Week 1 Day 6 Clayden

Sky shook herself out of her gloomy thoughts. She swiftly grabbed her fan belt and hurried from the room as if she could somehow run from her past. She strapped it around her hips as she hastened down the stairs and out the front door. Once outside, she stretched and tried to clear her mind of the feelings that looking at her reflection has aroused. Then, she went for a long run, which ended at the massive, fenced in, sandy expanse that was the outdoor practice courts. There she practiced her fan dancing, a form of martial combat where the Sansari, fan dancer, fought with bladed fans. It was developed in the Western Isles and was relatively unknown on Gothe. Sky'd been lucky enough to have an Islander outcast teach her some of fan dancing several years ago, but it had been a long time since Sky had been able to practice. As a result, her practice today did not go well, but she did it. She would keep doing it.

It was still early when she finished, so Sky decided to eat in the dining hall for the first time. After she ate, she went back to her rooms for another shower and then headed to the library to ask Madam Pritchard for books again. So far Madam Pritchard had been stubborn about saying yes, but Sky could tell she was beginning to wear her down.

***

Madam Pritchard once again refused to loan Sky the books, but she couldn't stop her from reading them at one of the library's many long, oak tables, so that's what Sky did. Sky even made few attempts at doing the first exercise in the book, making a one-foot radius ball of one of the elements of magic, but she couldn't seem to accomplish it. It wasn't as if she had given up or didn't try.

The book was very good at describing what to do, but it was not so good at describing how to do it. All it said was meditate and reach for "your magic." Sky had no idea what meditating even was though, and no matter what she did, she couldn't feel magic to reach out to. 'I have the magic,' she thought, 'but why can't I get it to work?'

She was about to ask Madam Pritchard when the crystals chimed signaling that she had ten minutes until class started. Leaving the books on the table, she went to class.

***

Sky entered the classroom and saw that the creatures, rather than sitting in their usual places, were all milling about. Sky looked around the room for anyone who might tell her what was going on and saw Dain standing by himself, a little apart from everyone else. Sky walked over to him sedately, trying not to attract attention.

"Good morning, Dain," she said softly as she gained the floor beside him. She tried to put as much cheer in her greeting as she could, despite her fear of attack. Dain's eyes widened and immediately a pink flush stole over his slightly glowing skin.

"Go-Good morning, Skylar," he replied in a breathless tone. Sky's mouth popped open slightly in surprise. No one in class 1-ES1 had ever called her by her name. She hadn't told anyone either. She'd thought the only person who knew it was Instructor Drakkon. Quickly, she recovered and, with less fear this time, smiled. "Do you know, maybe, what's going on?" she asked Dain.

Belatedly, she realized that she could hear the hum of the cicadas through the closed windows. The classroom had fallen dead silent, and now that she was aware of it, she could feel the weight of eighteen sharp gazes on her. Her smile fell, and she hunched down and braced herself as she waited for Dain to attack her. A new noise reached her ears. It was soft and breathless. It might have been something mumbled. Sky glanced at Dain.

He wore an expression like that of a cornered animal. Her eyebrows knitted together in concern. She'd seen how shy he was, and now, she'd made him the center of attention.

"I'm sorry," she told him. She began to walk to her spot below the windows.

"WE-WE'RE WAITING TO GO TO THE RANKING CEREMONY," Dain's voice rang out far too loudly. It was practically a shout. Sky looked back at him.

His left arm was half extended to her while he clenched his right hand at his side. His crimson face had a desperate cast, and his breathing was slightly heavy. Sky turned back around, and he lowered his arm.

"Oh my God, are you actually talking to it?" Alyssa's sultry voice demanded cutting through the heavy silence like a butcher knife into a dead pig.

"You fucking loser!" Sneered Vael, "No female of any worth would have you, so you're going after that disgusting, waste of space?" With every word, Dain appeared to cave in on himself more. His expression became haunted as he stared at the ground.

"Don't talk to him like that. He's a creature! He's one of you!" Sky challenged back. Everyone stared at her in varying states of shock at her outburst. No matter what they had said before, she had never seemed to care, not when they insulted her appearance, or intelligence, race, or family. She'd never done anything more than pretend to sleep. She hadn't cared before.

The only thing that had mattered to Sky was learning magic, but now, they turned on someone defenseless and weak simply because he'd answered her question. Yes, she knew that was the way their society worked, but it was still wrong, at least in Sky's mind.

"Now, he's got a woman defending him. What did that brother of yours give up because he realized you were too pathetic to ever be considered a creature?" Nix jeered. The fact that he was a heavily muscled sex god didn't escape Sky's attention, but it didn't soften her disdain either.

"Being a creature is not an ascribed status. He was born a creature; therefore, he is a creature. Just how dumb are you?" Sky retorted hotly. She'd observed during class that Nix never read his books. If he didn't understand something, he asked Alyssa to explain it to him. Over the past week, she'd done that quite a bit. Nix started for her; his big hands balled into fists.

"Stop it. It's right!" Uriel ordered Nix sharply. Nix glared at him in protest. "That loser isn't a human; he is a creature. But he is a fucking weakling, and he did break the rules." He turned to face Dain with cold eyes and continued, "and now as a result, you've lost furniture privileges. Since you like the human so much, you can join it on the floor until further notice." Uriel smiled revealing his sparkling white teeth again. Sky frowned; there was something not quite right about his smile. It took her a moment to realize what it was. He had no fang teeth. All his white teeth were flat and even. He was a Dryad.

Sky recognized this fact with a small portion of her mind. The rest of it was fully engaged in contemplating how infuriating Uriel's smug grin was. She tried to think of some retort when the crystals placed along the walls all started chiming again. It was time for the ranking ceremony; however, Instructor Drakkon made no move to take attendance. He simply sat behind the desk also wearing an infuriating smile.