FREE GOLD!

Lexine woke up to an insistent banging on her bedroom doors. She groaned and cracked open her left eye. Light streamed into her room from the slightly open curtain. It hurt her eyes, so she closed her eyes and snuggled deeper into her silken blankets. The knocking stopped for a minute which allowed Lexine to drift back to sleep. However, a minute later the knocking began again louder than before.

Now unable to go back to sleep, Lexine sat up from her bed and stretched. For a microsecond, she did not know where she was then it all came crashing down on her, everything that had happened the day before. She groaned tempted to close her eyes and sleep some more. The person on the other side of the door, however, had other ideas about how Lexine was to spend her morning. "Idiotic person waking me up early in the morning when all I want to do is sleep," Lexine mumbled to herself, but still wobbled out of bed and padded to the doors barefoot. She was ready to kill whoever was on the other side of the door for waking her up from her sleep.

Her words, however, died on her throat when she was pushed into her room by a blue-haired female. "A good morning." The bubbly girl smiled at Lexine widely, "I have been knocking for so long." She patted the human on the shoulder. Lexine's eye twitched in annoyance. Aurinda, however, was completely oblivious to the anger in Lexine's eyes as she sat on the settee.

"Do you need anything?" Lexine asked as the girl placed a throw pillow on her lap.

"I am your guide for today. My sister is busy and Lady Christana has been summoned along with Lord Artin. I hope you do not mind?" Aurinda asked.

"Not at all. It is not as if I wanted to sleep away my problems of being kidnapped and dragged here against my will."

Lexine's sarcasm was completely lost on Aurinda who smiled deeply making it hard for Lexine to stay mad at her. "I am glad." she scratched her mocha-colored forearm as if nervous. Then she smiled at Lexine deeply again.

"You can dress in whatever you are comfortable in as it is not a school day." Lexine eyed her clothing, she was dressed in. "I am going to give you a small tour after breakfast and take you to the colosseum. Do you like fights? There will be a fight today and I really do not want to miss it. If you do not want to, we can still do something else." Aurinda suddenly became nervous making Lexine sigh. Why not? It could give her a better bearing of her surroundings and get used to being around other beings that were not humans.

"Let us go and see it." The thought of violence, however, left a bad taste on the tip of her tongue.

Aurinda's eyes lit up and she nodded happily. "Let me take a quick shower then we can leave."

A few minutes later, Lexine was comfortably dressed in a pair of jeans and a red hoodie. Her feet were covered in a pair of sneakers. These she had acquired from the Walking Wardrobe. She had finally understood how it worked. She thought of what clothes she wanted and put her hand into the wardrobe. Her fingers would sink inside the dark space and the clothes she thought of would fall into her fingers.

Aurinda eyed her clothes. "Do I look weird?" Lexine looked down at her clothes. "You did say I could wear something that makes me comfortable from my home right?"

"I guess so. But elder sister said something about ensuring you do not stand out. In what you are dressed you shan't be able to achieve that."

Lexine looked down at what Aurinda was wearing. The dress was a dark shade of blue which matched her hair. The shoulders were bare but there were straps hugging her forearms which covered her till her wrist. It fell to her ankles and had a black sash that was tied around her waist. On her feet were a pair of brown boots.

She was right. If she went out in clothes that did not resemble something that anyone wore, she would stand out like a sore thumb. Then again, the thought of wearing a dress brought a frown to her face. She had no intention whatsoever to stick out. It would be better if she stayed under the radar in a new world after all. Still, she did not want to wear a dress. If they did not even have a biro pen, maybe the women could not speak up their minds on issues. She shuddered at the thought. If that was it, she would take the first marker pen home.

"Maybe you can help me. But I do not like dresses." Lexine smiled stiffly.

Aurinda gleamed brightly at that and dragged her by the forearm. Her room was at the other end of the hall. "That one is Adley's room." Aurinda pointed at the door on the other side of the corridor.

They walked into Aurinda's room. There were books strewn all over the room. Some were open and others closed but stacked together. Lexine's eyebrow rose, she did not take Aurinda for one to read so much.

