Mind Games

Chapter 5 - Zain

Zain walked down the hall, the box containing his clothes in his arms. He was oddly excited to take a look at what had been sent over; the other times he got new clothes, they were always dresses and gowns.
He stepped into Mae's room, nervous even though she had told him he could come in. He looked around, seeing a small pile of clothes in the corner and books scattered over the desk. The dresser Mae had mentioned had clothes peeking out of the drawers.
"Huh, this is... messier than I expected," he said to himself. He had expected it to be neat and organized, like Mae was.
He sat down on the wooden floor and took the lid off of the box, looking through the clothes. He found a few long-sleeved undershirts like the one he already had, as well as a few shirts to go over them. There were a few pairs of trousers in earthen-tones, and a pair of dark brown soft leather gloves. He smiled, pulling his off and switching them out. The last things in the box were like cut-off sleeveless shirts. He picked one up and slipped into the bathroom, trying it on.
Zain stood and stared at his reflection, his smile widening. Mae was right. This was better. He slipped one of his new shirts over it, marveling at how flat his chest looked. He looked like... a boy. Beaming, he pulled on an overshirt and left the bathroom, ducking back into Mae's room. He neatly folded the rest of his new clothes and opened the bottom drawer of the dresser; the only one that didn't have clothes sticking out of it.
At the bottom of the drawer, there was a small piece of charred wood and a photo. Zain looked around before picking it up. On the right side of the photo, a tall elf with dark skin and curly black hair. He was holding a baby. When Zain looked at the other side, he had to do a double-take. The elf in the back looked just like Mae, just with more wrinkles on her face. She wore a small, confident smile that perfectly mirrored the one that Mae flashed all the time. The elf was resting a hand on a child's shoulder. The child looked nervous as she clutched what must be her mother's hand. 'That must be Mae,' Zain thought as he looked at the picture.
He set it and the piece of wood on Mae's desk, not wanting to bury them under his clothes. Besides, she would probably want to put that photo somewhere where she could see it. Zain stacked his clothes in the drawer, leaving his uniform on the top for the next day.
After he got everything put away, he took the empty box back into the kitchen. Mae and Dorian were sitting at the table, looking at some paper. Zain left them to do whatever they were doing and picked up his journal from the couch before walking outside.
He walked through the trees, finding a stump by a stream where he settled in. He flipped his journal open, turning past his last entry. After writing a few sentences about how he ended up in Éorand, he drew a rough drawing of him standing with Mae and Dorian. He smiled.
"Hey, kid, you want dinner?" Zain heard Mae's voice echo through the trees.
"Yeah, I'll be there in a minute," he said, standing up and shutting his journal, which he tucked into his pocket. Back at the house, Mae was setting a few bowls at the table and spooning in some kind of soup.
"There you are," Mae said with a smirk. She gestured to a spot at the table. "Help yourself."
"Thank you," said Zain, sitting down between Mae and her brother.
"Did you get everything put away?" Mae asked.
It took Zain a moment to realize she was talking to him. "Oh, yeah," he said, "thank you for letting me put them in your room."
"No problem," Mae said with a shrug, taking a sip of her soup. "So, are you ready for your classes to start next week?"
"Yeah," Zain said, smiling. He was very excited. He twisted a strand of hair around his finger. "Yeah, I'm ready."
"Great," Mae said, leaning back in her chair. "The Headmaster just sent over a list of your classes," she said, grabbing a paper from the counter and handing it to him. "If you need any help tomorrow finding things, you can either track me down or just ask your instructor."
Zain glanced at the paper and immediately felt stupid. He was sure that he would get absolutely humiliated in his classes whenever they started. The rest of dinner passed quickly, with Dorian telling stories about his classmates.
"Good night," Mae said as she walked Dorian down the hall, leaving Zain in the kitchen.
After he quickly grabbed a change of clothes from Mae's room, he slipped into the bathroom to change. Much more comfortable than the illusions he had cast over his old clothes the night before.
He fell asleep easily, without a single thought of the life he had run away from.