The Rokkoh Adventures

Rokkoh and the Final Year, Chapter 4

A carriage waits outside the Tower. Two young adults, a boy and girl whose names always escape me, stand at its backend. Two dozen pairs of eyes drink in their uncertainty and fear as the two of them adjust the bags on their backs. Most of us older kids have taken this spot at the mouth of the Tower several times to bid farewell to friends. Tears have been shed, goodbyes have been said, bonds have been lost here. I cannot count how many times I have witnessed the Departure Ceremony for orphans too old to stay at the Tower. The last time I had seen Augustin had been in this spot. There are still six months left before it is my turn to board the carriage and embark on my life's journey. Gotta make them count.

Kym, Max, and I stand near the back with the few other seventeen-year-olds. A cool breeze blows salt from the sea through the air, a crisp bite that brings Kym an inch closer to me. Our hands graze each other, but the public rule remains in effect. Sometimes I wonder if Max suspects anything, and if so what he thinks. If he hasn't noticed, is it by choice or by ignorance? And if he has, why does he hold his tongue? To be fair, there's nothing really to admit. Beyond holding hands, we haven't done anything to offend him. The almost-kiss doesn't count, does it?

The Baroness steps between the crowd and the carriage. Even in the sunlight, her skin is white as paper. She sports a long dark coat to combat the oncoming cold, and in her gloved hands she holds a small square scrap of parchment. Her hazel eyes peruse the gathering, a hint of a smirk on her bloody lips. Soon it spreads wide, polished teeth nearly shining in the light.

"Today, we come together to wish our friends Kacir Thorburn and Ellian Aritza well as they set off to start their new lives," she calls out, loud and clear so that even the adults doing their work inside the main tower can hear. "Kacir came to us only a few short years ago, and Ellian a few before that. Over the course of their time with us, they have learned valuable skills that will aid them in the next chapter of their stories.

"Kacir, what will you be doing in your first footsteps of adulthood?" The smile goes from the crowd to the tow-headed boy, wide and unflinching.

Always the same question, the same speech, the same fake performative grin. Shit, even the same fucking green dress and updo. It all tastes like charade, like an insincere obligation to uphold, like a ritual. I could damn near recite the whole spiel by now. Does she have it all written down somewhere, stashed on her desk in case she forgets it from one month to another? Or has she committed it to memory by now? I won't be surprised if, when my time comes, nothing will change but the names of those leaving.

"I'm going to be a soldier," Kacir answers, a hint of pride showing in his small smirk.

"How admirable!" the Baroness muses before looking to the girl. "And what about you, dear Ellian?"

"I don't know," the girl responds. "Haven't found anything I want to do."

"We all find our paths in time," the Baroness comforts her. Her lips close around her teeth, adding a glint of judgment and condescension to her smile.

Halfway through my final year, and like Ellian I do not yet have a plan for when I leave. Most have gone to Allendar to take up trades or enlist like Kacir. At Augustin's ceremony, he claimed to be joining a temple, though he had not seemed too keen on the idea. His normal excited and cheerful self had been replaced by a reluctant, unsure, almost melancholy boy. At the time, I thought the mood change had been due to Max's absence, or perhaps the homesickness setting in early. But in hindsight, maybe there had been more to it. Had he been forced into that life? Was it to teach him some sort of lesson? Was he even still at that temple now or had he found a way to escape such religious chains to be a truly free man? My heart twinges with a sting of sadness, missing my old friend.