns directly at Nicks face. If he was at all concerned, he didn't show it. Majorella was laying on her bed, seemingly amused by the whole situation.

"I was looking at how shitty the design was," Nick replied with a sneer. "You do realise that it's the reason why you have to change your fucking blades so often."

"Touch my weapons again, and I seriously will shoot you," Nadea said through clenched teeth as she holstered the guns.

"Whatever bubblefuck, like you could even hit me," Nick merely shrugged and made his way to the bathroom.

Camea sighed once again. She found herself doing that a lot more recently, though she felt she had good reason to. Nick and Nadea had been at each others throats since day one and never seemed to miss a chance to insult one another. Granted this wasn't much different to how Nick treated everyone else, with the exception of Majorella who he seemed to treat with at least a little more civility; but Nadea usually kept to herself unless people spoke to her first, and even then she was still pretty pleasant to talk to.

She didn't really have the energy to get involved to day so instead she walked over to her corner of the room and picked up a plate covered in tinfoil and a fork. Her stomach growled at the sight of food as she pulled the covering off and began to eat. By Oum this is glorious, she thought to herself.

"So what are your plans for the rest of the night Cams?" Majorella asked while twirling her staff above her.

"No idea, probably just go down to the dojo and train for a bit." Camea replied between mouthfuls.

Majorella stopped spinning her staff and used it to push herself up into a sitting position.

"You could do that," she began with a mischievous look in her eye. "Or you could come with me and Nadea to a party down in the third years building."

"Wait, who said I'm going?" Nadea interjected before Camea could reply.

"I did," Majorella waved her off.

"Well why does Cams get a choice but I don't?" Nadea asked indignantly

"She doesn't," she smiled happily. "I merely asked out of courtesy."

"I'm really not a party person Majorella," Camea replied.

"Well tough, we are all going to celebrate making it through our first two weeks at Haven," Majorella's voice was tinged with eagerness. "Think of it as team building," she added.

Camea could hardly argue with that since the team definitely needed some building. However, she did not think forcing Nick and Nadea to hang out together was going to end very well.

"Did someone say party?" Nick emerged from the bathroom. "I'm down."

"There you go Ella, take Nick," Nadea offered. "Get him out of our hair for a night."

"Jeez, are you still mad I touched your gun?" he replied.

"Can you blame me?"Nadea defended. "You've blown up the workshop twice already."

"Only one of those was my fault," Nick argued. "To be honest though, you should come to the party. Maybe you will find a guy to pull that stick out of your arse, and if you're really lucky he may replace it with something else."

Camea saw that even Majorella blushed at that comment.

"Oh go fuck yourself Dickolas," Nadea replied angrily.

"I would but why deprive someone else the pleasure of doing it for me," Nick winked.

"Enough," Camea said tiredly, having finally had enough of the argument. "Majorella's right, we need more team building so we are all going."

Nadea groaned but said no more on the matter and began to get ready. Camea returned to her food. She had no idea why they were constantly arguing and even less of an idea on how to stop it. Maybe they are just adjusting the things, she thought to herself. I'm sure it will stop eventually.

"Well shit, is little miss Mistral here finally gunna do something fun?" Nick taunted.

Camea didn't bother to respond as she knew it would only encourage him. Instead she finished her food and set the plate on her table to be taken down in the morning.

"So when does it start?" Camea asked Majorella.

"In about thirty minutes so we should probably leave in like, an hour," Majorella shrugged.

"But then we would be late," Camea pointed out only to be met with laughter from Nick. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing," he merely smirked. "You're right, you should get going now, we'll catch up."

"Nick, don't be an ass," Majorella scolded him before turning back to Camea. "Rule one of parties, always show up at least half an hour late or you will be the only one there for quite some time."

That sounded like utter nonsense to Camea but she decided to take Majorella on her word since she had more experience.

"Any other rules I should know?" Camea asked.

"Other than never let your drink outta your sight?" Majorella replied. "Not really."

Camea resigned herself to a night of loud music and began to get ready, not looking forward to the headache she knew she would most likely have tomorrow. Camea had never been to a party before, at least not this type of party, and therefore had no idea what to expect other than loud music and a lot of people. Nevertheless, she finished getting ready and an hour later they were approaching the doors to the third year dorms.

As they walked through the doors, a big, burly boy greeted Majorella and she smiled back. She was already fairly popular at school and given how many people greeted her, she clearly knew a lot of the people here. Camea on the other hand knew almost no-one, at least she couldn't see anyone she knew.

"Well, I will see you losers later," Nick said and walked off into the crowd towards a girl that Camea recognised as the one he had been talking to after their first class.

