Up The Tower

Rumius ascended the stairs two at a time, throwing furtive glances around. As he looked around, he saw only empty white halls and brooding statues. It was perfect. He looked down the steps and waved. A girl with white hair in a cloak took the stairs two at a time and stopped next to him. She kept her back crouched almost all the time he noticed. Her eyes darted back and forth down the hallway, though it was a little late to see if he was telling the truth. 

Rumius beckoned her forward as he turned the corner and walked briskly to a door. Pulling it open, he held it wide long enough for the girl he'd just met to run in before closing and bolting the door. 

" Whew! That was crazy!" Rumius forced a laugh. He leaned on the door awkwardly, only to have the iron handles poke painfully into his back. Rumius moved away awkwardly. 

The girl stood with her back facing him, staring out of the large window in the spacious room. Opposite was a pretty, bright view of the city. A bell tower jutted up from the landscape just a couple dozen meters away, its white walls and white bell standing silently in vigil over the town. 

The girl looked interested in the tower. 

" That? It's a bell tower." Rumius put the statement out there nervously. 

"It's actually the second-highest point in the entire city." 

The girl noticed him looking at her and averted her gaze from the window, looking apologetic. 

" Really? What's the first?"

" Guess."

" Hmm.." 

The girl seemed to actually contemplate the question. 

"I don't know." She said finally.

"Rumius walked past her, feeling shorter than he ever had in his whole life, as he awkwardly tried to push up to sit on the window sill as he was too short to point over the sill while standing. 

"You probably won't see it from here, but... it's somewhere over there." 

He pointed to a point behind the bell tower, where he knew a tall hill stood and on it, a place where he had run in and out of for the past two years. 

"Eldmich Hill."" The girl muttered as she looked in the direction his finger pointed. 

" Yup." 

Rumius looked at the girl and felt a sense of strangeness. Here he was, with a girl he had never met in his life and who looked like she'd just gone to hell and back. They locked themselves in a room together, and it would be unlikely that anyone would know. 

Maman and Rennie were both denied entrance until the ceremony started, since it was allegedly customary to allow time for reflection and self-discovery before the ceremony. But because he had arrived early, he had exceptionally more time for reflection. He had gotten bored and left to wander to the cathedral, and that was when he found his new companion. 

Being honest, Rumius didn't know how to approach her. Where was she from? What had she been doing to end up in such a state? Rumius wanted to know more about this enigmatic girl, but his plans were laid temporarily to rest when a guttural grumble rumbled through the room. 

Rumius looked up at the sound to see the girl holding her stomach, her face beet red. 

She sounded incredibly sheepish when she asked: 

" Perhaps you have any food? I haven't eaten in days."

Rumius smiled.

"Sure thing. Hold on a minute." 

Rumius made his way to the other side of the room. A silver cart stacked with an assortment of cheeses and bread waited, and he pushed it to the other side. 

"I'm not hungry. Here. Help yourself." 

The girl looked hesitant. 

"Are you sure?" 

Rumius nodded. The girl reached out and gently selected a piece of bread and helped herself to some cheese. She nibbled on the bread slowly, taking small bites and having the cheese a small cube at a time. Rumius paused, admiring her habits. 

They were a little more crude than those he was taught, but a certain refined elegance definitely came through. Yet when the girl's stomach protested a second time, Rumius felt bad and offered to turn around to allow the girl to eat freely. 

"Thanks," she said, her face red. 

By the time he had turned back around, the bowls were empty, and the girl looked slightly better off for herself.

Rumius then poured her a glass of water and sat down across from her. 

The girl accepted the cup gratefully and took a sip, cradling the glass in her hands. 

"All that said, I don't think you've told me your name." Rumius tried his best to ask, casually.

The girl paused. Her eyes darted away from his face, looking into the glass in her hands. Her hands clenched and released slowly on the glass.

"It's alright if you don't want to tell me." Rumius said hurriedly. 

" No. It's fine, really. I just..."

The girl looked up from the glass and met his gaze. Her eyes left quickly and spiraled down to the floor. She was biting her lower lip. 

" Diana."

" Pardon?"

"My name is Diana." She was still looking away as she said the words.

" Diana." Rumius repeated, circling the name around as he mouthed it, feeling the shape it made on his lips. 

"It's a great name." He smiled.

Diana showed Rumius the first smile he'd seen from her there. It was just a ghost smile , perhaps, but it was still worthwhile to him. 

"Thank you. Your name is very pretty as well." 

Rumius smiled in return. He could feel that the air had changed greatly, but that only increased his unwillingness to ruin it by accidentally asking some inappropriate question. Luckily, Diana asked a question first. 

"What are you doing in the cathedral today, Rumius?" 

"Oh, I'm here to do my rites. It's my coming-of-age ceremony." 

Diana looked a little confused. 

"Coming of age?" She repeated.

"It's a ceremony where boys get officially recognized as young men." Rumius crowed a little more proudly than he had intended.

"Do you have to do anything? During these..." Diana gestured to nowhere in particular.

" Rites?" 

