Chương 33: Chapter Thirty-Two

"What are you doing carrying all of that?" Stella asked as she approached, taking half the books out of my hands.

"And why are you buying them anyway? The library has plenty of copies. This had to cost a fortune." I shrugged. Or tried to. The bag and books made it awkward.

"I was told to buy them, so I am. How have you been? We haven't talked in a week. Is Beth okay?" Stella shifted the books in her arms as she talked.

"Beth's fine. I spent my day in the library; she went to the practice yard, sure she could cast the spell we've been working on. We're meeting up for dinner. I'm a little early, but I saw you so it worked out." She smiled.

"Any luck with the spell yet?" I could tell by Stella's face the answer was no. And she didn't feel the need to voice it.

"Are you getting more or are you done? Do you want to join us for dinner?"

"Of course I do." The knot in my stomach untied a little as I thought about our shared meals around a campfire.

"And I don't know. Do we need to get more Narith?" I asked, turning to my maid, who now wore her maid face.

"No, I believe you have everything." I narrowed my eyes at her. If we had everything, why was I standing around like an idiot with my hands full? Her maid face didn't flinch. Narith might be more like Gaven than Mom.

"Then let's buy these and meet Beth," I said and turned toward the counter. Narith didn't have to stop my turn! I didn't know why she grabbed me by the shoulders. I walked ahead, ignoring Stella's giggle.

"I still don't know why you're buying these," she muttered as she sat the books she was carrying on the counter, then helped me put my own on there as well and the bag with all the other things in it. I wouldn't have any problems doing it if the counter wasn't abnormally high! Who makes a counter chin level? I hated being short. One of the students came up and started writing things down as she went through my collection of goods.

Stella was looking a little wide eyed as I waited for the person to tell me the total.

"Did you choose your focuses yet?" I asked Stella, ignoring what was going on around me. Though I noticed Narith was paying close attention to the student doing the totaling.

"Huh? Uhm. Oh! Yes. I'm going to focus on elemental magic: water and potion making. I was thinking I should do healing, like you, but I heard that was a very hard focus. I want to make sure I succeed and bring as much with me back home as possible. So, a focus that is too hard for me won't do me any good." I nodded at her logic. Four years to get as good as she can. It was better to spend all of it working towards your focus and not having to give up partway through. Especially for humans.

I paused and thought about that. And about time. The knot in my stomach was back.

"Makes sense," I said finally looking over at my collection of goods and the student only now finishing adding everything up.

"Your total is twelve gold, thirty silver, and eighteen copper pieces." Stella gulped.

"Lyra, maybe you should put some of this back…"

"It's fine," I said, pretending I hadn't flinched at the price. The student behind the counter was staring at me suspiciously as I took out the coin pouch Dad had given me. Worst case, I would use my account. But if this was normal and expected, Dad probably added extra to make sure I could pay for it. I only saw gold in the pouch, not even a hint of silver. I stirred it with a finger, counting. Two large gold coins, and five small ones. I was right. Dad took this into account when giving this to me.

I pulled out one of the large coins and three small ones, making thirteen gold. Stella's eyes somehow got even rounder. Meanwhile, my stomach was doing somersaults. These things represented ten lifetimes worth of money or more before Mom and Dad took me in. And now… Everything could almost fit in a slightly oversized satchel. My life had gotten weird. She handed me my change and the receipt and Narith stepped forward.

"I'll take this to your room while you meet up with your friends. I will be with you momentarily, Miss Lyra." I said okay as she started collecting things and left while easily managing the entire load. Which had me narrowing my eyes at her back as she walked away.

"That was… how…" Stella was stammering and I took her hand, steering her away from the counter, which already had another student buying things at it.

"My parents made sure I had what I needed for the academy," I mumbled as we left the store.

"You p… right. Mandy and Evan. The merchants." Stella nodded to herself.

"Okay. I forgot they adopted you." This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. My ears twitched as I looked up at her.

"How could you forget? You ate dinner at our house." Stella stumbled but caught herself and continued walking.

"That was your HOUSE? I thought we were at a fancy restaurant."

"Why?" I asked, my ears drooping.

"Why would my house look like a restaurant?"

"It had a name. And staff."

"Lots of houses have staff," I said. Mr. Altoroth had several people helping him, but they stayed in the back until he hollered at one to bring out that jar of tea near the end. Stella stared at me as we walked.

"No, Lyra. They don't." I frowned at that. It was clearly false. That official from the Academy said our staff was better than his, implying he had some. And Auntie Lai made several comments about staff during the auction implying they had them too. I knew I didn't have any when I was growing up. But that was a small town. Big cities were different. But I didn't want to argue with Stella. She was wrong, though. And she was looking at me as though I had grown a second head.

"Where's Beth?" I asked as we stepped into the dining hall. Rows of tables filled the room, which was at least half filled with people. A line was walking along one wall, where I saw a continuous counter with a wonderful mix of smells coming from it. Though, I couldn't see much of it since people were standing in the way as they chose their food.

"I don't see her yet. We should step out of the way and wait." I followed Stella out of the flow of people and continued looking around, only then noticing the stairway up to a balcony where I could just make out a small number of round tables spaced generously apart. It was mostly empty save for one table with four boys around it. They seemed to be celebrating. Beth arrived after a little bit, with a smile cutting through her normally stoic features.

"Beth!" I exclaimed and tried to hug her, but she blocked me by placing her palm on my forehead.