Camea saw Majorella wave to someone at the other end of the room and then suddenly grab both her and Nadea by the hand. She began to pull them over to the area which she had waved at at Camea soon found herself at a makeshift bar. It was being monitored by two third years that Camea had seen around school but never talked to.

"Ella," called out one of the third years behind the bar, a girl with reddish-purple hair and soft blue eyes called out. She leaned over the wooden table to hug Camea's teammate. "I'm glad you made it. You wanna sit down?"

The girl snapped her fingers at a trio that were sitting at the end of the makeshift bar and ordered them to move.

"So who is your lovely friend here?" she girl added with a warm smile.

Camea was glad for her dark complexion as she felt herself blush slightly under the girls gaze.

"Calm down Maggy," Majorella laughed as she took her seat. "This our team leader Camea, and the girl in the pink is Nadea."

"Lovely to meet you both," Maggy offered her hand to each in turn, though Camea felt she clung a little longer to her own. "I'm Magenta but please call me Maggy."

"Nice to meet you too," Camea returned the sentiment, receiving another smile.

"So what can I get you both to drink?" She asked as she pulled a bottle of orange liquid out from under the table and slid it over to Majorella.

"Don't suppose you have any alcohol?" Nadea replied in a bored tone. "Might make this night more bearable."

"Sure," Maggy smirked. "I'll just need to see you're ID and some lien." Nadea groaned and instead asked for a soda. Maggy laughed and slid one to her.

"What about you... Camea was it?" she inquired.

"Yes, and just a water thanks," she mumbled back.

If Maggy thought it was strange for someone to ask for water at a party, she gave no indication. Instead she simply nodded and sent her fellow third year go get a bottle from the fridge.

"By the way, what's with the makeshift bar?" Majorella asked. This was a question that Camea had been thinking of asking since the moment she saw it but for some reason she was having a little trouble talking.

"Well technically, this is only for alcohol," Maggy answered. "Haven allows alcohol at approved events so long as there's a teacher present to oversee that no-one underage is drinking."

She pointed over he shoulder to something Camea couldn't see at first but after looking closer she saw a person sitting in a chair, covered in shadows. She recognised her as the history teacher, Miss Petunia and despite the fact she currently had her head deep in a book, Camea knew she was also watching every little thing that happened at the bar.

The after a couple of minutes, which she mainly spend listening to Majorella and Maggy talk since Nadea had already gone off on her own, the boy returned with her water. Soon after Majorella announce she was going to find Nick.

"When you find him, tell him if he comes near me at all tonight, I'm going to shove a glass bottle down his throat," Maggy called after her, receiving a cough from the teacher. "Sorry Miss Petunia."

"So Camea," she started with a warm smile. "How have you been finding Haven so far?"

It took her a seconds to find her voice but she finally spoke up.

"Honestly, its been exhausting," Camea eventually breathed out. Maggy let out a small, melodic laugh in response. "I don't suppose it gets any easier?"

"I'm afraid not," she replied, the fading chuckles of her laugh still present in her voice. "More like you get used to it."

"How did you get used to it?"

"It took time," she began. "When I was first announced as leader, I spent all my time looking up the best way to lead. I though if I did all my homework and came up with the best strategies then I would prove that the teachers were right to chose me. But eventually I learned that all the strategies in the world meant nothing if my teams couldn't trust or relate to me. So I started to lean on them a little more. It was only then that things started getting easier."

"Majorella talked to you didn't she?" Camea asked, suspicious that Maggy's description felt far too like her own to be coincidence.

"She was a little worried," Maggy admitted. "She says that you've been spending a lot of time in the library and forgetting to eat. Wanna talk about it to a fellow team leader?"

Camea took a moment to think about it. She had been pretty stressed all week and could really use someone to talk to but usually she only ever talked to her father. When she did talk to others about how she was feelings, Camea always felt like she was burdening them. Her father, however was always supportive, always listened and never complained. He was the type on man to drop everything in a heartbeat if she was having tough time and needed him. But her father wasn't here at Haven and this girl was offering her shoulder so after a the moment of hesitation, she decided it couldn't hurt to indulge a little.

"It's just that homework is all I feel I can do right now," Camea started. "We still have not won a a single team round in sparring class, Nick and Nadea are constantly arguing, Nick seems to hate me but won't tell me why and meanwhile I'm struggling to keep up with classes despite spending all my time studying yet Majorella is always ahead and even has time to get to know everyone. I just feel like I'm trying my hardest but I'm still constantly failing."

"Wanna know I secret?" Maggy asked, to which Camea nodded. "You probably are."

