Lucky Rabbit

As soon as the doors closed behind them, Suzanne stopped, offering the two younger children a deep curtsey. “I’m terribly sorry,” she said. Her voice was unusual; slightly husky, with a bit of an accent. That was odd, because all of the characters in Gacha Love spoke perfect, unaccented English, and no mention was made of any other languages, so where had the accent come from? Though, Pandy reminded herself, this wasn’t really the game, but a world Keros’ magic had altered to match it, at least in certain aspects. Keros himself had admitted that he never planned to change everything, just the parts Pandy would experience during her first year here.

Eleanor smiled immediately, but a thundercloud had firmly entrenched itself on Thaniel’s brow, and it was obvious he wouldn’t forgive and forget so easily. “Why’d you go along with that girl, if you knew what she was doing? What if Bunny had actually gone to her?”

Suzanne drooped. In that moment, she could have passed for a young basset hound herself, though she was quite a bit taller than Lord Winston. “She’s my best friend,” she almost whispered. “My only friend.” Her chin came up, just a little, and surprisingly lovely eyes met Thaniel’s angry ones. “She wouldn’t have done anything bad to Bunny, I promise. She just…isn’t very good with people, and she wanted to play with the rabbit.”

Thaniel’s ire began to shift toward confusion, and Pandy breathed a silent sigh of relief. He rarely got really angry, so she wasn’t sure exactly what he would do, but he was smart and tenacious, so it could potentially be Very Bad. He was more inclined to be stubborn, and when he set his mind to something, it somehow ended up happening, one way or the other. It looked like he was going to take his cue from Eleanor today, though, which was good. There was no point in making enemies before school even started, especially when everyone would potentially hate him simply because of his magic anyway.

“Why doesn’t she just get her own pet, then?” Thaniel asked. “She shouldn’t try to steal someone else’s. Especially not by cheating.” He sounded righteously indignant, and Suzanne flinched.

“Her mother’s allergic to animals, so she’s never been allowed to have a pet,” the girl said. “But Tilly’s a Nature elementalist, on the animal side, and she desperately wants one. The closest she can get is when she’s here and can help care for the horses.” She gave a small smile. “She loves to help out in the stables, but girls usually aren’t given that punishment. It’s not ladylike, you know.”

Eleanor made a face, and Pandy had a feeling she’d heard that phrase far too many times. She had softened considerably since Suzanne started explaining, and now she said, “It’s- It must be terrible to be kept away from your element. She shouldn’t have acted that way, but I guess…I understand.” Her fingers twisted at her uniform skirt for just a moment, until she realized what she was doing and thrust her hands behind her back.

Thaniel looked at his friend, then at Suzanne, and sighed. “I forgive her, then. But she’d better not do anything like that again.”

Suzanne’s face lit up. She was a plain girl, with a face that was a little too long, and a mouth that was a good bit too wide, but it was redeemed by her deep brown eyes, surrounded by lashes as black as her hair. She reminded Pandy of a girl she’d gone to high-school with, who actually hadn’t seemed to mind being partnered with Pandy in sports or on projects, in spite of the unfortunate incident with the exploding soda cans and the goldfish.

“She won’t, I promise! It’s just that when she’s in front of other people, she can’t seem to back down. I’ll talk to her, though, and she won’t start anything.” Suzanne stared down at her feet, which were toe to toe, with the heels slightly separated, making her look both awkward and cute. “Could we… Could we play with your pets, though?”

Her eyes shot up, catching Eleanor and Thaniel’s startled expressions. Pandy was sure Thaniel was about to say no, and maybe Suzanne could tell, too, because she hurried on. “Whenever and however you want! We just… It’d be nice to… I’ve never met an animal that would actually come to me voluntarily before. They…they really…hate me.” Her voice wobbled, but she sniffed and kept her emotions under control with what was clearly a valiant effort.

That was enough. Pandy wiggled in Thaniel’s arms, and when he looked down at her, she tilted her head toward Suzanne. His lips pinched for just a moment, but then he sighed and held her out toward the older girl.

“Here,” he said with obvious reluctance. “You can play with her, but only if she wants to play with you.”

Not to be outdone, Eleanor nodded and gently urged Lord Winston toward Suzanne as well. The hound was definitely not happy with the idea, but he did as he was told, stepping toward Suzanne and sitting down at her feet with great dignity.

“Oh,” Suzanne said, and her tone contained all the words she couldn’t speak. “Oh.” She accepted Pandy with trembling hands, and Pandy allowed herself to be snuggled. Not that it was much of a hardship, because there was a comforting sort of coolness to the embrace, like finally standing in the shade as a breeze blew on a hot summer day.

+1 Corruption Point for entering Dark Aura I

Pandy’s eyes widened as the message popped up in front of her. Several seconds later, as Suzanne stroked Pandy with the kind of gentleness usually reserved for newborns and very expensive items in a glass shop, it appeared again. There were no clocks nearby, but they seemed to come every thirty seconds or so after that, though she only got four in total before Thaniel held out his arms and Suzanne passed her back.