"No fair!" I explained, while swinging my arms, of course not making contact. Stella giggled, but Beth just continued to look happy. I pouted.

"What's going on? You normally like my short jokes."

"You hate being short. Especially if someone calls you short," Stella commented. I nodded.

"I'm the only person allowed to make short jokes about me. And I only do it for you two. So, what's up, Beth? How did your training go?" I asked.

"I did it!" she declared proudly. Stella squealed and I pulled my ears down, trying to protect my hearing.

"You did? Show us!" Stella said immediately happy for her friend's success. I nodded along. They never told me what they were practicing, and I was curious to see what they studied.

"Not here. Later. We should eat." As she said that, Narith returned.

"If you would follow me, I will see you to your seats," Narith said and started walking into the cafeteria. I immediately turned to follow only to stop moments later and looked back at Beth and Stella, who hadn't moved.

"Uhm, Lyra…"

"Who's this?" Stella and Beth spoke on top of each other.

"Oh. Sorry. Stella, Beth. Meet Narith. She's my maid." They both stilled… and didn't speak.

"Hello, I'm Narith. I'm Miss Lyra's personal maid. It's a pleasure to meet you," she said, curtsying.

"Your seats await. If you would follow me, please." She turned and started walking again, but Beth and Stella hadn't moved.

"Are you two okay?" I asked, trying to understand what was going on.

"You have a personal maid?" Stella asked, her voice soft.

"Since when? I thought you were a commoner," Beth said, shaking her head.

"The Toordors adopted you. They're merchants, maybe that explains…" Beth's voice trailed off before she shook her head.

"No. That doesn't explain anything," she finally admitted.

"I am a commoner. I don't know why you're acting like this," I said, looking between the two.

"Dad thought I would need help, so he hired Narith." I looked for her and found her at the base of the stairs leading to the balcony above.

"It's not weird. But let's take our seats so we can eat and we can talk about it over food," I said, heading towards Narith.

"It is weird," Stella muttered.

"Very weird," Beth agreed. I pouted, but they would never see it as I stepped onto the stairs that Narith began to climb. Stella and Beth were hesitating, but eventually followed after me. When I got onto the landing, I saw there was significantly more chairs and tables than I thought. But each were round with less than half a dozen seats around each table and offset from one another to project a feeling of space between them.

Three tables, the ones I saw earlier, were near the railing and separated from the rest of the tables. One of the tables had the four boys I noticed earlier. Narith was holding out a chair for me at one of the others. I didn't hesitate. Now that I was with Stella and Beth, my stomach had settled enough to be hungry and I wanted to see what the school had to offer. I had to chuckle at the image of Gaven biting into a Pampaw Fruit that came to mind. I was sure whatever was offered was better than that!

Stella and Beth walked up to the table, but were fidgeting.

"Uhm, Lyra. I don't think we're supposed to be here," Stella said quietly.

"Why not?" I asked, looking around.

"There's plenty of room," I stated, and Narith moved to pull out a seat for one of them. Looking trapped, Stella sat down. Beth followed soon after as Narith held out her chair as well. I frowned at the two of them.

"You two are acting really weird."

"We're acting weird?" Beth asked, looking around as though her voice startled her.

"Lyra, this is the noble's balcony. And we're in a separated…"

"You are sitting at one of the royal tables," Narith explained bluntly, handing me a thick piece of paper, before handing Stella and Beth one as well.

"Your menus. I will place your order when you're ready. And you won't need your pouch, Miss Lyra. Food is included with tuition."

"Oh good," I said, looking over the dishes. I had never been to a real restaurant, but Mom had me practice ordering at home. It was weird how accurate she was with everything. As I was looking over the menu, the boys' table exploded with cheers.

"Here's to Princess Ariana! May she live a long, and happy life!" one of the boys shouted, to the other's cheers. One of the boys, blond hair, blue eyes, and either had the beginnings of a beard, or hadn't aged enough for it to come in fully, raised his glass with the others and drank it all. I turned back to my menu, nearly missing the squeak Stella made.

"Royal…" Stella squeaked. Beth was looking at me as though we had never met.

"I think I want the pasta dish, with the stuffed potato and the chocolate cake for dessert. See if they have a juice, any will do." I would prefer cold, but I could fix that at the table. I nodded to myself then looked at my friends.

"You should let Narith know what you want so she can get the food coming," I decided to ignore their squeaking for now. I was sure they'd bring it back up, but there was no sense in waiting for our food for it.

"I don't know if we're allowed to have this stuff…" Beth trailed off. My ears perked up after the boys exploded in cheers again. I glanced over at them frowning.

"Of course you can. You heard Narith. Food is part of your tuition. You've been here for weeks, why are you having a hard time ordering? And Narith, do you have any idea why they're so loud?" I asked as I turned back to the table.

"I'll just have what Lyra's having."

"Me too." Their voices were meek, but at least they ordered.

"That's Prince Trevor. Her sister was cured of a disease she had been plagued with for the past months after the king acquired a potion from legends. I'm certain they are celebrating the miracle. If you'll excuse me, I'll place your orders." Narith curtsied and hurried from the table.

"Oh," I said thoughtfully.

"That's why Uncle Anders spent so much on that potion," I said to myself only for Stella and Beth to go still.

"You call the king'uncle'?" Beth whispered.

"Huh?" I said, looking at my friends.