I might be a little late, but I'll be back for sure

Aria helped Harper move her stuff into the temporary room assigned to her. It was lucky that the rooms were for one person and they did not have to share it.

As Aria turned to leave, she heard Harper say, "I never knew that you could bend air and earth too."

Aria turned around and said, "There are a lot of things you don't know, and this is just the beginning." All the while keeping a small smile on her lips.

Harper was a little taken aback. For the first time since she saw Aria, Harper began to wonder about the girl's past.

Here in the academy, Aria was a completely different person, it was like she was wearing a mask of a princess.

"Or maybe this is the real her. And she was just wearing a mask for the past seven years." Harper murmured to herself.

Aria did not go to her assigned room. Instead, she went out to explore.

Aria exited the building and walked into the woods behind the academy. As she entered the woods, Aria stood transfixed.

She could feel something, something strange. What struck her most was that the feeling was just like what she had the night she escaped into the dark forest seven years ago.

Aria closed her eyes and could almost see a very thin thread moving about the trees, deeper into the forest.

She took a deep breath and followed that feeling. Maybe this was her chance to find out what had really happened in the dark forest, and who were those people whose voices she kept hearing. As Aria went deeper into the woods, she could feel the feeling getting stronger, as though someone was calling out to her from just beyond the trees. It got stronger and stronger until Aria broke into a run. She ran through a particularly thick part of the woods and emerged in front of a stream.

Aria stood there, panting, listening for a long time. But the feeling was no longer there. Aria sighed as she walked towards the stream. She washed her hands and face in the water and felt refreshed. Aria did not want to leave the place just yet, so she took off her shoes and sat down on the ground, her feet in the water and hair on her lap.

She began to hum the tune that reminded her of her mom. Aria opened her eyes and looked up at the sky. She said, "Are you seeing, mom? My first step to coming back. I might be a little late, but I will be back for sure." A tear rolled down her eye as she said this.

Suddenly, Aria heard rustling behind her in the leaves. She turned around and purely as an instinct, she waved her hand, which led to some water in the stream falling on whatever was in the bushes.

Aria heard a low cursing, some more rustling, and then a boy, about the same age as her, stepped out of the bushes. Aria could tell that the boy was royalty by the way he was dressed. He walked towards her, upon which Aria stood up, looking at the boy with hostility.