No, no! Pandy wiggled.

Either Thaniel really didn’t hear her, or he was ignoring her, however, because he only held Pandy closer. As it became clear that her time in the comforting aura was over, Pandy settled back into Thaniel’s embrace as Suzanne bent to pet Winston.

The moment the girl’s fingers touched his saggy skin, it jumped, and he let out a low whine, though he didn’t back away. Suzanne immediately stopped, straightened, and stepped back, almost bumping into another student who had just come through the door behind her.

The other student, a boy, stared from Suzanne to the younger students, then seemed to make a decision, because he said, “You shouldn’t let your pets near her.” Then he hurried off down the hall, vanishing around the dimly-lit corner.

Eleanor suddenly looked a little nervous and clicked her tongue softly. Winston instantly rose and trotted back to his young mistress, settling in slightly behind her this time, rather than in his previous spot beside her. Eleanor started to bend as if to assure herself he was all right, then caught herself and straightened again.

Thaniel, however, had a very different reaction. Rather than looking worried, his eyes narrowed and he glared at the hallway down which the older boy had disappeared. Looking back at Suzanne, he demanded, “Why’d he say that?”

Suzanne wilted. There was no other word for it. If she had looked miserable when she apologized for Tilly’s behavior, now she looked like she would cry. “I’m…a Dark elementalist,” she whispered finally. “That’s why Tilly is my only friend and animals are frightened of me.” And undoubtedly also why Pandy instinctively liked her, and Winston didn’t.

The older girl took a step backward, her hand feeling for the door behind her. “I’ll…go. Thank you for-” She bit her lip and gave a deep, rather moist sniffle, already pushing the door open. She froze when Thaniel spoke.

“I don’t care,” Thaniel said with great firmness. “Bein’ a Dark elementalist doesn’t mean you’re bad. It’s just another kind of magic. That’s what my mama said, anyway.”

His careful diction – drilled into him by Lady Alice and then Lian over the past few weeks – slipped, but he didn’t seem to notice. “If you wanna play with Bunny, and she doesn’t mind, then I don’t either. And I’ll be your friend, too.” He seemed to realize this was the sort of thing two people usually decided together and rather lamely added, “If you want.”

Suzanne stared at him. “But…I’m a Dark mage,” she told him, as if he might not have heard her the first time. “I’m evil.”

Thaniel snorted. “You’re just a kid, like me. Kids can’t be evil.”

Well, Pandy had known some who were pretty rotten, but Suzanne definitely wasn’t evil. Just to prove a point, she squirmed and stretched out her nose toward Suzanne, making sure her whiskers quivered and her ears stood one up, one halfway down, in exactly the way that made her look as cute as possible. All three children made gratifying, “Awww,” sounds, and Pandy’s job was done.

“My daddy said people should be judged by their actions, not their magic,” Eleanor said abruptly. “That’s why we have regulations to keep Dark mages from summoning demons or raising the dead, but we don’t outlaw them entirely. No one should be presumed guilty before being proven innocent. Though sometimes you have to act like they’re guilty until you can be sure, just to make certain nobody gets hurt.”

Given that Eleanor’s father was the king, that was fairly definitive, and Pandy could practically see the girl finding new meaning in her father’s words. The little princess offered a tiny bob of a curtsey. “I’m Ellie, and this is Winston,” Eleanor said. “I’m pleased to meet you, Suzanne.”

“I’m Nathaniel,” Thaniel said in turn. “But if we’re going to be friends, you can call me Thaniel. And this is Bunny, but you know that.” He grinned, dimples flashing, and Suzanne’s resistance melted further.

“I’m…Suzanne,” Suzanne said, “but you…you really shouldn’t be friends with me. People will think you just don’t know better for a little while, but then they’ll start to talk. No one will want to be your friend.”

“You’ll be my friend,” Thaniel pointed out. “And Ellie, and Geri, when she gets here. That’s enough, I guess. I didn’t have any friends at all, before, ‘cept Marta, and she’s a grown-up, so she doesn’t count.”

And that was that. Suzanne gave in to Thaniel’s cheerful optimism, and Eleanor simply carried on, accepting their new friend with graceful equanimity. Suzanne clearly didn’t know what to do with it all, so she offered to show the two younger students around.

“Each year group has their own homeroom,” she said, pointing out the five doors on the right as they passed. “First-year is always the smallest class, and then it gets bigger as you go along. Fifth year is sometimes split into two, and sometimes all fits in one class. This year we only have thirty students, so we’ll all be together. This will be your room.”

She stopped at the last door on the right before the hallway turned, leading toward the back of the building. “You’ll spend the mornings with your homeroom teacher, then go off to other classes after lunch, ending up in small groups at the end of the day.”