"Why do you have so many books? Do you like to read?"

Aurinda gave her a smile that did not quite reach her eyes.

"They are to help my sister."

"Help your sister?" Lexine asked confused. She did not quite get how the books would help Adley. She picked one from the stack closest to her. The title was, 'THE HISTORY OF ALCHEMY'.

Before Lexine could ask what Aurinda meant by that, Aurinda had already begun babbling about how she would be comfortable in what she was going to pick out for her. "The reason I could not just explain to you what would be appropriate and you get it out of yourself is because you need to have seen the clothes with your own two eyes. This keeps all the new designs to be made by hand." Aurinda explained as she sunk her hand into the depths of her own wardrobe.

"So if I have never seen a type of clothing before, I cannot get it from the Walking wardrobe?" Lexine asked, "And why is it even called that? It's a mouthful, to be honest."

"Well," Aurinda began while handing her a pile of clothes. "yes. New designs have to be made by hand. The wardrobe is only for school students anyway. After completing the Academy you hand over your Wardrobe and they remove your DNA from the handles. And it is called Walking Wardrobe because you can summon it from wherever you are. Now go try this one on."

Lexine was pushed into the adjoining bathroom. She looked down at the clothes she was handed. A brown shirt that fell to her thighs and had slits on either side and a pair of pants that was slightly big on her frame. The shirt was a perfect fit.

She walked out of the bathroom and Aurinda handed her a black jacket that was the same soft material as the rest of the clothing.

"Yes. I do not think you will attract too much attention. Please stick by me. Oh!" She snapped her fingers at the end as if something had just come to her.

"Artin gave Adley something to give to you but since you slept in, she was unable to give it to you before she left." she handed her a pouch that lay on her bed.

Lexine eyed a similar pouch strapped to her side. It was next to a scabbard that Lexine could only imagine had a sword inside it. It was odd seeing a person in a dress carrying a sword. But then again, everything since the previous day had simply been odd.

She took the pouch into her hands. It was heavy. Inside were gold and silver coins. Lexine's eyes widened in shock. "Is this real gold?" she took a coin into her hands. There was a type of writing on it.

"Yes. It is for your school expenses. Headmaster gave it to you. I believe the message relayed with it was, 'I will give you more in two weeks so do not spend it all in one place.'" Aurinda smiled toothily glad she had remembered the message.

"Isn't this too much?" Lexine peered into the pouch again.

"Headmaster is a Sylph. Being one with nature has allowed their kind to get their hands on more riches than any other kind. The drakkons are a close second though."

"Well," Lexine dramatically shut the pouch, "there is no way I am refusing free money." If only she could take some home. If it was real gold and silver in the bag, they would be rich!

Aurinda led her out of the house they stayed in. There was no one else in the house. Aurinda explained that second and third-year students had a lesson because their lecturer was going to be absent for a few days. The man was handing out books that were sure to be plowed through during his four-day absence.

The rest of their housemates had gone off to the colosseum for the match that Aurinda wanted to see. Since Adley was unable to give Lexine a tour of the school, Aurinda took her place instead. Lexine rolled her eyes at that, she did not need a damn babysitter.

The walk to the colosseum took longer than she expected. If it wasn't for the fact that Ceeret would put them in precarious situations that required her to have high stamina for running, she would have been out of breath. The path they took to was empty making Lexine curious. Were there few students or was it just the path they took. When she voiced out her question, Aurinda chuckled.

"The fights in the colosseum are the best way to learn how to carry yourself in a battle. They are taken very seriously because of that. Because of this, everyone gets their seats at least an hour before the fight begins."

"Oh."

Aurinda, who was walking in front of Lexine the entire time came to a stop. "Lexine, please do not draw attention to yourself. The others, including I, would like to keep you safe, and if people figure out you are human, everyone will aim for your throat."

Lexine nodded and gave her a thumbs-up despite her beating heart. She had heard this already. And she did not want to die. At least not before she took the gold coins to her mother.