"Not that I know of." Rumius replied to see his new friend make a weird face.

" Then that's hardly impressive at all isn't it? How can you say that you've become a man that way?"

It wasn't like Rumius hadn't had the same question before. 

" I suppose it's just an age thing."

" An age thing?" Diana laughed.

" Hey! It's also... It's also to tell you your magic affinity!"

The words 'Magic Affinity' seemed to pique her interest. 

"Magic affinity? What is that?" 

Rumius frowned.

"You don't know what affinity is? Can't you use magic as well? I mean, you're old enough, right?"

Rumius's eyebrows went wide as Diana fell silent again, and he cursed himself. 

However, her responses did raise a few questions. ' She can't use magic? Is that even possible? I've never heard about such people before.' 

The atmosphere immediately became awkward again. 

Rumius gulped. 

"What about you? Why are you here?" 

Diana looked like she really didn't want to answer that question. She stood and walked away to the window sill. 

"I came to have a look at the bell tower, that's all. I heard it was famous." She said.

It was now Rumius's turn to fall silent again. 

It stunk in his gut that her words were forced. Fabricated. It couldn't be more obvious that she was lying through her teeth.

"I see. But you can find bell towers in almost any city in the region, though. This is just a bigger one." 

When Diana once again failed to respond, Rumius pushed on. He was pissed.

He wanted to know about this enigma. He wanted to help her. But he couldn't do it if she was keeping everything away from him. 

"Please, Diana... if that is actually your name at all. As much as possible, at least tell me why you're here." 

There was uncertainty in her voice when she responded. And she still stood facing the windows, her back turned to him. 

"What do you mean? Are you saying that I've been lying?" 

"I may be young, but I'm quite sure nobody goes sightseeing dressed the way you are. If you were here to be treated for your wounds, that would be another thing, but on our way up here, we've done nothing but evade the priests. That doesn't make any sense." 

"And also, it's weird that you don't know about magic affinity. Any human who lives in the empire should know about it. Please, Diana, or whatever your real name might be, it doesn't add up at all."

Suddenly, the white-haired girl reverted back to being a complete stranger. As she turned to face him, Rumius had to force himself to stand his ground. Her eyes had become dangerous and suspicious, and the tension in her crouched form seemed to diffuse into the air, filling it with intensity. 

Rumisu realized that he couldn't wait for her to approach him. He had to approach her.

He raised both hands, gesturing peace. 

"I promise, I mean you no harm. I want to help you. I'm not lyi-." 

" Why?" 

" What?" 

"There's nothing in it for you."

Rumius was suddenly taken aback and he realised that she was right.

This was so unlike him. When he'd seen her crying, it had just been instinct to lend a hand to someone in need. But now that he was about to get so much more closely attached to a girl of unknown origins and even identity, what was keeping him? 

It wasn't logical. But somehow Rumius knew that if he didn't help this girl now, he would regret it. There was something about this short haired, dirtied, bruised up girl that spoke to him, and he needed to know where it ended.

Rumius spread his hands helplessly, not sure what to say.

" I..I guess just want to help you. That's all."

Diana looked incredulous.

"You don't seriously expect me to buy that."

" Would you rather I say that I desperately needed friends?"

The two stood facing each other for a long time. Rumius shuffled his feet, swallowed, and gave little smiles to help, all the while Diana stood with her arms held before her person, her weight resting on her back leg, ready to bolt.

" Haaaaiz" A sign filled the room and Diana's posture seemingly relaxed in an instant. However, her eyes were still somewhat wary.

"Honestly, what is wrong with you? Are you actually serious about this?"

"I'm serious." Rumius affirmed. 

"Will you still be serious if you see this?"

Diana ripped the cloak she wore off her body. Rumius sucked in a deep breath.

It was as if the world had slowed down.

Her hair, which Rumius had thought to have been cut short, unfolded to its full length, revealing a bed of snowy white locks that fell around her shoulders.

They've long fallen into disrepair, becoming frizzy and even torn in some places. Upon this hill of white twitched two pointed ears, also white but having a gradient to black at the very tip. The last surprise was the long, silky, fluffy white tail which swished through the air like a cloud. But like her hair, it had become damaged and dirtied. Her eyes alone, however, were a vibrant yellow.

"You're a Demihuman." Rumius breathed.

"That's right. Having second thoughts yet?"

Rumius snapped out of his daze....and fell silent.

" Tch, see? I knew it." 

Rumius didn't reply, but he was looking. And the longer he looked, the more things seemed to click. And as they fell into place, Rumius felt a sudden chill run up his spine.

"Your neck." 

Diana's eyes widened, and her arms flew up to cover the discolored mark from view. A harrowing area where a painful ring, two fingers thick, lay red and raw against her fair skin. Rumius stood stunned as Diana shied away from him, accusation in her eyes.

Why didn't Diana trust anyone? He asked himself.

Why did they have to evade others? Why was she so hesitant to share anything about herself? 

She would only need to do that if...

Rumius was almost scared to say it, but since he'd come this far, there was no avoiding the question that came next.

"Diana, you're an escaped slave, aren't you?"