Cruel Star

Chapter 5 - First point

When I woke up the next morning, Rebecca, Lilly, and Mary were already stationed outside. Once they heard I was awake, they rushed in and helped me bathe. I noticed that Lilly had what seemed to be a third-degree burn on her face. It was deep crimson and had a glassy texture, which surprised me. I would have guessed that a healer could sort it out, and I didn't think she'd have any permanent scars—this was Altair, after all. Magic was supposed to be what they were good at. Not to mention, the fire wasn't even on her face for long, maybe half a second at most.

"Lilly, what happened to your face? Did you not get to see a healer yesterday?"

The quiet girl startled at being addressed suddenly.

"Oh, no, Lady Bella, I managed to find a healer."

"Then why do you still have a burn?"

She looked at the ground dejectedly before raising her gaze back to mine.

"Well, um, Lady Bella, the healer said it was... unlike anything he'd seen before."

Really?

"He said that it seemed to be caused by very powerful magic, and he wouldn't be able to make it go away, but he'd be able to ease the pain and accelerate the healing process. He said that maybe... the, um, head healer would be able to fix it. So he called him..."

She looked back at the ground.

"But he couldn't do anything either."

This was interesting. I'd wondered how the Children of Aster were different from other magic users, but I'd never heard of burns that couldn't be completely healed here. From all the books I've read, anything in Altair could be healed.

"My apologies, Lilly, I really didn't mean to leave a scar."

"Ah no... It's really okay, Lady Bella."

She still looked at me with scared eyes, though, and I wondered if she'd look at me like that forever.

✭✭✭

When I travelled to the common room, I was greeted by Iris, who was chatting animatedly about something, while Demi and I listened silently. Well, I was only really half-listening; my mind was focused on what would happen today. We were told that we'd have a tour, and then lessons. I wondered what we were going to do in the lessons. Would they be academic? If so, I wondered how that would play out, considering that we'd probably all be at different levels of education or wouldn't have any education at all.

My train of thought was interrupted when the Royal Oracle, Andreas, entered the room, and I wondered if he was supposed to be looking over us or something like that. I noticed that the royal chancellor wasn't here either—maybe he just wanted to see us for himself.

"Good morning, Children of Aster," Andreas announced.

He looked as tired as he had yesterday, and I really wondered if he got any sleep.

"Today we'll start with an official tour of the castle. I'll be your guide. Now, follow me."

Iris was practically bubbling with excitement and dragged Demi and me out the door.

It was a bit impressive how she still had such a strong spirit after yesterday. If I wanted to break her, it would take a while.

We all exited the common room, following Andreas in a sort of line, as we passed through many hallways decorated with numerous paintings.

"This is exciting, isn't it?" Iris was practically jumping as we walked.

"It really is. I've never been in a castle before."