"That's what you call helpful?"

"More helpful than telling you a pretty lie," Maggy countered and pulled up a chair to sit down. "Look you are always going to fail eventually, I've been leading team Mahogany to two year now and even I still fail occasionally. All you can hope to do is learn from it and try your best to make sure its a long time before the next one."

She pointed to some students that Camea recognised as the previous owners of the seat she was now sat in.

"Take my team for example," she said, a hint of pride in her voice. "During those days when all I did was study strategies, I was adamant about using Cain, the one in the green, to specifically take out weaker opponents first. He uses a greataxe so it made sense to me to have him knocking out the weak then coming to help us."

She shook her head at the memory.

"But we kept losing because that isn't who HE is. Cain excels when he is surrounded because he doesn't have to limit his swings. When I learned this I came up with a new strategy that revolved around three of us surrounding the enemy team and pushing them towards him. Now we're the highest ranking combat team in our year."

Camea listened to the story and couldn't deny that she had been trying to use Nick in the same way Maggy had been using Cain.

"That very helpful for the losing thing but what about the rest?" Camea sighed.

Maggy took a moment to think before standing up and walking away. Camea had no idea what she was doing but five minutes later she returned with Nick, her hand like a vice around his arm. She arrived back at the table and practically threw him into the empty chair beside Camea.

"Ouch, you know you got a real dyke grip right?" He spat at Maggy. She didn't back down but instead got close up to him and smiled.

"Listen here you little prick," she said in a whisper that only the three of them could here. "Camea here is under the impression that you hate her and having talked with you, I'm sure you've been happy to let her believe it. But enough is enough. You're going to tell her what your problem is right now or I'm going to tell every girl in this room that Ella let slip your dick is smaller than your snapped horn. Understand?"

He let out a snort of irritation but didn't argue. Camea didn't blame him. The look in Maggy's eyes show that she was dead serious. However, the next moment she flashed a sweet smile her way and walked back off into the crowd after telling the boy behind the bar to cover her.

"Getting you're girlfriend to threaten me, not cool Cumea," Nick glared at her. Camea was about to correct him and ask him not to call her that again but she didn't get the chance. "Whatever, I don't care. Plus, I don't hate you, I hate were you come from."

"Why?" Camea replied, admittedly rather sheepishly.

"Seven year ago," he started with a sneer. "A group of people from Mistral came to my village. All high society twats just like you. They needed workers and were offering money for anyone who wanted to help them build their own town. 'Its going to be the start of a new kingdom' they said. So my father signed up."

Camea knew the kingdom that was talking about and knew where this was going to go. But she listened nonetheless.

"My father was good man, always spoke out against the things my village did. Always said there was another way. So he went off to help build that stupid town. But like I've said, your lot have gotten too comfortable in Mistral. They didn't understand the threat the Grimm pose and failed to provide proper security."

He took a moment to compose himself. When he finally began to speak again, his voice was filled with contempt.

"So the reason I can't stand to look at you is because every time I do, I see those who cost my father his life. I see my mother breaking down and crumbling to her knees when they brought his body back in a wooden crate and offered their useless condolence. I see how it affected my brother and the depression he's been struggling with ever since. All because your fucking people weren't happy with their mountainside homes."

Camea had nothing to say in response. She knew it wasn't fair that Nick treated her the way he did but if this way the reason why then it was certainly more understandable. If she had lost he father and had to look at someone who constantly reminded her of why everyday, she was sure she would grow to resent that person. Even if it wasn't their fault.

"There you go, does that make you feel better?" Nick sneered and walked away, no even bothering to wait for an answer.

It did not.

Later That Night

The ping of her scroll pulled Camea from her thoughts. The party had ended for her hours ago and now she was laid on her bed thinking about the night. After Nick had told her his story, she hadn't really felt like staying at the party much longer. She had told her team that she didn't feel very well and was returning to the dorm. She had collapsed onto her bed the moment she walked in and that was where she had been for the past two hours.

It took a couple of seconds for Camea to feel like looking but she finally lifted herself up and looked at her scroll. She was surprised with the message she found on it.

'Heyy Camea, I hope u don't mind but I got yr number from Ella, she told me u wer feeling ill, I no this was probably a lie and just want to say I'm sorry if I overstepped – Maggy x'

For some reason, despite everything that had been, and still was rushing through her mind, this simple message made her smile. She quickly typed back. 'I don't mind at all, and you didn't. I just wanted to be alone for a while.' Her scroll didn't take long to receive another message.

'Well u have my number now if u ever need 2 talk'

'I will keep that in mind, thank you.'