Eleanor nodded solemnly, though Pandy had a feeling she already knew all of this. Thaniel didn’t, though, and he burst out, “My brother told me about the small groups. Can we really not pick who we want to be with?”

Suzanne nodded. “The teachers select group members. They say it’s not random, but all the students think it must be, because there’s no obvious pattern to who goes with who. It’s not based on class or noble rank – though of course we aren’t supposed to know each other’s ranks anyway – where you’re from, what your element is, whether you’re a boy or girl, or anything we can figure out. It’s just easier for the teachers to say it’s not random, because then they have a reason to deny any requests to switch.”

Thaniel looked disappointed, but nodded. “What are the other rooms?”

Suzanne turned, pointing to the doors. “The library is on the corner. You’ll have to sign up and get your library card, and then you can check out books. First-years are only allowed one book at a time to start with, but by the end of the year you’ll be able to check out three. You can also only pick books from certain sections, though you can read others in the library.”

Now Eleanor looked interested. “How do we sign up for a library card? I tried to go to the library yesterday to find out, but it was closed.”

The older girl nodded. “Professor Beeswick spends the summers traveling to find new books. He’s the head librarian for all three schools, but he likes Falconet the best, so this is where he stays during the school year. He’ll be back tomorrow, probably.” She bit her lip. “He’s…a little odd, but really nice. He’s one of the few people who really doesn’t seem to care that I have Dark magic.”

Eleanor smiled. “Then I’m certain I’ll like him.”

Suzanne smiled back, finally seeming to relax. “You’ll have to sign a magical contract stating that you’ll take care of the books and replace any that are damaged or lost. Then you get your card. Any time you leave the library, it will automatically register any books you’re carrying, so the Professor always knows exactly who has which books. You just need to carry your library card with you, or you can’t borrow anything. When you place the book on the Return desk, the card will remove your name from the list.”

“Oh!” Eleanor said. “That’s just like…ah, another library I’ve used before. It’s so much simpler than the ones where you have to have a librarian check it in and out.”

Suzanne blinked. “That’s unusual. Library magic is a fairly specialized field, mostly for Air elementalists. All of the schools have Air Librarians, as does the National Library in the capital, but of course children aren’t allowed in there.”

“Oh, ah, yes,” Eleanor’s cheeks turned pink. “I meant I’ve heard of ones like that before. From my tutor.”

Suzanne didn’t look convinced, but she didn’t press, just pointing down the hall to the rest of the doors. “The other classes move around, depending on how many students each teacher will have, and some of them are upstairs.” She indicated a dark stairwell as they passed it.

“There’s a map in your student handbook, so you’ll have to see what classes you have, then find them on there. At the end of the hall is a door leading out onto the courtyard, where you’ll find the training grounds for both magic and martial skills, as well as the stables. Past the stables, back toward the residential halls, you’ll find the greenhouse and the gardens.”

They had reached the doors to the outside, which were very firmly closed at the moment. Suzanne fell in beside the two younger children as they all went back the way they’d come. “Everyone is expected to help with chores, so be ready for that. The servants do most of the work, of course, but everyone is expected to learn to cut vegetables, carry hay, pull weeds, sew on buttons, and polish training weapons and armor, among other things. The Chancellor believes that’s an important part of developing empathy and emergency skills, though most of the students do as little as they can. If no one volunteers to help out in the library, they’ll pick people for that, too, but Professor Beeswick is very particular about who he allows behind the desk.”

“I can already do all of that,” Thaniel announced confidently, though Pandy had seen the last button he sewed on, and she wasn’t at all certain he’d done it right, since it didn’t actually go through the buttonhole. It was very firmly attached, though. “I helped Marta in the kitchen all the time, and Cassie never cleaned anything she didn’t have to, so I even changed my own sheets sometimes.”

Both girls stopped to stare at him. Eleanor looked astonished, as if the idea that a noble child might have had to do anything for themselves was entirely new to her. Suzanne looked surprised, too, but in a pleased way.

“My family doesn’t have a lot of servants,” Suzanne admitted. “So I grew up helping where I could. The cows and chickens wouldn’t let me near them after my magic came in all the way, but I washed a lot of dishes and patched a lot of clothes even before I came here. It’s kind of nice, actually doing something where you can see results right away.”

Thaniel didn’t seem to be so sure about that, but he was obviously willing to go along with it, while Eleanor blinked, then nodded. “That would be nice. Well, I expect I’ll get used to it rather quickly.”

Suzanne nodded, then looked up as a bell sounded. “Oh, it’s eight-thirty already. Tilly will be done with her punishment, and wondering where I am. We’re roommates, too, you know.” She began to walk a little faster, pulling away from Thaniel and Eleanor. “I’ll make sure she doesn’t bother you again, and,” she paused, “thank you. For being my friends.” With a wave of her hand, she ran off, leaving the two younger students in the dim, quiet hallway.